After issues with PROBSTEIN and the inability to even communicate = SAYANORA RICK!
 

Will come as little surprise to many here, however, I just had yet another horrifying experience with eBay Power Seller Probstein. This is not the first time either, so I have to ask myself - why? Even though he is one of the few selling several PSA cards that a set builder like myself needs - I finally concluded he just ain't worth the effort.

Virtually ZERO communication effort whatsoever by Probstein.

Virtually ZERO appreciation of the previous tens of thousands $$$ in purchases. (Likely into the hundreds of thousands $$$ over 12 years).

Silly me, as I thought this in itself would at least prompt responses to eBay msg.'s and emails.

Note: even though eBay Concierge Team Leader "Odie" advised for me to call Probstein on the telephone - even that is a dead end. A recording on his phone associated with eBay states "do not leave message, and to email him instead". Voice mailbox full of course. Several emails unanswered just like messages ignored via eBay. ALL DEAD ENDS.

Nice business practices Rick...

How do you know I am not trying to give you a HUGE CONSIGNMENT?

Never ceases to amaze how dolts like Probstein can run a business and get very wealthy from it and still treat their best clients like GARBAGE.

SAYANORA PROBSTEIN.....

I am a little more sympathetic to this than I used to be as we have been so swamped lately that I am definitely slower in responding than I like to be, but there is a difference between slow and no.

Working with Probstein from Clifford Cantrell
 

I sent Rick a fairly large consignment 4 or 5 years ago. He wasn't quite so busy then and we talked on the phone and then through email. He cherry picked the really good stuff and put that up right away and i got a check pretty quickly. The rest of the stuff he let set for about 6 months, constantly telling me that he would be putting up for auction "soon". At about the 6 month mark I asked him to send me back what hadn't sold and he did and he invoiced me for shipping it back.

He has not responded to my emails since then. I realize he is a very busy seller and I still buy cards from him. I have asked on may occasions about specific cards since he doesn't provide a description for most of the items for sale.

I will continue to buy from him as he has some pretty nice non-sports cards at reasonable prices but I will only buy if I can tell everything I need to know about the card before I place a bid.

He's a huge seller with a business plan that seems to work for him. As long as I can benefit by buying from him I will keep buying. I will probably not send him anything else to sell.

Apparently, Probstein is listing fairly pedestrian cards these days. Perhaps he is no longer getting a high volume of quality consignments.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/JIM-RICE-19...0AAOSw-k1fnAeJ

Rick (& Brent) will list whatever you consign.
They both would love Ruths, Cobbs & Mantles, but they can only list what the consignors send in.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-Topps-...EAAOSwY8hfemLL

It sort of reminds me of the signs that you would see at a small folksy restaurant when I was growing. Good Food, Good Price, Good Service - pick 2.

It seem that Rick's business model has the good food and good price - but not so much on the third. Compare that to Dean's Cards where they have Good Food and Good Service but not so great on the price.

Each has a place in the market - depending on what you prefer. It is just a near impossibility to get a 10/10 on product, price, and service. The person who can check all three boxes will eventually own the market.

Edit to Add - My name is in my heading but I wanted to put it at the bottom of the of this post as to not violate any rules.
Kevin Ailes