Candiman Auctions Explained
 

Hey guys,

My name is Daniel and along with my brother Justin, we are the owners of Candiman Auctions. We are a new auction house and our first auction ends this Saturday, March 10th. I was informed last night that our company was being discussed on the forum. I spoke at length with Leon Luckey on the phone earlier today and asked for his advice. His advice was to start this thread.

Based on posts on this forum and other phone calls & emails I have received, I understand that people have concerns that we are associated with the eBay seller "Battlefield". We want to be upfront and honest with everyone about our association with them. We are related to the owners as I'm sure everyone on here already suspected based on our last name. I want to start out by saying that we completely disavow eBay seller "Battlefield". We do not in any way, shape, or form support their actions on eBay over the past several years. We find their actions despicable and we advised them to shut down their business because their reputation in the collecting community has been completely destroyed and no true collector would ever want to deal with them. They have consigned their remaining inventory to us and shut down their eBay operation. We were happy to take on their remaining inventory and get them out of the collecting industry for good. They actually have a lot of high quality items and if they had done things honestly, I believe they could have been successful. Not everything in our auction is their inventory. We have about 25 total consignors for this auction.

Regarding the items in our auction that we have identified as "Authentic" in the title and descriptions, we believe those cards have been altered and would likely only receive a grade of "Authentic" if submitted to any of the major grading companies. I know Battlefield was notorious for purchasing trimmed or altered cards and breaking them out of the holders and then reselling them as high grade examples on eBay. There is no excuse for that kind of activity and participating in that kind of activity is shameful. We have made every effort to identify any and all cards in our auction that appear to be trimmed or altered. If for some reason a card we haven't identified as altered is submitted for grading and comes back as such we would encourage the buyer to return the card and a full refund would be given.

We want to completely disassociate ourselves and our company from the terrible name that Battlefield has made for themselves in the collecting community. We are NOT like them. We have worked hard to provide high quality images and descriptions of all of the items in our auction. I hope you guys give us a chance and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this post. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me through PM or post to this thread.

Thanks,

Daniel & Justin

No link to the auction?

I tend to agree with Scott's post considering where this thread may go, but the proof will be in the customer service if and when an item is deemed to be altered. Best of luck to you guys. I will be following your auctions

Candiman ......... candiman .............. candiman ..........


Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhghhh. :eek:

Battlefield is the things nightmares are made of.

Hi Daniel
I did tell you that I thought the right thing to do was come explain the situation. And if you remember I think I also told you that it wouldn't be a walk in the park with this group. So a couple quick questions as you go down the path of vetting....

Have you ever sold anything to your mother and father, ever done any deals with them, or vice versa BESIDES the lots in your current auction? Also, through a search I found something and am curious what your middle name is? Good luck...

The only point of my post was that this should be a long thread before it's done. Not a comment as to my opinions of the auction.

I wish them luck. For the most part, Battlefield DID have nice stuff...and it was all original...no reprints. I think the problem arose when they attempted to deceive. Cracking out "A" cards and selling them as unaltered. Photoshopping. You get the point. The ironic thing is, if they would have just been honest, they probably would have been successful anyway. Without needing to cheat people.

So if this is true, I think you need to change your auction terms and descriptions, otherwise it's just fluff.

Hi Leon,

I appreciate your advice and willingness to speak with me on the phone earlier today. I didn't expect it to be a walk in the park and I am completely fine with that. I have nothing to hide. My middle name is Brian. I am a collector and I have sold them some items a few times in the past (on occasions where I would buy bulk or shoebox collection lots and pulled the cards I wanted and sold them the rest). I have never had any dealings with the operation of their business.

Thanks,

Daniel

Hi Dustin,

I absolutely agree with you on this. They destroyed their reputation by doing things the wrong way. I am glad we are able to play a role in ending their business for good.

Daniel

Hi Tony,

I agree with you. That should be in the auction rules and I will be adding that today.

Thanks,

Daniel

Hi Andrew,

The link to the auction is candimanauctions.com/catalog.aspx

Thanks,

Daniel

Hi,

My question is ... if you're so disassociated with Battlefield ... then how did you get my name to send me an email today advertising your services?

I have never dealt with you. But I did buy from Battlefield on Ebay (and my purchase was okay actually). They would have had my contact information. So the only way I can conceive of that you got my information is from someone you have disassociated yourself from.

Are you now claiming they gave you their entire inventory and all of their sales contact information?

Thanks,
Patrick

If anyone is going to bid on anything in this auction please PM me. There is a small lot of beaters I would like to throw a low ball bid at. For one small lot of cheap beaters I am not going to register with them. Thanks

I want to believe you, but it's hard when you say you're disassociating yourself from them, and then auction their remaining inventory. I think that's the opposite of disassociating.

In addition, there's a lot of lots that have no business not being graded, and are not identified as authentic (unless I'm missing it). For example, the NM Clemente rookie and NM+ 1956 Mantle. Unless you know them to be suspect, why not get them graded prior to auctioning?

- Jeff

Maybe pay for 5-day Express service in order to get them back mid-month?

Hi Patrick,

Since this is our first auction we asked our consignors if they would provide us an email list of people they have dealt with in the past that they thought might be interested in the auction. Your email address must have been on the list that either they gave us or one of our other consignors. It is not easy starting an auction site and we have tried to utilize every option to reach as many people that would possibly be interested in bidding in the auction. Our company operates nothing like they did. We are here to do things the right way. The only way to do that is to be open and honest like Leon advised me to do with this thread. I hope I am able to answer everyone's questions and ease their concerns. We love this hobby and really want to be a part of it.

Thanks,

Daniel

Hi Jeff,

We want our company disassociated with them. We operate nothing like they did. We want to be upfront and honest about every item we sell. If we believe a card has been altered it will be posted in the title and description. That is the only way to be successful in this industry. As cardsnstuff (Tony) mentioned earlier in the thread, I have updated the Auction Rules on the website indicating that if any card we haven't identified as altered is submitted for grading and comes back as such we will encourage the buyer to return the card for a full refund. There are many cards in the auction that should absolutely be sent in for grading and should receive good grades in my opinion.

Thanks,

Daniel

Just my 2 cents, but I would never ever buy a raw card from an auction peppered with cards from Battlefield's inventory. Auction industry standard is now, for better or worse, to have all major individual cards slabbed. The fact that you have chosen not to do so, coupled with your unfortunate hobby lineage and inventory source, is, if not telling, then baffling at very least.

"Authentic"
 

I'm having difficulty with your description "....has the appearance of a NM-MT card with no creases and excellent centering but measures a bit smaller than the standard size and would likely only receive a grade of “Authentic” if submitted to any of the major grading companies." Many of your high end cards have this notation.

Are you saying that these cards are trimmed? If so, why not come out and just say that?

Generally PSA will not slab a trimmed card:

"PSA will not grade cards that bear evidence of trimming, re-coloring, restoration, or any other forms of tampering, or are of questionable authenticity."

They could just be small. Back in the day people were always telling me their small cards were "natural shorts.":D

Probably cards from smallish Presentation Sets :)

fascinating stuff
 

Brothers Battles--

Full credit for coming on to state your case. I think this is understandably fascinating to a lot of us on Net54, as Battlefield/War_Eagle_Vintage had become a bit of a punchline on here and elsewhere.

Although I won't consider bidding in the auction, I'm interested to see how the first round goes for folks on here who will hopefully report back their experiences.

Couple of points here, and that's it:

--Ungraded cards of the caliber you have up for auction are very unusual to see these days. We're well past the advent of TPG's, and grading is now the standard way for collectors to protect themselves.
I think it's jarring for most of us to see this caliber of raw cards at auction, and understandably would make us suspicious even a neutral situation.

--However, we are not in a neutral situation. You not only have a good amount of Battlefield's inventory in your auction, but they are your *Family*.
You couldn't have disavowed Battlefield's actions any more strongly but, in the end, those are words. And they are words from an interested party who presumably has tens of thousands of dollars on the line with a current auction running.
And the counterpoint to that is that your direct Family members operated Battlefield for years, the most notorious vintage card operation on eBay.

I genuinely am not trying to be personal, but why persist in the vintage sports collectibles arena with this sort of history??

--Although there were certainly issues with Battlefield's product being trimmed, the bigger issue was the truly impressive manipulation and photoshopping of cards.
Ultimately a buyer ended up with a lesser card than expected, and then had to weigh the trouble of returning once in-hand, or simply just take the path of least resistance and keep it.
Would you be willing to guarantee that no scans have been enhanced or altered in any of your listings, now and in future? That and a return policy for ungradeable cards via TPG's would go a long way.

--Finally, just out of curiosity, with both of your experience in the collecting world, are there maybe some Dealers/Buyers you've had great associations with in the past? Feel free to name-drop.
It's a small community, and for folks who are deeply involved it's hard not to meet others in that circle and make an impression, one way or the other.

If you are truly trying to correct the wrongs of your Family, then I think that's extraordinarily commendable and I will wish you luck.
If this is something less honorable, then it won't escape criticism. Misbehavior with an Auction House doesn't offer the eBay remediation route, just the regular old Court system.

And again, I honestly wish you a lot of luck if things are 100% as you say. I try to be an optimist wherever possible, and hope for the good sense to stop just short of being a fool. :D

Agreed. Because the problem is their reputation was among the worst in the industry.

I saw you amended your returns as suggested. I think that was a good start.

Battlefield - War Eagle - Candiman - next name?
 

Thoughts:

-you started this thread to defend yourself only AFTER a Net54 user posted proof that your last name matches Battlefield’s name. That wasn’t being “upfront and honest.” That was you being reactive. Being “upfront and honest” would have been proactive, but it is too late for that.

-your parents taught you love the hobby. Did they also teach you how to deceive potential buyers?

-what about War Eagle on eBay? You didn’t mention that War Eagle was most likely the same seller as Battlefield. It seems that Candiman is your third attempt to con under a similar format. What will your next name be?....just so we know.

-you wrote, “we advised them to shut down their business.” I read that Battlefield was booted from eBay and that they didn’t voluntarily close their business. Are saying that they weren’t booted from eBay for fraud?

-it seems like you have a huge inventory of altered/trimmed cards to sell. Since you have so much $ and time invested in this ongoing con, you have no choice but to sell these cards to recoup $ = newly created auction house.

-it is interesting that you repeatedly referred to your parents as “Battlefield”, “them” or “they.” I encourage readers here to re-read the original post and substitute those words with the phrase “our parents.” I feel that you are just trying distract us into forgetting that you are “related” to con artists. I’d like to remind potential buyers here that they may be taking on too much of a risk of fraud at its worst and just a headache at its best.

-I feel that there may not be a Daniel or Justin at all. Just the same people trying to deceive collectors by using a slightly different format. Maybe Daniel/Justin were the original culprits all along. If so, then why would they start being honest now?

-I was never ripped off by Battlefield, but they tried their best to try to rip me off. I bought some cards which turned out to be heavily photoshopped. I contacted Battlefield twice through eBay and didn’t receive a response. I returned the cards through eBay and eBay had to force them to refund $. A few weeks later the same cards were sold again using the same photos. Deception, attempted fraud, zero customer service, then more deception.

If you become an honest seller(s), then I wish you luck.

I'm a little late to the party on the "battlefield" threads, but help me out here.

Is Battlefield your last name? Or is that an alias?

Most importantly, what is the full names of ebay users battlefield0516, so I run away from them in the real world?

Brothers Battle:

If you are sincere about starting over and undoing so many wrongs; which, if true, I think is admirable; how about accepting paypal? I saw on your on rules page that specifically you do not; Paypal has built in buyer protections, at least until you have demonstrated good faith. That way us buyers have protection, in case "family" history repeats itself.

Unfrickinbelievable
 

Can't believe these guys are starting an auction house and using their real names. Smart business move!! I agree with many on this forum. Carol tried to scam me a few years ago also and only thanks to paypal and not eBay was I able to get my money back. I, for one, don't buy into any of this crap. If I was a betting man, my money would be on - different forum - same old crap. Can't wait to see all the feedback on this auction, if anyone here would even participate. Although now that they are not protected by eBay, guess they had better be on the up-and-up. Mail fraud is a serious offense.

Even if you believed it, who would go on a public forum and call their parents' actions "despicable"? The same parents who are supplying them with most of their material. This whole thing seems odd to me.

I was duped by battlefield...with deceptive scans and inaccurate descriptions. I DID get my money back and after that steared far clear of them. With their history...in my opinion your endeavor is doomed and i will not be doing business with you. Id consider changing the name too..sounds like a drugdealer!

Exactly. Looks like his name is Daniel Battles. He's had Candiman, Inc. since 2011. I'm guessing Candiman Auctions is rolled into his vast conglomerate, similar to Berkshire:). Smoke and mirrors. This whole story is hard to believe, IMO. If you're buying anything in this auction, you're begging to be screwed.

Battlefield
 

Just a quick question. Has anyone confirmed it was actually the parents and not the brothers running the EBay account?

Mason Cole Battles - Are you related?

http://www.dothaneagle.com/news/crim...7a43b2370.html

My parents would have to do way more than be bad eBay sellers for me to "disavow" them. Best of luck with the auction house guys.

Or is Peter Nash involved in any way with past or present auctions?

Our alert membership kept me from ever considering doing business with 'battlefield' and I thank them for that.

It is extremely difficult to regain someone's trust and rehab a bad reputation.

Personally, I believe there are enough other choices out there to make anything connected (then or now)with to battlefield a bona fide non-starter.

That Clemente is absolutely a killer looking card.. almost cant stand it. If that thing comes back in a 6 slab (or better) the price goes thru the roof. You should really take that one down and send it in on fast turn around (probably going to need SGC for that as PSA cant get an order out to save their ass). Having said all of that - I am willing to take a chance on some smaller dollar items and take you at face value for now. If this is the same ole - same ole it wont take long to be outted. Best of luck!

Exactly.

Bingo
 

I am not buying candiman is here to be robinhood. I think battlefield and candiman are the same entity.

Basket of deplorables


Toby Petersen

Anyone up for taking a chance on a NM MT Red Heart Mantle?
http://candimanauctions.com/Mickey_M...kee-LOT38.aspx

How about a NM 52T Jackie?
http://candimanauctions.com/Jackie_R...yn_-LOT29.aspx

NM/MT Brooks rookie?
http://candimanauctions.com/Brooks_R...Bal-LOT57.aspx

Peter,
 

If you look at them for more than 30 seconds you get seasick and need a fisherman’s friend.

Sigh 😔

I'll admit, I'm one of the worst at detecting trimmed cards. On some of these, it's almost like they are too good to be true. Unfortunately, due to battlefields history of duping people in their quest for the almighty dollar, I am hesitant to bid aggressively on any of these lots, knowing full well the likelihood they will come back "AUTHENTIC" only is strong. Honestly, I would be surprised if any of these go higher than "A" prices. If people submit these for grading, and are rewarded, I predict you will be very successful in this business. If they submit for grading, and are disappointed, then I predict this is a one and done.

To me those look like three fraudulent listings. So much for making a new start.

I feel sorry for the other 15 people who consigned for this auction.

Just another walk in Leon's Park 54

Obviously, I am not a card guy as most of you know.
But I do read some threads on this side from time to time.
"This card appears to be" from the OP's description on his website is all the wording I think anyone would need to know where he is coming from.
To offer those cards, non-graded, in a "major" internet auction is certainly telling.
Why do these people even come on Net54 and try to defend themselves? This board is way too smart to let anyone come on here and try to fool us.

Not so fast...
 

The other 15 consignors are all family members I would guess.

🤷🏻*♂️

Originally the March 2018 premier auction was scheduled to close on March 3rd.

I guess they felt it would be more profitable to move it back to March 10th and hype it here on Net54 this week.;)