Just sayin....
 

Funny how the same three bidders put in exactly 29 bids on each of these photos:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120819417363...STRK:MEWAX:IT&
_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120819409110...84.m1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120819414011...84.m1423.l2649

Hank Thomas

Shill
 

Looks like we might see 2/3 relisted or a 2nd chance sent directly to underbidders...

I have purchased a few items from Jon. Some at what they should have sold for and others at a discount. Never had a problem or thought that he was ringing things up

Wow Hank!

That's a pretty insane group of bidding histories for those 3 lots!
Very interesting....

BTW, I can vouch for the seller Jonstats (Jon Richmond) . I've known him for many years and he is a very ethical seller.

In the exact same group I purchased this neat item for less than $6.00. :cool:
Bill Dinneen threw a no-hitter in 1905. After he ended his career as a pitcher he became an excellent AL umpire for 29 years. He was the home plate umpire in 6 no-hit games which is 2nd place all-time for an MLB umpire.

Dinneen was also behind the plate when Ruth hit his 60th.

I've also bought from Jon on numerous occasions (just got a package from him yesterday in fact) and have never gotten the impression of anything shady going on. More often than not, I've gotten the items at less than my maximum bid, often substantially less. In several instances, I recognized the lot from one of the bigger auction houses' recent auctions, and actually got it for less than he paid for it. Not to bash on Jon, but if he's shilling his own stuff, he's doing it wrong!

Seriously though, I think this is just a fluke, not an indication of nefarious activity. Make of it what you will, but I won't hesitate to bid on the next lot of his that catches my eye.

Honest seller
 

I too have bought from this ebayer and always felt like I received a very good.

Deal!!! (just trying to get my post count up)

Those are some pretty insane prices, especially the team photo. Holy Crap!

I agree Rhys!

I had that team photo on my watch list and I couldn't believe that it ended up selling for that much, especially because of the damage to the upper right side of the photo. :eek:

David,
I wasn't aware of the fact that he was the HP ump in that game as well. That's pretty cool!

I have purchased from Jon many times, and have always been very happy with his professional service. Items are packaged very well, he answers questions quickly, and the one time that I had a problem with an item I received, he refunded the payment very quickly, before I had actually returned it.

The returned item was a scored scorecard from an All Star game. It was scored, but upon closer inspection, it had been scored for a regular season game. He later relisted the scorecard, with a revised description to note the specifics of the scored game.

I check his listings often, and have zero hesitation to bid in his auctions.

I don't believe that those items were shilled, I believe that the bidders were dorks.

Doug

Yeah, I'm glad I missed noticing all of these; otherwise, I would have put in snipes I was sure would have won, gotten all excited about it....then lost.

Congrats to Jon on the good prices - nice guy, I've been a customer for around eight years and never had a problem. I've also enjoyed a few good conversations with him - asked him for advice, which he shared freely....just like the rest of our Net54 members.

Scott <=== not part of the Net 54 Memorabilia sub-forum Conspiracy Theory think tank

Bidder S**I, the winner of two of the photos and the underbidder on the other one, has bid on 22 items in the last 30 days, every one with this seller. Now that's a loyal buyer! Nothing looked right to me about the bidding on these, but stranger things have happened, I guess.
Hank Thomas

I don't think it's unusual for ebay sellers to have loyal customers..especially ones who sell similar stuff on a regular basis...And doesn't Jon have a shop? Perhaps people can stop by to look at stuff in person?

Some buyers are funny that way. Sometimes all it takes is getting outbid on one item to send a determined buyer on a tear to either win or run up the bids on a number of other items with the mindset of, "If I can't have it, I'm at least going to drain the pockets of whoever does win it." While frustrating for the other bidder, it's perfectly legal as long as you follow through with payment on any winning bids. Whether it has the intended result for that buyer or not, it does look very much like shill bidding to a third-party observer (especially when the ID's are scrambled), despite being out of the seller's control.

There is a difference between escalating the bidding and actual shill bidding. If you see the same unique items offered again later, then you'll know or at least have a stronger suspiscion that it's shill bidding. If not, it may have just been a pair of overly-aggressive bidders.

I'll say again, I have no reason to doubt Jon's character or his selling practices. If one of his regulars has some odd or aggressive bidding practices, I would just chalk that up to there being a lot of odd or aggressive buyers out there in the sports collecting community. I think you would be hard pressed to prove that this sort of "odd bidding" is widespread or in any way typical with his auctions.

Better late than never but I too will put in a good word for Jon. I admit those bidding patterns seem strange... however, Jon has always been very ethical from all I have ever seen or heard. I have known him for approximately 10+ yrs. I bought an item from him recently and probably will again.

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Jon is good people.