Mastro consignors not paid yet?

[Exhibitman]

There is no real difference between Mastro and Legendary. Silk Road Equity owns them both and simply pulled off a paper shuffle and rebooted Mastro as Legendary. Lazy bastards even used the same promotional language. If you want to ask who is to blame, you need look no further than one rung up the Legendary/Mastro corporate ladder. Similarly, if the powers that be over there wanted to do the right thing for the consignors, they could. The fact that they haven't, that they were perfectly happy to consign their consignors to the "go pound sand" category until and unless someone bitched loud enough to force their hands, tells me that they are not to be trusted. They will never, ever get another consignment from me no matter how many times they relocate their offices and rename their business.

[daviddbreadman]

Barrysloate you are right on in your post #3 in this thread. Your words describe things exactly. It simply makes no sense. I just don't know what they were thinking. I agree that they are not purposely trying NOT to pay people but instead think that they are 1) too dumb to recognize its importance, 2) unable to pay at this time for cash flow reasons 3) too focused elsewhere.

Nevertheless its the worse business decision they could have made.

People will definitely buy from them, no matter what they say to the public. Lets face it if you want the card and its there you'll bid. But WHO will consign to them?

[autograf]

I think maybe they though the problems of Mastro were the problems of Mastro and they could avoid them in the new endeavor but the consignors of Mastro are/would be the consignors of Legendary and the bidders would be the same, so it's hard to divorce themselves of the issues from Mastro. With Silk Road Equity still involved, it gives us all reason to pause a little too. If it'd been the way it was with Mastro, then Doug, Ron & Brian 'bought the assets' and started Legendary with SRE completely out of the picture we could suppose that they were really looking to move forward away from the past though. It's just basically the same minus Bill Mastro at a different physical location with a different website. So....time will tell. I agree with Barry that it'll be tough to get quality consignments going forward. Without consignments, no bidders, no auction. Hopefully, they can right the ship from the Mastro debacle to get the consignors and bidders back on their side. At one point, we all know what Mastro was....we consigned, we bought, we paid, we got paid, we got the goods. It was a pretty well-oiled machine. I think Doug, Brian & Ron will get that back at some point. They just have to take care of the people like Gary but that clouds the issues of the transition a little though, doesn't it? If they are taking care of the obligations of the former entity, that ties them just a little bit more TO it. Don't know. Tough situation for everyone involved......hope it works out.

[oldjudge]

As I understand it there is more to this than has come out on the board so far. From what I have heard, the reason that Mastro Auctions has not yet paid all consignors is that they are owed significant amounts from certain well respected people in the hobby. When these funds come in the consignors can be paid. Without going into names, supposedly two people owed Mastro Auctions about $400,000 each. In at least one case I have heard the matter is being litigated.

[autograf]

hmm......that's a chunka change.......you'd think if someone owes you $400K, their 'well respected' status might be in jeopardy....

[calvindog]

I see. So consignors will have to wait to get paid until after two years of litigation, unrelated to the consignments which were sold and paid for, is completed? Nice.

[barrysloate]

I knew about this fact but I was told it in confidence. I agree with Jeff that Legendary can't wait until these matters are litigated before paying all their consignors. They have to find a way to get some cash quickly.

[jmk59]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I see. So consignors will have to wait to get paid until after two years of litigation, unrelated to the consignments which were sold and paid for, is completed? Nice.

Unless one of the people that owes them so much money were to declare bankruptcy. Then it wouldn't even be two years. The whole thing might cave in if it's teetery enough now.

[illini805]

What is amazing to me is that there are still people that are probably consigning to them as we speak. Unreal.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

As I understand it there is more to this than has come out on the board so far. From what I have heard, the reason that Mastro Auctions has not yet paid all consignors is that they are owed significant amounts from certain well respected people in the hobby. When these funds come in the consignors can be paid. Without going into names, supposedly two people owed Mastro Auctions about $400,000 each. In at least one case I have heard the matter is being litigated.

Did these 'well respected' people receive their winnings without paying?

[barrysloate]

Well, if Legendary didn't send the merchandise to these well respected collectors, then they wouldn't be having financial problems. Sounds like they apparently did.

[calvindog]

How about this for a business model:

1) consignors give cards to auction company;

2) cards are auctioned off;

3) cards are paid for by the winners;

4) fees are deducted;

5) remaining money is immediately sent to consignors; and

6) auction house fees are used to pay for auction house expenses.

I think this business model works pretty well.

Notice that I eliminated some of the more pesky, troubling steps such as shill bidding, price guarantees to certain consignors, self-dealing, knowledge of ceiling bids by auction house principals and employees, undisclosed restoration and altering, fake winning bids which give the appearance that a lot is sold when in fact it is not, permitting auction house principals and employees to place initial bids on an item during the extended bidding period, lies about checks being in the mail, and finally repeated haughty and false claims of innocence on public chat boards.