If you wanted to make a real impact

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Posted By: Hankron 

If this board thought that eBay acted terribly in this case, in allowing this fraud to go along, this board should organize a one week boycott of eBay.

This would only work if we were able to convince some major players to join the one week boycott. I beleive that if Scott Gaynor and similar boycotted eBay for one week (five days is fine), and told eBay why, eBay would get the message quickly. Money talks more than morals and ethics.

While I do not sell a lot on eBay, I would join this boycott.

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Posted By: Hankron

To help the cause, I would recommend against any bidding during this week boycott. As I know there are some big bidders on this board, this aspect will go hand and hand with a good boycott-- both in hurting eBay's profits directly and to convince sellers to joint the boycott.

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Posted By: Hankron

I firmly beleive that if we can remove $100,000 or more of sales in a one week period (which I beleive is possible), eBay will act favorably.

I also beleive that this is the only practical method that will work with eBay.

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Posted By: Jay Miller

I agree with the concept, but you will only make a real impact if you can get some publicity. I would suggest that if anyone has a good relationship with Keith Olbermann that they get in touch with him after the boycott is set to try to get some air time. This would hurt ebay more than the lost revenue; it would hurt their public image and possibly as a result their stock price. Ebay is irrational exuberance at its worst and yours could be the prick that bursts the balloon (or some wording to that effect).

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Posted By: Hankron

I wish to point out that, personally, my one and only request for eBay to prevent this type of fraud is to remove or strongly restrict the use of Private auctions in the sports memorabilia ara. That's the only thing I ask.

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Posted By: Hankron

I should point out that this is only a suggestion. I don't sell or buy Pre-War baseball cards, so won't press the issue if there isn't any interest.

I also beleive that in most cases, the buyers hold much responsibility (Ryhmes with 'Do you shomework').

A woman recently emailed me about her AAA Nap Lajoie cutout and said (to the effect): "Can you tell me about this card, and what it is worth."

I was too polite to say, "That's a wonderful collection. Why didn't you ask it before you bid, instead of after?"

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

Hankron, I have to say that this is classic you. Out of 6 posts prior to mine on this thread, 5 of them are yours.

Nicely done. A dominating .833 average. Of course, my post brings your average down to a still respectable .714 (5 for 7).

-Ryan

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Posted By: Hankron

Ryan, I figured out that what I essentially do-- and it is not a conscious act-- is write a single long post, but divide it into little pieces. I'm bipolar which probably goes far in explaining my tendencies.

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Posted By: rob

If there is a boycott, it might be worthwhile to email sellers that have auctions during this period and explain to them what is taking place. This may cause them to pull there items and complain to ebay which will hopefully further the cause.

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Posted By: John(z28jd)

thats a good idea,because alot of sellers make a good portion of their money off ebay,but it would be good to let them know first,so they can let ebay know of the boycott....someone would have to organize it so we all know what day to start.

The viable option for everyone is James Verrills site,which is basically what we want,dont know if he accepts consignments or is planning to run regular auctions

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Posted By: Hankron

I think, if it were to be done, it would be something about two weeks away. This gives times to contact and organize. Second, it would only be a brief boycott, essentially a delay in sales (Instead of putting stuff for sale on Monday, putting Saturday).

The other avenue, other than boycott, which would be positive is to provide introductor education to bidders. This would be done by having a page of simple rules and recources (Standard Catalog, Lew Lipset, discussion boards, etc) essential for smart bidding, and have as many people as possible have a link to this page in their ebay auctions. The page would not be inflamitory, would be simple and basic and would be of something eBay would not object to. If sellers linked to a common page that had common sense rules for smart bidding, I do not beleive eBay would object (The rarely object to link to informational resources, but do to commercial sites and sites for off-auction selling).

As I have probably said one hundred times, one of the major problems in these scams is that some bidder have no knowledge and no idea of where to turn for tips. If the bidders had even a small amount more of knowledge, they would not bid in these auctions. A simple link under the header "Essential Information for begginers" might fit the bill and solve many of the problems.

If this were interest, I would be happy to create such a page.

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Posted By: Hankron

I wish to point out that the essential rules of safetly and smartly buying something expensive, whether it is a baseball card, celebrity autograph or movie prop are the same. I had once written an article on how to safetly buy expensive original prints by famous artists (Dali, Chagal, Rembrandt). While there was a litter of details, it essentially boiled down to three things:

1) Become knowledgeable in your area of collection, and do your homework before buying. Knowedge includes about the collectables, authenticity, forgeries int he market, artist, etc. It also includes about who are the top experts, who are good sellers, who are smart collectors, what are good reference books.

2) Deal with quality sellers (knowedgeable, trustworthy, etc). Under most circumstances, if you are dealing with a high quality seller, everything else falls into place. Sellers you know and trust and have a strong reputation are the people you buy items that are out of your expertise.

3) Get second opinions when you need them. This can range from getting a world famous expert's LOA, to having a knowedgeable collecting buddy give his opinion on the price.

Though those tips were written specically about fine art, they apply just as easily to expensive comic books, game used bats and fine china.