Bogus Bronko's on ebay

[jefferyepayne]

The only way to tell the difference between a real Chicle and the reprint set (with the naked eye anyway) is that real Chicles have blue lettering on the back. The reprint set has green lettering on the back. Real Chicles never have green lettering.

Of course there might be lots of other fakes / reprints out there so just because a Chicle has blue lettering doesn't mean it's legit!

jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks Jeff. I posted on the PSA board - my only reasoning was there is just a lot more discussion of that kind of thing over there. I feel bad now - thanks for bringing it over here.http://forums.collectors.com/message...hreadid=931710

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by DezHood

Thanks Jeff. I posted on the PSA board - my only reasoning was there is just a lot more discussion of that kind of thing over there. I feel bad now - thanks for bringing it over here.http://forums.collectors.com/message...hreadid=931710

Thanks for linking this, John. I hadn't seen that as I don't participate in the Communist Universe (CU) board. Not into censorship.

jeff

[powderfinger]

Seller also had a 1957 Topps Bill Russell card that ended on November 12. He received positive feedback from "the buyer" but when you click on that transaction, eBay shows that the item had been listted at $600 and had been relisted. The photos that accompanied the initial listing showed close-ups of the four corners and the full back of the card. No front photos. The card was, in fact, relisted, for $675 with only front and back photos and is currently active. So many red flags here, not to mentiononly 11 feedbacks, the second of which declares him the best eBay seller ever.

eBay has become a snakepit for buying vintage cards. Between sellers like this selling reprints as originals and others manipulating final bid prices, I'm glad I only have four cards to go to complete my 1935 Chicle football set.

Unfortunately, this is our problem to deal with as eBay doesn't seem to care to do anything. I'm a teacher, and once we send a kid to administrators "too many times" we're told the kid is "your problem." Is that analogy on the mark?

[pawpawdiv9]

Thumbs up guys. This stuffs informs me and other collectors, as i didnt know myself.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by powderfinger

Unfortunately, this is our problem to deal with as eBay doesn't seem to care to do anything. I'm a teacher, and once we send a kid to administrators "too many times" we're told the kid is "your problem." Is that analogy on the mark?

Yes. The reality is fleaBay doesn't seem to care about any of this. As long as they get their cut, they are happy.

What's needed is a new, fresh auction site with a more caring owner. The problem is that building such a thing and attract enough bidders to convince dealers / consigners to put their items on it is a very daunting and expensive task. I know there are plenty of small, new auction houses that have popped up and that is a great thing but I'm talking about something more like ebay here in which individual sellers can list their wares.

jeff

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by powderfinger

Seller also had a 1957 Topps Bill Russell card that ended on November 12. He received positive feedback from "the buyer" but when you click on that transaction, eBay shows that the item had been listted at $600 and had been relisted. The photos that accompanied the initial listing showed close-ups of the four corners and the full back of the card. No front photos. The card was, in fact, relisted, for $675 with only front and back photos and is currently active. So many red flags here, not to mentiononly 11 feedbacks, the second of which declares him the best eBay seller ever.

eBay has become a snakepit for buying vintage cards. Between sellers like this selling reprints as originals and others manipulating final bid prices, I'm glad I only have four cards to go to complete my 1935 Chicle football set.

Yuck. VCP would do us all a service if they not only tracked the final price of items and the seller/buyer but also:

1. a list of all bidders on the item (and their bids)
2. what percentage of bids a buyer puts toward a particular seller's auctions

More and more I've had to look beyond the price to determine whether I believe the price is legitimate or has been "doctored". More and more things I see make me wonder whether the price was manipulated. Here is one scenario I've seen again and again.

1) Buyer lists very high BIN.
2) Friendly shiller "buys" item and gives a glowing review
3) Buyer waits a bit and relists item as BIN/Best Offer
4) Unsuspecting new buyer looks at VCP and makes a Best Offer lower than first BIN but much higher than what the market value is of the item. If asked, seller says buyer reneged.
5) Buyer accepts Best Offer and makes additional $$$.
6) Now there are two inflated purchases in VCP for this item.

jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

Thanks for linking this, John. I hadn't seen that as I don't participate in the Communist Universe (CU) board. Not into censorship.

LOL - yeah I had one deleted, but I can't for the life of me remember what I was questioning. It's a different kind of board, anything I put serious research into I post here. Over there posts are only on first page for a few hours.

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

Yes. The reality is fleaBay doesn't seem to care about any of this. As long as they get their cut, they are happy.

What's needed is a new, fresh auction site with a more caring owner. The problem is that building such a thing and attract enough bidders to convince dealers / consigners to put their items on it is a very daunting and expensive task. I know there are plenty of small, new auction houses that have popped up and that is a great thing but I'm talking about something more like ebay here in which individual sellers can list their wares.

jeff

I totally agree, but here is a problem - say someone perfectly legitimate really has a relative pass away (I know this is a common B.S. scammers use, but it does happen.) - they want to sell some cards, but don't know about our hobby - hopefully they do some research to get an idea of the value, but what's the first place to sell that will come to mind?

[TanksAndSpartans]

I don't like this one, but I can't put into words why - the back actually looks ok - what am I missing?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1935-Nationa...item463d6c713c

P.S. Wan't looking for these - but it seems like my eBay searches are missing cards, so I ran a few manual searches and came across it.

[sockwell123]

It appears to be the same card from the original post on page one. ?.. or i've forgotten how to internet.. :-P

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by sockwell123

It appears to be the same card from the original post on page one. ?.. or i've forgotten how to internet.. :-P

Not the same image. The original link is long gone so when you click on it, it dumps you into an ebay search for similar cards. The original card had a green back which made it an obvious reprint/fake.

I personally would stay away from the current card on ebay for a number of reasons:

1. I don't trust high dollar cards that aren't graded. There is such a premium for graded stars that I'm always skeptical when one isn't. Usually this means it was submitted and rejected or the seller knows its not legit.
2. The colors look off to me. I compared it with my Nags and the yellow on the front looks too dark on this card and so does the blue ink on the back. Obviously there are differences in print runs that can account for slight color differences on cards but this looks like to much to me.
3. I avoid cards with blurry scans and ones that don't show all the edges (like on the back of this one). Usually they are hiding something.
4. Chicle cards are notorious for slight registration problems due to printing the image color by color. I don't see any on this card at all which is a bit troubling too.

If it is fake, someone put some time into this one as its passable. What do others think?

jeff