Candiman Auctions Explained

[bobbyw8469]

Another big issue with them was they preyed on people's greed that they were getting high end cards, so they were bidding high end prices, for cards that would not grade numerically. If they had just been ethical about it, there are some collectors (such as myself) who don't mind an attractive "A" card. Paying an exorbitant amount of money for a card that will not ever attain the grade that it supposedly represents is just wrong.

[bobbyw8469]

PS- I have notified them of several instances of cards in their current auction being the exact same card. They claim to have two different cards, but the scans show the exact same card. Maybe that can be corrected.

[CandimanAuctions]

Hey guys,

There have been lots of comments on the thread since I logged in last night. Instead of trying to respond to each post individually I will just try and sum everything up into one post. I know many of you are skeptical (rightfully so) but I must reiterate that my brother and I were not the owners of the Battlefield eBay store and had nothing to do with the operation of it. That business was started when we were off at college and living our own lives. We both have accounting degrees from Auburn University. We're not ignorant people and we know that being anything less than 100% honest in this business will result in failure every single time. We started Candiman Auctions knowing that we would be associated with Battlefield and that we would have to deal with the repercussions of that. I chose to post on this forum knowing we would be attacked, insulted, mocked, and not taken seriously. Many of you have stated that we are trying to defend ourselves and start over. That's not the case. We are not here to defend the actions of our family. Quite the opposite. This is our first auction. We want to be successful and develop great relationships with people in this industry. There isn't a single person on this forum that has ever done business with my brother or myself because we are a new auction house. All we are asking for is a chance to prove you guys wrong and I believe if given that chance we will be successful in doing that.

Battlefield was known for 2 things: Purchasing cards in "A" holders and breaking them out and selling them on eBay as high grade examples and photoshopping cards with flaws to look better than they actually are. As I said in the opening post on this thread we in no way, shape, or form support their actions on eBay over the past several years. Those actions are unacceptable and anyone participating in this kind of activity is doomed to fail. People in this industry are too smart not to figure out if someone is engaging in that kind of activity. We have worked hard to post accurate descriptions and high quality images of all of the items in our auction. If a card is in Poor condition it is listed as so. If a card appears VG, VG-EX, EX, EX-MT, NM, then it is listed as so.

As I said above, all we are asking for is a chance. We're not here to defend the actions of anyone. We're not hiding who we are. Leon seemed to think that everyone on here would give us a fair shot if we were open and honest and that's what we're trying to do.

Daniel

[Peter_Spaeth]

If I win a card you call NM-MT and it comes back a 5 or a 6, what's my recourse? And if you truly want credibility, you need to explain why you are selling so many purportedly high end and expensive cards without grading them.

[botn]

Originally Posted by CandimanAuctions

If a card is in Poor condition it is listed as so. If a card appears VG, VG-EX, EX, EX-MT, NM, then it is listed as so.

Daniel

It is your prerogative to sell cards without them being graded. Many auction houses do but given your close ties to Battlefield when you qualify a card's condition using the term "appears", as most if not all of the auction listings do, I don't feel that gives buyers any confidence.

Further your rules state "...We do not guarantee that our grades will conform to the standards of 3rd party authenticators (TPA's). Furthermore, we are not bound by the opinions of any authenticators, grading services, or "experts"." So that would mean we have zero recourse for cards not being in the condition stated. On eBay this would allow us to make a return as was done many times with Battlefield's auctions.

From my vantage point it seems Candiman was formed simply to avoid the returns of over graded material. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

[x2drich2000]

As a step in good faith, why don't you identify any and all lots that were consigned by any employees or relatives which would include those from Battlefield. This is not a unique option as at least one other auction house does it.

[CandimanAuctions]

Originally Posted by botn

It is your prerogative to sell cards without them being graded. Many auction houses do but given your close ties to Battlefield when you qualify a card's condition using the term "appears", as most if not all of the auction listings do, I don't feel that gives buyers any confidence.

Further your rules state "...We do not guarantee that our grades will conform to the standards of 3rd party authenticators (TPA's). Furthermore, we are not bound by the opinions of any authenticators, grading services, or "experts"." So that would mean we have zero recourse for cards not being in the condition stated. On eBay this would allow us to make a return as was done many times with Battlefield's auctions.

From my vantage point it seems Candiman was formed simply to avoid the returns of over graded material. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

Hi Greg,

You are very mistaken. Candiman Auctions was formed because we love this hobby and enjoy buying and selling items we have collected for the better part of our lives. We are looking forward to developing long term business relationships with the great people in this community. All of our lots have high quality pictures posted and if a card has a specific flaw it has been noted in the description. Grading is subjective and no auction house can guarantee that their grades will line up exactly with a TPG. Most auction houses have this in their Auction Rules (see Goldin Auctions as an example).

Thanks,

Daniel

[botn]

Originally Posted by CandimanAuctions

Hi Greg,

You are very mistaken. Candiman Auctions was formed because we love this hobby and enjoy buying and selling items we have collected for the better part of our lives. We are looking forward to developing long term business relationships with the great people in this community. All of our lots have high quality pictures posted and if a card has a specific flaw it has been noted in the description. Grading is subjective and no auction house can guarantee that their grades will line up exactly with a TPG. Most auction houses have this in their Auction Rules (see Goldin Auctions as an example).

Thanks,

Daniel

Thanks for the reply Daniel. I do not expect you to keep taking the time to respond to each of us who make an inquiry but I would challenge that the images you are using are high quality. They are actually pretty small making it impossible for a buyer to determine for themselves if your assessment is accurate. I must have missed the lots in which you disclose flaws. I seemed to see a great deal of your descriptions simply describing the player or the set the card came from with only one line about the card appearing to be in specific condition.

I did state that all houses sell raw cards but not all houses are selling cards that belong to family members who defrauded and misrepresented the product they were selling.

So you are affirming that you would not accept a return on a card that came back from PSA or SGC as EX that you described as appearing NM-MT?

Thanks,
Greg

[CandimanAuctions]

Originally Posted by botn

Thanks for the reply Daniel. I do not expect you to keep taking the time to respond to each of us who make an inquiry but I would challenge that the images you are using are high quality. They are actually pretty small making it impossible for a buyer to determine for themselves if your assessment is accurate. I must have missed the lots in which you disclose flaws. I seemed to see a great deal of your descriptions simply describing the player or the set the card came from with only one line about the card appearing to be in specific condition.

I did state that all houses sell raw cards but not all houses are selling cards that belong to family members who defrauded and misrepresented the product they were selling.

So you are affirming that you would not accept a return on a card that came back from PSA or SGC as EX that you described as appearing NM-MT?

Thanks,
Greg

Hi Greg,

Our policy is in line with all other auction houses. Grading is subjective and and no auction house can guarantee that their grades will line up exactly with a TPG. We have posted clear images of all of the items in the auction and tried to point out any relevant flaws. If you look at some of the cards that are Poor to EX you will see where we pointed out creasing, wax staining, paper loss, etc. Obviously anything EX-MT or higher wouldn't have these flaws which is why the descriptions are shorter.

As I have said previously (and added to the Auction Rules on the website), if any card that we haven't described as altered is sent in for grading and comes back as such we will encourage the buyer to return the card to us for a full refund.

Thanks,

Daniel