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Jon CanfieldAgain, thanks for all you input and THANKS Net54 for letting me vent frustration (sure the auction was for only $60 but like I said, its still principle). I have emailed eBay's VeRO program with the following email... Basically, if I can show that reggiejackson.com abused the VeRO program, I would like to see eBay repremand Sports World (even if it just freakin email) and maybe an appology to me. However, if they want to fight - I'd consider. This would make a great topic for my short Law Review note. (PS - If any of you lawyers or legal fans out there want to read a decent 50 page Law Review note on the US Redefining "Torture" and the legal implications involved, shoot me an email! I assure you baseball cards pre-1930 are not mentioned at all, but still some good reading!)
Hello,
I emailed you earlier about my Reggie Jackson baseball I had pulled becuase reggiejackson.com said it "violated their intellectual property rights". [My eBay ID is joncanfield19 and the auction number was #5153088138] As the VeRO information page asks, I contacted reggiejackson.com for an explanation. I have saved all email correspondance with the company and will gladly forward them for your review upon your request. In short, this is what they have told me. I was informed by the general manager of "Sports World" [I assume this is the company handling reggiejackson.com] that Reggie, himself, looked at the scan of my baseball and determined it was fake. I quickly informed them that Reggie must have made a mistake as I bought the baseball directly from a private signing that was conducted between Sports Card Heaven (my auction displayed their certificate of authenticity) and Reggie himself. I also asked them to please provide me with an official email stating that the baseball was fake so I could get my money back from Sports Card Heaven. Sports World refused my request for an official email and told me "I was put on notice". I then informed them that I would obtain PSA/DNA authentication of the Reggie Jackson autographed baseball because you, eBay, reccomends PSA/DNA autnetication. Sports World then informed me that EVEN if PSA/DNA authenticates the ball, they will have you end my auction. They also quoted me some legal "jargon" but as I told you earlier, I am a second year law student and what they told me was completely wrong.
Now, here are my problems.
Problem #1: First and foremost, if Reggie Jackson truly looked at my baseball and thought it was fake, why didn't they contact eBay about the forgery and have you pull my auction? INSTEAD, they had you pull my auction UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY, that I violated copyright/trademark law. However, when I questioned reggiejackson.com (Sports World) on which law I violated, they change their story. SO, my first problem is that reggiejackson.com abused the VeRO program by saying, under penalty of perjury, that my auction violated copyright law WHEN IT DID NOT. Instead, they used VeRO to pull my auction for a totally different reason.
Problem #2: After doing some research, I see that reggiejackson.com is going to be listing a "garage sale" of Reggie Jackson signed items this week on eBay. This is printed directly on Reggie's eBay "about me page" which you can view here: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=reggiejackson.com. That being the case, I find it awfully suspicious that reggiejackson.com (aka Sports World) abused the VeRO program to have my auction pulled right before they were about to list their own autographs. This sounds like they are eliminating me as competition.
Problem #3: As stated above, reggiejackson.com informed me in an email that "an opinion by PSA/DNA will not be accepted as there are way too many variables. Reggie says it is not his [signature] and eBay will honor that". So, are they correct? Does eBay truly tell customers like me to spend $100 to get my ball authenticated by PSA/DNA and if PSA/DNA says it is REAL, you will still end my auction if Sports World tells you to? This, to me, sounds like a monopoly here?! The Federal Rules of Evidence even state that if an opposing party in a legal proceeding does not stipulate to the legitimacy or authenticity of an item in question, whether that be a letter, (or in this case, a signed baseball) the complaining party can offer 3rd party proof through handwriting or other expert testimony to establish the legitimacy / authenticity of the disputed item. The authenticity then becomes a question for the trier of fact to decide. I ALREADY HAVE A STATEMENT SAYING THIS BALL WAS SIGNED AT A PRIVATE SIGNING AND I AM SUBMITTING FOR PSA/DNA AUTNETICATION AS WELL.
As you can see, this is a HUGE problem we have here. It seems that reggiejackson.com is abusing you VeRO program and have committed perjury. Also, they are telling me policies that go against what you, eBay, states. Please, contact me immediatly either by email or by phone (518) 993-2452 to discuss this situation further. I have already notified my lawyer and I'm exploring my legal options as we speak. I'm hoping this issue can be resolved amicably between myself, eBay, and reggiejackson.com.
Thanks,
Jon Canfield