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-   -   PWCC Auctions - Mystery Bid Post Auction? (http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=309543)

STL1944 10-25-2021 08:21 AM

PWCC Auctions - Mystery Bid Post Auction?
 
2 Attachment(s)
I know... I know... Why did I even bother?

I thought I would check out the new auction format for PWCC and ended up impulsively bidding for a card (which I didn't even need).

See the post auction experience below...

Email: Congratulations! You Won! Total Due: $26
Website: Congratulations! You Won! Total Due: $66



I have emailed customer support...

mrreality68 10-25-2021 08:25 AM

Sorry to Hear/See that

Ok that is beyond odd.
Was there really another bid? IS there some extreme fees?

Have you reached out to them?

ullmandds 10-25-2021 08:30 AM

“Thank you sir may i have another?”

Leon 10-25-2021 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ullmandds (Post 2157039)
“Thank you sir may i have another?”

LOL....maybe they shilled the system?

carlsonjok 10-25-2021 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrreality68 (Post 2157038)
Sorry to Hear/See that

Ok that is beyond odd.
Was there really another bid? IS there some extreme fees?

Have you reached out to them?

I decided to watch a few cards that I need for my set builds. I figured if was more likely that the first auction out of the gates would be less likely to have any apparent shenanigans. Most everything finished outside my budget, so no loss to me. But, the thing that will keep me from bidding on their future auctions is that the closed auctions don't show any bid history, as near as I can tell.

With all the other auction houses I deal with, you can see bid history (but not any type of bidder identification.) With eBay, not only can you see bid history, you can also see an anonymized bidder identification and from that ID you can see that bidders history with the particular seller. It isn't complete proof, but with the history information you can start to get some notion as to whether shill bidding may be happening.

The opacity of this new PWCC platform is enough to keep me away. Though, I swim in the shallow end of the hobby pool, so no great loss to them. I am sure they won't even notice.

bobbyw8469 10-25-2021 09:10 AM

Well...to be honest, the $26 seems a little on the light side. But I have sold a ton of cards on the light side recently. Maybe the $66 was their hidden reserve?

bobbyw8469 10-25-2021 09:11 AM

Can you put up a link to the auction?

JimmyArcher 10-25-2021 09:15 AM

Went to bed last night thinking I had won a T205 Cicotte at $105. Auction for the individual card had closed and didn't appear that any additional bids could be made.

Woke up this morning and found that somehow I had been outbid and the auction had closed at $155.

bobbyw8469 10-25-2021 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyArcher (Post 2157055)
Went to bed last night thinking I had won a T205 Cicotte at $105. Auction for the individual card had closed and didn't appear that any additional bids could be made.

Woke up this morning and found that somehow I had been outbid and the auction had closed at $155.

I am thinking they are pushing these up to meet hidden reserves. No one is to question anything they say or do. Me personally, I will pass. The last guy I remember doing stuff like that was the Battlefield guy who took his auctions off Ebay (after he was booted off).

bobbyw8469 10-25-2021 09:24 AM

There is zero way to see the bid history or anything??? Someone got an email that he won at one price, then got an invoice for a HUGE markup!!! That doesn't look good.

carlsonjok 10-25-2021 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469 (Post 2157057)
There is zero way to see the bid history or anything??? Someone got an email that he won at one price, then got an invoice for a HUGE markup!!! That doesn't look good.

Near as I can tell, no. Granted, I didn't actually enter any bids.

I have placed a bid on a card that closes on Friday. I'm 99.9% sure I won't win it, so I guess we'll see if actual bidders have access to bid history that the peanut gallery doesn't.

ngrow9 10-25-2021 09:46 AM

FWIW, I won two >$100 items last night (both graded Auth, so I wasn't worried about card doctoring issues). I bid as I went along, rather than place an auto bid, and the invoice listed both items for my final/winning bid price.

mrreality68 10-25-2021 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469 (Post 2157056)
I am thinking they are pushing these up to meet hidden reserves. No one is to question anything they say or do. Me personally, I will pass. The last guy I remember doing stuff like that was the Battlefield guy who took his auctions off Ebay (after he was booted off).

+1 from their time on Ebay their reputation and now on there own site and hearing these type of things.

I am staying on the side lines on their auctions

It is a shame they do have some cards at times I would love to get.

But not worth it to me

JimmyArcher 10-25-2021 09:55 AM

In addition to the Cicotte that I didn't end up winning, I also bid on a cheap 1989 Topps set. Received an email last night stating I had won with a bid of $10, and similar to the example above, I received my invoice this morning and the bid total was showing as $12.

$12 just happened to be the max bid I had entered.

And to answer the question about bid history, I haven't been able to find a bid history for either the auctions I lost or the auction I won.

savedfrommyspokes 10-25-2021 10:24 AM

I won 2 items, and received an email titled "Congratulations! You Won!".

The price in the email for the first item matched the winning bid I had seen last evening and was indeed below my max. The price in the email for the second item was less than half of the final price, as well as below the overtime price, and was equal to my max bid (actual final price was about 10% below recent sales of the same item).

My guess is some glitch occurred with their system sending out these "you won" emails with incorrect prices.

STL1944 10-25-2021 10:30 AM

Customer Service
 
I have reached out to customer service and we will see what they say...

Peter_Spaeth 10-25-2021 10:32 AM

I am the last person to defend them, but it sounds like glitches with their new system.

HawkFan70 10-25-2021 11:03 AM

I emailed PWCC as I had the same issue. I received an email last night that had my winning bid and an invoice that was at my max bid. Luckily the difference was only a few bucks. Their response was that the initial email was wrong and that I was invoiced for the final price (which happened to be my max bid). I think in the future I will no longer use the max bid feature if I decide to bid in their auctions again.

hcv123 10-25-2021 11:06 AM

Looks like.....
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyArcher (Post 2157066)
In addition to the Cicotte that I didn't end up winning, I also bid on a cheap 1989 Topps set. Received an email last night stating I had won with a bid of $10, and similar to the example above, I received my invoice this morning and the bid total was showing as $12.

$12 just happened to be the max bid I had entered.

And to answer the question about bid history, I haven't been able to find a bid history for either the auctions I lost or the auction I won.

They didn't thoroughly test their new shilling platform....errr auction platform?

carlsonjok 10-25-2021 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth (Post 2157075)
I am the last person to defend them, but it sounds like glitches with their new system.

I get that the plural of anecdote isn't data, but it certainly is one heck of a glitch that has invoiced at least two people at their maximum bid, rather than at the bid they thought was the closing price. I suppose there could be an innocent explanation, but without seeing bid history we'll just have to take their (PWCC) word for it.

Peter_Spaeth 10-25-2021 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlsonjok (Post 2157090)
I get that the plural of anecdote isn't data, but it certainly is one heck of a glitch that has invoiced at least two people at their maximum bid, rather than at the bid they thought was the closing price. I suppose there could be an innocent explanation, but without seeing bid history we'll just have to take their (PWCC) word for it.

He can't be THAT stupid can he?

steve B 10-25-2021 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth (Post 2157100)
He can't be THAT stupid can he?

I'm surprised you would ask that :D

Unless somewhere in his fine print it says "all final bids follow the silent bid system used by local fun night fundraisers. In other words no matter what the "winning bid" actually is you pay the max you wrote down"

Peter_Spaeth 10-25-2021 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve B (Post 2157108)
I'm surprised you would ask that :D

Unless somewhere in his fine print it says "all final bids follow the silent bid system used by local fun night fundraisers. In other words no matter what the "winning bid" actually is you pay the max you wrote down"

It's just too blatant. I don't believe he is shilling every single auction up to the max bid (in effect).

drcy 10-25-2021 12:19 PM

Your fault. You didn't pay fast enough. You had two minutes to drop the $26 in the mail, but you just had to finish that cup of coffee.

Yoda 10-25-2021 12:50 PM

I am soo glad I sat this one out, as I will in any of their future auctions. What with an undignified boot from Ebay over shill bidding, longstanding issues of knowingly auctioning off slabbed altered cards and dealing with known fraudsters, now we have the rollout of their first independent auction. Yes, there were some nice cards there, but bidders were now faced with with extended bidding and a BP on some items. Now it appears a very serious systems glitch on winners' invoices has occurred.....all on their 1st auction.

Perhaps it is just me, but I wonder if this is the beginning of the death spiral of PWCC. I don't, of course, know any of the financials, but If I were Brent, and thank God I am not, I would be working the worry beads overtime.

chadeast 10-25-2021 01:08 PM

Hanlon's razor (not Ned) applies. Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

sb1 10-25-2021 02:01 PM

So.. I won a few lots for resale. Won them at fair prices with some minor competition but liked the closing.

Invoice was correct and all prices matched my bid history.

That's the good news.

I paid my invoice by CC and somehow missed the various options to where the have my items sent(the few items that I have won on ebay over the years have always went to me my house or PO Box).

Now I have learned that by default they went to the vault(I discovered this after I saw no shipping charge). I contacted them immediately by their preferred chat method and was quickly entered into a back and forth conversation to amend the shipping error or so one would think.

My items were sent to the vault and they will not change the address. I have to wait approximately 20-25 days for the items to be curated into the vault and then request they be sent to me......I tried reasoning with them to no avail, that there must be some kind of remedy.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN PAYING YOUR INVOICE, the VAULT is the default address now, no matter where you had items sent before.

Scott

PWCC has reached out to me and helped expedite the process, please see my post below #33.

bobbyw8469 10-25-2021 02:07 PM

Very odd.....you can buy your cards and not take possession of them??? No thanks!

Tabe 10-25-2021 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sb1 (Post 2157138)
So.. I won a few lots for resale. Won them at fair prices with some minor competition but liked the closing.

Invoice was correct and all prices matched my bid history.

That's the good news.

I paid my invoice by CC and somehow missed the various options to where the have my items sent(the few items that I have won on ebay over the years have always went to me my house or PO Box).

Now I have learned that by default they went to the vault(I discovered this after I saw no shipping charge). I contacted them immediately by their preferred chat method and was quickly entered into a back and forth conversation to amend the shipping error or so one would think.

My items were sent to the vault and they will not change the address. I have to wait approximately 20-25 days for the items to be curated into the vault and then request they be sent to me......I tried reasoning with them to no avail, that there must be some kind of remedy.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN PAYING YOUR INVOICE, the VAULT is the default address now, no matter where you had items sent before.

Scott

That...is stupid.

You'd think they'd be eager to make you happy so your first experience on their new platform is a positive one.

carlsonjok 10-25-2021 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabe (Post 2157142)
That...is stupid.

You'd think they'd be eager to make you happy so your first experience on their new platform is a positive one.

Try getting your broker to send you paper stock certificates some time.

Added in edit: One thing that really stood out to me on the new PWCC platform is that the cards are described as "assets." It says a lot about how PWCC views their business.

sb1 10-25-2021 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabe (Post 2157142)
That...is stupid.

You'd think they'd be eager to make you happy so your first experience on their new platform is a positive one.

Well they did try to be helpful and told me I "should have paid attention" when checking out....

Peter_Spaeth 10-25-2021 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlsonjok (Post 2157144)
Try getting your broker to send you paper stock certificates some time.

Added in edit: One thing that really stood out to me on the new PWCC platform is that the cards are described as "assets." It says a lot about how PWCC views their business.

He adopted that term years ago pre-scandal. To his credit he anticipated a long time ago how cards would increasingly be viewed as commodities to be invested in.

sb1 10-25-2021 03:47 PM

Resolution
 
Follow up......

So I reached out to Brent via email and within the hour I was contacted by a very helpful CS rep who while unable to reverse what I had done, was able to fasttrack the cards thru curation and into the Vault upon which I can have them sent to me. The curation should be done by weeks end, so only a few days longer than it would have been, had it processed as I thought it had.

The rep was most helpful and responsive.

Again, if you are paying for these items online just go slow and click the right boxes..

Scott

Tao_Moko 10-25-2021 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sb1 (Post 2157162)
Follow up......

So I reached out to Brent via email and within the hour I was contacted by a very helpful CS rep who while unable to reverse what I had done, was able to fasttrack the cards thru curation and into the Vault upon which I can have them sent to me. The curation should be done by weeks end, so only a few days longer than it would have been, had it processed as I thought it had.

The rep was most helpful and responsive.

Again, if you are paying for these items online just go slow and click the right boxes..

Scott

Is the shipping fee reasonable? If not disclosed up front I'd be concerned about excessive handling and processing fees

Johnny630 10-25-2021 04:17 PM

Is this a brokerage firm for assets or an auction house for cards ?

LoL just teasing.

nolemmings 10-25-2021 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tao_Moko (Post 2157168)
Is the shipping fee reasonable? If not disclosed up front I'd be concerned about excessive handling and processing fees

I won a single graded card at a fair but rather low price and the shipping was $5.00.

Scott, I noticed right away that something was amiss when they showed the invoice and it waived/ struck-though the fees for shipping and sales tax (see OP post with scan). I figured the shipping could be waived as some sort of introductory offer but not the tax and they surely wouldn't be so bold as to show it wasn't being collected. I figured it must have been a promo for the Vault and sure enough, that was the default setting.

sb1 10-25-2021 04:32 PM

I believe my shipping was originally $15 I can’t see it currently, I assume the shipping from the vault will be the same. Mine was 4 cards at a value of just under 900. I did not have an issue with that. It’s a little more than some, a little less than others, so about average I would say.

Lorewalker 10-25-2021 04:38 PM

This thread needs a devil's advocate, no?

BobbyStrawberry 10-25-2021 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorewalker (Post 2157182)
This thread needs a devil's advocate, no?

Snowman, where art thou?

Rhotchkiss 10-25-2021 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sb1 (Post 2157138)
So.. I won a few lots for resale. Won them at fair prices with some minor competition but liked the closing.

Invoice was correct and all prices matched my bid history.

That's the good news.

I paid my invoice by CC and somehow missed the various options to where the have my items sent(the few items that I have won on ebay over the years have always went to me my house or PO Box).

Now I have learned that by default they went to the vault(I discovered this after I saw no shipping charge). I contacted them immediately by their preferred chat method and was quickly entered into a back and forth conversation to amend the shipping error or so one would think.

My items were sent to the vault and they will not change the address. I have to wait approximately 20-25 days for the items to be curated into the vault and then request they be sent to me......I tried reasoning with them to no avail, that there must be some kind of remedy.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN PAYING YOUR INVOICE, the VAULT is the default address now, no matter where you had items sent before.

Scott

PWCC has reached out to me and helped expedite the process, please see my post below #33.

Scott, I was bidding on one relatively high-priced card (1914 CJ Lajoie) and ultimately decided to stand down in the 4th extended bidding because I was afraid the card would go into their vault and not sent to me; and I could not figure out how to change that. I think it’s real crappy that their default is into the vault and they make it very tough to change it, if at all. I don’t want them, or Goldin or anyone else with a vault, holding my cards and I think it’s shitty that that’s the default. So, until that “glitch” gets changed, I have placed my last bid in a pwcc auction.

buymycards 10-25-2021 05:05 PM

vault
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by sb1 (Post 2157138)
So.. I won a few lots for resale. Won them at fair prices with some minor competition but liked the closing.

Invoice was correct and all prices matched my bid history.

That's the good news.

I paid my invoice by CC and somehow missed the various options to where the have my items sent(the few items that I have won on ebay over the years have always went to me my house or PO Box).

Now I have learned that by default they went to the vault(I discovered this after I saw no shipping charge). I contacted them immediately by their preferred chat method and was quickly entered into a back and forth conversation to amend the shipping error or so one would think.

My items were sent to the vault and they will not change the address. I have to wait approximately 20-25 days for the items to be curated into the vault and then request they be sent to me......I tried reasoning with them to no avail, that there must be some kind of remedy.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN PAYING YOUR INVOICE, the VAULT is the default address now, no matter where you had items sent before.

Scott

PWCC has reached out to me and helped expedite the process, please see my post below #33.

I don't know about your state, but in Wisconsin, if you have your items sent to the vault and don't pay sales tax, when the cards are sent to your address in Wisconsin, they become taxable and you will have to pay use tax on the purchase.

sb1 10-25-2021 05:31 PM

PWCC has my TX resale certificate on file.....these are for resale.

bobbyw8469 10-25-2021 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sb1 (Post 2157201)
PWCC has my TX resale certificate on file.....these are for resale.

You buy from PWCC for resale??? Is that even possible?? That is like me buying from Dean's Cards for resale. Sorry, but the bone has been picked clean.

sb1 10-25-2021 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss (Post 2157187)
Scott, I was bidding on one relatively high-priced card (1914 CJ Lajoie) and ultimately decided to stand down in the 4th extended bidding because I was afraid the card would go into their vault and not sent to me; and I could not figure out how to change that. I think it’s real crappy that their default is into the vault and they make it very tough to change it, if at all. I don’t want them, or Goldin or anyone else with a vault, holding my cards and I think it’s shitty that that’s the default. So, until that “glitch” gets changed, I have placed my last bid in a pwcc auction.

\

Ryan,

When I went to pay originally, the option to choose where you wanted the cards sent was presented, Vault or my address on record(Vault was the highlighted default). I of course opted to have them sent directly to me. However, the invoice had tax included, so I provided my resale cert and they promptly adjusted the invoice. When I went back to the corrected invoice and paid, the shipping option had defaulted back to the Vault and I did not catch it. Really nothing nefarious, just a business steering their customers where they prefer them to go. I SHOULD have double checked everything, I ASSUMED and we all know how that story goes.

Once I contacted Brent, they promptly took care of it to the best or their ability. As of now the items already show in my Vault, not able to request them yet, but not worried as everything is working out as they said it would.

I would like to point out to everyone that during this entire email/chat/posting here, that I was precise, cordial and polite, no stones were thrown and it was handled very professionally by them on their end. I think that is about all you can ask when things go a bit sideways. It's easy to start the name calling and accusations, especially on an internet forum, not so easy to undo them.

sb1 10-25-2021 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469 (Post 2157204)
You buy from PWCC for resale??? Is that even possible?? That is like me buying from Dean's Cards for resale. Sorry, but the bone has been picked clean.

There were many good pre-war deals, just in the small amount I was tracking. I passed on a few that were just marginally good as the bidding progressed, and hung in to get the better ones.

Eric72 10-25-2021 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chadeast (Post 2157124)
Hanlon's razor (not Ned) applies. Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

Is there a razor which would attribute things to a blend of malice and incompetence?

Snowman 10-26-2021 03:10 AM

I bid on quite a few cards in this auction. I just checked my bidding log spreadsheet and compared those prices against the ones from my invoice. I wrote down the listed hammer price at the conclusion of the auctions for every card I won. It looks like I won 32 cards. Of those 32, 26 show the same price and 6 do not. However, the prices that are listed on my invoice are all lower than the prices shown on the website at the conclusion of the auction, not higher. Based on my sample data, I believe it is also showing my max bid amount on the website as the hammer price, whereas the invoice via email has the actual winning bid amounts (which are lower). But when I click the link in the email to go to checkout, I am given the higher amounts.

I imagine this must be a glitch in their system that will get sorted out asap. I don't think they are stupid enough to have done this intentionally. I expect they'll send out emails correcting/addressing this shortly. If not, I will start shitting on them too.

Rhotchkiss 10-26-2021 04:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sb1 (Post 2157206)
\

Ryan,

When I went to pay originally, the option to choose where you wanted the cards sent was presented, Vault or my address on record(Vault was the highlighted default). I of course opted to have them sent directly to me. However, the invoice had tax included, so I provided my resale cert and they promptly adjusted the invoice. When I went back to the corrected invoice and paid, the shipping option had defaulted back to the Vault and I did not catch it. Really nothing nefarious, just a business steering their customers where they prefer them to go. I SHOULD have double checked everything, I ASSUMED and we all know how that story goes.

Once I contacted Brent, they promptly took care of it to the best or their ability. As of now the items already show in my Vault, not able to request them yet, but not worried as everything is working out as they said it would.

I would like to point out to everyone that during this entire email/chat/posting here, that I was precise, cordial and polite, no stones were thrown and it was handled very professionally by them on their end. I think that is about all you can ask when things go a bit sideways. It's easy to start the name calling and accusations, especially on an internet forum, not so easy to undo them.

Scott, thanks for clarifying. That said, I still do not like that the default is vault and that I need to take an extra step to have the card sent to me.

I agree that in ALL of my interactions with PWCC they are very responsive, helpful and polite. They certainly do customer service right. That said, I just don’t like that I need to be mindful to change preferences in order to get my cards - it just feels like a trap for the unweary (and I am an unweary!).

That should be changed - the default should be all cards and/or payouts are sent out unless one formally opts to have card put in vault or money kept on account

BobC 10-26-2021 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buymycards (Post 2157191)
I don't know about your state, but in Wisconsin, if you have your items sent to the vault and don't pay sales tax, when the cards are sent to your address in Wisconsin, they become taxable and you will have to pay use tax on the purchase.

This is most likely the case for someone that lives in any of the 45 states that have a sales AND use tax. So people thinking they can buy through PWCC and initially have their purchases go to PWCC's Oregon vault where no sales tax is charged, and then subsequently requesting their items be sent to them at their home address, need to remember that they then owe the use tax on those purchased items to the state/county they subsequently have their items sent to. I would advise anyone thinking of doing something like this to maybe first check with their accountant or other tax professionals, and to also review the sales and use tax laws for their respective state of residency. I am fairly confident though that regardless of which of the 45 states that have sales and use taxes, if you live in one of them and try to use a vault to get out of paying sales tax and then right away have the vault company just forward to you the items you had just purchased, you have most likely technically triggered a use tax liability equal to what the sales tax would have been on the original purchase.

There are always going to be people that view a vault like PWCC's or Goldin's, that were intentionally set up in states that do not have sales taxes, as a way to get around having to pay sales tax on their purchases, especially since Ebay and more and more AHs are now collecting sales taxes due to changes in the sales tax laws following a Supreme Court ruling from a few years back. PWCC and Goldin use this as a marketing technique to attract more customers, since they offer buyers a way around sales taxes. And it is also a way to assure and increase future consignments for both companies should people leaving items in their vaults subsequently decide to sell something. If a person decides to sell an item and asks PWCC or Goldin for it back to do so, or that it be sent to another AH or consignment seller to be sold on their behalf, then I believe technically they may have triggered the use tax on the original purchase of the item now being sold. If the person wishing to sell an item in a vault just consigns it back over to PWCC or Goldin, it never leaves the non-sales taxing states those two companies are operating out of, and the seller doesn't trigger use tax on the sale of the item. And the subsequent sale by PWCC or Goldin of this consigned item to a new owner affords both sellers the chance to entice/persuade/coerce the new owner to avail themselves of the respective vaults they both operate. Which in turn gives PWCC and Goldin an inside track to gain future consignments from this new seller as well, and on and on. It is a somewhat ingenious way both PWCC and Goldin can take advantage of the inherent greed in many people by having devised a way for them to get out of paying sales taxes on purchases, but also kind of locks those people in to staying only with PWCC or Goldin if they want to maintain that sales/use tax-free status going forward then.

Obviously a vault isn't for everyone, especially the old guard hobby collectors and purists who want to actually be able to hold and look at their cards and collectibles in hand, not just look at scans. But with a vault, an owner doesn't have to worry about where or how to store items, probably helps for insurance and record keeping purposes also since everything will be catalogued and supposedly maintained in a safe and secure environment. And if they do want to share what they own with others, I'm assuming they either have or can get a digital record of what they do have residing in a vault. And as already noted, if an owner does decide to let something go, they can easily and simply just have it consigned to the brother/sister company of the vault that handles sales.

And a vault obviously isn't needed (or wanted probably) by a dealer who already is registered as such and can supply a resale sales tax exemption certificate to whomever they are buying something from, as a vault doesn't save them any sales taxes.

However, there is a potential grey area in regards to triggering use tax when it comes to taking things out of a vault and having them sent to a state that does have a sales and use tax. If you buy something, have it put into into a sales tax-free vault, and then right away take it back out of the vault and have it sent to your home, that should most definitely trigger a use tax liability if you reside in a state with a sales tax. But what if you wait 6 months before taking an item out of a vault, or a year, or 5 years? To my knowledge, individual states do not have general or specific time threshholds on how long you may have owned something like baseball cards before it is exempt from use tax when bringing it into a new state. Think of this. What if you lived in a sales tax free state your entire life, and had all your furniture, clothing, and belongings purchased in that same state, so you never paid sales tax on anything. And then you move and take all your belongings, furniture, and clothes with you to your new home, in a state that does have sales tax. Do you now have to suddenly pay use tax on everything you had acquired over your entire lifetime to the state you just moved to? Most likely not. But what about on a new living room set you purchased in your old state with no sales taxes the week before you moved to your new home state? See how complicated this can get? This is again a reason to review your own particular case with your accountant or tax professional if you are planning on removing items from a vault, and to also review the sales and use tax laws for the applicable state you're going to move those items to.

What I don't know is what, if anything, PWCC and Goldin tell their vault customers in regards to sales and use tax issues, and if they even try to forewarn them of any potential sales/use tax liabilities if they remove items from a vault. Maybe some people that do use their vaults can fill us in and share what they know. I would also not be surprised if down the road, companies that set up sales tax-free vaults like this don't start to attract the attention of other states that do charge sales and use taxes, and potentially try to force the vaults to report/share information with them.

jayshum 10-26-2021 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobC (Post 2157323)
However, there is a potential grey area in regards to triggering use tax when it comes to taking things out of a vault and having them sent to a state that does have a sales and use tax. If you buy something, have it put into into a sales tax-free vault, and then right away take it back out of the vault and have it sent to your home, that should most definitely trigger a use tax liability if you reside in a state with a sales tax. But what if you wait 6 months before taking an item out of a vault, or a year, or 5 years? To my knowledge, individual states do not have general or specific time threshholds on how long you may have owned something like baseball cards before it is exempt from use tax when bringing it into a new state. Think of this. What if you lived in a sales tax free state your entire life, and had all your furniture, clothing, and belongings purchased in that same state, so you never paid sales tax on anything. And then you move and take all your belongings, furniture, and clothes with you to your new home, in a state that does have sales tax. Do you now have to suddenly pay use tax on everything you had acquired over your entire lifetime to the state you just moved to? Most likely not. But what about on a new living room set you purchased in your old state with no sales taxes the week before you moved to your new home state? See how complicated this can get? This is again a reason to review your own particular case with your accountant or tax professional if you are planning on removing items from a vault, and to also review the sales and use tax laws for the applicable state you're going to move those items to.

I would think that the use tax would only be due on purchases you made while a resident of the state so anything you owned prior to moving to a new state with a use tax would not be subject to the use tax.

mrreality68 10-26-2021 05:26 AM

The concept is potentially good for the right person. ie investors. Also many like it so that you can take a loan against it (in some cases) for extra funds
Other auction houses are trying to duplicate this basic concept.
But I am more a collector and would prefer to have the cards under my control and more accessible.
Also since I am not comfortable in general with PWCC reputation it just makes me pause.
In addition the time it can take to get the card processed in and out of their vault also concerns me(as mentioned above in the thread)

So I am sure this service is right for many people and all well and good but it is just not for me

BobC 10-26-2021 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayshum (Post 2157329)
I would think that the use tax would only be due on purchases you made while a resident of the state so anything you owned prior to moving to a new state with a use tax would not be subject to the use tax.

And that is why I specifically mentioned the purchase of the new living room set just before you move, and presumably just after you purchased the house in the new state. To show differences in the circumstances and how there isn't always a simple, straightforward answer to a question like this.

Here's another way to look at this though. Say you have a house and live in a state with a sales tax, but also own a second home (vacation home) in a state without sales tax. And all the furnishings and belongings in the vacation home were purchased in that state so no sales taxes were paid on any of the belongings and furnishings in it. And then after years of owning the vacation home you had to sell it, and end up moving all the furnishings and belongings in it back to your main home in a state with sales and use taxes. Do you now owe use tax on everything you brought back to your main home and state you officially reside in, even if items you brought back were originally purchased years, or even decades, ago? See how this can get confusing?

I bring up the concept of a time threshhold because though most states don't generally have any actually written into their sales and use tax laws, there are specific instances where such a time threshhold can exist in some circumstances. Say in my example the main house was in California and the vacation home in Oregon, which is where PWCC and their vault is, with no sales taxes. And in addition to all the belongings and furnishings in the vacation home being purchased in Oregon without sales taxes, the owner had purchased a car that is licensed, registered and been kept at the Oregon property also. So no sales tax was paid on it either. And again, for whatever reason, the Oregon vacation home is sold and everything is moved back to the main residence in California, including the car. Now California sales tax laws say nothing specific in this case about potential use tax owed on the furnishings and other belongings, but they do have very specific rules regarding the car. In this case, if the car had been originally purchased in Oregon less than one year ago before now moving it to California, the owner owes sales tax to California in the amount of whatever the sales tax would have been had the owner originally purchased the car in Calfornia, less the actual sales tax originally paid when the car was actually purchased in Oregon. And in this case since Oregon has no sales tax, California is owed sales tax on the original sales price, in full. However, if the car had been purchased one year or more before moving it from Oregon to California, then under California law the car is now exempt from sales and use taxes entirely, and the car owner owes $0 to California for sales/use tax.

And this is what I mean about a possible implied time threshhold for the exemption from use tax for property being brought into a state. In this case, if California is going to exempt sales/use tax charged on a car purchased more than a year before moving it to CA, you would assume and expect that they would at least give the same time period threshhold for exemption from sales/use tax for all other property being brought into the state, such as furnishings and other belongings. But since nothing is specifically written in CA sales and use law like this exemption for property other than vehicles, I would advise checking with a tax professional familiar with CA sales and use tax laws, and even contacting the appropriate CA taxing authority to see if they can provide further guidance on a potential time threshhold for use tax exeption of other property being brought into the state.

Now this example and rule regarding cars is specically just for California. You would want to look into and review the sales and use tax laws in whatever state you would be moving property to, to see if you can find similar instances like CA where they specify a time threshhold for a use tax exemption, and likewise contact a tax professional knowledgeable in that particular state, as well as actually contacting the appropriate state taxing authority for additional insight and to see what they can tell you about possible time threshholds for use tax exemption.

So at the end of the day, items you put into a sales tax-free vault may be removable at some point without triggering use tax. But, you need to research it and look into the sales and use tax laws of the applicable state(s) involved.

Clear as mud, right? Welcome to the world of taxes, and in this case specifically state sales tax law.

BobC 10-26-2021 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrreality68 (Post 2157332)
The concept is potentially good for the right person. ie investors. Also many like it so that you can take a loan against it (in some cases) for extra funds
Other auction houses are trying to duplicate this basic concept.
But I am more a collector and would prefer to have the cards under my control and more accessible.
Also since I am not comfortable in general with PWCC reputation it just makes me pause.
In addition the time it can take to get the card processed in and out of their vault also concerns me(as mentioned above in the thread)

So I am sure this service is right for many people and all well and good but it is just not for me

Right you are Jeff. I didn't even get into the loan aspect of what they are offering, that is a whole other kettle of fish. But you're correct, the PWCC vault concept and how they are presenting and handling things, is akin to working with an investment advisory firm that holds your investments for you, assists in sales and purchases, and even gives out margin loans. About the only thing they don't do, at least not yet, is have you just open an account with them in which you simply deposit money, and then they go out and acquire cards for you that they feel will be good investments and grow in value for you down the road. I think if they did start doing that though, they may cross a line where they could possibly be viewed as a form of bona fide investment advisor, and actually become subject to all the applicable federal and state laws, licensing and the myriad of rules and regulations that have to be followed. Which I seriously doubt they would want to do, at least not now.

Who knows down the road though? They clearly are smart and ahead of the game in realizing that our wonderful little hobby has gone from being just that, a simple hobby, to a booming industry with surging prices that have caught and grabbed ahold of the attention and interest of serious people in the investment industry. They've set themselves up to be at the forefront of this change from being a pure hobby to more of a serious investment vehicle. Just look at some of the threads we've had recently talking about a potential IPO by Topps, which was undermind by strategic investments of various professional sports leagues and player groups in a major distribution company which then apparently stole future licensing rights right out of the hands of Topps and other card companies. Or the takeover and privatization of the major TPG of our hobby, quickly followed by the announcement of their acquisition of another company heavy into AI technology. Heck, we're starting to read like the Wall Street Journal in some threads. The only thing we're still missing is for Warren Buffet to come out during Berkshire-Hathaway's next annual meeting and declare they're going to start heavily investing in sports cards. And if Buffet were to go even further and expand on how they'll focus on acquiring cards of who he felt was the greatest pre-war baseball player ever, and didn't name Ruth............I can only imagine the thread(s) that would generate on this forum!!!!!!!! :D

Snowman 10-26-2021 02:50 PM

PWCC responded to my inquiry. This is what they said regarding the discrepancy between the emailed invoices and the website hammer prices at checkout.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWCC
It appears that our system issues out winning bid emails early with the bids that were current when items entered into extended bidding on our website. The invoice you received through your account on our website reflects the correct high value after extended bidding on the item ended. Please rest assured that this is indeed the correct value for your item/s.

This is definitely not correct though. I went into a bidding war on a 1953 Topps willie mays card that was at $2k when extended bidding started. We bid it up multiple times after that, and the card was extended into multiple future time windows. My max bid on the card was set at $2800, which is what it shows at checkout. I took the bidding lead at $2700 and then placed a $2800 max bid after that as a blocker bid. Then the auction ended. I don't know if someone bid me up to $2800 or not, but I do know that the website showed $2800 at the last second after I thought I had it at $2700. My emailed invoice shows $2700 though, not $2,000 which is where it was at when extended bidding started. But at checkout and on the website it shows $2800.

55koufax 10-26-2021 03:31 PM

For waht it's worth
 
I won a lot of cards the past two nights from PWCC and am bidding on a dozen more tonight. I believe their platform is very slow, and not the most use friendly. That said, eBay may be faster, but PWCC customer service is way better IMO. Hands down. Now I will be looking over that final invoice very carefully.

Bummed as I lost out on the '55 Jackie Robinson 8. And by only one increment. Rats!

Snowman 10-26-2021 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 55koufax (Post 2157524)
I won a lot of cards the past two nights from PWCC and am bidding on a dozen more tonight. I believe their platform is very slow, and not the most use friendly. That said, eBay may be faster, but PWCC customer service is way better IMO. Hands down. Now I will be looking over that final invoice very carefully.

Bummed as I lost out on the '55 Jackie Robinson 8. And by only one increment. Rats!

Damn. That was a nice looking card too. I was watching that one.

Kidnapped18 10-26-2021 04:15 PM

You guys are making this tax thing way too complicated. The PWCC vault is in Oregon which has 0% sales tax and that is why PWCC is promoting the vault as a way not to pay sales tax. If you elect to to have your cards shipped to your home state and your state does have sales/use tax then PWCC (seller) is obligated to collect the sales tax for your state and remit it to that state's Department of Revenue. If for whatever reason PWCC does not collect the sales tax (which I highly doubt they would) then you (buyer) are obligated to self report any tax owed on either monthly or quarterly basis.

This is not complicated folks.

sb1 10-26-2021 04:42 PM

That is a moot point if you are a business and have a valid resale cert.

sb1 10-26-2021 04:47 PM

As an update.

My items have been curated into the Vault, I was given a quick tutorial on how to request be sent to me, which was easy to do. Then when I encountered Vault fees(all of $6.25) and some extra shipping due to insured value, which was correct but much higher than my winnings bids, due to the fact I got the cards well below value. They then waived these vault charges and extra insurance and I was back to the original amount and the cards will be shipped very shortly.

As others have said their customer service is on an extremely high level!

So, this all worked out.

slidekellyslide 10-26-2021 05:41 PM

I'm shocked at the number of Net54 members still willing to deal with PWCC.

Just kidding...no I'm not.

BobC 10-26-2021 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kidnapped18 (Post 2157540)
You guys are making this tax thing way too complicated. The PWCC vault is in Oregon which has 0% sales tax and that is why PWCC is promoting the vault as a way not to pay sales tax. If you elect to to have your cards shipped to your home state and your state does have sales/use tax then PWCC (seller) is obligated to collect the sales tax for your state and remit it to that state's Department of Revenue. If for whatever reason PWCC does not collect the sales tax (which I highly doubt they would) then you (buyer) are obligated to self report any tax owed on either monthly or quarterly basis.

This is not complicated folks.

Really?!?!?

So it makes no difference if you leave something in their vault for several years before then asking them to return the item to you? What if you left it there in their vault for over ten years before asking that it be returned? Or what if the item is in their vault for several years and instead of you asking them to return it to you, they go out of business and just ship everything back to you at your home address?

Or how about this, you have an item in their vault and go to sell it, but decide to use a different seller/AH to list and sell it for you. So you have PWCC ship the item directly to your AH of choice, that just so happens to be in a different state than the one you live in. Do you now owe a use tax in the state you live in, even though the item is never shipped to and physically in your state of residence? Or do you possibly now owe a use tax to the state where the AH that is selling it for you is located, even though it will only be there for a short period of time while the AH completes the sale for you?

And for another possible twist, what if you lived in one state when you originally purchased an item that went right into their vault, and a year or two later asked them to now return the item to you. But during the time the item was in their vault you moved to a different state that also had sales and use taxes? Do you have to report and pay the use tax to the state you no longer live in since that was where you were living at the time you originally bought the item and put it into the vault, or do you now owe use tax to the state you had moved to, even though you didn't live in that state when the item was originally purchased?

And now here is the real ass-kicker question. Is the answer to each of these questions I just posed above going to be EXACTLY THE SAME in all 45 U.S. states that impose sales and use taxes on items being purchased?

And for the record, use taxes are not necessarily always reported and paid on a monthly or quarterly filing basis. For example, in Ohio there is a line item on the state's annual individual income tax return where an individual taxpayer (or jointly filing couple) can report any use tax owed on purchases from the prior calendar year. Any such use tax due and reported will then either increase the amount of Ohio income taxes owed, or decrease the state income tax refund that would otherwise be received.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, think twice, even three times, and then still don't make simplified posts with generalized statements in regards to taxes, especially concerning state taxes where the laws and rules can vary in every single state, unless you truly know what you're talking about. Otherwise, all you're doing is putting conflicting information out there that someone else on this forum that doesn't know any better may read and erroneously follow. I thought one of the basic tenets of this forum was to try and help and educate each other. That is simply what I was trying to do for anyone on here who already had items in either PWCC's or Goldin's vault, or was thinking about putting things in their vaults sometime in the future.

martyp 10-26-2021 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkFan70 (Post 2157087)
I emailed PWCC as I had the same issue. I received an email last night that had my winning bid and an invoice that was at my max bid. Luckily the difference was only a few bucks. Their response was that the initial email was wrong and that I was invoiced for the final price (which happened to be my max bid). I think in the future I will no longer use the max bid feature if I decide to bid in their auctions again.

At least you are now positive that they can see the max bids.

notfast 10-26-2021 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowman (Post 2157510)
PWCC responded to my inquiry. This is what they said regarding the discrepancy between the emailed invoices and the website hammer prices at checkout.



This is definitely not correct though. I went into a bidding war on a 1953 Topps willie mays card that was at $2k when extended bidding started. We bid it up multiple times after that, and the card was extended into multiple future time windows. My max bid on the card was set at $2800, which is what it shows at checkout. I took the bidding lead at $2700 and then placed a $2800 max bid after that as a blocker bid. Then the auction ended. I don't know if someone bid me up to $2800 or not, but I do know that the website showed $2800 at the last second after I thought I had it at $2700. My emailed invoice shows $2700 though, not $2,000 which is where it was at when extended bidding started. But at checkout and on the website it shows $2800.

I think the glitching happened when, during extended bidding, the item was bid up to a previously made max bid.

Example. Card was at $180. I bid $200. Someone comes in during extended and bids $200. I win auction because I bid $200 first.

I got email saying $190 was tots on one like that. Invoice showed the proper $200 when looking now. Waiting to pay and have them shipped to me (which is very easy so I’m not sure what you guys are talking about with being unable to do so) until all weeks auctions are done.

Stampsfan 10-27-2021 02:07 AM

Not being a vault fan, and a collector... if I wanted to win a auction and then have nothing in hand, I'd bid on an NFT.

Stampsfan 10-27-2021 02:08 AM

Question for those who did bid. I read the auction rules on closing, and there is nothing in there pertaining to who can bid in extended bidding.

Do you have to bid on an item prior to the 7PM Pacific closing, or can anyone bid in the extended bidding period?

Snowman 10-27-2021 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stampsfan (Post 2157666)
Question for those who did bid. I read the auction rules on closing, and there is nothing in there pertaining to who can bid in extended bidding.

Do you have to bid on an item prior to the 7PM Pacific closing, or can anyone bid in the extended bidding period?

You have to bid prior to the extended bidding period in order to participate.

notfast 10-27-2021 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stampsfan (Post 2157666)
Question for those who did bid. I read the auction rules on closing, and there is nothing in there pertaining to who can bid in extended bidding.

Do you have to bid on an item prior to the 7PM Pacific closing, or can anyone bid in the extended bidding period?

Yes.

Also it’s in the faq’s.

jh691626 10-27-2021 05:38 AM

I "won" something last night with PWCC (I never liked the word "won" for an auction--it's not like I am getting something free, I am paying a lot for this little piece of cardboard!).

The listed cost in the email and invoice were the same.

It did default to vault but it was pretty clear about that and easy to click a button to send to my house. Shipping was $5 on a ~$400 purchase. So perhaps they have fixed some of the issues (at least related to these logistics, I realize that there are bigger issues!).

The auction ended at almost exactly the price I would have expected for a PWCC eBay auction, for whatever that's worth.

rjackson44 10-27-2021 06:16 AM

I won and sold a card here on net 54 . Im pretty happy🤭

Johnny630 10-27-2021 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 2157585)
I'm shocked at the number of Net54 members still willing to deal with PWCC.

Just kidding...no I'm not.

If the devil himself hand an auction an was selling a 52 Mantle that was under comps with an hour to go you’d be shocked at how many people would still wanna deal with him.

Ultimately in this industry it doesn’t matter about integrity it matters about the cards and money.

bobbyw8469 10-27-2021 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjackson44 (Post 2157683)
I won and sold a card here on net 54 . Im pretty happy🤭

LOLOLOLOL!!! I'm with you Octavio. There is life before PWCC. There is life after PWCC. You can have a life and not involve PWCC whatsoever.

Lorewalker 10-27-2021 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 2157585)
I'm shocked at the number of Net54 members still willing to deal with PWCC.

Just kidding...no I'm not.

It is truly amazing.

rjackson44 10-27-2021 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469 (Post 2157697)
lolololol!!! I'm with you octavio. There is life before pwcc. There is life after pwcc. You can have a life and not involve pwcc whatsoever.

so true bobby hope all is well

mrreality68 10-27-2021 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjackson44 (Post 2157683)
I won and sold a card here on net 54 . Im pretty happy🤭

PWCC might be reaching out to you for your buyers contact info so they can have the card sent to there vault

Snowman 10-27-2021 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny630 (Post 2157690)
If the devil himself hand an auction an was selling a 52 Mantle that was under comps with an hour to go you’d be shocked at how many people would still wanna deal with him.

Ultimately in this industry it doesn’t matter about integrity it matters about the cards and money.

You assume everyone believes in the devil though. Many do not. Many also do not subscribe to the majority of the PWCC conspiracy theories.

Peter_Spaeth 10-27-2021 05:55 PM

1 Attachment(s)
This dude doesn't subscribe, for example. :D

slidekellyslide 10-27-2021 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowman (Post 2157899)
You assume everyone believes in the devil though. Many do not. Many also do not subscribe to the majority of the PWCC conspiracy theories.

Wait....what? Conspiracy theories? LOL

Snowman 10-27-2021 08:03 PM

Uh oh, looks like they're having server issues lol. Tonight's monthly auction listings suddenly disappeared 2 minutes before extended bidding started...

Will they cancel all the listings? Will they get it back up in time? Tick tock, tick tock...

Snowman 10-27-2021 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 2157914)
Wait....what? Conspiracy theories? LOL

The evidence is certainly leaning that way. The FBI investigation has been going on for what, 3 years now? I'm sure those indictments are just around the corner though. Any day now, any day now... Tick tock, tick tock... lol

Peter_Spaeth 10-27-2021 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowman (Post 2157945)
The evidence is certainly leaning that way. The FBI investigation has been going on for what, 3 years now? I'm sure those indictments are just around the corner though. Any day now, any day now... Tick tock, tick tock... lol

How long did the Mastro investigation (of a MUCH narrower scope) go on, Mr. Know it All?


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