Darren's Rovell take on PWCC, etc.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by BobC

Corey,

I'm with you. There has got to be a better way to look at and grade/authenticate these cards, and to pay attention to alterations and such to them. With all the advances in technology and computers and so on, you would think someone could come up with a slightly more automated way to view and assess these cards than someone just spending a minute or two at most in looking at them. The human error factor is too great and allows for too many errors and mistakes, even without the altered cards that are being pushed through the system. Again, the idea of having a single, hobby collecting group that runs things and sets standards, including the licensing of TPGs to do grading, would also include standardized testing and procedures all the TPGs would/should have to be doing, at a minimum, in looking at and authenticating cards, as well as the grading of them. I'm not just talking about a hobby/collecting group setting single grading standards for the TPGs, but also establishing rules for how they do their work and what efforts, procedures and such they need to perform. The TPGs need to be transparent in what they do and how they do it, and also need to have some centralized rules to follow. Same thing goes for the actual graders. Who exactly certifies them as "experts", and what exactly did those so-called experts do or learn to get such a designation? As best as I can tell, the TPGs hire people with some card knowledge and then teach them what they want them to look for and do in grading and authentication. I may be wrong, but that sure seems to be how they work things now. I would also have the hobby/collecting group be the one to set the standards for determining and licensing card graders, and not leave that to the individual TPGs to just hire and train whomever they want either.

I also find it quite fascinating that throughout this thread, different people have criticized the Rovell article author about his putting out ideas and such to stir people up and sensationalize the issue with his supposed unfounded opinions and ideas. If that is all a lot of people responding to this thread are getting out of this article, they really aren't doing a good job of reading and comprehending everything that is being said in it. What most amazes me is that no one else seems to have picked up on that one quote from Joe Orlando's letter to his customers that was included in the article where he basically chastises people in the hobby for just complaining about things and trying to blame others (ie: PSA) for these problems. He calls them out and sort of insinuates they are more or less a fraction of the people in the overall hobby community who are just whining and complaining, and don't offer any solutions or ways to make things better. And then even more over the top was the follow-up quote from his letter where it states, "Their expectation of human-based opinion services is simply unattainable." I wonder how many people who actually read that article really paid attention to that line, and nearly choked while reading it?!?!?

Talk about insulting people in the hobby and putting them down! He more or less just dismissed everyone who is bringing up these these issues and their concerns and questioning PSA's part in it by not being able to detect the alterations, deflecting any guilt or liability on PSA's part, and basically saying that unless you people have a better idea on how to do things, stop complaining and whining!!! And I don't know about everyone else, but I thought the reason and expectations of buying a card that is graded by a TPG is that the card itself is authentic, and it is properly graded, including the identification of doctoring or alterations and the reflection of such work done on a card to its grade. And that following such a review and grading process, the card is then encapsulated in a tamper resistant holder for protection and given a unique identifying number for identification purposes. If those expectations of people in the hobby are simply unattainable, then what exactly in his mind is the purpose of a TPG company in reviewing and grading cards and what is attainable??? And notice he specifically used the phrase "human-based opinion services" to accentuate the fact that PSA only gives someone's opinion, and that it only a human opinion and therefore subject to typical human error.

I've only been hearing about how people have been taking their altered/doctored cards back to PWCC to receive refunds. Has anyone actually started or tried taking their PSA graded cards that have been shown to be doctored and/or altered back to PSA yet? And if so, what was the result, are they getting the chance to either have PSA buy back the card, or refund the difference between the incorrect and correct grades? People may be opting to just go to PWCC because they seem to be refunding people's money without too much, if any, hassle. But that just possibly play's into PSA's hands by not subjecting them to their possible warranty guarantee and doesn't give them any financial responsibility. Unless of course after refunding people's money PWCC is then taking the cards they now own back to PSA for the warranty guarantee themselves. That is probably why some people have speculated and made suggestions that they think PSA may be working with PWCC in funding them for these refunds PWCC is making. Or does PWCC then try going back to the people that consigned the card's to them originally to get back the money they received for them. I guess at the end of the day it would be nice to know what happens to these altered cards. For all we know, they could end up in someone else's hands out there and be sold to an unsuspecting and unknowing collector. Or they could be sent back to a TPG for proper grading as altered/authentic. I would hate to think they would end up being destroyed by someone as they are still actual, authentic cards, but who knows for certain what is happening to them?

NO we responded to BS posts like this.

Oh, and the other comments in that Rovell article about the significant sales of stock by the PSA CEO are factual statements. As a publicly traded company, in accordance with SEC rules, they have to report such significant sales of a company's stock by their owners/officers to be fair to the investing public and so they can't supposedly take advantage of insider knowledge to the detriment of investors at large. Collector's Universe, though actually a very small company in relation to most publicly traded companies, had recently been added to the Russell 2000 index, which an investor would normally see as a positive sign for the business and would likely help to see that stock going up in price. The fact that a main officer of that same company would then be selling off a significant portion of their stock could simply be him/her taking advantage of a recent price rise and pulling some profits off the table, or they could have had some recent personal cash needs that prompted them to sell part of their ownership to fund the cash need. Of course, if there was also some potential bad financial news coming down the road that they were aware of that could negatively affect the company's stock price, they may be selling so as to cash out as much as they could and cut their losses before the bad financial news becomes mainstream public knowledge and the stock price takes a serious hit. I'll give all of you three guesses as to the possible motivation for Mr. Orlando's sales of his stock in CU, and the first two guesses don't count!!!



You seem like a well informed person. I am surprised you would make this post without attempting to check facts.


I confirmed with Joe that this was indeed a cashless stock option exercise. He has not sold a single share above the amount needed to pay the taxes and take delivery of the remaining shares.

Nice try but you completely failed.

[Peter_Spaeth]

The Form 4 says the sale is to pay taxes look at the FN. This is a public document.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/d...X03/rdgdoc.xml

And Dave it does look like he has a trading plan.

"Explanation of Responses:
1. Sale of shares under 10(b)5-1 Plan to satisfy withholding taxes on shares that vested on June 30, 2019."

Rovell should have checked his facts. There is plenty IMO to fault Joe for these days but dumping stock is not one of them.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The Form 4 says the sale is to pay taxes look at the FN. This is a public document.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/d...X03/rdgdoc.xml

And Dave it does look like he has a trading plan.

"Explanation of Responses:
1. Sale of shares under 10(b)5-1 Plan to satisfy withholding taxes on shares that vested on June 30, 2019."

1. Sale of shares under 10(b)5-1 Plan to satisfy withholding taxes on shares that vested on June 30, 2019.


As easily as you found that Peter obviously Darren could have too. I bet he knew why and just wanted to add some gas to a fire because most would believe his BS.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Dpeck100

1. Sale of shares under 10(b)5-1 Plan to satisfy withholding taxes on shares that vested on June 30, 2019.


As easily as you found that Peter obviously Darren could have too. I bet he knew why and just wanted to add some gas to a fire because most would believe his BS.

I can't speak to that Dave. Most people don't know what a Form 4 is, etc.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I can't speak to that Dave. Most people don't know what a Form 4 is, etc.

I pieced this together simply looking at data from the past two years of insider activity. It was beyond obvious. You don't need to be in the business to see what occurred.

It is one thing not to like a company but to accuse someone of something that is not only false but essentially securities fraud is serious and shameful and hurtful on a personal level.

It is not cool.

[CobbSpikedMe]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I can't speak to that Dave. Most people don't know what a Form 4 is, etc.

Form 4...441. Whatever it takes.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Dpeck100

NO we responded to BS posts like this.

Oh, and the other comments in that Rovell article about the significant sales of stock by the PSA CEO are factual statements. As a publicly traded company, in accordance with SEC rules, they have to report such significant sales of a company's stock by their owners/officers to be fair to the investing public and so they can't supposedly take advantage of insider knowledge to the detriment of investors at large. Collector's Universe, though actually a very small company in relation to most publicly traded companies, had recently been added to the Russell 2000 index, which an investor would normally see as a positive sign for the business and would likely help to see that stock going up in price. The fact that a main officer of that same company would then be selling off a significant portion of their stock could simply be him/her taking advantage of a recent price rise and pulling some profits off the table, or they could have had some recent personal cash needs that prompted them to sell part of their ownership to fund the cash need. Of course, if there was also some potential bad financial news coming down the road that they were aware of that could negatively affect the company's stock price, they may be selling so as to cash out as much as they could and cut their losses before the bad financial news becomes mainstream public knowledge and the stock price takes a serious hit. I'll give all of you three guesses as to the possible motivation for Mr. Orlando's sales of his stock in CU, and the first two guesses don't count!!!



You seem like a well informed person. I am surprised you would make this post without attempting to check facts.


I confirmed with Joe that this was indeed a cashless stock option exercise. He has not sold a single share above the amount needed to pay the taxes and take delivery of the remaining shares.

Nice try but you completely failed.

I did state facts. How else do you think people were able to pull up and find such records of what he was selling as far as the shares he had in CU? I also said he could be selling to pull cash off the table, or that he could have a cash need (like selling enough shares to cover the taxes on exercise of his stock option). I also said that it could be possible for someone with knowledge or concerns about upcoming company issues to look to start selling off shares to protect their investment, and that was one of the reasons that people in his position in a publicly traded company are required to report transactions involving their stock holdings, so there is transparency and the investing public can use that information as they see fit. I never said he was selling his shares because the company was suddenly having issues. I was also attempting to make a joke when I finished by saying I'd give everyone three guesses as to his motivation for selling, and the first two don't count.

I, like you, also thought it was unnecessary to include that part about the stock sales in the article as well, with the implication by the author more or less questioning why Mr. Orlando was selling so many of his shares. (What I think is actually more important is the level of stock activity of the company officers going forward now that these issues are starting to coming out.) But it wasn't BS the author of the article was including, just a statement of facts that the reader could then interpret as they saw fit. That a lot of readers may have interpreted the inclusion of that specific information in the the article as an implication that Mr. Orlando may be selling off his stock in the company because of the issues also mentioned in the article just goes to show how uniformed the average person can be about such things in the business world. I don't think anyone earlier in the thread had brought up and touched on that part of the article yet. I did it merely trying to point out that there were various valid reasons for someone like him to be selling his shares in the company, aside from dumping his stock because of potential concerns and issues.

The article stated that Mr. Orlando had been selling shares back before these issues started coming out a few months ago, so I didn't need to do specific research and call Joe Orlando personally to ask him why he was selling shares in his company. Since he had been doing it prior to all these current issues coming out I pretty much knew he had other valid reasons for selling off portions of his stock holdings, and suspected that it may involve stock options, taxes, or a myriad of other reasonable reasons. I also know that a majority of the readers here aren't going to be that knowledgeable about stock options, tax implications, and so on, and thus instead of going into the specific details about whether or not he had a 10(b)5-1 plan in place or whatever, I just stated that there were potentially other valid reasons for him to be selling his shares, and wanted to be sure to point that out. I was actually coming to Mr. Orlando's defense by noting that there are other perfectly acceptable reasons for him to have been selling shares, and figured it would also make the readers think twice when they realized that anything he or any of the other officers of CU did in regards to activity with their stock ownership in CU would be subject to public reporting and scrutiny. With that kind of oversight and required reporting, the last thing you would think that on officer of CU would do is start dumping their stock at the the first sign of of issues like the one out there now.

So my post is BS and I totally failed, huh? Well, I think I totally succeeded and actually hit it out of the park, to coin a baseball related analogy!!! I wanted to take a look at different parts of that article and focus on some of the items, good and bad, that were mentioned and that I didn't think people may have been paying enough attention to. That part about the stock sales was unnecessary, but still a factual part of the article though the author's spin on it made it seem there was an implied attempt by Mr. Orlando to dump his stock in CU. I may have somewhat awkwardly tried to put forth the idea that there were other reasons for such stock sales that were not insidious or related to insider type trading, and tried to keep the comments straightforward and simple without going into a lot of complicated specifics about options, taxes filings and so on, that a lot of readers would have no idea about or understand. I was hoping to get the readers to think more for themselves about what was being said, and in your case, it looks like I succeeded, even though you apparently misinterpreted my intentions and a lot of what I was saying and trying to do. You went out and did the follow-up research to show everyone exactly what the reasoning was for Mr. Orlando's stock sales and how they were not some plan to dump his stock because of the things that are going on. That is fantastic!!! So you did take what I was saying and think and act upon it as I had hoped, and then did an even better job, albeit in a lot more technical way, than I in re-explaining to everyone why that part of the article, though basically factual, was really unnecessary and biased in the way it was presented. So in the end I succeeded as I hoped and got the message I wanted out to everyone, with your help for the more technical side of the issue!!!

Just for the record, I am not against PSA, or any of the other TPGs, if that is what you were thinking. I am also not necessarily for them either. I am for the basic collectors in this hobby who want to enjoy and have fun with it. I'm not for or against the dealers or auction houses, and I'm even not necessarily for or against the card doctors either. There is even an acceptable time and place for the card doctors and I'm sure there are some collectors who actually appreciate what they do and desire their services. What I'm against is that apparently due to greed or other unknown reasons, some of these people get involved in using these techniques and services to alter/restore/conserve (whatever you want to call it) cards to sell to others who maybe do not have the same acceptance and desire for such altered cards and are unknowingly being sold such altered cards at inflated prices due to the non-disclosure of such alterations. I'm just for seeing people in the hobby not getting ripped off or taken advantage off in what they are looking for and expecting to get when they purchase something. As far as I'm concerned, if PSA wants to accept certain otherwise undetectable alterations as okay and leave them as graded so people can include them in their PSA Registry sets that way, that is totally fine with me. I just don't like the idea that someone who is more of a hobby purist and does not want altered/doctored cards in their collection, or doesn't mind having them as long as they know they have been altered and are appropriately graded and priced, gets taken advantage of when being sold an altered card that is not appropriately graded and marked as such. That is all part of the beauty and the bane of this hobby, that there are many different types of collectors with different needs, wants, desirabilities, expectations and standards. I just don't like seeing any one part of the collecting community possibly being taken advantage of because of the way other collectors look at things or find different things acceptable to them that others don't. As long as everyone has full disclosure concerning things they are buying, it is then up to each individual collector to determine what he/she thinks something is worth to them. I just think that if we had an independent, non-profit collecting group that oversaw the hobby and set consistent standards and expectations for everyone, it would help. Maybe not a perfect solution, but certainly couldn't be much worse that it is now when the for-profit companies and people involved in the hobby are pretty much in control of everything.

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by BobC

Just for the record, I am not against PSA, or any of the other TPGs, if that is what you were thinking. I am also not necessarily for them either. I am for the basic collectors in this hobby who want to enjoy and have fun with it. I'm not for or against the dealers or auction houses, and I'm even not necessarily for or against the card doctors either. There is even an acceptable time and place for the card doctors and I'm sure there are some collectors who actually appreciate what they do and desire their services. What I'm against is that apparently due to greed or other unknown reasons, some of these people get involved in using these techniques and services to alter/restore/conserve (whatever you want to call it) cards to sell to others who maybe do not have the same acceptance and desire for such altered cards and are unknowingly being sold such altered cards at inflated prices due to the non-disclosure of such alterations. I'm just for seeing people in the hobby not getting ripped off or taken advantage off in what they are looking for and expecting to get when they purchase something. As far as I'm concerned, if PSA wants to accept certain otherwise undetectable alterations as okay and leave them as graded so people can include them in their PSA Registry sets that way, that is totally fine with me. I just don't like the idea that someone who is more of a hobby purist and does not want altered/doctored cards in their collection, or doesn't mind having them as long as they know they have been altered and are appropriately graded and priced, gets taken advantage of when being sold an altered card that is not appropriately graded and marked as such. That is all part of the beauty and the bane of this hobby, that there are many different types of collectors with different needs, wants, desirabilities, expectations and standards. I just don't like seeing any one part of the collecting community possibly being taken advantage of because of the way other collectors look at things or find different things acceptable to them that others don't. As long as everyone has full disclosure concerning things they are buying, it is then up to each individual collector to determine what he/she thinks something is worth to them. I just think that if we had an independent, non-profit collecting group that oversaw the hobby and set consistent standards and expectations for everyone, it would help. Maybe not a perfect solution, but certainly couldn't be much worse that it is now when the for-profit companies and people involved in the hobby are pretty much in control of everything.

Not wanting to get the least bit involved in the Joe Orlando Stock Sale speculation/discussion...

I think the vast majority of your last paragraph (in bold) did indeed hit it out of the park. This is where the TPGs have failed us. I only take exception to the portion highlighted in Red. But for the most part, some very good perspective IMO.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Not wanting to get the least bit involved in the Joe Orlando Stock Sale speculation/discussion...

I think the vast majority of your last paragraph (in bold) did indeed hit it out of the park. This is where the TPGs have failed us. I only take exception to the portion highlighted in Red. But for the most part, some very good perspective IMO.

Mark,

The reason I mentioned that is because there are a lot of people involved in the PSA Registry, and they probably don't want/need to have that changed or become unavailable. And as I also mentioned, there are different people in the hobby with different collecting concerns/needs/wants and interests, which is perfectly fine also. And for that reason, if PSA was to say they didn't see or weren't able detect these alterations that are being discovered and pointed out, they can go ahead if they want and continue to leave those cards in the currently graded PSA holders they are now in and not change their grades. And the people who own those cards can then continue to have them listed in the PSA Registry at the current assigned grades. In effect, what that would do is make it so PSA is effectively accepting of some alterations/restorations/conservation of cards, as long as it was apparently done so well that it couldn't readily be detected by them. And if those collectors owning those actually altered cards didn't care, that is fine and their business and no one else's.

However, if you had an organized collector run group that set up specific, unified grading standards and measures and PSA passed on agreeing and adhering to them and to the oversight by such a collector group, that is fine also. It would just be that people involved in the collector group would know that PSA did not agree to and adhere to standards of the collecting community, and hopefully the members of the collecting community would then view PSA graded cards going forward with a definite taint of doubt as to the veracity of the grades given, and possibly the authenticity as well. You'd potentially end up with two (or possibly even more) distinct collector groups that all operated under their own set of rules and standards. And there is nothing wrong with that. Collectors in both groups would eventually know the differences between the two and their standards and how they viewed things differently in the hobby. That way if a person was more of a hobby purist and didn't want to take a chance on accidentally acquiring an altered card, they would probably stay away from any PSA graded cards like the plague. Card doctors would also know that if a TPG like PSA didn't really worry about a card being conserved/altered/restored as long as they couldn't really detect such work and that if it passed through their inspection procedures without detection the card would thereafter be considered good as graded, they could go ahead and just submit all their work to PSA for grading, and not have to worry about potential persecution and legal issues going forward. The collectors who still wanted to follow and participate in the PSA Registry could then do so and continue to pay the prices they saw fit to pay for such high graded cards in PSA holders, altered or not. Meanwhile, people who preferred to follow the path of the more purist collector group wouldn't want to take a chance on PSA cards and would look most likely to only purchasing raw cards or those graded by other TPGs that did go along and adhere to the collector groups singular, unified standards and measures for cards and their grading/authentication. In other words, to each his/her own.

The not so easy to resolve problem/dilemma comes from the vast amount of already graded PSA cards currently owned by collectors who are more on the purist side of collecting and do not want potentially altered cards, at least not without them being properly designated, graded and priced as such. How do you resolve that with those collectors and get those now suspect PSA graded cards either out of their hands/collections, and/or reholdered by a different TPG that follows the more purist collecting groups ideals and standards? Or do they just hold on to them and deal with it? Great questions for which I have no answers. if something like that was to eventually occur, I think the market and collectors themselves would eventually figure out and gravitate toward the most acceptable/palatable solution on a collector by collector basis. And this dilemma to me is the gist of your non-agreement/non-acceptance of my statement about my being okay with PSA possibly accepting altered/restored/conserved cards as legit if they couldn't detect the alterations. I can fully understand how someone who has a number of suspect PSA graded cards in their possession would not be happy and concerned if PSA did not somehow address and possibly make redress for their potential approval of such altered cards being accepted as legitimately graded. But remember, it is only their opinion, to which everyone has a right to their own opinion. And if there are a sufficient number of collectors who may not think like and agree with you, but instead follow and accept PSA's view of the issue, if that is what they want to think and believe, who are you and I to say they are wrong? One of the things I've always heard is to collect what you want and like? If so, who are you or I to disparage someone else if that is what they like, accept and want to collect?

And here's an even worse potential result/dilemma should such a dichotomy emerge in the hobby. The more purist collectors who looked at altered/restored/conserved cards as only worthy of an authentic grade would expect the value of such cards to be severely discounted for the non-authentic grade. However, if collectors who followed the PSA way of thinking still viewed the undetectable altered cards that passed cleanly through as completely legit and accurate for the grades, those same cards that the hobby purists would give little value to would still be considered highly valuable by the PSA Registry crowd. So now you may not only have two potentially different thinking groups of collectors out there, but those two collector groups may also be assigning very different values to the exact same card(s) that both groups look to collect. If that were to end up being the case, how long do you think it would be before whichever collector group had the most followers (and money) would begin to exert pressure on the overall hobby to where cards and collectors would start to gravitate more to one side or the other?

Think about it, if the PSA collectors kept on looking for the consistently higher graded cards, altered or not, and there were enough members of that side of the market (with enough dollars), card doctors would be out there trying to acquire and buy up all the cards they could from the more purist collector group side, and then work their magic to make more money by altering those same cards, having them run through and graded numerically by PSA, and then offering them for sale on the PSA side of the hobby. The purists, not sure if any PSA graded cards then were altered or not, would likely value those highly graded and thus suspect PSA cards a lot less than members of the PSA side of collecting. And in that case, inevitably more and more cards will end up following the money and be moved into PSA graded holders (at least I can see this on the vintage side of collecting). So in that case what do the more purist collectors do as the cards they want, at prices they feel are correct, keep moving more and more to the PSA side of the hobby and getting graded and put into PSA holders? Eventually they won't be able to find/collect a lot of the cards they want and need for their collections, and will only accept and purchase cards in non-PSA holders or raw condition, which would in effect make such cards rarer and rarer to find and likely push prices up. Or they will have to bite the bullet and just accept and purchase the PSA graded cards after all, at potentially higher prices than they feel those cards are worth. And then at some point, the more purist collector group starts to lose members as they either can't find/afford what they are looking for and maybe drop out of the hobby, or just accept or go over to the PSA side. Lose enough members and that whole purist side of the hobby could eventually fall apart and go the way of the Dodo bird.

And on the either side of the coin, if the purist hobby group ends up having more followers (and dollars), and collectively steers away from PSA graded cards because of a potential alteration taint, that could end up having a negative impact on the overall value of all PSA graded cards as potentially fewer people will be interested in them. Law of supply and demand, right? In that instance it is likely over time that more collectors would start to move cards from PSA holders to those of other TPGs that followed the more purist hobby group's grading standards, or even raw condition, to take advantage of the perceived higher prices and value of non-alteration tainted cards. And if the prices on the PSA side start to get negatively impacted enough, that should also start to undermine the confidence of the investment minded people who are part of the PSA side of the hobby. Get enough of those people more interested in the investment side of things to start seeing the value in the higher graded cards on the purist side of the hobby not affected by a potential alteration taint, and you'll see them start to move over towards that side of the hobby and start getting out of their PSA graded cards.

In other words, if something like this were to happen, and that is one huge IF, I can inevitably see money will be the leading factor in determining which side of the hobby thinking will ultimately appear to win out and garner the most followers.

And for the record, there are suspected altered cards in not just PSA holders, but in SGC and BGS holders as well. And when I use the term "purist", I am not inferring or implying in any way that one side or group is better and pure/right while another group is somehow impure/bad in any way. I was merely using the terms purist and PSA as designations to name two potential sides/groups in a hypothetical situation as described above.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Bob, do you ever write less than a novel?

[BobC]

Originally Posted by aquarian sports cards

bob, do you ever write less than a novel?

yes!

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Well-played

Though "No" would've been funnier!