An Open Letter to Bill Mastro

[Giants00]

Hi, my name is Dan Scheinman. I am a former customer of Mastro Auctions and i have been silent until reading this. http://www.cardboardconnection.com/n...tro-fraud-case

I am also one of the largest collector of deadball until the early 1950's game used jerseys. Some of which i purchased from Bill. I opted not to share my experience with the judge because you Bill were pleading guilty and because I assumed that meant you were actually taking responsibility. WRONG.

Essentially, Bill has been living in a parallel universe for the last several years where one of 3 defenses keep coming up. Hey things are worth more now, so what is the issue. And, there are only a small number of people who complain, so I must not have been that bad. The third is the ever popular, these people could afford it (and I promised my consignor a certain price) so who is harmed.

I think both show extreme arrogance and an incredible lack of remorse for the crimes you are supposedly pleading guilty to. In my experience, most if not all of the times i bid in your auctions, the bidding was rigged. What did I experience. Whenever i put in a MAX bid, the winning bid was always my highest bid. There were times when i was a winning bidder, only to see the item go to someone else right at close (or after close). When I called in, I was told that of course Bill looked at things in order to make his consignors (often him and his employees right) and that if I angered Bill, I risked winning nothing.

Bill, you have have demonstrated criminal behavior. You have cheated your clients and friends. The time has come for you to grow up, take accountability and show that you actually understand the damage you have done to this hobby.

dan scheinman

[jcmtiger]

I won several auction items in Mastro auctions and never put a max bid for the items. I guess I'm one of the few that was never shilled. I'm serious about this, never had a problem with shill bidding. This post does not address any items that were not real or accurately described.

Joe

[Mark]

Well, I recall a couple of items that I remember sold for my max bid. But since I have always considered them good buys, I have never felt too steamed about it. Still, if they have proof that he stole from bidders, I don't see what the question is.

[slidekellyslide]

I could never seem to win anything from Mastro...always got outbid.

[sports-rings]

Well, I recall a couple of items that I remember sold for my max bid. But since I have always considered them good buys, I have never felt too steamed about it.

i just read Peter Nash's blog entry on this matter at haulsofshame

Someone posted a great line in the comments section: Even if you were never part of a shill bid, you still lose. (Guess he means shill bidding drives up pricing for the entire hobby)

On a releated note, I hate Hunt Auction's phantom bidding on behalf of the consigner. Maybe someone can explain the difference to me of this practice vs. shill bidding!

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

i just read Peter Nash's blog entry on this matter at houlsofshame

Someone posted a great line in the comments section: Even if you were never part of a shill bid, you still lose. (Guess he means shill bidding drives up pricing for the entire hobby)

On a releated note, I hate Hunt Auction's phantom bidding on behalf of the consigner. Maybe someone can explain the difference to me of this practice vs. shill bidding!

I seem to always pay my ceiling bid for Hunt items. It didn't used to be that way. If they are going to shill me in the future (if I even participate in any more of their auctions), they will have to actually outbid me - no more ceiling bids for me.

If I ever got shilled at Mastro, the shilling still never approached my ceiling bids, on average. I got a lot of great deals.