Anyone buy from greatlakesauctionhouse?
 

This looks suspicious....card bought on 10/25 by michigan_mice as a Psa2...Now it is for sale by greatlakesauctionhouse. Notice the red lines at the top appear to be faded in the current auction.

10/25 auction
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...06redcobbb.jpg

Today's auction
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...int23/cobb.jpg

T206
 

It's not my card but it's not a bad strategy by the seller. PSA will mark a card down to a PSA 2 if it has a little glue residue on the back. The seller may have tried to soak it to reduce the residue. Sometimes a card will sell better as a raw card if it has good eye appeal.

Card
 

I think the paperless is the reason it was a 2.

T206
 

What I've seen from PSA is tiny paperloss drives it down 1-2 grades perhaps but glue residue is almost always dropped to a PSA 2, even for a super nice looking card.

Hmm. He bought a PSA 2 T206 Cobb Red portrait on 10/25/11 for a $650 best offer. That listing included large photos and clearly stated "back has some minor paper loss" in the description.

He cracked out the card and relisted it with much smaller photos, threw in adjectives like vibrant, **incredible**, phenomenal, and dismissed the paper loss on the back as "surface wear." Sold for $1525.

Before:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110763683402

After:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1909-T206-ba...item2c60610131

Bingo
 

Check out his other purchases under michigan_mice...which very simaliar cards are sold under greatlakesauctionhouse.

Great racket - would suck it you got burned by it!

I
 

I don't trust these guys, show distant scans with flowery language. Possibly cracking out low grade cards and pump them up to be something else. Not sure if they alter cards

Boy that Cobby was a great buy at the original $650 price. Sensational eye appeal. At $1525 though. Not so great of a buy.

greatlakes
 

I seem to remember a similar thread on greatlakesauctionhouse, but can't recall the specifics? :confused: - same theme though - - smaller scans against colorful backgrounds and greatly overstated language

I know on the coin side of things it is very common for sellers to buy a coin graded by second tier graders, crack them out and sell raw for a nice profit. In fact there are people making a living doing just that. I guess it goes back to know what you are buying and buyer beware.

The paper stock on that card also appears to be lighter, indicating it was probably bleached.

Description
 

Interesting the description says guaranteed authentic and untrimmed...what about unaltered?

michigan_mice is definitely GLAH's buying account. Here are more examples:

'58 Ted Williams bought here:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/TED-WILLIAMS-...Dtw~~60_12.JPG

Currently for sale:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1958-TOPPS-ba...t2!~~60_12.JPG

'76 Walter Payton bought here:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1976-Topps-Fo...mu!~~60_12.JPG

Currently for sale:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1976-TOPPS-fo...wQ!~~60_12.JPG

1964 Roberto Clemente bought here:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1964-Topps-44...sHw~~60_12.JPG

Currently for sale:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1964-TOPPS-ba...)oQ~~60_12.JPG

1955 Al Kaline bought here:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1955-Topps-4-...Pl!~~60_12.JPG

Currently for sale:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1955-TOPPS-ba...KRoQ~~60_3.JPG

1959 Mickey Mantle bought here:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1959-Mickey-M...mwg~~60_12.JPG

Curently for sale here:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1959-TOPPS-ba...dv!~~60_12.JPG

it's the exposure
 

When I first got back into collecting a couple years ago I bought a pair of cards from him once and was very disappointed. He provides small photos that are slightly overexposed, so the little flaws are not as apparent, then of course is a master with his descriptions to paint a much better picture in the buyer's mind then what's reality. He has a return policy which now I wish I used. I wonder how many people utilize it. I doubt he's doing anything but altering the photos a bit. Doesn't take much to adjust the contrast and turn a three into a six or a seven at a glance, especially if there's no obvious creases and decent corners. I wouldn't buy from him again.

No offense to anyone, but it amazes me that people fall for this gimmick. "OUTSTANDING!", "STUNNING!", "BLAZER!" all mean nothing especially combined with a questionable "can't really see the details" pic. Translates into "RUN AWAY!"

A few other sellers use the same tactic, maybe it's a sad trend. My favorite is when they say "PERFECT CENTERING!", and you can actually determine from the lousy pic provided that it's closer to 60/40 one way, maybe 70/30 the other.

And these auctions consistently go for big money. Are people really this (to put it bluntly) stupid?

Not all sellers are like greatlakes. Battlefield0516 uses a lot of flowery adjectives in her listing but I've been very happy with her cards always which so far grade as expected or better (SGC 4 on a '48 Leaf Williams that I got for $450, SCG 5 for a '33 Goudey Foxx that was purchased for $525). I guess what I'm saying is I wouldn't completely dismiss listings with a heavy sales pitch, I just would make sure that there's a return policy and use it.