In general, how do transactions with Forum members go?

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

I've been reading about the Chris and Lee problem, and started remembering. I've probably done 35-40 transactions with board (or Forum--which is it?) members. In general, they've been outstanding. In about three cases, I've had to say "that's too much money--sorry." One was just--to much money--period! I didn't have it. One was entirely my fault: seller had written several times offering me a "N173," and each time, I'd read "N172." (wishful thinking, maybe). So when it came time to set a price, I was shocked--until he pointed out that it wasn't very high--for a N173! I felt like a prize idiot. There was one time, very recently, when I said i thought the price was too high for the card--when I really probably meant I just didn't have the money, and should have investigated further than a price guide before saying the price was too high for the card.

I especially want to thank the 6 of you who bought ALL my Colgan's chips (except 3 I'm keeping)--Jay B, Tom Bobblitt, Rhett Y, Todd Schultz, Scott Brockelman, and an unnamed buyer at Mark Macrae's show, and one of the 6 who traded my a very nice N172 Griffith for some.

Special names: Ben Fisher, Jay Miller, Brian Hodes, Scott Forrest. I've left out almost everybody; those are just the first names that come to mind who are responsible for a HUGE chunk of my present collection. I KNOW I've left almost everyone out. There are also people who have sold me ONE THING, which I treasure, and have forgotten their names. Hope I don't forget Brian NcQueen, who sold me the e-107 Thomas, like I have forgotten you who sold me the GORGEOUS Kimball sleeve...people who have GIVEN me stuff as well as selling or trading me stuff: Brian Daniels, David Rudd--without you, I wouldn't be able to look at the rest of my collection properly.

I've also sold and traded a couple of other cards. I thought the transactions went well (except UPS really messed up on one! But not permanently.

Oh geez..Patrick--forgot. I was just reading this column; I never figured out why you got so insulted...anyway, glad you made a good trade with Bill...

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Posted By: Greg Ecklund

I haven't sold or traded anything on here yet, but I have made five or six buys and all have gone smoothly.

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Posted By: hankron

As a seller only, I haven't had any troubles with board members including lurkers.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

buys, sells and trades.

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

I've never had a problem buying from or selling to any board 54 members, and in fact have had exceptional transactions with at least 10-15 of our contributors. All of this is despite the fact that I've never actually met anyone on the board in person. I hope to remedy that next year in Chicago at the National. Be well Brian

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Posted By: john/z28jd

Ive had good deals with lots of people too but Jay Miller is by far the best and im not just saying that because i want him to adopt me.Ive had numerous deals with tbob and hopefully another one coming up soon,and ive bought from James Verrill probably more than anyone without any problems.

On the other hand.....
Runscott used to be a favorite before he got out of cards,and Lee overcharges for buchner cards,and i like David Rudd and hankron but im not a huge fan of cycleback.Elliots useless way up there in canada and Bill overcharges for t207s besides being dictator-like on the board,ive never dealt with wonkaticket/john but i could see me not liking him and ill never forgive Kevin Cummings for what hes kept from me for so long.

wow thats alot of inside jokes/references in one paragraph.

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Posted By: Bill Cornell

John-

When I do my taxes next year, you will get listed as a charitable deduction. Now I have to root against you in the Sloate auction...

Bill

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Posted By: Gary B.

I've bought card(s) from Brian (shammus) two or three times, and all transactions and communications were outstanding. I'd buy from him any time. I've had other people offer me items (Julie being one) that were a bit out of my price range at that time, so those transactions never occurred, but always they were very friendly and professional.

I had one not so good transaction, but since he didn't actually rip me off, I won't mention his name. He doesn't seem to be much of a regular contributor to Net54 anyway. We were negotiating on something I was going to buy from him and everything was going very well. It got to the point where he even gave me his paypal info and I was ready to pay for the card, but, to my intense regret later on, I e-mailed him with one more question before paying. He then told me he had previously made an arrangement with someone to sell a bunch of his cards including that one, but that he thought it wasn't going to happen. In that window of time, he received money from that person and then retracted his offer to me, even though we had sealed the deal. It was an item I was VERY excited about (as he knew), and it seriously pissed me off when he did that. Why would he offer something for sale that he had already sold? If there was doubt about that previous transaction, he should have made sure it wasn't going to happen before offering it for sale again. He came to me to offer it for sale too, I didn't even go to him - he was just responding to a post of mine. I tried to see if he could make other arrangements with the other person and sell the other cards without that one, but he said he had to keep to his word and wouldn't budge or answer any e-mails after the first one. Problem is, he didn't keep his word to me, so it was hypocritcal, and very upsetting, especially since it was a rare item that it could take years to come across again. I found later he had a cancelled ebay account with some negative feedback. Anyway, no point mentioning his name as I know others here have had positive interactions with him, and he didn't actually steal my money or anything, just acted unprofessionally and irresponsibly. It wouldn't stop me from doing other transactions with Net54 folks, but it has made me more wary. I would never have expected that kind of behavior, and it was after I had checked this person first as well.

Can't win 'em all I guess...

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Posted By: Ben

I can't emphasize enough how vital this forum has been to the development of my collection. I have bought, sold, and most often traded with many, many people that post/lurk here, and never once have I been ripped off or let down. Just goes to show that the BST thread is a great alternative to ebay, for there is a level of trust and respect here that just wouldnt be possible in the online auction format.

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Posted By: Judge Dred

I've sold to a few board members and all transactions went well.

I've purchased lots of items on ebay and off ebay (sold by board contributors) and for the most part all transactions went well with the exception of a few (I'm not going to name names of the "not so good transactions"):

GOOD TRANSACTIONS:

One person with whom I like to deal is TXSM (ebay moniker). He has a very fair return policy - if you don't like it, send it back! No questions asked. Just don't hold it for a month. If I don't like the price of his cards I don't have to buy it from him. Pretty simple.




NOT SO GOOD 1:

A raw T213 card was purchased on ebay but the seller didn't disclose the three small surface creases on the card. These creases did not show in the scan provided on ebay. Rather than make a big deal out of it (less than $100) I now know not to bid on his auctions in the future. Or if there is something that I like I know (now) to ask detailed questions regarding the item for auction. The card was relatively nice but the surface creases are very obvious (in person) and were not disclosed in the item description. I did email the seller and told him that I wish he would have disclosed the creases. I didn't receive a reply so I just didn't leave a feedback for that person. Why should I leave a negative feedback and have someone screw up my clean feedback record with a retaliatory negative feedback. I wish this person would have at least contacted me and apologized for the oversight (minimum) or that they would have offered a refund on the item.

NOT SO GOOD 2:

An N28 card was sold to me which was SHORT. I sent it in for grading (knowing it would probably be rejected) and it was sent back unencapsulated due to trimming. I contacted the seller and was told that it was sold "as-is" which was never part of the original agreement. I never threatened the person but I told them how wrong they were for not taking the item back. Basically I was told to stop harrasing them and was provided with the name of an attorney that would bring charges against me if I were to "slander" him. I about died laughing because (I called) the attorney and found out he was a real estate attorney that probably wouldn't want any part of this. All this because they didn't want to refund the $175 or so dollars for selling something that was altered. My guess is that the person wanted to unload the item because they got it in a deal and didn't want to absorb the loss. The item was for sale on ebay and had a few days left. I emailed the seller with questions regarding the card. I wanted to know if it had been submitted for grading in the past and whether they considered the card gradeable. The replies were NO - not sent in for grading in the past, YES - it should be gradeable. I was surprised because the seller said they'd end the auction early and sell it to me at the minimum bid price. I never offered to purchase the card before the auction ended. The seller approached me about this. It was a lesson learned. This was a few years ago.

In any case I know who NOT to purchase from. I'm a fairly conservative and non-confrontational type of person that will try and take the higher road. I try to live by that adage: "screw me once - shame on you, screw me twice - shame on me."

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Posted By: JimB

I have bought, sold, and traded with several people who are regular or semi-regular contributors to this forum and all transactions have been smoothe and gone without a hitch.
jim

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Posted By: ramram

I also have had good transactions with a few of the board members...mostly through ebay. I have often wondered, however, what are the user ID's of some of you on ebay. I'm sure there are many of us on ebay that people don't recognize. I don't know if some would rather not say but I'd like to hear who some of you are. No big secret who I am on ebay......ramram.

Rob Morgan (ramram)

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Posted By: Brian H (misunderestimated)

As far as ai remember every transaction (ebay or otherwise) I have had with anyone I strongly associate with this Board has gone quite well and any and all issues that have arisen have been resolved amicably. This includes everything from very small transactions to some of the largest I have ever been party to.
Specifically, I want to comend the following individuals (in no particular order) as superb trading partners and recommend them wholeheartely:

Ben Fisher
Jay Miller
Julie Vognar
Scott Forrest (RUNSCOTT)
Scott Brockelman
Lee Behrens (BOWLINGSHOEGIVEROUTERGUY)
Hal Lewis
Ryan Cristoff
Chris (THEILLINI)
BC Daniels
Andy Baron
Tim S.
Tim N.
Bob Marquette (T-Bob)
Bill Cornell
Pete Calderon (Petecld)
Brooks (TXSM)
James Verrill
Adam Warshaw (Warshawlaw)
Elliot B.; and
Kevin Cummings (even though he went to Williams)


I apologize if I am forgetting anyone -- it was NOT intentional.
It is a pleasant feeling to write (and read) something entirely positive these days.... It often seems that we live in a very negative world these days.

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Posted By: Patrick McMenemy

To date, all of my transactions with board members have been excellent. I sold Quan a E103 Gibson. I traded Bill a duplicate Chief Meyers T3 for some really sharp B18s. I purchased an awesome B18 Gibson as well as a nice M101-2 Sporting News Supplement of Ira Thomas from Lee. I purchased a tremendous Ira Thomas T5 Cabinet from Tom.

Hope to do more trading in the future.

Patrick

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Posted By: Anthony

I"ve had nothing but very positive dealings with everyone on this board I've bought or sold from, including Hankron, Quan, BcD, Brian H., Bill, John/Mike at Full Count, Greg S. and I"m sure a few others.
As a general rule transactions with collectors I've met thru the various boards have been the smoothest I've had. It's the occasional rogue seller on ebay that have given me the few regrets I've had, and I"m sure were it not for this board it probably would've happen a few more times than it did.

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Posted By: Brian McQueen

In the past I've attempted to show appreciation for this board and it's members through various posts of my own, so this post will not be any different. My collection would not be anything near what it is now if not for the contacts that I've made, the knowledge that I have gained and the friendships that I have found through this site. I'm also very thankful that I've not only met worthwhile individuals that share the same passion for the hobby that I do, but that I've also discovered new friends that I talk to on a weekly (or even daily) basis.

To echo an earlier comment, this board has made a fantastic alternative to Ebay. Whatever I have to sell will always be posted here first and Ebay will only be used as a last resort. Through other means (ie...Ebay) I have had a couple very negative experiences which were unfortunately never resolved. However my experiences on this board have been nothing but positive. I've both bought and sold cards to so many of you already that I don't dare name any names for fear of leaving someone out. But I did want to stop for a second and take the time to collectively thank those individuals as well as the board itself for having such a positive impact.

Best Regards,
Brian

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

To echo what a few others have said, this board and the wonderful people who frequent it have been directly responsible for providing some of the most prized possessions in my collection. Among the major ones were my T204 Burkett from John Billingsley (through Scott Brockelman); my E107s from Scott Brockelman; my Warren Studio CDV of Cal McVey from Scott Forrest; my Gilbert & Bacon cabinet Old Judge proof of Gus Weyhing from Tom Boblitt; too many Old Judges to mention from Jay Miller and my N172 Harry Stovey from Brian Hodes (he sold that to me before he knew I went to Williams College! )

On more than one occasion people have sought me out to offer me things that appeared in the B/S/T thread.

This board is an invaluable source of material, information, friendship and a lot of humor for any serious vintage collector.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I've only dealt with a few people here, mainly because for a large portion of my time here, I was focused on Indian Chief cards. Those dealings, and others involving baseball cards have beenoutstanding. And I got my Thorpe card I wanted for so long from a very kind lurker here.

Jay

I saw weird stuff in that place last night. Wierd, strange, sick, twisted, eerie, godless, evil stuff. And I want in.

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Posted By: bcornell

During an exceptionally boring meeting at work today, I made my own list of collectors on the forum that I've bought, sold, or traded with... it was over 50 when the bell finally rang for recess. Forgive me for not citing them all here, but I'm sure there are a few I would overlook. Every deal was worth it and I hope there will be a bunch more.

The best thing about being the interim VBC custodian is getting to correspond with people I didn't know before. It's an ongoing pleasure.

Bill

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

I also have had alot of excellant transactions with board member. Here is a list. As with Brian H. sorry if I missed anyone:

Brain Hodes (misunderestimated), raids me of my higher grade T202s
John Dreker (z28), numerous excellant transaction
Bill Cornell (our fearless leader), T206 trades always to perfection
Cy Petrie, Always a pleasure and great guy
Brian Weisner, Has helped my T206 set, very knowledgable.
Pete C, Met in person great guy, great to deal with.
Patrick McEnanamy (vintagecatcher), Has a couple of my nicest catcher items
Scott Forrest (runscott), always a pleasure dealing with.
Brooks Newell (txsm), meet in person, pleasure dealing with
Scott Brockleman, also met, great to deal with.
Tim Newcomb, always has his sniper ready for me
James Verill, always a pleasure many excellant transactions
Elliott, our old fearless leader, always a pleasure.
Bill Brown, trading made easy

This is a great thread, but always have an idea who you are dealing with, if you are not sure feel free to ask any board member we are always willing to give our input.

Lee

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Posted By: Mike McGrail

... I look forward to many more!!

Mike

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Posted By: runscott

especially Mike M, our vintage collector in Holland.

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Posted By: scott brockelman

a no log in by "tony" claiming to be looking for an e107 plank to go with his newly acquired e107 wagner! and also looking for other rarities is probably on a fishing expedition to get people to offer to buy some rare cards.

"tony" if i am wrong please log in and offer up a little proof.

scott

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

I've dealt with MANY of you on the board. I can't remember any bad transactions with anyone here. My Griffith Old Judge is firmly ensconced on the Left coast now with Julie and my dealings with everyone from Jay Miller, Leon, Tbob, Patrick, Kevin Cummings (who ALWAYS emails me when PM1 pins are on ebay but also made me drink too much at Applebees in NJ), Julie, Brockelman and more than I can keep up with have continued to make collecting this stuff fun. Thanks to all I mentioned and I'm sure I forgot someone out there.....

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Posted By: leon

Never had a bad deal with any bored member yet. And I can pretty much thank Scott B for getting me into this addiction. I will never forget the T205 Johnson in a PSA7 holder, that I bought from him, that was my first big purchase. Three years later I doubled my money on it to finance another purchase. I have dealt with too many to name and all have been good. Even though I don't take returns on ebay I have taken one from a board member that couldn't quite see the friggin' enormous scan I sent him and then said he didn't realize it was what it was. Even "he" is still ok in my book....regards all

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Posted By: Scott Elkins

have been PERFECT - buying, selling AND trading!

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Posted By: Scott M

I just wanted to echo similar sentiments that others have expressed.

I've had wonderful transactions with the likes of Petecld, Glen V, Ben, Julie, Wayne and most recently Tim S.

Even if talks with others never came to fruition (or have yet to come to fruition), its been great getting to know several of you over the course of the year since I found the board.

Scott M

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Posted By: Tim Newcomb

I have followed this thread with some sense of bemusement since it coincides almost exactly with a board member stiffing me on a $700 ebay item.

I will offer the card to the board at that price before putting it back on ebay. Details on it will follow on the September B/S/T thread.

All my other transactions with board members have been excellent. Guess you can't win them all.....

Tim

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Posted By: Julie

?

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Posted By: hankron

I might stiff you out of $50, but $700's too rich for my blood. I don't have that kind of money.