Crazy uncles

[ullmandds]

sounds like a lot of "fluff?"

[iwantitiwinit]

If it were me and I was having issues to the extent you are having them I'd get my ass over to 175 Varick Street.

[BeanTown]

Look at the material In their auction and the location. Since they were long term collectors, I would start thinking of all the long term collectors and PT dealers in the area. I can think of many. All this would come out in a law suit though and maybe your first round of discovery would answer your questions.

Search some old threads where some of the auction items were sold. Then see who posted it. Many collectors love showing off what they have as it’s like playing show and tell. I know I enjoy seeing and showing items.

Wish I could help more, but that’s the danger doing business with an unproven auction company.

[x2drich2000]

Since they admit to having an office in Manhattan and NYC requires auctioneers to be licensed through the Department of Consumer Affairs https://www1.nyc.gov/nycbusiness/des...ioneer-license), it may be worth while to call them up to see what info you can get.

[bigfish]

Originally Posted by CJDave

So this was the write-up Aaron gave on this board back in Octover 2019:

I am the President of the company and handle all auction operations. For those of you that I do not know, I was the Senior Auction Coordinator at Steiner Auctions and have been an active collector since the 1980s. My personal collection has gone down many roads, but currently focuses on Tinker, Evers and Chance.

The owners of Crazy Uncle are a small group of elite collectors, none of whom work in the hobby. They have participated in every major auction in the hobby since the early 1990's. The principal owner is a business executive at a prominent company who prior to his professional career was a top distributor of cards for Topps and a mid-century set builder/seller - the kind you all remember from the back of the trade magazines. He has personally bought and sold nearly 3,000,000 baseball cards in his life.

We are located at 175 Varick Street in Manhattan and available to meet in the Tri-State area or at the office by appointment. We have our warehouse in White Plains, NY.

So my question is........can anyone decipher or crack the code as to who this principal owner could be???

How do become an “elite collector”. Carpal tunnel from sorting cards? What does that term even mean?

[MikeGarcia]

."" He has personally bought and sold nearly 3,000,000 baseball cards in his life.""


So my question is........can anyone decipher or crack the code as to who this principal owner could be???

'''' Hey I can't be the only one here who figured out it was Leon.....

..

[glynparson]

FFS the internet where every moron can post their batshit crazy conspiracy and act like it has any merit. No chance they are owners.

Originally Posted by perezfan

It's very possible...

Below is a list (off the top of my head- I'm sure there's more) of identical business practices which Crazy Uncle and PSA share...

* A complete lack of communication from management on key issues and concerns
* Disappearing when public issues need to be addressed
* Lack of any follow-up measures to help the customer
* Unthinkable incompetence/ineptitude at doing the one thing they are supposed to do
* Failure to honor their commitments (PSA with its supposed "Guarantee" / CU with enacting its reserves)
* Apparent disdain for it's customer base
* Complete failure to ship the customers' possessions back to them in a timely manner
* Inherent lies and false statements which hide actual facts
* Banning of dissatisfied, truth-telling customers

Crazy Uncle and PSA run their respective businesses the same exact way. Since PSA is thriving despite employing these "unusual" business tactics, perhaps they myopically believe it can work in other arenas, like online auctions.

I would not be at all surprised if Orlando and Sloan were revealed to be the owners. Collectors Universe (CU) and Crazy Uncle (CU)... Just a "crazy" coincidence?
I think not.

[CJDave]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

Since they admit to having an office in Manhattan and NYC requires auctioneers to be licensed through the Department of Consumer Affairs https://www1.nyc.gov/nycbusiness/des...ioneer-license), it may be worth while to call them up to see what info you can get.

I know everyone will be shocked by this, but when they lookup New York City Auctioneers Licenses under "Crazy Uncle" or "Aaron Rothchild", here are the results...………………….

Your search returned no results. Please modify your search criteria and try again.

[BeanTown]

I see that tucows owns the domain name of crazyuncleauctions.com

[GaryPassamonte]

I'm late to this thread, but I've never heard of an anonymous auction house. I'd be hard pressed to do high dollar business with an auction house that doesn't have an established track record or one that appears to be shrouded in such mystery.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by CJDave

I know everyone will be shocked by this, but when they lookup New York City Auctioneers Licenses under "Crazy Uncle" or "Aaron Rothchild", here are the results...………………….

Your search returned no results. Please modify your search criteria and try again.

Dave, I'm fascinated by this development. To state the obvious: Does this mean CU held an illegal auction in NY State? I bet the DA of the Southern District would get more of a reaction from them than this board has managed.

[x2drich2000]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Dave, I'm fascinated by this development. To state the obvious: Does this mean CU held an illegal auction in NY State? I bet the DA of the Southern District would get more of a reaction from them than this board has managed.

John, from my understanding, NY State does not have an auction license requirement, but NYC does. So I would guess the actual location would be important. Manhattan (Varick St) would fall under NYC, but White Plains for instance would not.

[CJDave]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Dave, I'm fascinated by this development. To state the obvious: Does this mean CU held an illegal auction in NY State? I bet the DA of the Southern District would get more of a reaction from them than this board has managed.

I guess I will ask if there are any attorneys or Auction Houses on this thread. The question to you is......if an auction house is registered in the State of Delaware but only has offices in the State of NY, are they required to be licensed in the State of NY to run an online auction?

[CJDave]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

John, from my understanding, NY State does not have an auction license requirement, but NYC does. So I would guess the actual location would be important. Manhattan (Varick St) would fall under NYC, but White Plains for instance would not.

And in Aaron's own words......We are located at 175 Varick Street in Manhattan and available to meet in the Tri-State area or at the office by appointment. We have our warehouse in White Plains, NY.

Since you run an auction through an office and not through a warehouse, that would mean they should have a license since the office is located in New York City. Am I incorrect in my thought process?

[chalupacollects]

For what its worth 175 Varick Street is mainly a WeWork location.. its a office share rental you can do daily monthly etc... My guess he just used it as a mailing address...

[steve B]

Originally Posted by bigfish

How do become an “elite collector”. Carpal tunnel from sorting cards? What does that term even mean?

Someone who was a major player in the early 90's and only sold 3,000,000 cards probably isn't all that Elite. The corner card shop I went to then was a small time wholesaler, and probably moved more.

And the other place I went to moved a few years a go and sold some where over a million random commons to a liquidator all at once.

[Lorewalker]

Hello Dave,

As others have said, sorry about the troubles. I know I would be pretty upset if this had happened to me. I am not doubting your story but I am confused about your asking for info and guidance on a chat board when you claim to have the authorities involved as well as lawyers. I would think with those connections, absolutely anything you wanted to know about the process of recovery to background info on Aaron, would be easily available through those means.

Dunno maybe I am missing something but I am puzzled.

Hope this works out for you.

Chase

[Tao_Moko]

Soup sandwich. Meet trainwreck. It's looking more and more like nobody comes out of this in good shape. Personally, I'm still waiting for the curve ball.

[scgaynor]

Originally Posted by CJDave

I guess I will ask if there are any attorneys or Auction Houses on this thread. The question to you is......if an auction house is registered in the State of Delaware but only has offices in the State of NY, are they required to be licensed in the State of NY to run an online auction?

Yes, if the auction took place in NY City, they would have to use an auctioneer that is licensed in NY City. I am licensed in Massachusetts, if I were to do one in NYC, I would need to hire somebody local.

If their main address for business is NYC, you might be able to make that argument that they did an unlicensed auction. I don't know how much that helps you even if they did. That is a question for an attorney.

[painthistorian]

With so many good auction houses available that have a track record, why would anyone consign to this loser outfit????

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by CJDave

And in Aaron's own words......We are located at 175 Varick Street in Manhattan and available to meet in the Tri-State area or at the office by appointment. We have our warehouse in White Plains, NY.

Since you run an auction through an office and not through a warehouse, that would mean they should have a license since the office is located in New York City. Am I incorrect in my thought process?

These all seem like questions your lawyer should be answering for you. Personally I would go radio silent if I were you and let your attorney take it from here.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

These all seem like questions your lawyer should be answering for you. Personally I would go radio silent if I were you and let your attorney take it from here.

+1

Why give progress updates to your adversaries in this case? They know you're coming for your stuff and money, so why let them know how close to them you are, what difficulties you're running into, or what direction you're coming from?

You're talking huge money here. Beyond your recovery, charges could potentially result, depending what has and will happen.

[marzoumanian]

I have found this thread fascinating to read and I am sorry for your losses. But it isn't hard to imagine lawyers (for CU) studying every word of this thread, looking for soft spots.
Decades ago I heard a phrase I have never forgotten: You don't have an erasure at the end of your tongue. Over the years I have bitten my tongue many times! Take out the word tongue and insert the word fingertips. Once your words are in print here they could be used against you down the road.
I wish you the best in this matter AND the best of both physical AND mental health.

[swarmee]

It's been 6 weeks. Any update on this situation?

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by swarmee

It's been 6 weeks. Any update on this situation?

I would hope his lawyer is on top of this, and I suspect he/she probably is and it's why we haven't heard every single detail.

[mantlefan]

Their website hasn't been updated since June. There's an address listed for Harrison NY not NYC and their phone # goes to VM. So hopefully CU is done, but unfortunately compensation for their consignor seems unlikely.

[Casey2296]

I don't have a dog in this hunt but these guys either clearly can't handle the auction business, don't care about customer service, or are that usual run of the mill low brow human who takes advantage of people because they are weak and have no integrity.

Same thing happened in my industry (finance) and what we learned was the only thing that works is licensing requirements and jail time for these dumbfucks. Fiduciary responsibility should never be taken lightly, or to quote my dad, "you gotta make sure the pots right before you deal the hand".

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

I don't have a dog in this hunt but these guys either clearly can't handle the auction business, don't care about customer service, or are that usual run of the mill low brow human who takes advantage of people because they are weak and have no integrity.

Welcome to the board; please list your name since you're expressing opinions.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Welcome to the board; please list your name since you're expressing opinions.

Thanks for the welcome.
Phil Lewis

[Yoda]

Dave, truly hope your lawyers have some clue of who these jokers are and has some leads as to where your property and money might be. I can only think that this nasty episode must be unendurable. Justice must be served.

[Shoeless Moe]

Originally Posted by mantlefan

Their website hasn't been updated since June. There's an address listed for Harrison NY not NYC and their phone # goes to VM. So hopefully CU is done, but unfortunately compensation for their consignor seems unlikely.

Now their website is "POOF" gone:

https://crazyuncleauctions.com/

[Tom S.]

Crazy Uncle = Keyser Soze?

[ullmandds]

any update/resolution?

[Snapolit1]

A lawsuit has been filed. I have the complaint. I dont know a way to post it. And maybe Dave doesn’t want it posted.

[conor912]

I am totally floored that this was June of this year. It feels like a decade since this thread was started...

[bobbyw8469]

This is insane. I would NEVER trust a start up. I understand the OP wanting to give someone a chance, but do it with $300-$500 worth of cards. 6-7 figures worth of stuff is INSANE!!!!!

[CJDave]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

A lawsuit has been filed. I have the complaint. I dont know a way to post it. And maybe Dave doesn’t want it posted.

Not right now I don't want to share it........but I promise to update everyone at some point!!!

[Peter_Spaeth]

I hope for your sake Aaron isn’t judgment proof.

[swarmee]

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=295222
Bump for new thread connection.

[slidekellyslide]

Reminiscent of Doug Allen and Legendary auctions after Mastro went bankrupt. New name, same game.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Reminiscent of Doug Allen and Legendary auctions after Mastro went bankrupt. New name, same game.

I actually bid with and won with Legendary. They were a good, straight up auction house, and WOULD have been successful if they hadn't been buried under the stigma of being associated with Mastro.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

I actually bid with and won with Legendary. They were a good, straight up auction house, and WOULD have been successful if they hadn't been buried under the stigma of being associated with Mastro.

Straight up auction house? LOL

The one owned by this guy?

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i...icle-1.2151144

[MCyganik]

As mentioned above, I started a separate thread on “Dutch Auctions”, which sent me an unsolicited email about their new auction house, Dutch Auction Shop. I looked at the address at the bottom and it was the very same one listed for Aaron Rothschild with Crazy Uncle.




The website makes no mention of who is running the auction, so I suspect Aaron doesn’t want to get his name dragged in the mud again after what happened with Crazy Uncle. Which, to my knowledge, never came to a public resolution.

Several hours later after posting about the address, I get another email exactly the same content, but with the address changed.



I have no personal vendetta against Aaron. My auction experience with Crazy Uncle was a bit strange but I was not affected. But I am making all of this aware for the people who did have issues with Aaron and may want to know about this new endeavor.

[buymycards]

I wonder if any of the items in this new auction actually belong to Dave?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

I actually bid with and won with Legendary. They were a good, straight up auction house, and WOULD have been successful if they hadn't been buried under the stigma of being associated with Mastro.

Wut?

[BRoberts]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

I actually bid with and won with Legendary. They were a good, straight up auction house, and WOULD have been successful if they hadn't been buried under the stigma of being associated with Mastro.

Respectfully, you have no idea what you are talking about.

[chadeast]

This very memorable thread just popped into my head today. Does anyone know if there was a resolution for the OP? I truly hope that things are made right, as much as is possible after such a mess.

[taul166]

Yea, there was so much chatter about this......how did this turn out?

[RedsFan1941]

only update i know of is bobby williams sent a submission of cards to psa. and they got lost. legendary still known as a straight up auction house too.

[Shoeless Moe]

Originally Posted by CJDave

Not right now I don't want to share it........but I promise to update everyone at some point!!!

Almost 2 years later, let's hear it.