Hi All!
So, I got an email this morning from someone who I have bought and sold cards to/from over the past 9 years who also happens to be a regular on this site. He told me that I really need to go check out a thread here because I may just find it of interest. I am the seller in question, wattoent, and thought I should come clear up a few things or to at least add my 2 cents.
First off, to the members here who have given me the benefit of the doubt due to my ebay track record over the last 10+ years I'd like to say thank you. This includes the originator of the thread, pup6913, for not leaving facts out of the description of events as to show me in an unfair negative light. I have always taken pride in the fact that I conduct my business in a highly ethical way and I can always go to sleep at night knowing my mother would be proud of the person she raised.
The original suspected shill bidder, "Mr 129" as he is being referred to, is not my shill. He is a collector who did drive to me to check out the cards I had listed. I live within 2 hours of roughly 10 million people and he was not the only potential buyer to come view the cards, nor the only offer I received outside of ebay. He was seeking a discount and I was seeking top dollar so we did not have a meeting of the minds. No harm no foul. I can see how his high percentage of bids on my cards would be questioned by someone but, as you can see by his bids on my auctions, the vast majority are well under what these cards sell for on ebay on a regular basis. Just like most of you, I am an experienced collector and if I were the type of seller to shill my own auctions why would I do so at a value so far under what I knew they would sell for? I was fully aware that I was listing a group of cards that would generate serious interest and have no shortage of serious buyers bidding. Shill bidders inflate the prices of their auctions to the top of their values not the middle. Shilling $5k worth of cards to $2500 just does not make sense.
As for the other two buyers mentioned in this thread that have a very high number of bid retractions, I also have some serious concerns about their unethical behavior. The one who had two retractions on my auctions as they were in the final minutes, D***K (1), I immediately blocked as soon as I realized I was being screwed with. The second one, E***I (166), did not retract any bids with me and I had no concerns about him until I read this thread.
What made me even more concerned after reading this thread and doing some research on these two unethical bidders is that they have an ebay history together and one of them has an ebay ID that is VERY similar to a poster on this very thread. E***I (166) aka ebay id "Danesei" and D***K (1) aka ebay id "kaidshimozukawa".
Thank you for listening to my explanation of the events and I look forward to being an active member of this site. If anyone has questions of me please ask and I will reply honestly and promptly.
Bryan
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