Poll: response to recent PWCC revelations

[VoodooChild]

Due to a new job and moving from MD to AL, I haven't posted much in the past couple of years. Only 420 (ha...nice!!) posts in the past 6.5 years. Although I have still been actively collecting/buying.

I both purchased from and consigned to PWCC in the past. I did VERY well with my consignments. I do not buy anywhere close to high-end/graded cards and while I still collect modern, I don't even pay attention to graded modern stuff. That concept doesn't even make sense to me. Look, I have defended PWCC in the past but only when the accusations were just shilling. I knew that shilling had some effect on the prices realized but that was a problem with the eBay format as a whole. I thought factors such as having auctions every month that spanned pre-war to modern in all sports, being able to combine shipping and not having to pay until auction close, and being able to set snipes and not having to stay up all night/early morning to see if you won, all played into the prices people were willing to pay. I still believe all of that by the way.

However, I answered this poll that I won't buy from or consign to PWCC again and I won't. They should have to pay some serious consequences for their role in this fraud scandal but I'm skeptical. I probably won't buy from Probstein either and I may just be done buying pre-war from eBay altogether. I may actually be done with PSA too. I don't need any "hard" evidence to make up my own mind that PSA is involved with all this shady stuff. Somebody got paid off I'm sure of it. So, where does that leave me? Do I only buy SGC? I like Al's response to all of this, so do I only buy from LOTG? I don't know what to do yet. I'm pretty pissed off but I am not naive. I knew this stuff was going on since I was a kid in the early 80's. There were rumors about my local card shop owner trimming cards back then. And even though Gary/and all card "doctors" are really to blame for this, the thing that pisses me off the most is how PSA spends 10 seconds "examining" a card, slaps a b.s. grade on it, charges way too much, and somehow most people (including me) consider them the experts in the field. Ha....I think I just talked myself into being done with PSA and maybe even graded cards in general.

Life is too short. I got back into this hobby for fun and I am going to return to that. I'll keep my pre-war collection in tact and enjoy it when I can. I'll still enjoy buying raw modern cards and keeping up with the hobby as well. I'll stay connected with my favorite teams (Pirates, Steelers, Penguins) through this hobby but will not consider it a financial investment ever again. It's just cardboard, right.