Re: Mastro Shilling?

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Posted By: DR

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

I don't think it is appropriate for an auction house to not disclose the inherent conflict of interest of its ownership of an item in its auction -- especially when the auctioneer's employees are permitted to bid on said items. Again, an unregulated industry allows for this sort of behavior.

I'd love to see how well Mastro-owned (or employee owned) items did in the auction compared to, say, the Cracker Jack set.

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Posted By: DR

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Posted By: rand

please repost with your full name....thanks (leon)

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Posted By: ScottIngold

As someone who has won a few items from Mastro over the years. This does not look good to me.

In fact as these things become public the banner ad just serves as a reminder why REA looks better and better.

As someone who really had no feelings either way regarding said ad's. I must admit that now i feel differently about it. I DO feel that there has been a shift here regarding how Mastro is defended by some. It seems no matter what is brought to light it is okay and can be explained away.

This goes beyond things easily explained. Have not other's been banned from running ad's ?

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Posted By: leon

To answer your question the answer is "no". No other advertisers have been banned for anything that wasn't proven. Mastro is in the same boat. Each case is different though and I will look at each one on it's own merit. best regards

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Posted By: leon

Hi Rand,
I need you to put your full name by your post and email address....it's the same for everyone....thanks

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Posted By: Sean C

Sandyandy is still mentioning Mastro in their auction descriptions. Guess someone didn't get the memo...

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Posted By: john

I am sure all the Mastro bashers will be dissapointed but.... I was the winner of the 64 Stand Ups box. I am a private collector and am not associated with the company or owners. I was fully aware of their ownership and it made me no difference in bidding. What does it matter? I am extremely pleased with my final bid price and was prepared to go much higher. I wish I had seen it on ebay!

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Posted By: JT Burtchaell

John,
Did it bother you that Steve Hart (who grades packs for PSA) physically inspected the box for Mastro, but then the packs were slabbed by GAI?

JT

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Posted By: john

JT-that didn't bother me at all. I personally think pack grading is rather absurd. I am only concerned that they are in good shape and not opened. Whether a pack is a 7,8,9, or 10 doesnt really do much for me. I have quite a few 1950's packs by both Global and PSA and you can't see any difference in a 7 or 9, in my opinion. The fact that the packs are in very nice shape and unopened is what did it for me.

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Posted By: Bob

I had a max bid three bid increments higher in on a set of caramel cards in the recent auction and the high bid never moved the last 4-5 days so I didn't detect any shilling going on. I did, however, think that a shipping and handling charge of $77.00 for a set of 30 cards was ridiculous though. The cards could have come by registered mail for about $17.

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Posted By: Jim VB

Yeah, but then you might never have gotten all that fancy "Mastro" tape!

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Bob--how about $74 for the shipment of two slabbed cards?

As noted above, I don't care what the shipping cost is as long as that damn box is slathered in that fancy Mastro packing tape.

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Posted By: JT Burtchaell

John,
Thanks for answering. What I'm getting at is this question: If Steve Hart was the go-between, why weren't the packs slabbed by PSA?

JT

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Posted By: Anthony

I don't know if it's still in effect, but either Mike or Steve at Global told me they had an exclusive agreement with Mastro to slab their packs. That would explain why they were not graded by PSA. However, as Steve Hart was the buying agent and he's the authenticator for PSA (and the best in the hobby at unopened material, IMO) I have no doubts they would've passed either company's standards.


edited to avoid the wrath of Sloate on a grammatical error!