Pwcc

[bobbyw8469]

I glanced at the recent listings and it appears as though there's NOTHING (in my price range) that I would consider a good deal. And there's still plenty of time for the prices to get crazier.

Then you are looking at the wrong cards. I know for a FACT that there is a $500 card that is currently at $98. I'm sure there are others, but I am watching one in particular.

[Snapolit1]

My experiences with PWCC have generally been fine.

Reading all these posts I was intrigued enough to investigate the bidders who have now topped me on 4 pricey items in tonight's auction, including some Goudeys and Ruths.

The four sellers have bid on PWCC with 44%, 46%, 77% and 77% of their recent bids. And they each have many hundreds of feedbacks.

Am I accusing anyone of wrongdoing? No. Do these numbers strike me as a little peculiar? Yep they do. Are a lot of other quality sellers.

[Snapolit1]

We can all speculate till the cows come home. I'm convinced that most of the shenanigans that go on are large sellers who agree among themselves that they'll list on well known web sites and then run each other's things up. You rub my back and I'll rub yours. And if you end up holding the bag when the music ends we'll make believe it never happened.

[irv]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

I haven't seen it mentioned yet... but these threads and observations, though good in intent, do give a nice blue print for anyone who wants to actively scare bidders/competition away from a listing. Just sayin.

.

Interesting!

That is something I never considered happening, but it no doubt goes on, sadly.

[ullmandds]

well i did send brent a message via ebay questioning the underbidders behavior in one of his auctions...and his response was something like this:

Hello,

Thanks for reaching out. The high bidder is a highly reputable buyer
of ours. The under bidder who has placed a series of bids also has a
rather reasonable track record of buying quality sportscards, though
not with us. We don't think highly of these string bids where the bid
is consistently increased in small margins, but unfortunately this is
a behavior that members of the public seem to enjoy for one silly
reason or another (i.e. just enjoy the perceived competition and
hitting the 'bid' button repeatedly).

That said, we have searched the bidding on this item completely and
confirmed that everything is 100% legitimate and honest (albeit
somewhat eccentric).

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

well i did send brent a message via ebay questioning the underbidders behavior in one of his auctions...and his response was something like this:

Hello,

Thanks for reaching out. The high bidder is a highly reputable buyer
of ours. The under bidder who has placed a series of bids also has a
rather reasonable track record of buying quality sportscards, though
not with us. We don't think highly of these string bids where the bid
is consistently increased in small margins, but unfortunately this is
a behavior that members of the public seem to enjoy for one silly
reason or another (i.e. just enjoy the perceived competition and
hitting the 'bid' button repeatedly).

That said, we have searched the bidding on this item completely and
confirmed that everything is 100% legitimate and honest (albeit
somewhat eccentric).

I don't know about the particular auction but I have seen people do this in auctions I know for an absolute fact are clean.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

We can all speculate till the cows come home. I'm convinced that most of the shenanigans that go on are large sellers who agree among themselves that they'll list on well known web sites and then run each other's things up. You rub my back and I'll rub yours. And if you end up holding the bag when the music ends we'll make believe it never happened.

I think this explains some of the very high prices on the higher profile cards.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

My experiences with PWCC have generally been fine.

Reading all these posts I was intrigued enough to investigate the bidders who have now topped me on 4 pricey items in tonight's auction, including some Goudeys and Ruths.

The four sellers have bid on PWCC with 44%, 46%, 77% and 77% of their recent bids. And they each have many hundreds of feedbacks.

Am I accusing anyone of wrongdoing? No. Do these numbers strike me as a little peculiar? Yep they do. Are a lot of other quality sellers.

It's hard to say how much of a factor bid % is although I completely agree that you cannot discount it. The reason I'm saying this is that on ebay these days, there are very few auctions that start from 99 cents anymore, and especially those that list quality items. PWCC is basically an event auction every month. I also consistently bid on Ruth and Gehrig cards, and to be honest, I bid on PWCC auctions every month. There is no other seller on ebay that I bid so consistently like this for, and I am sure there are others like me.

[ullmandds]

Well I got my card for $400 less than it sold for in last falls rea...I cannot complain...despite the unorthodox bidding techniques of some bidders.

[Pilot172000]

So I missed out on one and got one but afraid I might have overpaid a little. Time will tell but it really sucks to bid then watch the bid run up to a dollar over your high bid and you not be able to counter bid. I'm thinking I just need to stick to straight sales.

Edit: After doing more research, I believe that I may have gotten a really good card and a very good price.

[roce4e52]

Not to get off topic, but when it was disclosed in a thread a few weeks ago that Heritage allows affiliates, employees, their friends, and relatives of employees ( are they affiliates) of Heritage to consign and bid on any of their items or others items (as long as they really wanted to purchase it, spooky how they know that), this board responded mostly with crickets and lets move to a different topic. Yet any questionable PWCC auction is automatically looked at with disdain and suspicion by some and maybe for good reason, not always sure why though.
Has anybody called Heritage and asked who the under-bidders were and if they were employees or friends/relatives they were bidding against when an auction didn't look just right to them? Did the respond? While it may be lawful to do it would make them look better to me if they stopped allowing that to happen like many other auction houses have.
I am wary of many auction houses and Ebay sellers thanks to this site and it has helped a lot with my collecting but don't understand some things.
Take care,
B1II d@na1ds@n

[swarmee]

You make a good point, but the partial transparency eBay gives (while a whole lot worse than the transparency they used to give 15 years ago) still allows you to track some bidder history information. This partial look into the bidder's intention will spawn more questions than the zero bidder info you get from major auctionhouses.

[Joshchisox08]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Then you are looking at the wrong cards. I know for a FACT that there is a $500 card that is currently at $98. I'm sure there are others, but I am watching one in particular.

See my thread on the Ed Killian that ended for an asinine $76 when it was miss-labeled. That's not a ridiculous price?

[Snapolit1]

Glad the auction ended after midnight EST. Was asleep by 11 and saved myself a lot of money.

[Pilot172000]

I reached the point quickly to go ahead and delete all my watched items so I wouldn't bid any more. I still have Heritage to contend with Sunday.

[ValKehl]

Bill,
I share your concern re Heritage, especially since there is an individual whom I believe is currently employed by Heritage who appears on the list of Legendary shill bidders that was recently released by the court. I do occasionally bid in Heritage auctions when there is something that I just gotta have, but I will not leave max bids.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Lots of record-smashing prices. Over 3K for a PSA 6.5 Koufax rookie, yikes.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Lots of record-smashing prices. Over 3K for a PSA 6.5 Koufax rookie, yikes.

That, to me, is insane....would another seller of the same card have gotten that much? He sure has a pretty dedicated following!