PWCC vault...explain

[BobC]

Originally Posted by GregMitch34

As I've noted earlier, I am back after putting a hold on collecting for 4 or 5 years. I've been bidding at various major auctions, scanning ebay and etc. notiicing new trends and practices (e.g. I was first to post here about the new ebay "requiriing authentication" policy). I know PWCC has been a source of criticism and controversy here for many years, but let me ask this: One of several changes there since I exited is their "vault." Just tell me if I have this right:

a) if you win a card you pay the usual 20% premium but you leave it with them and avoid tax and shipping

b) you can then require them to sell it at an upcoming auction

c) you don't pay an additional fee when it's sold but PWCC collects another 20% from buyer.

Is this right? Any other details? Thanks.

First off, I would go with what Johnny said in post #2. And for reasons given by others in this thread and on this forum.

Now having said that, you're pretty much right on with your understanding. The "vault" is actually a fairly ingenious business idea that was initially based on the change in sales tax law back in 2018 from a Supreme Court case, South Dakota vs. Wayfair., and was really pushed when Ebay enacted a mandatory collection of sales tax on all sales on their platform as a result of that case. The idea is that by having your winning items sent directly to your PWCC "vault" (which just happens to be located in Oregon, one of the five US states that does not have a sales tax), their Oregon address is used to determine if there is any sales tax owed. And that doesn't just work for things won from PWCC. You can go to any AH or other sites and use the "vault" address as your shipping destination, and that is the address that is generally used for determining sales tax liability.

Using a "vault" service also replaces the need for getting a safe deposit box or safe for home/office storage as well. An online file is supposedly created so the owner can go and view images of cards they have in the "vault" whenever they want. And my further understanding is that PWCC will also allow people using their "vault" to borrow money against the value of cards they have stored there. Which I think is maybe an even bigger factor than the sales tax savings in many cases. In other words, someone looking to cash in on surging prices of cards they own can send them to PWCC to put into their "vault" and consign them to PWCC to sell for them at the same time. The loan can get them their money now, instead of having to wait until their cards are auctioned/sold, and the buyer pays for them. Think of it as operating kind of like one of those payday loan places you see everywhere.

The idea is to entice people to put cards into their "vault", and then let human greed and laziness take over. Since PWCC sells cards, once you've used their "vault" to save on some sales tax, or get that loan for cash you needed now, it is so easy to just contact them to consign and sell a card for you. You don't have to worry about the time and expense of listing the card for sale yourself, of shipping it to a buyer or other AH or consignor to sell for you, they'll even go ahead and send the card out for grading if you gave it to them raw. This basically creates an ever increasing pool of people and their cards that will use PWCC to sell for them. All of which PWCC gets to charge a commission on when they sell the card.

What PWCC really wants is for a card they sell from their "vault" by one owner, to be purchased by another owner who also uses their "vault". In that situation, PWCC simply makes an entry in their system to show the card in their "vault" is now owned by a different person, and they still get to charge their full commission on the sale. It's like the old prostitute saying, "You got it. you sell it, you still got it......what a business!!!"

The "vault" concept brings in future consignors/sellers, and is akin to PWCC having a perpetual inventory on hand, that they don't have to pay for. And the idea has already been copied by Goldin, which has established their "vault" in Delaware, another state without a sales tax. And even Ebay has bought into the concept and has established their own "vault" program as well. I don't know the full story behind Ebay's vault, but you can easily check into it online. Hope this helps bring you up to date, and gives you some background on, and the genesis of, the "vault" service concept.