Scammers in the Buy Sell Trade Section

[Leon]

Over the last 2 days there have been at least 2 scammers trying to get members to do deals on the BST. Neither had gotten approved and slipped in through the cracks. Be very, very careful about new members over there and ALWAYS PM me so I can look into any strangeness. Be careful over there.

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

Leon, maybe we need a new "BST Authentication Service". Anytime a deal is done on BST, the card has to be sent to you for "Authentication" and then you forward on to the buyer.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding

[bbnut]

And maybe, Leon, you can grade and slab the deal! Let us know how much that will cost and what your turnaround time will be, please.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[NiceDocter]

I know this may sound crazy but I think there should be a way us regular Net54 users can see these known scams after they are discovered so we can learn what to look for better. Kind of like free tuition to the School of Hard Knocks……

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by bbnut

And maybe, Leon, you can grade and slab the deal! Let us know how much that will cost and what your turnaround time will be, please.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

The "Luckey Vault" has a nice ring to it...

[Dead-Ball-Hitter]

Originally Posted by bbnut

And maybe, Leon, you can grade and slab the deal! Let us know how much that will cost and what your turnaround time will be, please.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Hi Leon, Can you also employ a reduced cost grading scale using only grades 5-10 so that I can trick buyers into thinking their grade 5 is actually EX and their 9 is actually a "mint" card?

[jcmtiger]

Ha!!! Ha!,,, not so far fetched. I won’t go through the whole story. Bought a Ty Cobb T205 on ebay, sent for grading, came back counterfeit. The seller would not return my money. Fast forward 10 years, that same seller won a card I was selling on ebay. I told the story on Net54, he was member here. Outed him. Lots of action on this site. Finally the seller decided to return my money 10 years later. But we did not trust each other, came to an agreement, I sent the counterfeit card to Leon, he sent the money to Leon. Leon, the Great guy he is sent the card to him and the money to me. It was over $1000.00. Thanks agin Leon. Joe

[GasHouseGang]

That has to be some kind of record. A refund ten years later, wow!

[jcmtiger]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

That has to be some kind of record. A refund ten years later, wow!

Yes, for sure.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

That has to be some kind of record. A refund ten years later, wow!

Chief Bender waited over 40 years for the Dillsburg, Pennsylvania baseball club to pay the money they owed him from a game in 1901.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by jcmtiger

Ha!!! Ha!,,, not so far fetched. I won’t go through the whole story. Bought a Ty Cobb T205 on ebay, sent for grading, came back counterfeit. The seller would not return my money. Fast forward 10 years, that same seller won a card I was selling on ebay. I told the story on Net54, he was member here. Outed him. Lots of action on this site. Finally the seller decided to return my money 10 years later. But we did not trust each other, came to an agreement, I sent the counterfeit card to Leon, he sent the money to Leon. Leon, the Great guy he is sent the card to him and the money to me. It was over $1000.00. Thanks agin Leon. Joe

I don't even remember that, Joe. But I am glad I could help. There are probably a few more stories out there....

The most time I gave a refund was 2 yrs...to a forum member. He got mad at me and said he didn't know it was the wrong guy on the card....it was Daffy Dean and he said he thought it was Dizzy...so I refunded him. I think he was banned before that. Maybe that had something to do with it.
.
.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by NiceDocter

I know this may sound crazy but I think there should be a way us regular Net54 users can see these known scams after they are discovered so we can learn what to look for better. Kind of like free tuition to the School of Hard Knocks……

Not sure if this was one of them but I noticed one persons first post was trying to sell a T210 Joe Jackson. Selling that card as your first post has to be a red flag even if they turn out legit.

EDIT: looked and that person is now banned

[bmattioli]

And to think I as many of you used to trust folks and send cash through the mail.. Sad that times have changed for the worse..

[Smarti5051]

Speaking of scams and keeping an eye out, is there anywhere on the boards that gives the reputation of other members? On a very similar board I watch (BlowOutForums), they have an "iTrader" page which gives feedback of transactions on the site. Is there anything similar hear? I imagine after a few years on this site, I will get an idea of who is trustworthy, but as a "newbie" on the site, it is hard to assess who is trustworthy beyond the number of posts (which is not the best indicator). As a new guy, I imagine if I engaged in a trade, I would be the first to ship which I am totally fine with, but how does a new guy know they are dealing with a reputable member?

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Smarti5051

Speaking of scams and keeping an eye out, is there anywhere on the boards that gives the reputation of other members? On a very similar board I watch (BlowOutForums), they have an "iTrader" page which gives feedback of transactions on the site. Is there anything similar hear? I imagine after a few years on this site, I will get an idea of who is trustworthy, but as a "newbie" on the site, it is hard to assess who is trustworthy beyond the number of posts (which is not the best indicator). As a new guy, I imagine if I engaged in a trade, I would be the first to ship which I am totally fine with, but how does a new guy know they are dealing with a reputable member?

Until you get it figured out only pay with regular Paypal so you have protection. I have been on here for a while and have sent decent piles of cash to members I trust in the past.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

And to think I as many of you used to trust folks and send cash through the mail.. Sad that times have changed for the worse..

There was a time when I sent cash in birthday cards and US Postal Money orders for card purchases. About a million years ago, eBay used to let sellers take checks and money orders...

[Tao_Moko]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

And to think I as many of you used to trust folks and send cash through the mail.. Sad that times have changed for the worse..

Yep. Deals were made often where the cards were mailed pre payment. I have a relationship with several here where that's still the case. Not recommending it for all! After dealing with someone for 15 years the trust has been built

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Eric72

There was a time when I sent cash in birthday cards and US Postal Money orders for card purchases. About a million years ago, eBay used to let sellers take checks and money orders...

In the early days of eBay, I think those were the only ways to pay. I remember mailing out plenty of checks to pay for cards I won, then waiting for the check to get there, get deposited and cleared, then for the card to be shipped and finally get to me. It's funny now when you see people post stories about buyers complaining when they don't receive a card in 3-4 days. Back then, it was usually a minimum of 2 weeks.

[FrankWakefield]

In my early eBay days, and at a point in time where I'd been on Net54 a bit, I won an early 1960s Popcorn card of somebody, a B&W card of no significant value of some player I wanted a card of... I'm at work, and during a break I peak at the auction, and I see I've won. I get home that evening, and after supper I email the seller (who, unknown to me, was occasionally on Net54) asking him if he wanted a check, money order, or what for payment, and I sent him my address. I go to bed. Next day, I get an email from him, saying he didn't care how I paid, and that he'd already mailed the card. He felt he knew me from Net54 and he was confident I'd send payment (I think it was about $4.00, give or take a few cents). I'm reading that in the evening after another workday. I mail payment the next day, and the day after that the card arrives in Kentucky from California. Sometimes we're a trusting bunch...

I think the seller was the same guy who wrote what follows in his initial email to me. I saw it, and I wondered what weirdo ball collector was sending poetry, because at first glance it looked like a poem. It wasn't. And I loved it, commited it to memory. Here goes:

"I like to sit outside, drink beer, and hollar at people.
If I do this at home, the police are called and I go to jail.
But if I do this at a baseball game, I fit right in."


I figure if one of you guys came to Kentucky and joined me in my front yard, roadside, a cooler between us, beer in hand, that as we hollared at passersby we'd last about 15 minutes before the police arrived.

But if we went down to Nashville or up to Bowling Green for a minor league ball game, we could drink beer and hollar at one team, both teams, the umpires, and they'd sell us more beer.

[dstudeba]

Thanks Frank, that made me smile

[GasHouseGang]

Maybe I've just had dumb luck, but I've sent many people on the BST section of the board a PayPal FF payment and always gotten what I ordered. I had one mix up recently where I was sent the wrong card. But I sent it back and the correct card was sent plus $5 cash for my trouble. There are many great collectors on Net54. Now if it's someone that only has 1 post and joined the board yesterday, I'm not going to order from them. I'm trusting, but not stupid.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

Maybe I've just had dumb luck, but I've sent many people on the BST section of the board a PayPal FF payment and always gotten what I ordered. I had one mix up recently where I was sent the wrong card. But I sent it back and the correct card was sent plus $5 cash for my trouble. There are many great collectors on Net54. Now if it's someone that only has 1 post and joined the board yesterday, I'm not going to order from them. I'm trusting, but not stupid.

Probably not dumb luck. There are a lot of great people on here. I have done 100s of deals on here and really only got screwed once. I made a trade very heavily in their favor and was OK with that part. Then the 2 cards that arrived where complete garbage. It was a long time member that quit posting not long after that. Have a kinda strange one going on now. Made a deal a month ago and mailed my side out the same day. Still have not received my my part of the deal. Holding out hope as I have done many deals with them before.

[Tao_Moko]

A few thoughts from a BST frequentier:
1. I love it.
2. I've never had a bad transaction that I can recall. Scammers are pretty easy to sort out and a little conversation over pm, email or text pretty much seals the deal with someone's intentions so I do my best to communicate.
3. I'm not concerned with whether a sold item retains it's original price and believe the OP owns that decision.
4. Deleting posts is bad.
5. My only request is that cards I want be listed too high for others interest and secretly 90% off for me.

[T205 GB]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

In my early eBay days, and at a point in time where I'd been on Net54 a bit, I won an early 1960s Popcorn card of somebody, a B&W card of no significant value of some player I wanted a card of... I'm at work, and during a break I peak at the auction, and I see I've won. I get home that evening, and after supper I email the seller (who, unknown to me, was occasionally on Net54) asking him if he wanted a check, money order, or what for payment, and I sent him my address. I go to bed. Next day, I get an email from him, saying he didn't care how I paid, and that he'd already mailed the card. He felt he knew me from Net54 and he was confident I'd send payment (I think it was about $4.00, give or take a few cents). I'm reading that in the evening after another workday. I mail payment the next day, and the day after that the card arrives in Kentucky from California. Sometimes we're a trusting bunch...

I think the seller was the same guy who wrote what follows in his initial email to me. I saw it, and I wondered what weirdo ball collector was sending poetry, because at first glance it looked like a poem. It wasn't. And I loved it, commited it to memory. Here goes:

"I like to sit outside, drink beer, and hollar at people.
If I do this at home, the police are called and I go to jail.
But if I do this at a baseball game, I fit right in."


I figure if one of you guys came to Kentucky and joined me in my front yard, roadside, a cooler between us, beer in hand, that as we hollared at passersby we'd last about 15 minutes before the police arrived.

But if we went down to Nashville or up to Bowling Green for a minor league ball game, we could drink beer and hollar at one team, both teams, the umpires, and they'd sell us more beer.

Not if we put a sign up saying "you honk we drink"

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Tao_Moko

A few thoughts from a BST frequentier:
1. I love it.
2. I've never had a bad transaction that I can recall. Scammers are pretty easy to sort out and a little conversation over pm, email or text pretty much seals the deal with someone's intentions so I do my best to communicate.
3. I'm not concerned with whether a sold item retains it's original price and believe the OP owns that decision.
4. Deleting posts is bad.
5. My only request is that cards I want be listed too high for others interest and secretly 90% off for me.

I think we would all like #5.

I tried the Jedi mind trick of posting "these is not the cards you are looking for". It didn't work as the cards quickly got 2 more bids.

[T205 GB]

Probably bought and sold 100's of card to members. Can only remember a couple bad transactions. Big buy of T205's from a member in Canada. We agreed on a price and he got paid immediately. He then turned around and sold a few of the cards to other another board member for a few more $. If i remember I wrote a "crescendo of a post" about it. One of my first big deals on here.

Second was with a very well trusted board member that guaranteed cards to grade numerical but some came back an A and I wanted a refund. Acted like I was in the wrong for asking for a refund. Needless to say this member is a fraud and has continually slabbed altered cards.

Not sure if either are still active members but good ridden if not.

[bobblesandballcards]

I am completely new here, and joined because of an eBay seller telling me they could negotiate but only source of contact they would give was here.

I have messaged them on here several days ago but haven't gotten any response, I am new to forums such as this period so maybe I did something wrong, I am not sure...

At any rate, I joined a few days ago and have just enjoyed browsing conversations on the vintage and the knowledge, so thank you for having me!

[toledo_mudhen]

Originally Posted by Dead-Ball-Hitter

Hi Leon, Can you also employ a reduced cost grading scale using only grades 5-10 so that I can trick buyers into thinking their grade 5 is actually EX and their 9 is actually a "mint" card?

and purple stickers....gotta have purple stickers....

[toledo_mudhen]

Originally Posted by bobblesandballcards

I am completely new here, and joined because of an eBay seller telling me they could negotiate but only source of contact they would give was here.

At any rate, I joined a few days ago and have just enjoyed browsing conversations on the vintage and the knowledge, so thank you for having me!

Welcome Aboard - Great Group here.........

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

and purple stickers....gotta have purple stickers....

LOL, now that is funny.

[T205 GB]

Originally Posted by bobblesandballcards

I am completely new here, and joined because of an eBay seller telling me they could negotiate but only source of contact they would give was here.

I have messaged them on here several days ago but haven't gotten any response, I am new to forums such as this period so maybe I did something wrong, I am not sure...

At any rate, I joined a few days ago and have just enjoyed browsing conversations on the vintage and the knowledge, so thank you for having me!

Welcome to the board. I am sure if you contact Leon or a moderator they could help you with contacting the member. Any chance you have a OPC Gretzky RC w/blue lines?

[rugbymarine]

Caveat emptor:
- the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.

It's right at the top of the Buy/Sell/Trade sections. I had never heard that Latin phrase before, and had to look up what it meant. It's usually fairly easy to sort out when someone is legit. Personally, when I see a card for sale that I think I want, I do have to remind myself to slow down and just go over some basic details that help rule out some of those red flags.

I've only been a member here for 6ish years, and I've made ~20 deals. Nothing but good things to say about the collectors here.

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by rugbymarine

I've only been a member here for 6ish years, and I've made ~20 deals. Nothing but good things to say about the collectors here.

Well I haven't been as fortunate as you have, but for the most part I agree with you.

[nat]

Now that you can't sort cards by era on eBay, BST here is pretty much my only source of cards. It's not worth wading through 6000s copies of cards from that 1991 set that uses Conlon photos.

And while I've done fewer deals here than some, I've still done plenty. And have never had a problem.

[bobblesandballcards]

Originally Posted by T205 GB

Welcome to the board. I am sure if you contact Leon or a moderator they could help you with contacting the member. Any chance you have a OPC Gretzky RC w/blue lines?

I do not, I only own a Topps Gretzky

[BobC]

Originally Posted by nat

Now that you can't sort cards by era on eBay, BST here is pretty much my only source of cards. It's not worth wading through 6000s copies of cards from that 1991 set that uses Conlon photos.

And while I've done fewer deals here than some, I've still done plenty. And have never had a problem.

Nat,

I feel your pain and despise the way Ebay changed their search function and eliminated cards by era searches also. You do know though that you can do a search and type in things you don't want to have come up, like modern Conlon cards? Just type the word Conlon in the search box with a minus sign in front of it, like this: -conlon

And you can add as many other things you also want to remove from searches as you like. Similarly just type them in the search box also with a minus sign in front of what you want removed from the search. Just remember to leave a space between each separate thing you want removed from the search, don't type it all in as one continuous word/entry. And when you finally have a search with all the items you want excluded from it entered, save the search so you don't have to go typing it all in again.

My apologies if you already knew this, but from your post it seemed like you may not be aware of this search option/function.

[tschock]

Or you can do something like this:

card (nabisco,welch,sugar daddy) -(raquel,1993,1994,1992,"Bob Welch","Noah Welch")

It means I'm looking for a "card" that has ("nabisco" OR "welch" OR "sugar daddy") AND does NOT contain any of the list of items in the parenthesis with the minus sign in front.

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by BobC

Nat,

I feel your pain and despise the way Ebay changed their search function and eliminated cards by era searches also. You do know though that you can do a search and type in things you don't want to have come up, like modern Conlon cards? Just type the word Conlon in the search box with a minus sign in front of it, like this: -conlon

And you can add as many other things you also want to remove from searches as you like. Similarly just type them in the search box also with a minus sign in front of what you want removed from the search. Just remember to leave a space between each separate thing you want removed from the search, don't type it all in as one continuous word/entry. And when you finally have a search with all the items you want excluded from it entered, save the search so you don't have to go typing it all in again.

My apologies if you already knew this, but from your post it seemed like you may not be aware of this search option/function.

I find it easier to include everything within parentheses separated by commas like this:

-(1996,reprint,rp,etopps)

which will eliminate items with any of the following in the title: 1996, reprint, rp, etopps.



Similarly, you can search for one out of list of things by including them in the parentheses without a -sign in front like this:

(1958,58)

which will yield results with either 1958 or 58 in the title:





A combined search for a 1958 Mantle might look something look this:

(1958,58) Mantle -(1996,reprint,rp,etopps)

[Bicem]

I was just offered a Babe Ruth rookie for $900 because he needs cash for his sick mother and to send his son to school

He said he got my email from here and saw my post looking for Ruth Boston items.

[toledo_mudhen]

Well - If you dont want it - I will take it. Could you forward the contact info???

Thanks

Originally Posted by Bicem

I was just offered a Babe Ruth rookie for $900 because he needs cash for his sick mother and to send his son to school

He said he got my email from here and saw my post looking for Ruth Boston items.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Bicem

I was just offered a Babe Ruth rookie for $900 because he needs cash for his sick mother and to send his son to school

He said he got my email from here and saw my post looking for Ruth Boston items.

So if he or she is a member tell me the ID and they won't be any longer. But there are scammers contacting our members off of the forum too...
.

These are from the BST long ago...the Arrelanes came from the original Trucker Boy find and boomeranged back to me after my first collection sale.

[Bicem]

He told me his n54 name was Drumback which is obviously not true.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Leon

So if he or she is a member tell me the ID and they won't be any longer. But there are scammers contacting our members off of the forum too...
.

These are from the BST long ago...the Arrelanes came from the original Trucker Boy find and boomeranged back to me after my first collection sale.

That Melchoir looks like a scammer trying to run away after Net54 figures out he's trying to scam people.

[icollectDCsports]

I remember sending cash for low-dollar eBay transactions. $20 or less. Didn't feel like waiting for a check to clear and didn't want to pay the fee for and go to the trouble of getting a money order. Never had a problem. But that was quite a while ago.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by icollectDCsports

I remember sending cash for low-dollar eBay transactions. $20 or less. Didn't feel like waiting for a check to clear and didn't want to pay the fee for and go to the trouble of getting a money order. Never had a problem. But that was quite a while ago.

I sent and received many PWEs with cash and change taped to a piece of paper. I think it was an extra 11 cents the USPS would charge me when the sender had too much weight from the change.

[icollectDCsports]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I sent and received many PWEs with cash and change taped to a piece of paper. I think it was an extra 11 cents the USPS would charge me when the sender had too much weight from the change.

When paying, I'd just round up and send all bills instead of worrying about exact change -- or having the coins signal to anyone that the PWE contained cash of any sort.

[Seven]

I have to say, whenever I do a deal on here, I do have a certain sense of trust. Never been led astray, the deals are fair, and it's always a good experience (at least so far). I've never encountered, and probably will never encounter again, such a fantastic community.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by timzcardz

I find it easier to include everything within parentheses separated by commas like this:

-(1996,reprint,rp,etopps)

which will eliminate items with any of the following in the title: 1996, reprint, rp, etopps.



Similarly, you can search for one out of list of things by including them in the parentheses without a -sign in front like this:

(1958,58)

which will yield results with either 1958 or 58 in the title:





A combined search for a 1958 Mantle might look something look this:

(1958,58) Mantle -(1996,reprint,rp,etopps)

Thanks Tim, Wasn't aware of that little nuance with the parenthesis. Will have try that method as well.

[toledo_mudhen]

Originally Posted by Seven

I have to say, whenever I do a deal on here, I do have a certain sense of trust. Never been led astray, the deals are fair, and it's always a good experience (at least so far). I've never encountered, and probably will never encounter again, such a fantastic community.

Yep Same here.... KUDOS All!

[jiw98]

I have only completed around 20 transactions here on Net54, but I can say that all of the deals have gone fairly smooth. There was a delay with USPS on one, but with some good communication and patience everything went well. This has been a good site for BST and info.