2002 Topps 206 Wagner Bat Relic Cards

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by BobC

Pat,

It turns out to be even stranger than this. After last posting I found out there was a third Topps 206 Wagner bat relic card up for auction on Ebay also, and this one ended yesterday, 5/20. And surprise, surprise, the top bid on that one when i found it was $1,900, by guess what, another bidder with "0" feedback. So I went further and checked the bidding history of this "0" feedback bidder, and lo and behold, in the past month this "0" feedback bidder made a total of 5 bids with three different sellers. And it is the exact same bidding history for the "0" feedback bidder in all three of these Wagner auctions. So it is the same bidder in all three of these auctionafter all.

And as you mentioned, the underbidder on the one that ended last week on 5/14 for $6,901, is the current high bidder on the Wagner relic card auction ending tonight, at $6,100 for now. This time the "0" feedback person is the underbidder. Here's the real rub though. The third Wagner relic card auction that ended last night never had this underbidder from the first auction place a bid on it. It ended up supposedly selling to the same "0" feedback bidder for only $1,900. How in the hell could this underbidder, who has put up bids of over $6K on two different of these Wagner relic card auctions now, miss and not bid on a third Wagner bat relic card auction ending right in between the other two? The auction that ended last Saturday, and the one ending today, both have had over 30 bids placed on them. The one that ended yesterday only had 4 bids placed on it. I'm not sure how people were searching for this Wagner relic card, but something must have been off on how the one ending yesterday was listed. But I easily found it, so what gives?

Meanwhile. I reached out to the seller of the Wagner relic card from last Saturday, the 14th, and asked him if he ever got paid. He actually got right back to me and we had a bit of a conversation about what was going on. He said when he saw the winning bidder had "0" feedback, he was immediately concerned. And that concern was reinforced when he told me the winning bidder hasn't paid him, nor ever responded to any attempts he made to contact him/her. He didn't even know about the other two auctions until I told him. He mentioned maybe trying a "2nd chance offer" to the underbidder, but I warned him that that underbidder was going strong on the Wagner auction ending tonight.

That underbidder from last Saturday actually looks like a legit bidder. From what I remember, right after that auction ended last Saturday, the 14th, that underbidder had a "2,093" feedback rating. Last time I looked earlier today, his feedback was now at "2,100", so he has been actively buying and paying for things on Ebay this whole week, and getting positive feedback for it. That to me indicates he is a legitimate bidder. Why he is willing to pay $6K for this Wagner bat relic card is beyond me though. In reality, the Wagner relic card auction that ended last night on the 20th, at $1,900, looks to be a much more plausible and realistic idea of where this card may actually be value-wise right now. Why this one "0" feedback bidder was putting such ridiculous high bids on auctions from three different, seemingly legit, sellers, for this exact same and somewhat obscure Wagner bat relic card, is totally beyond me. Will be interesting to see if this underbidder from last week ends up winning tonight's Wagner bat relic auction, and if he/she does, if positive feedback ends up being posted to tonight's seller, sort of indicating the sale went through and the item was paid for.

These Wagner bat relic cards come up for sale somewhat infrequently, so three of them ending in one week is extremely unusual. And then when you factor in the obviously strange bidding going on, it starts to take this whole thing out of the realm of just unusual coincidences. Something sems to be going on, but I have no real good idea what it is. LOL

Bob,
This is what I think is most likely going on with this 0 feedback seller. He probably has one or more Wagner bat relic cards and he opened a new account on ebay to bid a couple up to create a false price level and he's going to eventually list one or more that he owns with high BIN's with another account he has.

I think his bidding has already had an effect on the prices if the $1900 sale is legit, as far as I remember I think the most recent sales have been in the 1k neighborhood.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Pat R

Bob,
This is what I think is most likely going on with this 0 feedback seller. He probably has one or more Wagner bat relic cards and he opened a new account on ebay to bid a couple up to create a false price level and he's going to eventually list one or more that he owns with high BIN's with another account he has.

I think his bidding has already had an effect on the prices if the $1900 sale is legit, as far as I remember I think the most recent sales have been in the 1k neighborhood.

That is what I was wondering as well Pat. What is so strange is how he somehow lucked out then and was able to do this to three different auctions for this same card all at once. I don't ever remember seeing more than one of these Wagner bat relic cards up for auction on Ebay at the same time in years, if not decades. And to have an underbidder supposedly willing to go to $6K+ on two of them is absurd. Like you, I figured these Wagner bat relic cards would be in the $1K range, at best. But then to have a third auction of a similar card that it seems no one legitimately bidding in the other two auctions can find, this is just too weird.

Anyway, it seems there was only the one underbidder willing to go to the $6K level on these, and with him/her winning that auction for one last night for $6,100, I would guess they've scratched their itch and aren't going to be bidding on any more of these going forward now.

I've heard others here on the forum discussing how the new, younger collectors out there seem to be really up with and into looking at comps when preparing to buy cards. So, if this one "0" feedback person was trying to establish a new, higher comp, they hit the jackpot with three of these cards being sold at virtually the same time. In which case we'll have to wait and see if there are suddenly other Wagner bat relic cards from the 2002 Topps 206 set appearing on Ebay at high BIN prices. If this supposed price manipulation is really what was happening, I can't believe the extent to which some people will go to make an extra couple of bucks. Unreal!!!

Anyway, here are the results of the three Ebay auctions for similar 2002 Topps Wagner bat relic card, in the order in which they ended, if anyone wants to look at what was happening for themselves.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284804084891

https://www.ebay.com/itm/125316357421

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185421997238

[rjackson44]

Never sold shill bidding

[BobC]

Originally Posted by rjackson44

Never sold shill bidding

Octavio,

The jury is still out on the auction that ended last night at $6,100. That auction winner was the underbidder on the very first of these three auctions, and seems to be a legit bidder/buyer. I'm going to watch the feedback on the seller of that last auction to see if he/she ends up getting positive feedback from the winner. If so, that would tend to indicate the $6,100 was actually paid and maybe the last of these three auctions actually resulted in a real sale. Although paying that much for one of these Wagner bat relic cards is insane to me.