Andrew Cornelius Used Me As A Reference and Reneged at an Auction House
 

The title says it all. Andrew Cornelius of Birmingham, Alabama, recently joined the forum and used me as a reference with an AH. He reneged. I don't believe I have spoken with him, nor do I know him. It would be difficult to know around 14,000 members.
IF you are doing any deals with him please consider this a warning. Also, if anyone uses me as a reference, and they renege, their name will be in lights.
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Sorry
 

Googled him up… if this is the same guy he is an attorney in Birmingham Alabama. I wonder if this is a case of a “stolen identity “ or just another standard scumbag move…

I believe Con is the usual nickname for Cornelius around these parts.

Not a stolen identity, I don't think. Maybe a different person with the same name?
I have an email from a well respected auction house showing me his registration and my name as a reference. And said AH said he reneged in their auction last month. I don't think respected AH's would make this up. I also left a vmail for him today, as well as an email and a pm (not sure he could get the pm) concerning the issue..... I didn't hear back. He was on the forum just a little while ago too. His Net54 ID is awcornelius.

Not sure someone would steal an identity to renege on an auction. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either. Not like he gained anything tangible out of his scumbaggary.

Going to send you a PM Leon.

Not sure why he would use your name, but if it's the same guy I am thinking of, he is legit.

I just sold him a big card and had a seamless transaction with him.

My guess is that he doesn't have many hobby connections and put your name down.

Matt, no disrespect meant, but he reneged and used my name as reference. I am sure he has probably done good deals before. That isn't the issue.

No worries Leon- I can understand your frustration here.

Why would anyone list a reference that they don’t know?

Because…..
 

Because they hope no one ever checks!! And they rarely do!

First off if this happened to me I'd be just as livid as you are. Secondly, if an auction house asks for references and they don't follow up on verifying the reference then they have no one to blame but themselves.

Can’t imagine how violated you must feel. Is there any type of legal action that can be taken?

I don't feel violated, that sounds kind of dramatic.:) Just not happy someone used me as a reference and didn't pay for their winnings. Not the end of the world

I received a PM from another longtime member, today. that he reneged on a deal with him too. But since he wasn't out anything he didn't say anything.

Life goes on. Come on stock market! :) LOL.....

I agree with Robert. If you don't check references what is the point of asking for them? If auction houses don't vet their bidders they are inviting trouble which, unfortunately, will impact the consignors more than them.
The auction house should do what Steve Verkman used to do--publish the names of any reneging bidders at the start of the next catalog. I always thought that was very smart.
Leon--LOL, hoping is not a trading strategy.

I follow an online sale “buy it now” guy who does live sales on Facebook. He routinely names buyers and amounts owed when they don’t follow through on their commitments to purchase items. It’s sad for him, but fucking hysterical to hear that he’s outting these bad buyers.

I think it is one thing to say you are a member of Net54. It is quite another to specifically list Leon as a reference thus giving the impression that there is a solid known history he (Leon) can vouch for. I think the member in question should be banned. No excuse for what he did.

Coming from 45 years of experience in the comic book hobby, the only two individuals who ever reneged on me were heavy hitting, top of the totem collectors. In one case we worked it out over time, in the other case not.

Some people just can’t help themselves and thus get overextended, but it doesn’t matter to me if it’s some big shot attorney or just a regular Joe, if they renege on a deal AND use a reference that they were not qualified to use, then we’re done. Period.