Candiman Auctions Explained

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by egbeachley

Dang, that's a brutal assessment for the crime of being guilty by association. I can't imagine the venom if they actually do something wrong.

Is there concrete evidence that the mother was actually running the Battlefield account? These guys are supposedly selling their parents cards which we all know were riddled with trimmed and other "A" cards. IMO these guys don't get the benefit of the doubt. This is a family operation and I'm convinced of that.

[egbeachley]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Is there concrete evidence that the mother was actually running the Battlefield account? These guys are supposedly selling their parents cards which we all know were riddled with trimmed and other "A" cards. IMO these guys don't get the benefit of the doubt. This is a family operation and I'm convinced of that.

Yes, it was Carol. I had several emails with her as I was the one who gave Battlefield 17 negatives and 5 neutrals in one shot. Having won about 70 cards, and returning about 40, I know exactly how the cards were photoshopped and the lying write-ups. So I am certainly not a shill for their business plan. Those "faults" I could personally deal with since Carol always accepted returns no matter what. That kept her in business for a long time. We all can name several old-time respected dealers who did the same thing, only they did it through catalogs and calling a card Ex when they were Fair at best. Plus there were many bargains to be found as many stayed away. No risk with returns. But to say her cards were riddled with trimmed was not accurate. If so then you need to take it up with REA and Heritage because Her inventory came from buying large lots from there and breaking them up. Thousands of cards were acquired that way, at least in the non-sports side. It wasn't until later that she got greedy and started buying Authentics, cracking them out, then listing as NM.

Candiman Auctions probably shouldn't have started with the old inventory. They need to add better scans, including the backs for anything decent. And they definitely need to stop giving personal grade opinions that are overly generous. Sure, maybe they don't get the benefit of the doubt, but the most recent posts are doing the exact opposite and not giving them the benefit of their own deeds. Maybe you will end up being right, but i don't like to judge people that way.

I still can't believe the post suggesting we call the Attorney Generals Office. By that logic, if they were a minority we could just call the police.

[slidekellyslide]

I did laugh out loud at the post calling for someone to call the Alabama AG. I would love to give these guys the benefit of the doubt but they haven’t done anything to warrant it. The timing of this auction house is amazing. I mean they start doing business immediately after mom and pop get booted from eBay. I also find it hard to believe they have 25 other consignors besides mom and dad.

[Batpig]

Will anyone here admit to going after a card which has a high likelihood of coming back altered? This thread will be very disappointing if we don't get any first hand accounts after the auction.

[Jenx34]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I did laugh out loud at the post calling for someone to call the Alabama AG. I would love to give these guys the benefit of the doubt but they haven’t done anything to warrant it. The timing of this auction house is amazing. I mean they start doing business immediately after mom and pop get booted from eBay. I also find it hard to believe they have 25 other consignors besides mom and dad.

I laughed too. Then I thought.... Haven't they pretty much admitted their parents committed fraud? Perhaps not, but that seems like it would be valuable should the AG want to build a case.

[frankbmd]

For those of us who value our sleep, at least we will not have stay up for what could be yet another thrilling all-nighter auction. There’s a silver lining in every thread, as for most of us the battle is assuredly already over.

[oldjudge]

Why would anyone with ANY doubt bid in this auction. It's not like we are running out of auction houses. Every day seems to generate new ones.

[Butch7999]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

For those of us who value our sleep, at least we will not have stay up for what could be yet another thrilling all-nighter auction. There’s a silver lining in every thread, as for most of us the battle is assuredly already over.

Saw what you did there...

[irv]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

For those of us who value our sleep, at least we will not have stay up for what could be yet another thrilling all-nighter auction. There’s a silver lining in every thread, as for most of us the battle is assuredly already over.

If only they were playing on a level playing field.

[CW]

I know I'm not the first to propose this idea, but can anyone ever be certain a "Carol" was running Battlefield's eBay sales, and not Daniel or Justin? For all we know they could've been running the whole operation all along using their Mom's email and Paypal accounts.

When you take into consideration everything that has been exposed with their operation: the photshopping of cards, the purposely ambiguous descriptions, the buying of "Authentic" graded cards and selling them raw as simply NM, the creation of a new eBay account (War Eagle) with a fake story behind it, etc., etc. -- how can anyone place any trust in anything these guys say at this point?

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I also find it hard to believe they have 25 other consignors besides mom and dad.

Same here. It is a bit odd that nobody ever heard about this auction house until they had a full auction up and running.

In order to get multiple consignors, typically an AH would have to advertise a little bit at shows, or on the forums, or on AuctionReport, or with SPAM emails in order to get consignments.

Originally Posted by Batpig

Will anyone here admit to going after a card which has a high likelihood of coming back altered? This thread will be very disappointing if we don't get any first hand accounts after the auction.

And therein lies part of the problem with this auction house now existing. At least with eBay you could depend on the feedback system to some extent. Now the Battles basically have full control. Surely they wouldn't shill their own auctions now that the bidding is completely private.

€hû¢k Wölƒ

[ullmandds]

There are plenty of other cards to buy fellas! The only way you can win here is if good old PSA lets an A card slip through their "rigid" grading system.

[egbeachley]

Originally Posted by CW

I know I'm not the first to propose this idea, but can anyone ever be certain a "Carol" was running Battlefield's eBay sales, and not Daniel or Justin? For all we know they could've been running the whole operation all along using their Mom's email and Paypal accounts

Same here. It is a bit odd that nobody ever heard about this auction house until they had a full auction up and running

€hû¢k Wölƒ

Jeez-o-flip, what the heck are you guys smoking?

Really, a couple teenagers decide to start a scamming eBay account and use their Moms ID and name and persona? Then when it comes crashing down years later they go ahead and use their own names?

I can guarantee that the person I dealt with at Battlefield, Carol, was an older lady. Complaining about how she couldn't respond to my emails because her Aunt was sick and had to take her to the hospital and that she had to list more items to feed her family so she didn't see my 4?emails before I ended up giving her 17 negatives to get her attention. IT WAS NOT THE COLLEGE STUDENTS BEING BATTLEfIELD!

And give me the name of 5 Auction Houses that you heard of before they had their first auction?

"Oh yeah, me and Robert Edwards go back 10 years. Used to hang out together and stuff. That was before their first auction of course. We are still tight though"

[slidekellyslide]

Pretty sure that Daniel is in his thirties, he was no teenager when Battlefield was doing all that damage.

[CW]

Fair enough, Eric. Admittedly, I may be making some assumptions, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that 2 young men were selling on eBay as "Carol" all along. I mean, look at their bio from the new website -- they have a lifetime of knowledge:

Candiman Auctions was formed by brothers Daniel and Justin. From a young age the brothers developed a passion for all things sports. From collecting a vast array of sports collectibles to playing various sports, they have gained a lifetime of knowledge of the sports and sports collectibles industry.

Also, who would be more likely to have the ability to photoshop scans to make cards appear better? The parents or two kids in college? Every manipulated scan they used was a direct intent to deceive.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this all plays out. This is nothing personal against you, Eric, and I enjoy your posts on the forums here, however it just seems odd that you would play devil's advocate for a seller that has been deceptive on so many different levels in the past.

This also makes zero sense, from Daniel & Justin's first post:

I want to start out by saying that we completely disavow eBay seller "Battlefield". We do not in any way, shape, or form support their actions on eBay over the past several years. We find their actions despicable and we advised them to shut down their business because their reputation in the collecting community has been completely destroyed and no true collector would ever want to deal with them.

So what do they do to completely disassociate from the Battlefield store and reputation?

Take on their inventory and sell it in their first auction.

[CW]

...

[CandimanAuctions]

Hey guys,

This will be the last time I am able to post for a while. I will be very busy with the auction ending tomorrow, then packing and shipping, and preparing for our April auction.

I want to thank the many of you who listened to our story. I'm not going to go over everything that has been said. It can all be read from the beginning of the thread up to now. We have done our best to engage with as many people as possible on here and I believe have been respectful to everyone we have engaged with. Despite the harsh criticism, which Leon told me would happen when I spoke with him on the phone, I am glad we got on here and posted our story. We have nothing to hide. We created Candiman Auctions using our names knowing we would be in for an uphill battle. In the end I believe it will all be worth it. We love this hobby and want to be a part of it for years to come. For all of those who are skeptical and not fully comfortable bidding in our auctions yet, I understand. Time will tell the true story and that's something we simply can't attain overnight. We will be running several more auctions this year so please keep a watch out for them. I believe we will have some great items that many will be interested in.

Also, I want to personally thank Leon for speaking with me at length on the phone prior to posting this thread. Leon, I appreciate all of your advice. I hope to speak with you again soon. You are a great ambassador for this hobby and we have great respect for you.

Thanks,

Daniel & Justin

[CandimanAuctions]

Originally Posted by egbeachley

And give me the name of 5 Auction Houses that you heard of before they had their first auction?

"Oh yeah, me and Robert Edwards go back 10 years. Used to hang out together and stuff. That was before their first auction of course. We are still tight though"

Thank you again Eric. This is a great point.

Daniel