Has Anyone Dealt with http://www.baseball-collect.com/

[jgmp123]

I am very leary about this site and the guy that owns it..A fella from Canada named Bob Semetka. Let me know if you have had any success working with him.

A couple red flags that I have seen...

- I sent an email asking if an item was available and made offer $20 less than he had listed...He then responded to me and went crazy on me for asking for the reduction. I thought I was the customer.

Also, probably the biggest red flag is the payment types accepted:

Straight from his website....

U.S. Order Payment Options - A U.S. Bank Money Order (subject to clearance) or "International" U.S. Post Office Money Order (orange pink color) or Western Union MO, Items will be shipped next business day.

Note - For various reasons I am not accepting any form of U.S. Bank Checks incl. personal or certified, draft etc.

Canadian Order Payment Options - A Canadian Bank Check (subject to clearance) or Bank or Post Office Money Order.

Cash is at purchasers discretion.

Credit Card or PayPal payments are not available - If interested to know why, type PayPal Complaints into your browser.

[7nohitter]

I've never dealt with them, and based on what you just stated comes from their site I will NEVER deal with them!

[powderfinger]

I believe this person once acted as a type of "agent" for specific hockey HOFers regarding the sale of their autographs. I remember specifically that Red Kelly and Norm Ullman were two of the payers he represented. There might have been more. Anyway, if you sent him your item and the required payment ( this was all pre-PayPal) items were always signed and returned. I never had a problem.

[Mr. Zipper]

Not accepting Paypal isn't necessarily a sign of a problem in my opinion. Many small time sellers simply cannot risk a Paypal chargeback or they way they can arbitrarily freeze accounts.

Years ago I got hit with an $1,100 chargeback from a comic book I sold on ebay. 45 days after I shipped the item and the buyer left positive feedback, he claimed "someone unauthorized used my account" and Paypal said I owed the $1,100 back. Even though I had delivery confirmation and positive feedback from the buyer, Paypal sided with the buyer and I was hit with the chargeback. Still makes me angry when I think about it.

And my story is not an isolated incident. So, I don't blame people for not wanting to deal with Paypal. Because they are not a true bank, they skirt many of the consumer protection standards you get with accepting or using a real bank card.

[jgmp123]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

Not accepting Paypal isn't necessarily a sign of a problem in my opinion. Many small time sellers simply cannot risk a Paypal chargeback or they way they can arbitrarily freeze accounts.

Years ago I got hit with an $1,100 chargeback from a comic book I sold on ebay. 45 days after I shipped the item and the buyer left positive feedback, he claimed "someone unauthorized used my account" and Paypal said I owed the $1,100 back. Even though I had delivery confirmation and positive feedback from the buyer, Paypal sided with the buyer and I was hit with the chargeback. Still makes me angry when I think about it.

And my story is not an isolated incident. So, I don't blame people for not wanting to deal with Paypal. Because they are not a true bank, they skirt many of the consumer protection standards you get with accepting or using a real bank card.

Understand not using Paypal, but no personal or bank checks?? Only money orders/cash/wire service...

[drc]

These days, the money from a personal or bank check is deposited in your account right away, so there's little risk with them. In the past, it could take a while for deposit so I guess I could understand that. Sounds as if he may be an old school type of guy. It may be that he's been burned with other forms of payment. We hear of Americans complaining about problems selling to Canada. Maybe the problems work both ways.

[otismalibu]

Been some time since I lived in Canada, but there used to be a fee for cashing checks from USA.

[baseballart]

Originally Posted by otismalibu

Been some time since I lived in Canada, but there used to be a fee for cashing checks from USA.

Almost every Canadian financial institution now offers US dollar checking accounts

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

Not accepting Paypal isn't necessarily a sign of a problem in my opinion. Many small time sellers simply cannot risk a Paypal chargeback or they way they can arbitrarily freeze accounts.

Years ago I got hit with an $1,100 chargeback from a comic book I sold on ebay. 45 days after I shipped the item and the buyer left positive feedback, he claimed "someone unauthorized used my account" and Paypal said I owed the $1,100 back. Even though I had delivery confirmation and positive feedback from the buyer, Paypal sided with the buyer and I was hit with the chargeback. Still makes me angry when I think about it.

And my story is not an isolated incident. So, I don't blame people for not wanting to deal with Paypal. Because they are not a true bank, they skirt many of the consumer protection standards you get with accepting or using a real bank card.

That sux. Did you get the comic back?

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

That sux. Did you get the comic back?

LOL

Of course not. It was gone in a puff of smoke just like the Paypal "Seller protection."

To this day I still scan auctions looking for the book. It had a few very distinctive flaws.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by jgmp123

I am very leary about this site and the guy that owns it..A fella from Canada named Bob Semetka. Let me know if you have had any success working with him.

A couple red flags that I have seen...

- I sent an email asking if an item was available and made offer $20 less than he had listed...He then responded to me and went crazy on me for asking for the reduction. I thought I was the customer.

Also, probably the biggest red flag is the payment types accepted:

Straight from his website....

U.S. Order Payment Options - A U.S. Bank Money Order (subject to clearance) or "International" U.S. Post Office Money Order (orange pink color) or Western Union MO, Items will be shipped next business day.

Note - For various reasons I am not accepting any form of U.S. Bank Checks incl. personal or certified, draft etc.

Canadian Order Payment Options - A Canadian Bank Check (subject to clearance) or Bank or Post Office Money Order.

Cash is at purchasers discretion.

Credit Card or PayPal payments are not available - If interested to know why, type PayPal Complaints into your browser.

I actually had a transaction in progress with Bob (my first) when you posted this, so held off on commenting until I had received the items. The end result was that everything came out okay. Being stateside, I had to jump through a few hoops to get payment to him, but everything arrived as promised.

My take on the situation is that Bob has probably been burned by Paypal in some way in the past, and rather than risk repeating that situation, chooses not to accept Paypal payments. Paypal does have its risks (primarily for the seller), but by enabling Joe Average to accept credit card payments without having to have a merchant account, it does simplify things a lot. In this case though, Bob had something that I wanted (stumbled across it with a simple Google search), so I decided to go ahead and jump through the hoops.

First, I found what I wanted on his website and sent him an e-mail to make sure it was still available and see how best to get the payment to him. I got a short reply back that he needed to know if I was in the U.S. or Canada (fair enough), and to look at the ordering instructions on the website (which gave shipping rates for individual cards, not card lots like the one I was inquiring about). So after I tell him where he's shipping to, he tells me that the prices listed on his site are if you're paying in Canadian $, and if I'm sending U.S. $ to add 8% to cover the bank conversion fees. He also asked that I advise whether I wanted to reserve the lot pending my payment.

A little less than 24 hours later I get a curt e-mail saying that if I don't want the cards, just let him know. That it doesn't take long to send an e-mail and he went to the trouble of weighing them and giving me a shipping quote, and that I needed to wake up. I'm assuming that Bob has also gotten a lot of inquirers that never followed through with the transaction, and is a bit short-tempered as a result. I politely ignored the tirade, e-mailed him back that I would be sending payment as he instructed (USPS international money order), and to please reserve the lot for me. When I did finally get to the bank and purchased the international money order, I noticed that it still gave the amount as "US $", so not being sure if this counted as sending Canadian or US funds to Bob, I threw in a few extra bucks cash to cover the 8% surcharge he had quoted.

I'm not sure if that was what was expected, but it seemed to work as I got an e-mail from Bob a couple weeks later that he was sending the cards out, and received them safe and sound and as promised a couple weeks after that.

So, all of that is to say that, while not exactly what I would call a smoothe transaction, Bob did everything he said he would do, even if I did have to do some extra legwork to get the payment to him. The whole thing really resembled ordering something from a print ad in the back of a magazine more than your typical over-the-internet transaction. I would also add that my purchase did not include any autographed items, so I can't speak with any personal experience regarding those.

To sum up my overall experience, I would say Bob may be a bit of a curmudgeon who could stand to brush up on his people skills, but he delivered everything as promised, and I never got the impression that he was up to no good.

[jgmp123]

Lance,

Thanks for the update. I had the same experience when asking him if he would be willing to take a lower offer if I purchased multiple items, he freaked out and called me cheap and a few other things...said he couldn't believe I would ask for a discount when the prices were already low enough....not the nicest of guys and I will probably never deal with him, but glad everything worked out for you.

[Bob Semetka]

This complaint by James Graham was brought to my attention awhile ago hoeever I haven’t had the time to post my response due to a major renovation I was involved with. In fairness James didn’t include all the facts in his statement. James inquired if a signed cut by Chuck Templeton was still available, in an attempt to complete his collection of the 1955 WS Champs Brooklyn Dodgers team. I advised him it was a white unlined 3x5 index card, not a cut as listed on my website at $50. Templeton appeared in 4 games & not significant to the team’s overall success however was a difficult autograph for collectors to obtain over the years & known as a non signer via mail & in addition didn’t make card shows appearances. His signature is at the very least scarce (in any form). One dealer on the net has a Templeton 3x5 available for $195. He passed away in 1997 at a relatively young age of 67.

I asked James if he wished to reserve it. He replied asking if I would accept $30, a substantial 40% discount on $50. In response I stated “Before we go any further ... No discounts ... never had to, the $ listed are fair ... if I were to allow for it the $ w/b higher to compensate ... you should have asked about this in your 1st e-mail”.

James replied “Just asking...No reason to get so upset”.

He “Assumed” I was upset when I wasn’t & advised him so. Was I peeved a little ... yes. I did add a sarcastic remark because of the assumption which in hindsight I shouldn’t have. I wouldn’t have minded had he asked if a discount was available or offered 10% less, that would have been fine.

Now, in this forum he is “adding & spinning” my reply as “went crazy on me” & “he freaked out.” Not true.

In a further reply to Lance in this forum he states that he asked me if I would be willing to take a lower offer if he purchased multiple items. This is a complete fabrication & only inquired about the 1 item mentioned above.

He didn’t ask me why I only accept certain types of payment & only raised a “Red Flag” in this forum. The reason why I accept money orders only on U.S. orders is due to being in Canada. In the past I have received bad U.S. checks (insufficient funds) plus over the last few years, hundreds of different U.S. banks have closed.

I don’t accept PayPal due to numerous complaints listed on the net & thereby avoid possible needless complications. Have I lost sales because of it, sure, but it's my decision. Payment types are up to the seller.
There is a note on my web page regarding No PayPal which he could have checked, instead he chose to copy & enter it in his complaint. See Above.

In reference to the “Comic Book” postings. I don't sell or deal in comic books. This transaction was with someone else.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Bob Semetka

In a further reply to Lance in this forum he states that he asked me if I would be willing to take a lower offer if he purchased multiple items. This is a complete fabrication & only inquired about the 1 item mentioned above.

He didn’t ask me why I only accept certain types of payment & only raised a “Red Flag” in this forum. The reason why I accept money orders only on U.S. orders is due to being in Canada. In the past I have received bad U.S. checks (insufficient funds) plus over the last few years, hundreds of different U.S. banks have closed.

I don’t accept PayPal due to numerous complaints listed on the net & thereby avoid possible needless complications. Have I lost sales because of it, sure, but it's my decision. Payment types are up to the seller.
There is a note on my web page regarding No PayPal which he could have checked, instead he chose to copy & enter it in his complaint. See Above.

Bob,

I'll simply say that I think you are confusing my post with one or more of the others in this thread.

I never inquired about a discount of any sort, and as you say, did purchase a single lot (of several postcards), at your asking price plus shipping/handling. I believe everything that I posted was a fair representation of our transaction, and my intent in posting here was actually to counter some of the other, more disparaging posts from those who had not actually dealt with you (I do apologize for the curmudgeon comment though, one interaction probably isn't enough to make that determination).

[theshleps]

I remember starting a transaction with Bob over 5 years ago but I wasn't comfortable with the signature and cancelled the deal. It went ago (the cancellation) but details are fuzzy

[Bob Semetka]

Lance,

Re "In a further reply to Lance"

I was referring to James & his reply to you.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Bob Semetka

Lance,

Re "In a further reply to Lance"

I was referring to James & his reply to you.

Ah, okay. I misread that. Thanks for clearing it up.

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by Bob Semetka

Templeton appeared in 4 games & not significant to the team’s overall success however was a difficult autograph for collectors to obtain over the years & known as a non signer via mail & in addition didn’t make card shows appearances. His signature is at the very least scarce (in any form). One dealer on the net has a Templeton 3x5 available for $195.

Bob, no offense but I really don't think Templeton is Scarce. He's not hard to find at all and I would call him Readily Available. I know the dealer that has the $195 3x5 ( a very very well known and respected dealer) but his initial prices are always very high...and he is willing to deal. He also has a Templeton 1979 tcma for $175, and I paid $22 last year. When all is said and done, I still don't think $50 for a nice Templeton 3x5 is outlandish by any means, however, $30 is not a slap in the face either.