Ebay is getting better

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Posted By: leon

Before I went on vacation last week I got a call from Shelly Jaffe. We spoke a little bit and agreed and disagreed a little bit. I know he had issues before, and admits it, but seems like he is truly trying to help at this point. So be it. He told me to call a person at ebay and that they are enlisting some hobby folks to help clean up the Sports Card side of ebay with respect to obvious fakes and scams. I called and we spoke for quite a bit and I told J.G. I would be glad to help. I have a call into him today to let him know I am still up to doing it and was out last week. Basically I am going to email him with obvious questionable items (these won't be close calls) and he is going to email the seller to ask for more info, and if need be, shut the auction down. I feel this is a very positive thing ebay is doing and wanted to let folks know about it. He also asked about getting a few other folks to help but I was busy and didn't offer any names at the time. I assured him that if I emailed him then it would be almost positive the card is not good...like the red back Cobby - Drum on ebay now with a BIN of 15k. It is an extremely obvious reback job in a hacked PSA holder...At any rate I wanted to give some more positive hobby news..Ebay is trying to clean up a little bit.....regards

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Posted By: David

It's about time ebay takes charge of this issue...but what a job it’s going to be. Thanks for the info Leon!!

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Posted By: Jimmy

Great to hear eBay is reaching out in the hobby and I look forward to hearing about the progress. This site is a great resource for all companies in our industry to reach out to and provide support.

Jimmy

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Hard to believe, but great news. Now if only Leon could have such a positive effect on Mastro and PSA.....

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Posted By: Joseph

Now, now Jeffrey...let's not try to rile up Leon with the "M" word.

Btw Leon, while you're at it, put this crap on your list:

http://search.stores.ebay.com/olebbstuff_0-sign-cardboard_W0QQfcdZ2QQfciZQ2d1QQfclZ3QQfromZR10QQfs nZolebbstuffQQfsooZ2QQfsopZ2QQsaselZ168120066QQsat itleZQ400Q20signQ20cardboardQQsbrsrtZdQQsofpZ0%3C/a%3C/a%3E%3E


He's selling all as genuine "antiques" at prices up to $299. Outrageous.

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Posted By: E, Daniel

to get some extra help Leon you might consider setting up yet another tab on this forum titled 'fakes' (or other), where members who are surfing ebay and happen across obvious rip-offs can list the ebay auction number. You could then run your eye over them to vet for yourself before passing on the info.

And come to think of it, it'd be nice to set up the same on 'universe' forum, becketts, and any other to participate. It could all have a pretty big effect.


Daniel

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Posted By: dan mckee

This is a great idea Leon! I have been doing it for close to 8 months now. My contact was a female for the first 6 months who was excellent and shut down the fraudulent auctions; the last 2 months I have been working with a guy whose goal is to help fix problems with the entire category. My suggestion, get a team of 5 or 7 guru's who are tops in the hobby for knowledge and do not mind taking the time to do it. That way there is a board and not 1 high and almighty dictator. Naturally I consider myself one of the top knowledgable people in the pre-war hobby and I have the time and have already been doing this for awhile. I will however yield to Barry Sloate, John Rameriez, Lew Lipset and possibly Kevin Struss. After that, you will probably get an argument out of me. Lets take out the trash! And clean up the garbage auctions in the pre-1930 category. Dan Mckee

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Posted By: Eric

I think that's a great idea too.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Thanks Dan for including me but I rarely check what's on ebay. I just look at the links that others post on the board.

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Posted By: jay behrens

Barry, I think he was saying that you are among the select few that know more than he does about baseball cards.

Jay

The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.

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Posted By: dan mckee

Jay is correct. I was actually expecting to get blasted from that statement but you guys are way too good to me tonight. In all seriousness, I am E card ignorant, 19th Century ignorant, 50s and 60s regionals ignorant, PCL ignorant, and God knows what else ignorant. A very wise man on this board once told me "Dan, know one knows everything about everything". That was very well put! Hence the need for a board of collectors/investors to police the pre-war category on ebay. There is a ton of knowledge on this board to just about cover a complete spectrum of eras and issues. It is a real pleasure just being a part of this community. You are a real good bunch of guys and gals! Thanks Dan.

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

Hi Dan,
Nice to see you posting.... You're in my top 10, so keep up the good work. Be well my friend. Brian

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Posted By: Jim Dale

It is good to have hope. I hate to be bitter but ebay is still the wild west with its thieves, kingdoms and fraud. When I read leon's post I felt like they were putting one of the laid off fraud people to work. Seriously - do you really think they get as many notices of shill bidding and the like now that they've hidden the ID's of bidders over $200? My guess is they were able to eliminate a lot of people in house with that one.

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Posted By: leon

I prefer to be an optomist. That's what makes this board great...the diverse opinions. I could say the sky is up and at least one person would argue it's down. I will try to help identify some forgeries and reprints if I can. I'm not holding my breath but if something like this works maybe we can help facillitate positive change in other places too...or maybe not .....can't hurt to try...but we'll see. I certainly can understand the cynical view. regards...
ps...by the way I have received several emails from folks that want to help which is very enlightening. I never thought it would be a one person thing...I don't have time for much else besides what I do now anyway... we'll see.....

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Posted By: Harry Wallace

Leon, that is a good first step.

Dan, I tried emailing them in the past, but never had much luck.

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Posted By: dan mckee

Harry, emailing them is a waste of time I agree. I found an "in" on ebay otherwise they do not even read your emails, it is a joke unfortunately. Leon has a great idea here, I like it, I have the time, and I am very interested in helping. Leon, please keep me in mind. Thanks dan.

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Posted By: leon

Your name and about 5 others are in the hopper to help. I understand this person is off on Thurs and Fri's (kind of strange) so we haven't yet made contact after my vacation all last week...and when we spoke the first time there was no immediate follow up as I told him I would be on vacation in the next few days....So there hasn't been a communication again yet. I think this could be a good thing though...hopefully. regards

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Posted By: dan mckee

Thanks Leon, I am game to help in anyway you see fit. Just let me know. Kisses, Dan

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Posted By: dan mckee

Don't take those kisses wrong, my wife has just fell asleep on me tonight. Dan

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Posted By: rrrowe

Please forgive my lack of optimism concerning this idea.

A multi-billion dollar company wants free help in cleaning up the mess that their own past greed has created? Somehow it seems to me that if they had been less greed-driven over the past 10 years and more concerned with the quality their service provided, this would not be an alternative being considered today. For years, I along with many of you have reported listing which were OBVIOUSLY fraudulent....only to see the item sold and the seller listing another one. AND WHY? Greed for the revenues these sellers (often POWERSELLERs) was adding to their bottom line.

The solution would be to HIRE personnel, and specifically a "Sportscard and Memorabilia Manager", that is knowledgeable about this product. (Major auctions houses do it, why not eBay?) Someone who is proactive and not reactive. Someone who will stand up to management when "quality" issues are being sacrificed to appease their stockholders lusts.

Ebay has a discussion board with listing after listing mentioning problems, scams and fraudlent activity....do they listen? NO. If you look at their Sportscard discussion board you will see the "newest" manager (as of 2005) had checked in and was looking for ways to improve this category....he quickly became a joke on the board. As it soon became all too obvious his real interest was not in improving problems but in continuing to collect his paycheck by not "making waves". I can't think of one issue/problem presented on their own board that they have addressed in the last 2 years!

Now we/you are expected to clean up eBay mess? We can't even get the grading companies and auction houses within our own industry to clean up their messes. Reholdered, trimmed, and incorrectly graded cards, ok let's report them. When in reality it should be an issue being addressed by PSA, SGC and GAI. Our grading companies should proactive with these issues, yet their bottom lines also become the deciding factors for any change.

Well hopefully, if all goes well with this venture, we can also get eBay to research and suspend those individuals responsible for interfering with auctions by getting sellers to end them early or changing them for immediate sale. Personally, I consider that stealing as much the guy with the tea-soaked T206 Wagner found in a cigar box in grandpa's attic listed as "possibly real".

I'm afraid the problems within this hobby are the moral ethics of each us associated with it. Unfortunately, all too often the almighty dollar has a way of easing our moral consciences and turning "wrongs" into those "acceptable" gray areas we can live with.

I say "Let them eat papercutouts". Because until their bottom line suffers, no genuine improvements will be made.