Mastro/Legendary's Current Auction
 

I've noticed whenever I put a bid in, in the enter straight bid field, after I hit submit that that is the new current bid price.

So say the current bid on an item is 300, I enter say 700, the current bid jumps to 700, rather then 350, the next increment.

Now I can understand if that previous bidder had a max bix of say 650, then I understand the jump. But I bid on 10 items, they all couldn't have had the current bid right at my max bid.

I even took the led on one item at 800, then for kicks upped my bid to 900 to see if it would remain at 800, but it doesn't it then jumps the current bid to 900.

So is this right? What the point of putting any secret bid in it jumps the current bid to your max?

Unless it's a software glitch, sounds like you're choosing "straight bid" instead of "ceiling bid".....

Don't you have to click a button before you set a ceiling bid? It then gives you a link with the various available increments.

or wait....
 

is that what the Max field is for? My mistake then.

I still find it odd current bid jumps it up like that.

Yup - that's what Max bid is. Click on the word/link for MAX and it explains:

*"Absentee, Ceiling, Limit, Max or Up To" Bids: *Different terms, same meaning. When placing such a bid, you are instructing the auction house to competitively bid on your behalf up to (but no over) a given limit. These bids are kept in strict confidence. This type of bid is for your convenience and can be done online or by calling.

Yep, I think it is my error, I am choosing the Straight Bid and should be choosing the Max bid. I'll do that going forward. Should I really trust there Max bid? With all the past shilling etc, makes me nervous.

Do most people use Max bid or just the next increment for straight bid and do 1 at a time?

It really depends...
 

I did an online survey a few months ago and the strategies were all across the board. But if you have the time, there really is only 1 downside to putting in an early placeholder and then bidding aggressively in extended bidding -- which is that there may be a certain bid that is your absolute ceiling and you want to be the first bidder to that threshold. But I agree with those who have said that if you put in an early max bid, all you are doing is inviting people to bid into your ceiling....

LOL, unless you're the type that runs with scissors or goes swimming immediately after eating, I'd advise against leaving Legendary any ceiling bids. That would be akin to walking through Times Square with a roll of hundreds hanging out your back pocket. If Doug Allen doesn't grab your money the gypsies will.

Now that's funny.

Max Bids
 

As the software provider for Legendary, I can tell you that they have absolutely no view of any of the ceiling bids nor anyones passwords. When it was brought to our attention on this board that there was a way to log in as the user and view the ceiling bids, we were asked to close that ability by our customers, which we did so immediately. There will always be people who will believe what they want to believe regardless of all the measurements we have taken to prevent anyone to view Max Bids but, I can say with 100% certainty that legendary cannot see ANY Max Bids whatsoever and they have been very proactive in asking my company to help them in this regard.

I've done a jump for bidding before where I use a straight bid very early in the auction that is considerably higher than then next incremental bid. The strategy here is to drive out early bidders who are only somewhat interested in the item and are only looking to put in a placeholder bid. This straight bid is not my max, and I think this only works for items that are a bit obscure. If the item is very popular, you'll get blown away, but if there would only be mild interest in the lot, you can reduce your competition for it.

Hi Bob,

Can you explain a little more how your software works? If I call in and do a bid by telephone do they enter that by a different method or do they access my account whereby they can see my max bids? How do they update information such as mailing address without being able to access bidding information? I take it they can't access our personal passwords? But could they temporarily change the contact email address, request the password, and then transfer it back to the original contact email address? I am not singling out Legendary, but I bid on many of your clients' auctions. Thanks for any information.

I will try to summarize, a user can call up and give their name to the auction company, they company can look up this info and see a screen that has all the info of that caller with the exception of the UserID and PW. The auction company can then edit information or place a bid for that user. If an admin (only and admin) changes the email address the user will be notified via the old email address.

Just for the record, I had 2 max bids entered for 2 to 2 1/2 weeks before the end of the auction and ended up winning the lots for approx 65% of my maxes (sp?).

Bob, I'll bet $1 million of my money that Doug and/or Bill Mastro have looked at ceiling bids over the years and acted improperly with that information. Let me know if you want to take me up on this offer.

Thank you Bob for answering my questions, I appreciate it.

Max biss
 

Jeff, I cannot speak for anything that happened at Mastro's, (as i did not provide Mastros auction software) I was merely stating a fact that Doug or anyone at Legendary Auctions cannot see anyones Max Bids.

Jeff, I just finished talking to my bookie and she is advising everyone to stay away from that bet.

Attachment 28018

Lovely Day...

I'll make the same bet with regard to the existence of fraud in Legendary Auctions.

This is getting very interesting...

Hmmmmm. Call it a hunch, but I suspect Jeff knows something he is not sharing.

I wonder if their history of shilling actually helps them get consignors :p

Jeff,

A million bucks is a bit hefty for a common guy like me, how about $1.50?:p

Unlike Jeff I don't have any idea what did or did not go on, but my opinion is that the issue ultimately depends on the integrity of the auction house and its principals and not on what they can or can't do with their software.

didn't think the first post could be topped but the man is relentless!


oh and...
http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_...as_Dr_Evil.jpg

Still waiting for Doug or Bill or Frank DiRoberto to take me up on that bet. I'd even bet Wally but I'm guessing he's too busy drunk dialing to read the board.

I'll take that bet!!
 

Jeff- I will take the bet

(can you let me borrow a million? I seem to be shy a tad bit, like around 999k)

I should add...besides some controversy on the board, surrounding it, the auction has some great stuff in it.

Max Bids
 

Now that is funny

I can't speak for Mastro, as I only know them for their absurdly high prices they attained in their auctions looking through VCP history. I have won items through Legendary though, and have always received what I paid for (albeit a little slow with shipping).

The same can't be said through other auction houses.....right now, I am dealing with a "lost" package that I won through Heritage Auctions. An item I wanted really badly for a new set that I planned on completing....

lost?
 

So you are saying it's Heritage's fault it got "lost" in the mail? I understand wanting something badly but unless Heritage was hand delivering it, then I am not sure I understand your post?

I'm not sure if Heritage officially handed it to the Post Office. It is my understanding from the Post Office, it was supposedly on a bulk skid of 157 packages. Each individual package was not scanned. The scanned a ledger claiming what was on the skid. So techncially, there is no proof the package ever made it onto the skid.....

..granted, I have never had a problem with Heritage before. But this was BY FAR the best deal (according to VCP average selling price) I ever won from one of their auctions. It also ironically happens to be the one that I look like I won't be getting.....

that does it..
 

No doubt it's a conspiracy by the Post Office, since that is who you got your info from. I am sure they tell folks stuff all of the time to try to cover their tracks....

True....I do hope it turns up, but I am not very optimistic....at least it is insured thru Heritage! I hope everyone has a HAPPY THNKSGIVING!!!

Well, I know one thing...I sure don't like that packages can be scanned in bulk on a skid. I'd prefer that each individual package was scanned in.

Too time consuming I guess......shoot, I am lucky if my postal clerks give me an "acceptance" scan when I hand them an item!

this is crazy
 

I will bet that what they meant (and I haven't confirmed this) is that they had all of the individual packages on a pallet. They were individually addressed and tagged (DC, Sig Confirm., etc...) The postal person picking them up took a hand scanner and scanned each one on the pallet. I used to do a ton of shipping and that is the way it was done. I would find it very, very difficult to believe that there is some sort of "bulk" system that the PO uses and scans a whole pallet of individual packages, going to different places, at once. How in the world could they track anything that way? Then again, maybe I am missing something here. Hopefully the package will get found. I am sure every single auction company has had to deal with a lost package or two....best regards and Happy Turkey Day....(poor turkeys)

Just thought I would give a quick update. Now when you punch in the tracking number, it states there is no sign of it. Like it totally got swept under the rug. Looks like the best deal I ever got on Heritage is a no-go.....

scannin
 

Hi Leon,
The PO now has a manifest service for ebay/paypal customers, and it applies to anyone who prints their own postage and labels. Let's say that I sell 20 items on ebay, then I print the labels and apply them to the packages. I can then print a manifest that lists each individual package and shows the total number of packages. The postal clerk then scans the barcode on the manifest, so there is only one scan made. When you go online to look up the tracking info it will show all 20 packages as accepted by the Post Office and which manifest these packages were attached to.

The problem is that the PO doesn't check each individual package to see if it actually matches the manifest. I might bring in 20 packages, but they may not be the same 20 packages that are manifested, so a lot of trust is involved with the customers bringing in the packages.

UPS and Fed EX handle their larger customers in the same manner. In fact, at most post offices, we receive dozens of parcels every day that originated with Fed Ex or UPS, and these companies drop them off at the Post Office for final delivery. These packages are all manifested, but we do provide them with individual arrival scans because in the past we had lots of problems with the packages that actually arrived not matching the manifest. I suspect we will get to a point with PayPal and Click and Ship customers where we will need to scan every package that is associated with a particular manifest but many of these customers come to the front window and there just isn't time to scan each individual package and still keep the lines moving. The other issue is that these business customers don't want to wait in line while we scan 30 or 50 parcels, so they provide the manifest instead.

Rick

Rick
 

Rick- thanks for the update. I had no idea that 1 scan could scan all packages. I stand corrected. When I did mass shipping it was actually before the internet ....about 22 yrs ago. Life was so much simpler then :)

Bobby- sorry to hear of the issue. I still think your package will be found and please keep us updated on it. Worst case would be insurance but I know that isn't good because of the great deal you got. regards

Leon...one of my friends from the PSA message board had some basketball cards come up missing....he didn't think twice about it, until he saw what facility they came out of.....yep, you guessed it, COPPELL, TX!!! Seems there is a thief working at the facility who loves PSA graded cards!!!

my most expensive loss ever
 

I had a lost package of over $3k (far and away my worst ever) and it too never left the Coppell USPS station. I live about 20 miles from there and I too think there is a rat over there.

WOW! Leon...that is incredible......did you ever call the Postal Inspector?

yes
 

I don't want to go into all of the details but it was a very costly learning lesson for me. I did call and talked to USPS folks there but they were really no help out all. Actually, they kind of sucked. It was my fault for not doing the things I should have done to be able to recoup my money. I was really not smart on that one.....Live and learn.....

Well...I am calling the Postal Inspector tomorrow.....someone has a nice collection in TX at our expense......I can give you the number if you want to call as well? Maybe some good will come out of it....

Why is Heritage in Downtown Dallas
 

Shipping out of Coppell ----

Or is that a central USPS office ---- if so; then I'd be looking at working through one of the many Dallas Post Offices downtown (I guarantee that) and why are cards being driven to locations quite a distance from their office. Or am I missing something here, you would think that with their offices down town, they should be able to arrange for all shippings to be done from their offices as well. I wonder if this occurs with alll their auctions or just the sport one. Just a curiousity quesiton

Rich

Coppell is the central USPS location for this region and all packages going out of state, from this area, go out of there. I believe that is what I was told.

If so
 

That explains a lot -- but someone in that office is building a nice collection, albeit with a five fingered discount.

Yea...the card stolen from me was a 1969 Dick Butkus PSA 9. 1 of only 8! It's not like you can just run down to the Wal Mart and buy another one!