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-   -   VCP rant (http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=143095)

vintagetoppsguy 10-27-2011 08:11 AM

VCP rant
 
At the beginning of the year, I came into a little money and decided to invest the funds in my collection. I bought a mixture of pre-war and post war (’52-’56 Topps) cards. Last week I decided to sell one of the cards that I bought to put the money in other areas of my collecting focus. The card was a E90 American Caramel Eddie Plank graded SGC 50. I knew that I had purchased it on eBay, but couldn’t remember what I paid for it. I looked up the card on VCP, but they didn’t show the sale.

I knew the approx date of when I purchased the card so I was able to look it up in my PayPal history. I emailed VCP to inform them of their mistake and told them that I have screen shots that would support my claim. Bobby responded back the following day and his reply was simply this, “Since the auction is so old we can not verify it.” That was it. Nothing else. Are you kidding me?

This card in this grade rarely comes up for sale (last time was nearly 2 years ago) so it is important the data be correct. So it got me to thinking, if they didn’t record this sale, what other sales did they miss? I looked in my PayPal history and you would be surprised. I limited my search to only purchases of $200 or more, only pre-war cards and only the month of February. There were 3 purchases involving 4 cards. 3 of those 4 cards were not recorded by VCP (that doesn’t include the Plank card). If you count the Plank, that is 4 of 5 sales that they did not record. Keep in mind I only checked pre-war cards, purchases of $200+ and only sales from the month of February. I’m sure I would get the same results if I searched other purchases.

As buyers and sellers of cards, we put our trust in VCP for reliable data. Is VCP really this incompetent? And when their mistakes are pointed out, shouldn’t they make an effort to correct them rather some stupid BS excuse? I am cancelling my membership with VCP and I will contact my credit card company and dispute the charges. VCP is a joke!

Here is the original Plank that I was referring to, bought from Mike Wheat on or around February 8th. Not recorded in VCP.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...titled-2-1.jpg

Here is a purchase from Joe's Vintage Sportscards on or around February 26th. I only checked the Keeler and McGraw, both sales not reflected on VCP (I'm sure the other 2 cards weren't captured either).
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...untitled-2.jpg

Here is a E90 American Caramel Lajoie that was puchased from Chris Buckler on or about February 13th. Doesn't show up in VCP.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x.../untitled2.jpg

Anybody else having a problem with VCP not recording their sales?

barrysloate 10-27-2011 08:45 AM

That's interesting David, and I know Bobby posts on this board (hi Bobby!). It would be helpful if he would explain how he gathers the data for VCP. Because I agree all sales are valid and useful information.

D. Bergin 10-27-2011 09:13 AM

They probably don't record most retail or BIN sales.

Probably because they are easier to manipulate.

Not that an auction with 3-10 days of exposure from a seller who doesn't publicize their auctions outside of the Ebay framework and throws up blurry photos and minimal descriptions should be an accurate representation of actual market value either.

I guess you have to pick and choose your poison.

barrysloate 10-27-2011 09:50 AM

That's a good point I may have missed. Were these BIN's or actual auctions? BIN's have never been part of VCP, only auctions. That would explain it.

ZernialFan 10-27-2011 10:22 AM

Hi All,

I agree with David. I'm relatively new to Net54, but had some, although limited,
experience with VCP prior to and after joining Net54. A friend that is on the board regarded it as "The Source" for average pricing sold. He allowed me to use his subscription for awhile to help me out. I soon noticed that a number of my
purchases from Ebay were not recorded, and I keep very good records. Although I view it as another "Tool" for prices paid, I decided not to join as I
did not think it was as good as I was being told. I did not go any further in investigation, but maybe they pick up Auctions better then Ebay. Not long after I joined Net54 I had an experience where I told a potential buyer on the board I was trying to get what I paid for a card. I told him the price I paid and he later came back and said that VCP showed no such price during the time period I bought the card from Ebay. I told him they did not pick it up. Needless to say I do not think he belived me. So at this point I believe it is another "Tool", but it may not be as accurate as many believe.

Regards,
Charlie

Exhibitman 10-27-2011 10:25 AM

I don't know the specifics of your deal but I did a one-day VCP signup recently and I was surprised at how few cards had transacted in the last 2-3 years according to it. I found listing after listing for T, E and W cards that showed no sales for years, in any grade. Seemed inaccurate to me.

Slightly off topic but how do you capture a screen shot like those?

byrone 10-27-2011 10:31 AM

For easier tracking of Ebay purchases, all you need to do is click "Purchase History", then click "Archive" , and you can bring up all of your purchases for all of 2009, 2010 and the current year.

Comes in handy.

vintagetoppsguy 10-27-2011 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrysloate (Post 934901)
That's a good point I may have missed. Were these BIN's or actual auctions? BIN's have never been part of VCP, only auctions. That would explain it.

Barry,

Yes, they were all BINs. However, the one card that they did record was a BIN as well (E102 Eddie Collins SGC 40 $310 2/26/11). I'm not sure why they would record some BINs, but not others.

wonkaticket 10-27-2011 10:37 AM

Use the print screen key on your keyboard, then paste into a photo program or Word etc. Adam.

John

vintagetoppsguy 10-27-2011 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exhibitman (Post 934910)
I don't know the specifics of your deal but I did a one-day VCP signup recently and I was surprised at how few cards had transacted in the last 2-3 years according to it. I found listing after listing for T, E and W cards that showed no sales for years, in any grade. Seemed inaccurate to me.

Some of these cards don't trade very often and it's important to capture every public sale (that is their business). If it were a '56 Mantle or some card like that that trades several times a month, it wouldn't be as big a deal to miss a transaction every now and then because it would still equal out. However, it's frustrating knowing they are missing cards like the ones I've mentioned.

3-2-count 10-27-2011 10:46 AM

FYI, I cancelled VCP a few weeks ago after being a member for years.
It's just not cost effective anymore for the information you receive imo.

rhettyeakley 10-27-2011 11:11 AM

I will never understand why BIN's or Best Offers that are accepted are not included. When did the Market price become synonomous with "at auction" only. If you go buy something at Wal-mart for a set price is that not what that item is currently selling for? IMO every transacted card should be included or you are only getting part of the picture. Don't give me that it is easier to manipuate because you can shill an auction just as easy. I have never been a member of VCP and probably never will for the reason stated above.

sycks22 10-27-2011 11:19 AM

There are a good amount of auction houses that are not currently updated in VCP: Goodwin, CSA, Baggers, Heritage and more. Going to all the sites that have an area where you can find previous records is almost more useful. I still subscribe to VCP to save some time on the more commonly sold cards (Mantle's, etc) as stated above by someone.

terjung 10-27-2011 11:26 AM

VCP has been giving diminishing returns to me and I too cancelled my membership after being a firm believer for years. The lack of BIN data, the loss of some auction house data, and the increase in price all contributed to my decision.

In the past, VCP provided a great service to me, but it is no longer is a "must have" for me for a variety of reasons.

steve B 10-27-2011 11:31 AM

But you can't shill an auction to a lower price. And that's the bit of price manipulation that would really hurt if all BINs were included. 4-5 fake sales over a couple months to drive the average down, negotiate a couple purchases based on the lower average. Then shill or generate a few more fake sales to raise the average and sell above average since "it's taking off".


Steve B

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley (Post 934928)
I will never understand why BIN's or Best Offers that are accepted are not included. When did the Market price become synonomous with "at auction" only. If you go buy something at Wal-mart for a set price is that not what that item is currently selling for? IMO every transacted card should be included or you are only getting part of the picture. Don't give me that it is easier to manipuate because you can shill an auction just as easy. I have never been a member of VCP and probably never will for the reason stated above.


kcohen 10-27-2011 11:37 AM

Someone once told me, and I cannot verify that this in fact the case, that VCP must somehow acquire the rights to mine data and only has the right to certain data. If such is the case, the fact that certain sales are not included is not because they willingly and consciencely exclude them.

Has anyone else ever heard this (other than from me)?

Pup6913 10-27-2011 11:38 AM

VCP records both BIN's and auctions. I use them as well as data I gather from watching sales both here, eBay, and other sources. I believe this was discussed before and it's a keyword issue for the spiders searching out this data via the web. Problem is if you don't do your research dont blame VCP for not doing it for you. I don't agree with the fact I spend X amount every year for me to continually research my cards when I have paid for a service that claims to do it for me but it is what it is. For as little as I use it now I don't think it's worth half of what I pay a yr but before I could cancel renewal I got charged. Oh well there is always next yr. Maybe this thread will light a well needed fire to get the system fixed.

Bobby has a great product and it is still fairly new. It takes time and money to make anything work. Also I wonder how many people have ever contacted him in regards to this issue? One complaint every now and then may not have warranted a red flag to be raised and looked at. All we can do is tell him the issues and hope he handles them. I wish him all the best on his business.

glchen 10-27-2011 12:02 PM

I'm just totally guessing here, and only Bobby can say when/if he decides to chime in, but does VCP get the data based on the listing title or just the item details on ebay? For example, a lot of sellers don't fill in the item details on the listing (which would include manufacturer, card, grade, etc), and perhaps that is why these are not being picked up by VCP. Or not sure if VCP parses in the listing in some other way.

BobbyVCP 10-27-2011 12:18 PM

We try our best to capture as much data as we can and there are circumstances where some fall through the cracks. We get notices from members about once a month for something we missed and verify the auction and add it to our system. In this case we had no way of verifying the results. I see that it happened looking at the screen shots he posted which he never sent to me to view. All he sent was a eBay ID that expired and showed me no proof it ever happened.

At the beginning of the year eBay decided to change their API system and of course as we all know about them they failed to tell their licensees about it so there was a time period we where not pulling all the data. Since then we were finally able to implement a workaround in March and the reports of missing transaction dropped dramatically.


We never want to get in a situation where we are posting results without the proof. We have always been here and available for all of our members needs and answer any question or fix any problem that should arise.

Leon 10-27-2011 12:24 PM

we used to let him have the info
 
My little auction company, B & L, used to allow VCP to mine our data. For our last auction Bobby told us there would be a fee to do it so we decided not to. Fewer houses let him use their info anymore. I am not sure of all of the reasoning.

vintagetoppsguy 10-27-2011 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobbyVCP (Post 934949)
In this case we had no way of verifying the results. I see that it happened looking at the screen shots he posted which he never sent to me to view. All he sent was a eBay ID that expired and showed me no proof it ever happened.

We never want to get in a situation where we are posting results without the proof. We have always been here and available for all of our members needs and answer any question or fix any problem that should arise.

Bobby,

Here was my email to you, word for word:
"I have a 1909 E90-1 American Caramel Eddie Plank SGC 50 (4) that I was considering selling. I went to VCP to look up what I paid for the card, but you guys don't list it. I bought this card on eBay on or around February 8, 2011. I paid $750 for this card and the eBay item number was 200564550761. Can you please tell me why you don't show it in the completed sales history? When I go to sell this card, it will give it more credibility if the card shows up in VCP. I have other information if you need any including screen shots."

I told you that I had screen shots to show the purchase. Did you ask for them? NO! Your reply was simply, "Since the auction is so old we can not verify it."

BobbyVCP 10-27-2011 01:08 PM

Leon lets be fair here the fee was not from VCP it was from Seth the auction software person you use. And all Seth had to do was turn on the code we provided to him years ago when we started, something that takes him less then a minute. Sure we can come in at the end of the auction and scrap all the data and input it in our site. But the thing you are missing and this is the key is by having access to your auction as it starts and entering all your items live it then checks 3469 current members want lists for any items you have and they need. When it finds matches sends a email with link to your auction telling them a card they want is now available for them to bid and win.So by you not wanting to be part of the system and paying Seth his money how many potential buyers did you miss out on? And if those notices went out I think you would find a much better return to your consignors.

Whereas all the people using Bob from Simple there is no fee involved at all.

ZernialFan 10-27-2011 01:22 PM

Being new, I did not know VCP was owned/supported by someone on the board.
But I do know that the buys were not BIN's. I 99.9% refuse to buy BIN on Ebay because they are generally X2, X3, X4 the going price of the card in the segment of the hobby I collect. I stick to auctions only. If I had known, I would have sent the info to VCP. I still have the info in my file, but do not remember which ones.

Charlie

E93 10-27-2011 01:22 PM

I'm sure VCP is not perfect. Nothing is. But I have found it to be an incredibly valuable resource. I can't even say how many times over the membership fee has paid for itself by giving me info to avoid overpaying or undercharging on selling my items. On the few times I have needed assistance, Bobby has been quick and responsive. And for clarity's sake, I do not personally know Bobby. I have never met him. We have only had a handful of email interactions regarding my membership to VCP.
JimB

Leon 10-27-2011 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobbyVCP (Post 934968)
Leon lets be fair here the fee was not from VCP it was from Seth the auction software person you use. And all Seth had to do was turn on the code we provided to him years ago when we started, something that takes him less then a minute. Sure we can come in at the end of the auction and scrap all the data and input it in our site. But the thing you are missing and this is the key is by having access to your auction as it starts and entering all your items live it then checks 3469 current members want lists for any items you have and they need. When it finds matches sends a email with link to your auction telling them a card they want is now available for them to bid and win.So by you not wanting to be part of the system and paying Seth his money how many potential buyers did you miss out on? And if those notices went out I think you would find a much better return to your consignors.

Whereas all the people using Bob from Simple there is no fee involved at all.

I believe this is Completely untrue from what I was told. I will find the emails in a few hours and post them. I have to run for a business issue right now.

BobbyVCP 10-27-2011 01:42 PM

Here is what I have Leon:

Leon,

We tried to add your current auction to our system and Seth is playing the extortionist again. Maybe you can talk some sense in him?

Aloha,

Bobby

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fwd: RE: B&L Feed
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:06:46 -0700
From: Carlos Cespedes <carlos@vintagecardprices.com>
To: bobbyvcp@gmail.com



----- Forwarded message from seth@createauction.com -----
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:56:21 -0400
From: Seth Nagdeman <seth@createauction.com>
Reply-To: seth@createauction.com
Subject: RE: B&L Feed
To: 'Carlos Cespedes' <carlos@vintagecardprices.com>

Carlos, <http://createauctionfeeds.com/feeds/blfall2011.xml>
http://createauctionfeeds.com/feeds/blfall2011.xml



For feeds moving forward there will be a fee of $100 to your company. If
you need it on a rush basis (within 24 hours) there will be a rush fee of
$25.00



_____

Seth Nagdeman
<http://www.createauction.com/>
The Leading Online Auction Service Provider
www.createauction.com <blocked::http://www.createauction.com/>
voice (888) 340-9903 x85
seth@createauction.com <blocked::mailto:seth@createauction.com>



Hi Seth,



Can I get the feed for B&L



Thanks,



Carlos Cespedes

Sports Card Price Guide & Marketplace

http://www.VintageCardPrices.com

BobbyVCP 10-27-2011 01:45 PM

Then instead of even trying to talk to Seth you sent me an email saying you would not pay the fee so you wont be a part of VCP or something of that nature. When all you needed to do was talk to Seth and say something like we really want the feed to VCP and if you cant provide it then our next auction we will move to Simple. I am sure he would of gladly taken the minute it takes to provide the feed instead of risk losing a customer.

smtjoy 10-27-2011 01:47 PM

I know for me while I like to see BIN sales in VCP, I dont put a lot of weight into them vs the auction prices.

I remember a while back an auction house stopped posting their results to VCP after a few board members posted some bidding results that they felt were bogus and made a pretty good case that something fishy was going on.

BobbyVCP 10-27-2011 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smtjoy (Post 934983)
I know for me while I like to see BIN sales in VCP, I dont put a lot of weight into them vs the auction prices.

I remember a while back an auction house stopped posting their results to VCP after a few board members posted some bidding results that they felt were bogus and made a pretty good case that something fishy was going on.

That is why Goodwin and Memory Lane wanted out of VCP covering their data.

Bosox Blair 10-27-2011 02:59 PM

Every person is entitled to his own view about the quality and value of VCP. And for those who choose to cancel, I'm not going to argue with their personal choice.

It is a fairly expensive service. In my view (and for my wallet) it continues to be well worth it.

It is not perfect. You want perfection? Where will you get that? You want to independently check every single auction house site and eBay for results regarding every card you are thinking of purchasing? I hope you are retired or unemployed. I'm very happy that VCP provides me with a big chunk of that for a few bucks and a few keystrokes.

Maybe you'll use "book" price? Good luck with that...

All this started over unreported BINs? My view - what a joke! I completely disregard BIN results. I don't care how much one fool overpaid for a card - even a thinly -traded one. This is almost as bad as the dealers who set prices by how much they "have in the card"...I could not care less if they made a bad buy. No effect on my valuation of the item.

Cheers,
Blair

(Unaffiliated with VCP, but I know its value to me.)

GemMintAuctions 10-27-2011 03:24 PM

For what it's worth, we have a feed to VCP and as far as I know, we were not charged a fee by our software provider (Simple Auction Site) to set it up. We do pay to advertise on VCP's website and for their service and we have had nothing but good dealings with them.

Best regards,

Kevin Carlson
Consignment Director
Gem Mint Auctions, Inc.

Leon 10-27-2011 03:45 PM

my mistake
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by BobbyVCP (Post 934982)
Then instead of even trying to talk to Seth you sent me an email saying you would not pay the fee so you wont be a part of VCP or something of that nature. When all you needed to do was talk to Seth and say something like we really want the feed to VCP and if you cant provide it then our next auction we will move to Simple. I am sure he would of gladly taken the minute it takes to provide the feed instead of risk losing a customer.

This was my mistake Bobby. I misunderstood the situation and you are correct. It was our s/w provider requesting to be paid. That being said I don't think Scott and I want to pay for the service, regardless of who is charging the fee. At the end of the day it's less data on your site though. I do use VCP I just wish there were more recorded sales, for whatever reason. regards

BobbyVCP 10-27-2011 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leon (Post 935004)
This was my mistake Bobby. I misunderstood the situation and you are correct. It was our s/w provider requesting to be paid. That being said I don't think Scott and I want to pay for the service, regardless of who is charging the fee. At the end of the day it's less data on your site though. I do use VCP I just wish there were more recorded sales, for whatever reason. regards

Just switch over to Simple for your next auction and the problem is solved. You can see there are a few others here that use him with no worries.

Leon 10-27-2011 04:15 PM

well,...
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by BobbyVCP (Post 935014)
Just switch over to Simple for your next auction and the problem is solved. You can see there are a few others here that use him with no worries.

Bob is a very nice guy and runs a good company. Seth is a nice guy and has given us very good service and we are staying the course. Once again, my apology for my misapprehension of the emails a month or so ago.

vintagetoppsguy 10-27-2011 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bosox Blair (Post 934996)
It is not perfect. You want perfection? Where will you get that?

Nobody is asking for or expecting perfection. Sure, some mistakes are going to be made. But when 4 of the 5 cards I checked did not show up in VCP, that's a major problem. Sorry if you don't get that. Also, if Bobby would have responded back and acknowledged the mistake and took action to correct the mistake, this thread probably wouldn't have been started.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bosox Blair (Post 934996)
All this started over unreported BINs? My view - what a joke! I completely disregard BIN results.

VCP's business it to record actual sales, no matter if it is a BIN or not. If they want to exclude BINs then so be it, but they should state that. I could care less if you disregard BINs or not. The fact of the matter is that they are still transactions and should be recorded by VCP as we are paying for that information.

glchen 10-27-2011 04:51 PM

I think that if BIN's were included, most people would want them excluded from the average VCP pricing.

Exhibitman 10-27-2011 05:01 PM

Reading the email stream above, do you guys [Bobby, Seth, Leon] realize how it looks to potential consignors and bidders and customers that the controversy is over a $100 access fee?

Pup6913 10-27-2011 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobbyVCP (Post 935014)
Just switch over to Simple for your next auction and the problem is solved. You can see there are a few others here that use him with no worries.


Why should any auction house have to switch providers. Doesn't my membership fee well cover the cost of that charge. Now you said there are 3000+ members so money is not an excuse. That should be taken care of out of that membership fee we all pay. Just my 2 cent worth.

xdrx 10-27-2011 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exhibitman (Post 935027)
Reading the email stream above, do you guys [Bobby, Seth, Leon] realize how it looks to potential consignors and bidders and customers that the controversy is over a $100 access fee?

+1. It's one thing for a member here to vent about something, but a very different thing for business people to publicly post their correspondence and air things out for all to see. Transparency can be overrated at times.

HRBAKER 10-27-2011 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glchen (Post 935024)
I think that if BIN's were included, most people would want them excluded from the average VCP pricing.

I would, if not I would want them highlighted so I could exclude them

T206.org 10-27-2011 09:09 PM

To note, B&L is still listed on the homepage of VCP, under "Want List Auction Alerts".

Leon 10-27-2011 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T206.org (Post 935100)
To note, B&L is still listed on the homepage of VCP, under "Want List Auction Alerts".

We had VCP downloads previously but never paid before.
I don't think we want to pay a company to use our data. Other companies handle their affairs their ways. Scott nor myself have anything against VCP. I still use it and like it.

slidekellyslide 10-27-2011 10:12 PM

Let me get this straight..VCP wants your info, and they want you to pay $100 so they can have that info? That seems odd to me.

BobbyVCP 10-27-2011 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 935116)
Let me get this straight..VCP wants your info, and they want you to pay $100 so they can have that info? That seems odd to me.

It's not the info I am making reference to it is the 3500+ Want Lists our members will get notices to go to BL and bid on the auction. This is a valuable asset for any auction house to take advantage of to increase traffic and attention to items.

joebrandon1977 10-27-2011 10:33 PM

From what I am reading....

VCP wants data
B&L will give data, but...
B&L utilizes a vendor that will charge B&L $100 to turn on code
B&L isn't interested in paying for that
VCP suggests that B&L change to another vendor that will not charge
B&L is loyal to their existing vendor and is not interested in changing

End Result = Standoff with no data feed from B&L to VCP

D. Bergin 10-27-2011 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 935116)
Let me get this straight..VCP wants your info, and they want you to pay $100 so they can have that info? That seems odd to me.


It looks to me like VCP wants the info, but B&L's webhost wants to charge VCP $100 for the feed to get the info.

Looks like an issue between B&L and their webhost, not with VCP.

smtjoy 10-27-2011 10:50 PM

True and all it is doing imo is making them both look bad. I am a subscriber to VCP and I think that data is important and should be in there. I have also been a consigner to B & L and I want my lots to have as many bidders as possible and I dont like finding out they could be reaching a larger audience and are not.

This is a PR snafu for both, I really question is it worth the bad press over $100?

glchen 10-28-2011 02:07 AM

Yea, I agree that this makes everybody look real bad.

The situation is VCP wants the info and does not charge B&L for it, and provides the code for the feed for free to B&L's webhost. The webhost wants to charge $100 to turn the code on, which B&L doesn't want to pay. They also don't want to switch to a webhost that doesn't charge for this because they're happy with their current one. B&L also believes that their auction data is worth more than VCP notifying its want lists subscribers that a B&L auction has something in their want list.

Bosox Blair 10-28-2011 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy (Post 935018)
Nobody is asking for or expecting perfection. Sure, some mistakes are going to be made. But when 4 of the 5 cards I checked did not show up in VCP, that's a major problem. Sorry if you don't get that. Also, if Bobby would have responded back and acknowledged the mistake and took action to correct the mistake, this thread probably wouldn't have been started.



VCP's business it to record actual sales, no matter if it is a BIN or not. If they want to exclude BINs then so be it, but they should state that. I could care less if you disregard BINs or not. The fact of the matter is that they are still transactions and should be recorded by VCP as we are paying for that information.

"We" are not paying for that information. Most people with any sense disregard BINs entirely. Sorry if you don't get that.

Really? Their business is to record sales? Where are all the results from the tables at the National? They track auctions, which is what matters. The rest is just noise.

But you are right - you should cancel VCP. I'm sure your four BIN transactions are accurately reflected in the current SMR or other resource...hahahahahaha!

Bosox Blair 10-28-2011 02:31 AM

BTW sport, don't get all agitated when people don't agree that your four little BIN transactions somehow make a valuable business into "a joke".

You couldn't care less about my views...guess that makes us even.

But here's a free business tip for you - if you think BIN results are so valuable, go ahead and set up a business accurately tracking BINs and sit back and wait for subscribers to line up with money in hand...and wait...and wait...

t206hound 10-28-2011 06:22 AM

You said it!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 935116)
Let me get this straight..VCP wants your info, and they want you to pay $100 so they can have that info? That seems odd to me.

+1

Jacklitsch 10-28-2011 06:43 AM

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide
Let me get this straight..VCP wants your info, and they want you to pay $100 so they can have that info? That seems odd to me.

T206Hound

+1


With all due respect Erick and Dan please read the posts. This statment is totally inaccurate.

steve B 10-28-2011 06:48 AM

Did everyone else miss the part about Ebay changing how outside programs from licensed businesses interact with Ebay?
And that they did that without telling any of those licensed businesses.


That's why the auctions got missed, not that BINs aren't tracked.

Rewriting the software so that it then interacts properly isn't a simple task, and a couple months is a pretty short time for a software fix that requires rewriting stuff.


Leons Software guy wanting $100 to turn on a feature - a fairly quick task, maybe a few minutes if you don't know how - seems a bit expensive.
Unless there's some technical issue between the auction software and VCPs software.

Loyalty to vendors, and unwillingness to pay odd fees are very familiar things to me. My time doing Industrial work and lots of purchasing for a small company taught me a lot about that. I had some vendors I was very loyal to, and wouldn't switch to someone else. I also had a few I wouldn't deal with, to the point where I had 3-4 major corporations that wouldn't complain when I went outside a territory to buy their products because the local distributor was so difficult.

Steve Birmingham

Abravefan11 10-28-2011 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacklitsch (Post 935189)
With all due respect Erick and Dan please read the posts. This statment is totally inaccurate.

Agreed Steve. Putting the $100 fee on Bobby is misrepresenting this situation entirely. As many have already stated it looks bad for all involved that a reasonable resolution couldn't have been reached for $100 to the benefit of customers and consignors.

Leon 10-28-2011 07:07 AM

agreed...we will continue the service.....
 
After a high level meeting this morning we have decided to continue the service. It certainly had nothing to do with the $100 in our decision. It was more principle of being asked to do something we had never done AND We didn't know it was our s/w provider that was asking for the fee as mentioned above. We will talk to Bobby about it going forward. If it helps our bidders and/or consignors then we want to do it.

vintagetoppsguy 10-28-2011 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bosox Blair (Post 935165)
BTW sport, don't get all agitated when people don't agree that your four little BIN transactions somehow make a valuable business into "a joke".

Sport? My four little BINs? Don't insult me, douchebag. VCP is in the business is capturing eBay sales - BINs or auction formats.

****************************************

Leon,

If this a-hole wants to continue this arguement, he should put his full name in his post.

slidekellyslide 10-28-2011 07:17 AM

I should have read the whole thread before responding...Seth wants the $100 to do something that will take minutes for an experienced programmer to do and both VCP and B&L will benefit from it. Perhaps VCP and B&L should split this fee then.

Leon 10-28-2011 07:25 AM

correct
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy (Post 935199)
Sport? My four little BINs? Don't insult me, douchebag. VCP is in the business is capturing eBay sales - BINs or auction formats.

****************************************

Leon,

If this a-hole wants to continue this arguement, he should put his full name in his post.

It is a board rule that if you are going to argue with someone or say anything derogatory about a company or person then your name does need to be out here. You are arguing with B.lair C.urtis.

3-2-count 10-28-2011 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bosox Blair (Post 935164)
Most people with any sense disregard BINs entirely. Sorry if you don't get that.

Blair with all do respect I do pay attention to BIN's on the Bay and know of a few key sellers in the market who are actually board members here who have their product priced very fair. I have also bought many a card at a BIN price which was priced accurately. If these are sales made I definitely want to know about them. Agreed that many if not most Ebay sellers display their product at ridiculous prices, but for the ones who do not it is unfair to group them with those high priced sellers you speak of. My two cents!!

vintagetoppsguy 10-28-2011 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-2-count (Post 935203)
Blair with all do respect I do pay attention to BIN's on the Bay and know of a few key sellers in the market who are actually board members here who have their product priced very fair. I have also bought many a card at a BIN price which was priced accurately. If these are sales made I definitely want to know about them. Agreed that many if not most Ebay sellers display their product at ridiculous prices, but for the ones who do not it is unfair to group them with those high priced sellers you speak of. My two cents!!

Agreed. I understand people say that BINs are easy to manipulate and should not be included, but so are auctions (shill bidding). Where do you draw the line? VCP’s business is to capture all eBay sales – auction or BIN – and the user can take that information and make their own buying/selling decisions.

On the card in question, I paid $750 and I felt good about the purchase. Did I overpay? Perhaps some might thinks so. If so, it wasn’t by much. I thought it was fair considering that 6 of the 10 sales that VCP recorded sold for what I paid or more (SGC 50 and PSA 4 combined). Either way, the sale should have been captured.

barrysloate 10-28-2011 08:49 AM

One problem I see with VCP using BIN's is in a situation where a seller has a card priced far above current market, and for whatever reason a collector chooses to buy it. Since VCP is supposed to reflect the market, is that BIN necessarily reflective of it? It's possible that that transaction was double what any similar card might sell for, and would therefore not be useful information. I'm not actually sure myself about this, just think it's a fair point.

jp1216 10-28-2011 08:55 AM

I'm all for VCP showing BIN prices, but only using actual auctions to determine averages.

vintagecpa 10-28-2011 09:01 AM

I've subscribed to VCP off and on for several years. Although they aren't perfect in terms of capturing every sale, they run a very nice business. I don't think anyone makes a purchasing decision based simply on VCP average. There is often one BIN or other auction sale that can greatly skew the average, especially with cards that don't have many sales. When I am thinking of purchasing a card, I do appreciate seeing the wide range a card might sell for. You will especially see this when looking at the PSA 1 cards.

rhettyeakley 10-28-2011 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrysloate (Post 935228)
One problem I see with VCP using BIN's is in a situation where a seller has a card priced far above current market, and for whatever reason a collector chooses to buy it. Since VCP is supposed to reflect the market, is that BIN necessarily reflective of it? It's possible that that transaction was double what any similar card might sell for, and would therefore not be useful information. I'm not actually sure myself about this, just think it's a fair point.

Barry, I think the counterpoint would be that with an auction if you have two buyers who place a "top all" high max bid and the item then goes for way more than it is "really worth". There is never going to be asolution that works for everyone nor one that even works for most, but VCP is what it is and if there is value to the customer in that then that is all there needs to be, I suppose.

vintagetoppsguy 10-28-2011 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrysloate (Post 935228)
One problem I see with VCP using BIN's is in a situation where a seller has a card priced far above current market, and for whatever reason a collector chooses to buy it. Since VCP is supposed to reflect the market, is that BIN necessarily reflective of it? It's possible that that transaction was double what any similar card might sell for, and would therefore not be useful information. I'm not actually sure myself about this, just think it's a fair point.

Barry,

Indeed it is a fair point. However, if it was a legitimate sale, shouldn't it still be captured no matter the price?

Let's turn your scenario around. Let's say there is a 1967 Topps PSA 10 common with a pop of only 3 and two set registry guys get in a bidding war over it on ebay and the cards sells for $500. However, the last two only sold for $100. Should that sale be counted? In other words, just becasue two idiots drive up the price of a card significantly over fair market value, do you not count it?

Edited to say: Although worded differently, Rhett beat me to the same point.

barrysloate 10-28-2011 09:12 AM

I agree David with your example. In your case, the BIN's you bought were within a reasonable market range, and reflect what you were willing to pay for the cards. I guess in the end it's Bobby's decision how he wants to gather and use the data.

Edited to add I see Rhett's point too. Bobby has to set the rules for his site, and it's fair to ask him why he doesn't use the BIN's.

terjung 10-28-2011 09:19 AM

Data is data. It should be up to the person using the data to interpret and to filter what is important to them. Categorically removing (or not including) valid sales such as BINs biases the data.

barrysloate 10-28-2011 09:20 AM

Maybe at the end of the day VCP should record every transaction, both auction and BIN, and leave it up to the reader to determine what represents a typical transaction, and what might be the result of a pair of snipes, or an overpriced BIN. It's not VCP's job to interpret prices, but just to post them. The job of making sense out of them falls on the shoulders of the subscribers. Like any data, they need to be analyzed.

3-2-count 10-28-2011 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terjung (Post 935237)
Data is data. It should be up to the person using the data to interpret and to filter what is important to them. Categorically removing (or not including) valid sales such as BINs biases the data.

Exactly!!!! Well said..........

barrysloate 10-28-2011 09:28 AM

Brian and I said exactly the same thing a minute apart.:)

vintagetoppsguy 10-28-2011 09:38 AM

I think there is a litte confusion. VCP DOES capture BINs in their data.

My complaint was that for some reason, several of my BINs were missed in the month of February. Bobby's explanation (on page 2) was "At the beginning of the year eBay decided to change their API system and of course as we all know about them they failed to tell their licensees about it so there was a time period we where not pulling all the data. Since then we were finally able to implement a workaround in March and the reports of missing transaction dropped dramatically."

I can understand that. Things happen. My beef is the fact that I pointed it out to him and his response was basically, "Tough crap, it's too late."

Rich Klein 10-28-2011 11:09 AM

And as for the Leon/VCP issue about the Data
 
from B&L, and correct me if I'm wrong -- but the software designer is making decisions on what to do with the data from the B&L auction.

If so, on a global level that brings into issue, who really "owns" the data from a B&L auction, is it the auction house or is it the software provider.

I'm just curious as to your opinion on that part of this puzzle.

Rich

I missed Leon's response, and I agree with what he did.

19cbb 10-28-2011 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich Klein (Post 935282)
from B&L, and correct me if I'm wrong -- but the software designer is making decisions on what to do with the data from the B&L auction.

If so, on a global level that brings into issue, who really "owns" the data from a B&L auction, is it the auction house or is it the software provider.

I'm just curious as to your opinion on that part of this puzzle.

Rich

Excellent question Rich.

Wonder how many B&L bidders know/care who's the software provider...

I couldn't care less.

glchen 10-28-2011 11:41 AM

IMO, the auction house owns the data, but the software company is charging to execute the feed (or install the API code) from the auction house to VCP.

bobfreedman 10-28-2011 11:57 AM

Auction Data
 
The auction company owns the data however, it is on the internet therefore public domain information at that point (I am not sure if I am using the correct legal term). Prior to us (SimpleAuction) giving the feed to VCP, we always ask the auction company if they want THEIR information sourced to VCP.

As for charging for this information, I can understand the desire to do so (everyone is looking to add more streams of revenue) because there is ongoing maintenance and someone has to be paid for doing the initial development work. We choose not to because we have worked out an agreement with VCP.

Bosox Blair 10-28-2011 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy (Post 935199)
Sport? My four little BINs? Don't insult me, douchebag. VCP is in the business is capturing eBay sales - BINs or auction formats.

****************************************

Leon,

If this a-hole wants to continue this arguement, he should put his full name in his post.

You have shown yourself to be exactly what you are. I don't stoop to namecalling.

You would never do this to my face - believe me.

Happy collecting, David James.


Blair Curtis

Bosox Blair 10-28-2011 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-2-count (Post 935203)
Blair with all do respect I do pay attention to BIN's on the Bay and know of a few key sellers in the market who are actually board members here who have their product priced very fair. I have also bought many a card at a BIN price which was priced accurately. If these are sales made I definitely want to know about them. Agreed that many if not most Ebay sellers display their product at ridiculous prices, but for the ones who do not it is unfair to group them with those high priced sellers you speak of. My two cents!!

Hi Tony,

As you know, my friend, I have the greatest of respect for you. You are one of the good guys. Hope all is well with you!

The other side of the BIN problem is the seller who doesn't know the market and lists his card for far less than the real market value. The card will likely be bought in under an hour. So what? Can I get another one for that price? No. Will anyone lower their price if I tell them one guy listed that card cheap last week and it sold to the first guy who saw it? No.

To say that a service that fails to tell me about a few of these transactions is "a joke" is...well...a joke (that is directed to the OP, not you).

Cheers,

Blair

3-2-count 10-28-2011 12:18 PM

Hi Blair,
Hope all is well. Constructive conversation is healthy even if we disagree my friend. ;) That being said the name calling you've received in this thread by the other N54 member is totally uncalled for and unacceptable. I don't go for that crap either. Happy Collecting!!

Very Best, Tony

BobbyVCP 10-28-2011 12:26 PM

We worked with both Simple and Create in supplying both of them with the format in order to supply VCP with the feed from the auction houses. We did this in order for the auction houses to take advantage of our large membership Want lists. We can just as easily create a code to go and grab the information from the auction houses after the auction has ended and post to VCP. We feel it is a slap in our face that one of them choose to charge us for something we provided them to use to benefit their customers and provide to future ones as well as a selling tool.

vintagetoppsguy 10-28-2011 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bosox Blair (Post 935298)
You have shown yourself to be exactly what you are. I don't stoop to namecalling.

You would never do this to my face - believe me.

Happy collecting, David James.


Blair Curtis

No, you didn't stoop to namecalling, you stooped to insults. So, I guess it's okay to insult, but not to call names? Whatever! And who says I wouldn't do it to your face? Why don't you PM me and maybe we can make arrangments to meet and see whether or not I would do it to your face.

Edited to add the following:
Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-2-count (Post 935304)
That being said the name calling you've received in this thread by the other N54 member is totally uncalled for and unacceptable. I don't go for that crap either.

Tony, I have had pleasant dealings with you in the past and I certainly repsect you, but come on. Are you telling me that it's acceptable for him to hurl inuslts at me, but it's unacceptable for me to call him names? Seriously?


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