Memory Lane sold cards they didn't have per SCD

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by G1911

Convenience isn't a good reason to materially lie to hundreds of people and to turn an ostensibly serious and honest auction into a farce.

Again, if I put up a nice expensive card and Leon pinned it for the occasional board auction, that card was stolen and I declined to say anything, let the auction run with everyone making the obvious inference that I was in a position to deliver the card, then after it was done came on the board and thanked everyone for their bids but now said it was stolen and I just needed the auction to set the value for me for my insurance, would you say I did the best and right thing and defend it?

Most of the complicating factors are not present in that hypothetical. That you would owe money to a consignor, that the card was very hard to value, that it would disrupt a major auction to pull the card when it was stolen, etc. etc. Get closer to what really happened here and I might say what you did was excusable. Then again, it's hard to analogize a single sale to a major auction with hundreds or was it thousands of lots.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Most of the complicating factors are not present in that hypothetical. That you would owe money to a consignor, that the card was very hard to value, that it would disrupt a major auction to pull the card when it was stolen, etc. etc. Get closer to what really happened here and I might say what you did was excusable. Then again, it's hard to analogize a single sale to a major auction with hundreds or was it thousands of lots.

So the determining factor of when it’s okay to lie to bidders is based on if the card is mine (which makes it not okay) or if I am selling it for someone else (the lying becomes okay).

As the hypothetical just used an expensive unspecified card, hard to value or not is difficult to read into that and use as an excuse to justify the lies

And your third criteria there we have the obvious real point. Rules for big auctions, rules for everyone else. If you own an auction house, lying to hundreds or thousands of people becomes okay.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by G1911

So the determining factor of when it’s okay to lie to bidders is based on if the card is mine (which makes it not okay) or if I am selling it for someone else (the lying becomes okay).

As the hypothetical just used an expensive unspecified card, hard to value or not is difficult to read into that and use as an excuse to justify the lies

And your third criteria there we have the obvious real point. Rules for big auctions, rules for everyone else. If you own an auction house, lying to hundreds or thousands of people becomes okay.

Not different rules, just a different context and different competing considerations and consequences. ML is running a business. It has both bidders and consignors. Whatever it decides has consequences that it has to assess and weigh. It may be getting advice, even bad advice. It may not be as simple as, I couldn't do X on the BST therefore what ML did is wrong.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Not different rules, just a different context and different competing considerations and consequences.

Yes, the auction house stands to lose more. Rules for them, rules for everyone else. It’s different when they do it (and okay, because $$$).

[Snowman]

Warning: Non-lawyer here... But the idea that the insurance company advised ML about how to proceed with the auction is absurd. That didn't happen. JP either made that brilliant decision himself or was advised to by his legal counsel and followed their advice. The insurance company isn't going to weigh in on how they should proceed. At most, they miiiight have said they would accept the hammer prices as market values, but I highly doubt an insurance claim has even been filed yet, let alone processed and approved.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Warning: Non-lawyer here... But the idea that the insurance company advised ML about how to proceed with the auction is absurd. That didn't happen. JP either made that brilliant decision himself or was advised to by his legal counsel and followed their advice. The insurance company isn't going to weigh in on how they should proceed. At most, they miiiight have said they would accept the hammer prices as market values, but I highly doubt an insurance claim has even been filed yet, let alone processed and approved.

I feel like you may be able to work this into your small claims court case against them (seriously, not joking).

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Warning: Non-lawyer here... But the idea that the insurance company advised ML about how to proceed with the auction is absurd. That didn't happen. JP either made that brilliant decision himself or was advised to by his legal counsel and followed their advice. The insurance company isn't going to weigh in on how they should proceed. At most, they miiiight have said they would accept the hammer prices as market values, but I highly doubt an insurance claim has even been filed yet, let alone processed and approved.

Could it just be as simple as they ran the auction as such as a hedge in case the cards showed up? It was a 2 week period so maybe they though they had enough time.

If so, quite a gamble that clearly did pay off.