What the hell is the deal with this PWCC auction

[Dpeck100]

There is nothing wrong with wanting a clean market place but the constant PWCC bashing doesn't seem to be doing them any harm. They have 6,708 current listings as I type this.

The fact that there is a seller that has been able to bring marque cards on a consistent basis to EBAY buyers is just awesome.

Who else has auctioned off cards that have gone for 500k? No one.

I personally have won some great cards in their auctions and I knew if they were coming to market they were most likely being auctioned off through PWCC.

Their shipping is stellar and while I read comments from many that shipping with nice packaging doesn't matter; I couldn't disagree more. Every package comes extremely well packaged and if you compare it to Probstein's it isn't even close. So much better.

The leader is always going to have haters and there is a plethora of those in their case. With card prices attracting bigger dollars and running $0.99 auctions it obviously invites funny games. There is no chance they can regulate all of their auctions. It is encouraging that a seller who clearly benefits from higher prices is doing anything to regulate the wild west known as the card market.

You may not like their operation but the fact that PWCC exists has done wonders for the card market.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Dpeck100

The leader is always going to have hatters and there is a plethora of those in their case. With card prices attracting bigger dollars and running $0.99 auctions it obviously invites funny games. There is no chance they can regulate all of their auctions. It is encouraging that a seller who clearly benefits from higher prices is doing anything to regulate the wild west known as the card market.

You may not like their operation but the fact that PWCC exists has done wonders for the card market.

I am not a 'hatter', David; no malice when I say that I am disgusted by the PWCC business model. It is not asking the impossible to simply ban bid retractors from the auctions. Easily done, but not done, because it financially benefits the owners.

This isn't helping the market any more than any other manipulation helps any other market. They are providing a known vehicle for fraudulent activities. In the long term it is harmful to the collecting community and wrong. It isn't helping the market any more than Mastro's shilling helped the market. When the music stops a lot of people are going to end up burnt and they will leave collecting for something else.

I and many other collectors I know won't bid with them as we would with other sellers because of how they allow consignors to act. Perhaps that will be the ultimate mechanism to force PWCC to take action.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I am not a 'hatter', David; no malice when I say that I am disgusted by the PWCC business model. It is not asking the impossible to simply ban bid retractors from the auctions. Easily done, but not done, because it financially benefits the owners.

This isn't helping the market any more than any other manipulation helps any other market. They are providing a known vehicle for fraudulent activities. In the long term it is harmful to the collecting community and wrong. It isn't helping the market any more than Mastro's shilling helped the market. When the music stops a lot of people are going to end up burnt and they will leave collecting for something else.

I and many other collectors I know won't bid with them as we would with other sellers because of how they allow consignors to act. Perhaps that will be the ultimate mechanism to force PWCC to take action.

It is EBAY's marketplace. They must be the one's to take the lead to stop the retractions. Pull up dpeck100 on EBAY. None. Ever. And I have had the same person who pulled their bid run the auction back up and I just held my ground. If I bid, I am the one that pulled the trigger and it's that simple.

Liquidity has created additional interest in cards and by auctioning off thousands of cards per month it is doing just that.

I too disagree with bid retractions but it is unrealistic to expect a seller to adopt a policy that has a zero tolerance policy when EBAY couldn't care less.

You need turnover to create recorded sales for people to try and base their value estimates on and they are by far the leader in this on EBAY when it comes to trading cards.

I will take the good they provide over the bad. All day.

[Dpeck100]

I am curious what the estimates were and are on this card.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1914-Cracker...3D142396409793


I bet there will be plenty of people when this card goes off that would have had snipes that are much lower then the final price and didn't even go off.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Stuff trumps ethics. Well, it's one perspective.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Stuff trumps ethics. Well, it's one perspective.

Peter I get the feeling after your three month effort to sell a card on the boxing and wrestling forum you could benefit from their services. There are plenty of collectors who just pack up their stuff and send it off to consignment sellers and let the chips fall where they may. The audience they attract does help prices in general and that card might actually catch a bid out on the open market.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Dpeck100

Peter I get the feeling after your three month effort to sell a card on the boxing and wrestling forum you could benefit from their services. There are plenty of collectors who just pack up their stuff and send it off to consignment sellers and let the chips fall where they may. The audience they attract does help prices in general and that card might actually catch a bid out on the open market.

David I just thanked you for your "advice" on that BST thread. Much appreciated.

I don't dispute that they have great stuff and frequently get great prices. And I'll take your word for it on the packaging. But to me that's really beside the point of the thread.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

David I just thanked you for your "advice" on that BST thread. Much appreciated.

I don't doubt that they have great stuff and frequently get great prices. But to me that's really beside the point of the thread.

The card in question is a Pop 1 from the 1965 Topps set and just happens to be a Triple Crown Winner with 586 career home runs.

https://www.psacard.com/psasetregist...opps-basic/752

There are some serious players collecting this set. Think about how much cash it takes to put together a complete mint set. Take a look at the top set and how impressive that GPA is and the total domination since 2007. They obviously don't own the card. No one does.

Who are you or me to even remotely determine what this card should sell for. For all we know the $50,000 high bid that was placed might be within reason for what collectors who want to own this card feel is a market clearing price.

At the end of the day at least the card came to market and more than one person got a shot at it and kudos to PWCC for getting to sell it.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Stuff trumps ethics. Well, it's one perspective.

This is why our hobby is filled with so many crooks, no one cares as long as they can get their card, autograph, or piece of memorabilia. The even better part is the card is probably altered, the autograph is not real, and the memorabilia is so fake any rational person is like are you serious you think that ball that looks like my dog played with it is from a game Babe Ruth played in.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by bnorth

This is why our hobby is filled with so many crooks, no one cares as long as they can get their card, autograph, or piece of memorabilia. The even better part is the card is probably altered, the autograph is not real, and the memorabilia is so fake any rational person is like are you serious you think that ball that looks like my dog played with it is from a game Babe Ruth played in.

Yep. Crooks thrive because otherwise intelligent people just turn a blind eye. A card doctor to the stars said it best -- I'm giving guys what they want.

[Beastmode]

Originally Posted by interpret

There is nothing wrong with wanting a clean market place but the constant PWCC bashing doesn't seem to be doing them any harm. They have 6,708 current listings as I type this.

The fact that there is a seller that has been able to bring marque cards on a consistent basis to EBAY buyers is just awesome.

Who else has auctioned off cards that have gone for 500k? No one.

I personally have won some great cards in their auctions and I knew if they were coming to market they were most likely being auctioned off through PWCC.

Their shipping is stellar and while I read comments from many that shipping with nice packaging doesn't matter; I couldn't disagree more. Every package comes extremely well packaged and if you compare it to Probstein's it isn't even close. So much better.

The leader is always going to have hatters and there is a plethora of those in their case. With card prices attracting bigger dollars and running $0.99 auctions it obviously invites funny games. There is no chance they can regulate all of their auctions. It is encouraging that a seller who clearly benefits from higher prices is doing anything to regulate the wild west known as the card market.

You may not like their operation but the fact that PWCC exists has done wonders for the card market.

++ Most of the PWCC haters are getting blown by the AH's. They're certainly not perfect, but their the best of the worst. Take all the PWCC bashing energy and get the AH's to show the bidders, allow us to snipe, and end the auctions one time. Short of that, I'll interpret your PWCC bashing as jealousy.