What's up with Mears???

[MikeKam]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Phoning in bids is actually fun. I miss the short personal interaction with guys like Barry Sloate and Lew Lipset. I'm sorry that you never got a chance to experience that...and the amazing esoteric items that helped many of us expand our interests to things other than cards.

I did call and talk with Troy during the Mears auction referenced at the beginning of this thread. He was very helpful and working hard to get things back to normal. This time I wasn't up for that.

I'm assuming it was more reliable but a lot more hectic than online bidding

[drcy]

The first online auctions I participated in were via email. Get email updates in your inbox and email in your bids.

[Exhibitman]

Damned North Koreans...or just someone retaliating for the dozens of emails from MEARS every auction cycle?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Damned North Koreans...or just someone retaliating for the dozens of emails from MEARS every auction cycle?

.. At any rate, I tried to get in twice last night but completely gave up. If there was something I had to have I would have tried more. But since I couldn't get in and didn't look previously I didn't know anything, pure ignorance as usual .

[parker1b2]

I also tried to get in last night because I wanted to bid on 3 items in particular. All 3 went for below I was willing to spend, one I thought real cheap. Anyway was having trouble even pulling up the auction because it was running way too slow so I gave up also.

[GoCubsGo32]

I'm still wondering if I won...? I tried calling but they are closed..any guesses? It's like my bid went through..but doesn't reflected it? Am I reading this right?



http://sports.mearsonlineauctions.co...-LOT84894.aspx

[Runscott]

I was happy to see that final bids on all 6 items I was involved in, were higher than I planned to go. So no big deal I suppose.

I was interested in the Mantle 1951-60 index bat, but surprised they didn't mention that the weight was significantly higher than anything he ever ordered during the years when he ordered that model, and that it was an inch short. Shouldn't that be in the description? Maybe I'm wrong on this Bat experts?

[joshleland]

Wait, hold on a second here
Is it just me or did everyone just skate over this
Bob Freeman of simple auctions who runs their site called it a "denial of service attack"
What the heck is that
Sounds ominous
Were the north Koreans involved
Did they hire the Chinese
Is it collateral damage from the Sony attack
this is what you get for pissing off Kim Jon Un (sp?)
Josh

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by joshleland

Wait, hold on a second here
Is it just me or did everyone just skate over this
Bob Freeman of simple auctions who runs their site called it a "denial of service attack"
What the heck is that
Sounds ominous
Were the north Koreans involved
Did they hire the Chinese
Is it collateral damage from the Sony attack
this is what you get for pissing off Kim Jon Un (sp?)
Josh

It's happened in his last two auctions...a Denial of Service attack is something that happens on purpose. It's someone out there unhappy with MEARS or someone trying to hurt the competition.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

It's happened in his last two auctions...a Denial of Service attack is something that happens on purpose. It's someone out there unhappy with MEARS or someone trying to hurt the competition.

A DNS attack could be aimed at virtually anything. It could be the hosting company, it could be the auctioneer or anything else. That doesn't concern near as much as vanishing lots. I would be unhappy if I won something and the lot vanished from the auction. Forget the DNS attack, not anyone's fault that had to do with the auction. To me, the lots disappearing is something that should be answered for. If it were my auction I would make it more transparent than it seemingly is. BTW, I like MEARS and I like Troy. Nothing bad to say about the auction other than the question of the lot(s) not being there.

[yanks12025]

Ok didn't really want to come back and post anymore here. But I think I have the answers for you guys.

I'm pretty sure the lots disappear when they don't meet reserve.


Also a index bat is a bat ordered by the teams. Most of the time they will be different in terms of length and weight compared to what the player was ordering.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Leon

That doesn't concern near as much as vanishing lots. I would be unhappy if I won something and the lot vanished from the auction. Forget the DNS attack, not anyone's fault that had to do with the auction. To me, the lots disappearing is something that should be answered for. If it were my auction I would make it more transparent than it seemingly is. BTW, I like MEARS and I like Troy. Nothing bad to say about the auction other than the question of the lot(s) not being there.

There was no reserve mentioned in the Maris ball lot. It was still in my bid list when I logged off around midnight Eastern the night of the auction, although I wasn't anywhere near high bidder. The next day it was gone. I agree that there should be an explanation, but I suspect that they simply pulled it when the problems were occurring. I would also guess that a number of other items disappeared as well, but I am not inclined to check.

One other thing to say about the auction: sometimes the little things are indications of something bigger. This auction was riddled with typos, indicating to me that they just weren't giving this auction much attention. Perhaps they lost a key employee, I don't know, but all of these mistakes will lead people to speculate.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Leon

A DNS attack could be aimed at virtually anything. It could be the hosting company, it could be the auctioneer or anything else.

It's happened on the final day of bidding with his last two auctions now. I don't think that's a coincidence.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by joshleland

Wait, hold on a second here
Is it just me or did everyone just skate over this
Bob Freeman of simple auctions who runs their site called it a "denial of service attack"
What the heck is that
Sounds ominous
Were the north Koreans involved
Did they hire the Chinese
Is it collateral damage from the Sony attack
this is what you get for pissing off Kim Jon Un (sp?)
Josh

Josh - you shouldn't have mentioned North Korea or the Chinese. Just tried to visit Lelands.com, and repeatedly received this message: 502 - Web server received an invalid response while acting as a gateway or proxy server.

[GoCubsGo32]

Thanks guys for the help.

Conclusion: I won, but didn't win. They gave the invoice to the other bidder even though I won. However, they were prompt in calling me and discussing the unique situation and we were able to resolve the problem.

[dherm360]

Auction ends tonight, if there is an issue for a third straight I might not participate in their auctions again