It looks like ebay is removing negative feedback for Probstein123
 

I've been watching his feedback over the past few months and he has had several negative ratings removed. Removed, not revised. If I had to guess, in my opinion, I would think that he calls ebay as soon as he notices a negative comment he receives. Ebay then must be removing it for him, or they find something like the user's phone number is not up to date since they may have changed it, so they assume that it's false information (which it would not be if the user just forgot to update his number) and remove the feedback. I think he might also be getting ebay to suspend users, and he could get the negative comments removed that way since getting suspended removes negative feedback you've left.

It appears he has ebay in his back pocket since he's no doubt paying thousands of dollars in fees to ebay per month, so I would assume they would protect him to keep getting the fees. It seems the only way to bring him down might be through state attorneys general to have them investigate him and the suspicious looking activities of the bidding on his auctions and how they get listed the next day after the items have suspicious looking ends. It looks as if ebay will never do a thing to him.

I got screwed over by him consigning with him. He is one of the worst people that I have ever encountered on ebay. He wouldn't fix his errors that cost me bids, among other things he did. I also bought a case of 1990 Upper Deck hockey wax boxes. He didn't protect the box. The box was damaged. When I got it from the post office, it contained 1991 Upper Deck football wax boxes. He would not compensate me for returning the box to him. He only gave me back the bid price after I had to keep bothering him for it. In my opinion he is also a creepy looking guy and acted as if he were trying to get rid of me. His "office" was a mess. I thought I was going to trip and fall on everything he had on the floor. I wanted my remaining consignment items he never listed after having them for 2 months. He conveniently couldn't find them since he most likely figured I would never do business with him again and he could get one last bit out of me listing the items. His employees looked to me like a bunch of high school kids which explains the horrendous service I received from him and all the bone headed errors made. He most likely hires these kids because he can take advantage of them and can pay them little to nothing. I can't see anyone else working for this guy. The "office" looked like a fire trap to me. I hope he goes out of business. I'm really disgusted with him.

I need to clarify my statements above because a couple or posters seem to either be illiterate or have the reading comprehension of a 5-year-old. The first 2 paragraphs are my opinion of what I think might be happening from what I have observed. I am not stating them as a legal fact. They are my OPNION of what I think, again in my opinion of what happened. I never said it was fact, nor did I say it was proof. I will repeat it again, since it appears I have to dumb it down. The first 2 paragraphs are my OPINION of what I think may have happened from what I have observed. I could be wrong about what happened. I could be right about what happened. Again, it is my OPINION. I never stated it as fact in any way, shape, or form.

The third paragraph tells about my experience with him in person, online, and the feelings I got from meeting him. The feelings are my opinion. Everything I stated about my dealings with his errors and not compensating me are fact that I can back up with all the email I have saved with him and would testify in any court of law.

Ohhh boyyy here we go again....

Can such accusations without proof be considered slander on another's business?

Re-read my post. Also, slander is spoken, libel is written. Get your facts straight before you try to ignorantly accuse me of anything. The last paragraph was my experience with him. I have email saved of my interactions with him. The first two paragraphs are my opinion from what I have observed. Maybe you will learn something if you actually improve your reading comprehension and think before you write.

It seems you are the one severely lacking in the reading comprehension department. How could one "ignorantly accuse" if one is asking a question?

It seems you have some serious social skill deficiencies as well. Good luck in your crusade. I'll stick to collecting cards.

I'm just going to put you on ignore. You aren't worth the time trying to explain what you will never have the intelligence to understand.

Ah yes, during my four years at Dartmouth they forgot to teach me how to read. Carry on.

That's what you get for going to an Ivy League school. I learned how to read by my 6th year at the University of Houston. :)

Mr. Riza, have you been banned from bidding in Probstein123's auctions for shilling your own auctions?

Dude, you want to bag on Probstein go ahead. But, there is no need to behave like an as**ole to others on the board. You had your say, now go away.

Wow! Interesting reading. Preserved above for posterity's sake.

I understand that you're upset with the eBay seller; however, don't see how locking horns with other Net54 members accomplishes much.

It sounds like your experience with Probstein was simply awful. Sorry to hear that things turned out that way.

Best regards,

Eric

No. I did not. If I shilled them, I wouldn't have been so angry when my cards sold for crap because he had the wrong scan and wrong titles on them. If I shilled them, I could have gotten my cards back and wouldn't have cared what mistakes he made since they would have cost me nothing.

I have no idea if I am banned from bidding on his items because I cut him off from doing business with him in any way and never attempted to bid on his items since. I will never bid or buy from him again no matter what he sells. Even after I told him how I no longer trust him and don't want to do business with him in any way again, he wouldn't return some of my stuff saying it's already scheduled, so why not just list it. I had to keep at him to finally send me the rest of my items back. I have all the email if any of you think I'm not being truthful about him. He was pretty nasty with me and avoided my questions about getting my things and compensating me. He would only answer after several times asking the same question.

Nevermind.

I'm done here. Carry on.

Thank you for the mature and courteous response. The locking horns was not my intention, but when someone says something really obnoxious and stupid, I will snap back. If they want to drink the Problemstein Kool-Aid, they can, but don't come on here telling me whatever this and that like an obnoxious 17-year-old that would get the beating of his life if he ever were man enough to have that attitude in front of someone's face. Keyboard tough guys have always been annoying to me.

Yes it was a complete disaster dealing with him. A friend of mine warned me about dealing with consigning in general. I wish I had listened to him. If I could go back and never deal with him I would. I really regret dealing with Probstein. I made the mistake of trusting the Kool-Aid drinkers postings about how great he is. He was far from great with me. After I cut him off, I started watching his feedback. He would get a negative every week or two and then they would disappear. I haven't taken a full accurate tally, but I think he has had something like 15 negative comments removed since November.

Nice! you have your own smilies!

You've gotten into it now with three different posters in the short amount of time you've been here. That's a trend. You purport to not like internet tough guys, but that's exactly how you come off.

Here's an idea: instead of escalating things by insulting a fellow member's intelligence when they don't agree with you, or say something you misconstrue as an insult, take the high road.

“It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.”
― Voltaire

who are you referring to? I think a real man such as yourself would post the name of the member you are referring too. I hope you get banned

I have to justify my monthly web hosting fee somehow. :p

I counted two. I put them on ignore. A third one said something and I just put him on ignore without responding, so I took the high road on the third one. Some people are just too annoying to ignore without letting them know what they truly are.

Actually, I'm not a keyboard tough guy because if any of the ones trying to start something with me want to tell me in person, they are more than welcome to do it, and I will gladly meet them in person if they want to come to New York. One of them was playing the victim claiming he was asking a question, but he was more making a comment in the form of a question which had nothing to do with the issue, but was merely an accusation. The first one attacked me on another thread. I initially ignored him. That's why I responded to him. I then put him on ignore as well because he was a waste of time.

I was posting months ago, but stopped because I got sick of reading someone the things the keyboard tough guys say. Some of it is really sad.

I have no problem with someone disagreeing with me, but when they are nasty about it, they've crossed the line. It seems that Poblemstein's fans seem to like to attack anyone that doesn't think he is the greatest.

Methinks Bill was munching on popcorn, waiting for the Net54 fireworks to erupt. :)

:rolleyes:

It is probably a mistake to respond since you have attacked previous posters who did not even disagree with you but here goes:
I have not done business with Probstein that I recall but as a trial lawyer for 32 years, I have prosecuted and defended libel and slander suits, including some involving the sports memorabilia industry. Please note that there is a difference between opinion and speculation. "In my opinion, he is also a creepy looking guy" is based on the fact that you observed his appearance. "He most likely hires these kids because he can take advantage of them and can pay them little to nothing" is not opinion. It is speculation. While I don't think that statement is likely to lead to a lawsuit, I would be concerned about other statements you are making including the following: "I think he may also be getting ebay to suspend users...". While that may very well be true, it is pure speculation on your part. I would direct you to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1990 opinion in Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., in which the high court scaled back First Amendment protection of opinion. Simply couching speech as opinion, the court said, does not insulate it from liability. Instead, liability can and should be imposed if the purported opinion implies defamatory facts.

tom hope you are well octavio:)

Supreme Court
 

Tom---we need the full cite to the case :)

It's most unfortunate that someone had such a terrible experience, but anyone coming on here with such an abrasive attitude really does no one any good. I do understand it may be cathartic for an aggrieved party to release frustrations aloud, or type them, as is the case here.

The reaction to other members' innocuous questions, specifically lashing out and being the first to hurl insults based only on perceived/inferred intent is simply not right. And challenging members to fights via the internet is the quintessence of "internet tough guy."

There is a proper way, in civil society, to get one's point across.

Here you go Al,

497 U.S. 1 (1990)

While Probstein is by no means perfect, I for one am very glad that he exists. I certainly don't want to take on the task of auctioning off unwanted items from my collection to dozens of different parties. The time alone is a huge waste, let alone the aggravation of it all.

Please read the rules and especially the one at the top of every page. If you give any opinion of a person or company you need your full name in your post.....this is for future reference. And had you said something negative your name would be put in your post. Nothing personal and welcome to the forum.

Put every one on ignore and you will have it made!!

I agree, putting people on ignore is a useful tool of the forums.

Tom, I am having flashbacks to the hours on end spent in LexisNexis and Westlaw while in college. :eek:

The original poster turned off private messages, so I post this message here:

Don't regret posting about Rick Probstein. And please know that he doesn't have a slew of "groupies" (your term) on Net54. In fact, quite a few members here are extremely vocal about warning people to NOT bid in his auctions.

In my humble opinion, you drew fire from other board members for your responses to their replies...and not because of the original post.

If I may recommend a bit of damage control...this slipped down to the 2nd page; however, has since been revived. Now that it is back on the 1st page, I suggest that you actively moderate the thread.

Please know that this is a TOUGH crowd. However, these collectors are the best of the best. And I tip my hat to their collective knowledge and experience. Whether the subject being discussed is an eBay seller or the authenticity of a particular card, our board is the leading authority in this hobby.

Best regards,

Eric

This OP and I had some serious disagreements on how this forum is run. He said he was going to edit all of his comments from all of his posts he has ever done. So now he is suspended and won't be posting anymore. His suspension has 0 to do with the subject of Probstein. I could care less if that gets talked about as long as names are by posts.

http://curtisehoffmann.files.wordpre...rs-passing.jpg

"So passes Denethor, son of Ecthelion."

+1...Good Job Leon...he seemed liked a real internet troll who was just looking to start trouble.

Jeff G@rf!nkel

Mr Yider
 

Too bad in a way, because he seemed to have a lot of hobby experience/knowledge. But he sure did seem to be intentionally confrontational

That was my impression as well.

Thank you for acting quickly, Leon.

I do wonder what kind of pull he does have with ebay. Also on this thread it would have had more meaning if there was a screen capture of the feedback with neg and then afterwards with neg removed.

Legal stuff
 

Al, or Tom: Is that case information available in layman's terms? That is, a brief account of the facts involved and the parties' dispute? I am curious because I happened to work for the Lorain Journal at one time, but it was
sometime after the date cited, so I had not heard of the case or its hearing by the Supremes.:o