12/21/11
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
Regular readers of my posts know by now that I was kicked off of eBay for fighting fraud in the sports card & memorabilia areas after 14-years of them praising me for doing this. In mid-2010, they decided that people like me were costing them money so we were eradicated. The details are in previous posts so I don't need to repeat myself.
I didn't quite finish getting cards to add to my 40,000 card donation this year, so I decided to try signing up on eBay again without lying about anything which I was certain would not work. Well it did! I was a full member of eBay with ID cert-auto-inserts & the only things I changed were of course the User ID & e-mail address I used. Keep in mind: I wasn't suspended, I was banned for life according to a nasty eBay Safety supervisor who couldn't give me a straight answer as to WHY & she actually hung up on me when she ran out of lame excuses which I retorted which made her look retarted. Every regular eBay phone employee still thinks I'm suspended for a short period & they all think my account should have been reinstated by now??? Sounds like they don't have a clue what they are doing, right? CORRECT!!!
With my new ID I bought over (300) items in a little over 2-months & eBay never contacted me once about me not being allowed to be on eBay! Then once I got most of what I needed to finish my donation, I started sending e-mails to honest collectors & sellers warning them about eBay's new lack of empathy for anyone but themselves & why. So after a week of doing this, eBay FINALLY suspended my new account with their BIG BROTHER e-mail scanning software. These idiots were so paranoid that I was going to publicize this that they deleted every single item I won from their database going (200) items back!!! THAT'S THE CRAZIEST THING I EVER HEARD! That caused every seller (who I bought from) headaches they didn't deserve! EBAY DID THIS, NOT ME & IN 14-YEARS OF USING EBAY & FIGHTING FRAUD ON EBAY I NEVER SAW THEM DO ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE. They erased the existance of (200+) items that I won, paid for & 95% of them were already received by me. So why delete them???
So here I was: PUBLIC ENEMY #1 ACCORDING TO EBAY'S Safety Supervisors (yet con-men like tntnorthnj are NEVER suspended???). I decided to see if they'd let me have a new account with the SAME Paypal account & same master Paypal e-mail account (the 1st account they suspended: cardcop05) BTW & used the new ID for over 2-months & I busted myself basically or eBay NEVER would have caught me. IS THIS CRAZINESS OR WHAT?
Since it worked once, I tried it again. AND IT WORKED AGAIN!!! I tried ID ectopic-foci (an EKG medical term) & that account lasted as long as I wanted it to once again! This one lasted a month, then I told several sellers (who asked) how to donate cards to children's charities with the holidays coming up quick. This was obviously one of the RED FLAGS eBay's software e-mail search worm used to find me and I was suspended after 4-weeks - again.
The point here is that there are MANY sellers especially in the collectibles areas on eBay who rip people off as their main business practice just sign-up again when they get suspended & EBAY DOES NOTHING TO STOP THEM! As hard as it is these days to get eBay listen to you & ban these jerks from eBay you'd think eBay would take steps to keep these crooks off of eBay FOREVER: BUT THEY DON'T & I PROVED IT TWICE!!! All they'd have to look for is the last name and zip code, BUT THEY DON'T DO THIS LIKE NORMAL SITES???
All eBay cares about now is making money & every single bit of their honor & integrity that they once had is long gone. If you don't listen to me, you will be ripped-off with NO RECOURSE at some point in the near future & this is no 'IF" - this is a "WHEN" and I am trying to save you heartache now so please LISTEN TO ME: get off of eBay now!!!
Most of you can travel to 200+ table card shows (I can't because I have Muscular Dystrophy so I'm screwed): THESE ARE THE BEST PLACES TO BUY! So stick to these rules and you'll never lose:
1) Pay no more than LESS THAN LOW BECKETT PRICES- period.
2) Never believe rookie HYPE, or new release hype. Only buy cards that have been out for several months to a year or more.
3) NEVER buy loose packs in bulk lots from big dealers like Dave & Adam's Card World. These are the packs that sat on retail store (Target, K-Mart & Wal-Mart) for up to a full year & have been searched dozens of times- so every good hit has been LONG GONE from these packs!!! Also stay away from SUPER DISCOUNTED boxes from big dealers like DACW, card companies run out of all big hit inserts yet let the packaging continue. Then they sell these boxes dirt cheap to DACW & you think you are getting a bargain getting a $75.00 box for $29.95! BUT THESE BOXES HAVE NO DECENT INSERTS & IN MOST CASES CARD COMPANIES WILL DO NOTHING TO HELP YOU IF YOU CONTACT THEM! Their disclaimers on packs & boxes legally give them a right to NOT help you!!!
4) Only buy MINT cards or better made after 1985. Or NM-MT or better On Card Certified Autographed Inserts.
5) Your best bet for long-term collecting is to stick to HARD SIGNED (On Card) Certified Autographed Inserts (CAI's) from BIG card companies only- like Topps & Upper Deck, and Panini to a lesser degree. When Panini took over Playoff they kept most of the crooked Playoff employees, so I still don't trust them.
6) Buy what you like for personal reasons to collect, NOT with investments in mind. The days of reselling for profit are gone!
Price guides are useless for ten years now! They don't print the whole truth & NEVER print negative info about companies still in business. Plus they always push products based on the amount of advertising dollars they get from the companies. THIS IS ALL A COMPLETE CONFLICT OF INTEREST & IF THE SPORT LICENSING AGENCIES CARED ABOUT COLLECTORS, THEY WOULD STOP THESE PRACTICES!
PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF ONLINE & BUY SMART! Everyone selling is looking to take your money & they don't care to tell you what I'm telling you here: EVER because that will lower the amount of money they make. This is why I never became any kind of dealer- I'm way too honest and care too much about fellow collectors: especially young ones.
I just had a collector today ask me what to do with a dealer who they won a fairly expensive itewm from for $1.00, then the seller just refunded the buyer's money & the buyer thought there was something I could tell them to help them. With eBay not caring about buyers anymore- WE ARE S*** OUT OF LUCK! So the only recourse is to STOP BUYING ON EBAY UNTIL THEY GET THEIR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT AGAIN >>>>IF THAT HAPPENS<<<< BEFORE THEY GO BANKRUPT!
I wish everyone the best & enjoy the holidays!
James McCay aka Cardcop
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
How Sports Card/Autograph Crooks Return on eBay
I was forever banned from eBay with my ID cardcop05 a few months ago for fighting fraudulent sellers in the sports card area. You see eBay doesn't want to lose any more money from suspended/banned sellers and I was causing at least one suspension a week on eBay. Look at my feedback for that ID- it's near perfect. Yet they permanently suspended me for no legitimate reason! Everytime I got a supervisor on the phone they'd hand up on me!!! But all their regular employees told me "your account is perfect & you have one of the highest buyer/seller ratings I've ever seen" & my account had about 4,000 feedbacks too.
So I get a phone call from an eBay employee who tells me to "just open another account with a different credit card & bank account". So I did just that using the same Paypal account and I've been buying/selling on eBay again for the last 2-months! Remember- I was BANNED FROM EBAY FOREVER!!!
I cannot keep my mouth shut and hold my tongue when it comes to informing a fellow honest card collectors about something I'm aware of & eBay reads every e-mail you send though their system, so this caused me to get suspended again: ID cert-auto-inserts . But if I would have kept a low profile I could have stayed on eBay indefinitely. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT CROOKS DO TOO! If you still trust eBay and feel completely safe buying/selling there- you are a fool I'm sorry to say that, but it's the truth. EBAY IS JUST AS CROOKED AS THE MOST SINISTER SELLERS THEY NOW PROTECT!
James McCay aka Cardcop
So I get a phone call from an eBay employee who tells me to "just open another account with a different credit card & bank account". So I did just that using the same Paypal account and I've been buying/selling on eBay again for the last 2-months! Remember- I was BANNED FROM EBAY FOREVER!!!
I cannot keep my mouth shut and hold my tongue when it comes to informing a fellow honest card collectors about something I'm aware of & eBay reads every e-mail you send though their system, so this caused me to get suspended again: ID cert-auto-inserts . But if I would have kept a low profile I could have stayed on eBay indefinitely. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT CROOKS DO TOO! If you still trust eBay and feel completely safe buying/selling there- you are a fool I'm sorry to say that, but it's the truth. EBAY IS JUST AS CROOKED AS THE MOST SINISTER SELLERS THEY NOW PROTECT!
James McCay aka Cardcop
Saturday, September 17, 2011
eBay's new mission. SICK! Must Read!!!
Since 1997, I've been fighting fraud in the sports card industry for free. I did this on eBay as well and received numerous "thank yous", free eBay buying credits, and support to continue fighting fraud. Very recently I received NINE (9) Policy Violations for FIGHTING FRAUD. Then they suspended me from buying for going after bad sellers. If that wasn't bad enough - when I called to complain regular eBay employees where on my side 100% & told me ny account would be reinstated immediately. THAT NEVER HAPPENED! So I finally get a nasty "Trust & Safety" woman who says the suspension stands no matter what I do??? She wouldn't tell me why. So I call back to speak to a regular employerec who tells me this witch added violations to my account which indefinitely suspended my entire account???
Then I find eBaysucks.com & everything begins to make sense. Supposedly eBay is going retail only like Amazon & is forcefully getting rid of ANYONE who says negative things, even about their worst sellers on eBay! eBay doesn't want potentioal new buyers to see negative comments and this is why7 they are kicking people like me off ebay forever.
Since 2001, I began getting very sick starting with massively heriniated disks in my low back causing severe non-stop sciatica at age 34. Then came a super rare form of Muscular Dystophy & four massively herniated disks in my neck with one pushing into my spinal cord. The herniations are from Degenerative Bone Disease, not caused by any accident. They are all inoperable because of the MD because they'll never heal right if at all.
Even though I'll never be able to work a real job again since 2002 & am permanently physically disabled on SSD ($1,000 a month)- I still kept fighting fraud for free (mostly on eBay by 2007)spending 40+ hours a week doing the "RIGHT THING" for everyone in our hobby. Then by 2008, I was so sick I couldn't walk anymore. eBay knew all of this & their regular employees always told me on the phone: "you have a stellar Power Seller rating & exceptional performance ratings always as a buyer & seller, we are proud to have you as a member". Then in one swoop, I'm suspended for life???
I'm still getting those Awards in the mail suitable for framing for being such a great eBay member & I AM PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED FOR LIFE???
Leave eBay now or face the consequences when they decide you don't fit their new "business plan". Very soon there will be NO MORE AUCTIONS AT ALL & if that's all you do you may find yourself permanently suspended for doing absolutely nothing wrong!
James McCay
eBay ID- cardcop05
Then I find eBaysucks.com & everything begins to make sense. Supposedly eBay is going retail only like Amazon & is forcefully getting rid of ANYONE who says negative things, even about their worst sellers on eBay! eBay doesn't want potentioal new buyers to see negative comments and this is why7 they are kicking people like me off ebay forever.
Since 2001, I began getting very sick starting with massively heriniated disks in my low back causing severe non-stop sciatica at age 34. Then came a super rare form of Muscular Dystophy & four massively herniated disks in my neck with one pushing into my spinal cord. The herniations are from Degenerative Bone Disease, not caused by any accident. They are all inoperable because of the MD because they'll never heal right if at all.
Even though I'll never be able to work a real job again since 2002 & am permanently physically disabled on SSD ($1,000 a month)- I still kept fighting fraud for free (mostly on eBay by 2007)spending 40+ hours a week doing the "RIGHT THING" for everyone in our hobby. Then by 2008, I was so sick I couldn't walk anymore. eBay knew all of this & their regular employees always told me on the phone: "you have a stellar Power Seller rating & exceptional performance ratings always as a buyer & seller, we are proud to have you as a member". Then in one swoop, I'm suspended for life???
I'm still getting those Awards in the mail suitable for framing for being such a great eBay member & I AM PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED FOR LIFE???
Leave eBay now or face the consequences when they decide you don't fit their new "business plan". Very soon there will be NO MORE AUCTIONS AT ALL & if that's all you do you may find yourself permanently suspended for doing absolutely nothing wrong!
James McCay
eBay ID- cardcop05
Saturday, September 10, 2011
It's over: NO MORE EBAY AS WE KNEW IT!
I've been hearing rumors that eBay has been making a transition behind the scenes for a while now to become a Amazon-lite basically. No more auctions, just stores & Buy It Now items.
After what I just went through since Aug. 22nd proved to me that this is 100% fact & they will do anything and everything to make that happen. But instead of doing it with some honor by sending a system-wide e-mail to everyone, they opted to quietly do it by indefinitely suspending anyone who does not fit within their new mold of sellers or even big buyers for that matter as well.
If you fight for your rights under eBay's rules; YOU ARE GONE!
If you are a seller and fight Buyer Complaints: YOU ARE GONE!
If you are a buyer and leave negative feedbacks for people who send you unmentioned damaged items and then sellers refuse a partial refund, or never get your item and the seller never responds & you leave negative feedback each time: YOU ARE GONE!
The list of reasons goes on & on. But eBay will never tell you what it is that you need to do to fit their NEW BUSINESS MOLD!
It kills me how every time I called eBay with an issue over the past 6-months they kissed my butt royally saying: YOU ARE A TOP RATED SELLER & FROM LOOKING AT YOUR ACCOUNT YOUR STATUS IS ONE OF THE HIGHEST I'VE EVER SEEN IN EVERY CATEGORY AND YOU ARE SO GREAT AND WE THANK YOU, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH (just fix my problem you idiot)! It started sounding more & more cultish as time went by.
Here's an example that should blow your mind- on Aug. 22nd a seller who charged me over $8.00 S&H for empty trading card boxes that fit in a medium Flat Rate Priority box (I checked), yet he shipped them Parcel Post & it took 11-days to arrive. I kept politely asking him where my boxes were after 5-days passed and he was obnoxious right from the start. Every e-mail to him after that he got nastier & nastier. He never said through all this that he sent them Parcel Post. I had to find out from the shipping label, same goes for the shipping date which he lied about.
So I left a truthful, unemotional negative feedback. His response was this e-mail:
Dear cardcop**,
GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!! I have your address saved, I travel to new
york area often. We will be in touch!
-shindig_747
Even though I have been fighting hobby fraud for all collectors for free since 1997 online, I never received such a threatening e-mail.
So I immediately called eBay and they said he would be suspended immediately, probably indefinitely.
So three days pass & he's still selling. I call eBay again and the woman this time was just as upset by that e-mail as I was. She asked if I left follow-up feedback to address this e-mail. I did not, so she said "you need to". So I mulled it over for 24-hours (so I didn't write anything I'd regret) and I left this "Told me to F--- Myself & he's coming to see me. BRING IT THEN!" or very close to that. I wanted him to know that I was no easy target, because that invites retribution. The next thing I knew, I was suspended as a buyer for 90-days because they said I had too many Buyer Complaints (ONE!).
My Post Office is one of the 3,700 being closed and I've been missing tons of mail over the last two months (June & July mostly) or so including bank statements, credit card bills, etc. Luckily every eBay item that I bought an was missing was below $15.00 (two were sent wiuth Delivery Confirmation as well- where of course it wasn't the buyer's fault at all), & everything else was $3-$5 each. I CANNOT CONTROL ANY OF THAT- YET EBAY BLAMED ME FOR IT???! So I called eBay & they said they were going to reverse my suspension over three different times. That never happened to this day. HOWEVER- the person who threatened me is STILL SELLING all the while since Aug.22nd & a month had passed at this point!!!
Then I had to be hospitalized because I have a very rare form of Muscular Dystrophy & five massively herniated disks in my neck & low back with severe multiple nerve damage>>>> BTW-eBay is well aware of this and I asked them several times to make a note of this on my account & the fact that I've helped them fight fraud for 14-years- THEY NEVER DID THAT.
I'm in severe-excruciating pain 24/7, but after this eBay episode my pain went to 10 out of 10 & I was hospitalized from late Monday Aug. 28th until Friday, Sept. 2nd. So I get home and take care of my eBay business first before I do anything else because I sold two items (the buyers knew I was hospitalized) and wanted to get them out 1st thing Sat. morning with good free bonus cards. I take fast/safe/affordable ($2.50 for unlimited cards bought) shipping very seriously since I started on eBay in 1997.
So it's now Sat. Sept. 2nd in the late afternoon & I decide to relist items I had listed before I went into the hospital. I got to item #6 & out of nowhere a screen pops up saying "YOU ARE SUSPENDED"! So I click My eBay and that warning comes up on the lower left hand of the screen saying "your account is suspended".
So I call eBay again and finally spoke to Grace from Trust & Safety. She told me the case number and said this was all a big mix-up. She said I never should have been suspended for ANYTHING & that shindig_747 should have been suspended by Aug.23rd indefinitely. She "promised" me TWICE that by the nest day, in 24-hours (Sunday???) my account would be fully reinstated & the case against shindig would be upgraded to urgent. That never happened either. HOW MANY LIES CAN EBAY EMPLOYEES TELL WITHOUT GETTING FIRED???
Next I get Carly who couldn't find a reason to keep me suspended so she actually put me on hold & searched my feedback until she found a questionable feedback which she stated I received a warning about (but of course never did since she was creating complaints while we were on the phone!!!). I knew at this point I was done with eBay whether I wanted it to be or not. So I said bye & hung up.
Out of curiosity I called a regular Customer Service employee (Tim) right after speaking to Carly. I asked him if there were any Feedback Abuse cases against my account. He said no, then said oh wait a minute one is just coming up now. I said "yeah, being typed by Carly- right?" & he agreed. I said I'm sorry you have to work with that nasty witch, to which he had no comment.
Then I gave it another try on Fri. Sept. 9th. I didn't even bother asking who I was speaking to, it didn't matter in the past, so why should it now? They said you are indefinitely suspended and it is unappealable!!! When I asked why shindig_747 who threatened me is still selling she said "that was probably his first offense" (look at his feedback -IT WAS NOT!), "so you don't get suspended for first offenses". He used the F word in it's full glory, and threatened me in the worst way! Plus in a later e-mail he said he was going to borrow his friend's 9MM before he comes to NY!!! And he didn't ever get suspended from eBay??? My feedback is 100% & his is much lower with several negatives...
I saved pages on eBay to my computer showing my Seller Dashboard showing my Policy Violations at LOW during the first week of Sept., but now (Sept. 24th) it shows MEDIUM, plus all mention of any violations were removed??? Taking that into account with my PERFECT ratings in every other category, nothing justifies a suspension of any kind. Plus I received another eBay Award for being a Top Rated Seller! IS THIS INSANE OR WHAT? So I called eBay one last time on Sept. 24th & got a very polite young lady who was very understanding at first and agreed with my situation and then said, "please hold while I check your account". When she came back her tone of voice was suddenly nasty. She said you are permanently suspended for leaving that feedback saying the "F" word. I told her that this was a quote from an e-mail from a seller and she said "I know all about that now" & I didn't use the F word I put F***, plus it waasn't my idea to leave that feedback it was YOUR EMPLOYEE'S IDEA! She said in her nasty tone "we consider this with you a permanent parting of ways". So I told her to start looking for a new job because eBay will be bankrupt soon by treating people like me like this. I truly believe that.
I'm glad I'll never use eBay again at this point and you all should consider quitting before you are forced off just as I was. I had to change my bank account number & credcit card because eBay are nothing but untrustworthy crooks at this point. I have proof of everything I said here and will prove it in court if need be.
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT & NEVER PUT UP WITH FRAUD LIKE THIS!
James M.
After what I just went through since Aug. 22nd proved to me that this is 100% fact & they will do anything and everything to make that happen. But instead of doing it with some honor by sending a system-wide e-mail to everyone, they opted to quietly do it by indefinitely suspending anyone who does not fit within their new mold of sellers or even big buyers for that matter as well.
If you fight for your rights under eBay's rules; YOU ARE GONE!
If you are a seller and fight Buyer Complaints: YOU ARE GONE!
If you are a buyer and leave negative feedbacks for people who send you unmentioned damaged items and then sellers refuse a partial refund, or never get your item and the seller never responds & you leave negative feedback each time: YOU ARE GONE!
The list of reasons goes on & on. But eBay will never tell you what it is that you need to do to fit their NEW BUSINESS MOLD!
It kills me how every time I called eBay with an issue over the past 6-months they kissed my butt royally saying: YOU ARE A TOP RATED SELLER & FROM LOOKING AT YOUR ACCOUNT YOUR STATUS IS ONE OF THE HIGHEST I'VE EVER SEEN IN EVERY CATEGORY AND YOU ARE SO GREAT AND WE THANK YOU, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH (just fix my problem you idiot)! It started sounding more & more cultish as time went by.
Here's an example that should blow your mind- on Aug. 22nd a seller who charged me over $8.00 S&H for empty trading card boxes that fit in a medium Flat Rate Priority box (I checked), yet he shipped them Parcel Post & it took 11-days to arrive. I kept politely asking him where my boxes were after 5-days passed and he was obnoxious right from the start. Every e-mail to him after that he got nastier & nastier. He never said through all this that he sent them Parcel Post. I had to find out from the shipping label, same goes for the shipping date which he lied about.
So I left a truthful, unemotional negative feedback. His response was this e-mail:
Dear cardcop**,
GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!! I have your address saved, I travel to new
york area often. We will be in touch!
-shindig_747
Even though I have been fighting hobby fraud for all collectors for free since 1997 online, I never received such a threatening e-mail.
So I immediately called eBay and they said he would be suspended immediately, probably indefinitely.
So three days pass & he's still selling. I call eBay again and the woman this time was just as upset by that e-mail as I was. She asked if I left follow-up feedback to address this e-mail. I did not, so she said "you need to". So I mulled it over for 24-hours (so I didn't write anything I'd regret) and I left this "Told me to F--- Myself & he's coming to see me. BRING IT THEN!" or very close to that. I wanted him to know that I was no easy target, because that invites retribution. The next thing I knew, I was suspended as a buyer for 90-days because they said I had too many Buyer Complaints (ONE!).
My Post Office is one of the 3,700 being closed and I've been missing tons of mail over the last two months (June & July mostly) or so including bank statements, credit card bills, etc. Luckily every eBay item that I bought an was missing was below $15.00 (two were sent wiuth Delivery Confirmation as well- where of course it wasn't the buyer's fault at all), & everything else was $3-$5 each. I CANNOT CONTROL ANY OF THAT- YET EBAY BLAMED ME FOR IT???! So I called eBay & they said they were going to reverse my suspension over three different times. That never happened to this day. HOWEVER- the person who threatened me is STILL SELLING all the while since Aug.22nd & a month had passed at this point!!!
Then I had to be hospitalized because I have a very rare form of Muscular Dystrophy & five massively herniated disks in my neck & low back with severe multiple nerve damage>>>> BTW-eBay is well aware of this and I asked them several times to make a note of this on my account & the fact that I've helped them fight fraud for 14-years- THEY NEVER DID THAT.
I'm in severe-excruciating pain 24/7, but after this eBay episode my pain went to 10 out of 10 & I was hospitalized from late Monday Aug. 28th until Friday, Sept. 2nd. So I get home and take care of my eBay business first before I do anything else because I sold two items (the buyers knew I was hospitalized) and wanted to get them out 1st thing Sat. morning with good free bonus cards. I take fast/safe/affordable ($2.50 for unlimited cards bought) shipping very seriously since I started on eBay in 1997.
So it's now Sat. Sept. 2nd in the late afternoon & I decide to relist items I had listed before I went into the hospital. I got to item #6 & out of nowhere a screen pops up saying "YOU ARE SUSPENDED"! So I click My eBay and that warning comes up on the lower left hand of the screen saying "your account is suspended".
So I call eBay again and finally spoke to Grace from Trust & Safety. She told me the case number and said this was all a big mix-up. She said I never should have been suspended for ANYTHING & that shindig_747 should have been suspended by Aug.23rd indefinitely. She "promised" me TWICE that by the nest day, in 24-hours (Sunday???) my account would be fully reinstated & the case against shindig would be upgraded to urgent. That never happened either. HOW MANY LIES CAN EBAY EMPLOYEES TELL WITHOUT GETTING FIRED???
Next I get Carly who couldn't find a reason to keep me suspended so she actually put me on hold & searched my feedback until she found a questionable feedback which she stated I received a warning about (but of course never did since she was creating complaints while we were on the phone!!!). I knew at this point I was done with eBay whether I wanted it to be or not. So I said bye & hung up.
Out of curiosity I called a regular Customer Service employee (Tim) right after speaking to Carly. I asked him if there were any Feedback Abuse cases against my account. He said no, then said oh wait a minute one is just coming up now. I said "yeah, being typed by Carly- right?" & he agreed. I said I'm sorry you have to work with that nasty witch, to which he had no comment.
Then I gave it another try on Fri. Sept. 9th. I didn't even bother asking who I was speaking to, it didn't matter in the past, so why should it now? They said you are indefinitely suspended and it is unappealable!!! When I asked why shindig_747 who threatened me is still selling she said "that was probably his first offense" (look at his feedback -IT WAS NOT!), "so you don't get suspended for first offenses". He used the F word in it's full glory, and threatened me in the worst way! Plus in a later e-mail he said he was going to borrow his friend's 9MM before he comes to NY!!! And he didn't ever get suspended from eBay??? My feedback is 100% & his is much lower with several negatives...
I saved pages on eBay to my computer showing my Seller Dashboard showing my Policy Violations at LOW during the first week of Sept., but now (Sept. 24th) it shows MEDIUM, plus all mention of any violations were removed??? Taking that into account with my PERFECT ratings in every other category, nothing justifies a suspension of any kind. Plus I received another eBay Award for being a Top Rated Seller! IS THIS INSANE OR WHAT? So I called eBay one last time on Sept. 24th & got a very polite young lady who was very understanding at first and agreed with my situation and then said, "please hold while I check your account". When she came back her tone of voice was suddenly nasty. She said you are permanently suspended for leaving that feedback saying the "F" word. I told her that this was a quote from an e-mail from a seller and she said "I know all about that now" & I didn't use the F word I put F***, plus it waasn't my idea to leave that feedback it was YOUR EMPLOYEE'S IDEA! She said in her nasty tone "we consider this with you a permanent parting of ways". So I told her to start looking for a new job because eBay will be bankrupt soon by treating people like me like this. I truly believe that.
I'm glad I'll never use eBay again at this point and you all should consider quitting before you are forced off just as I was. I had to change my bank account number & credcit card because eBay are nothing but untrustworthy crooks at this point. I have proof of everything I said here and will prove it in court if need be.
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT & NEVER PUT UP WITH FRAUD LIKE THIS!
James M.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
It's time collectors TAKE THE HOBBY BACK by force!
I've been a lone wolf fighting mostly Corporate Hobby Fraud from 1997-2004, then at age 37- I was too sick to continue my website, so I gave it up. I believe that plagarism is truly the best form of respect, so when many others started websites similar to mine mostly in the mid-2000's I couldn't have been happier.
I was the only non-attorney fighting for every redemption holder in the Score Board bankruptcy (1997) & for this this Al Muir of Beckett was nice enough to do a full page article (I think it was November, 1997) about my fight with the courts. At least I inspired Fleer to donate 5,000 autographs (one per household) to those who could prove they were owed a redemption. I ot a nice Steve Young 8X10 Card Sheet autographed wityh the Fleer Autograph Authenticity stamp. I so wish I would have kept that because I've never seen another one anywhere. I collect great lefty quartebacks (the few that there are).
By 2001, I was fighting Pacific asking them for copies of LOA's (Letters of Authenticity) that come with ALL full game-used items for GU cards I had from 2001 Private Stock Baseball. They refused no matter who I was transferred to. The excuses went from silly to ridiculous. So I posted the whole story on my website , and part of my taped conversation with the then Vice-President. The MLB Player's Association was reading my website on a regular basis and then they asked Pacific for exactly what I was. It turned out to be exactly what I thought- THEY HAD NO LOA's BECAUSE THEY WERE FAKE GAME-USED ITEMS!!! Pacific lost their baseball license about a month later which bankrputed them a few years later. That was not my intent, but somtimes retribution is more harsh than we expect.
Next I went after Playoff. I spoke with the owner (Ann Blake) for hours every day for a month in May, 2001. She told me "you know the hobby from more angles better than anyone I ever met". That was quite a compliment, but I spent countless hours learning what I knew from 1997-2001. Then she offered me an all expenses paid trip to Grand Prairie, TX to meet the company & go with them to the Cleveland National as their VIP guest. That was one of the coolest things I ever had the opportunity to do in this hobby, but I didn't let it effect my investigation of Playoff. A week later, she offered me a job as a Senior Manager of Customer Service/Redemptions & Replacements. Little did she know that I took the job to investigate them from the inside.
What I discovered was FAR WORSE than any rumors I ever heard (and most of you have heard) througout the years! Back door selling of expensive autographed inserts (for pennies on the dollar) to big dealers like Dave & Adam's Card World as an incentive to promise to buy cases of not yet produced products was 100% true & I caught the President doing it red-handed. They also produced cards that were against their licensing rules like 2000 Retro Ichiro RC's (I destroyed all but ten of each version, I still own one of each) & parallels of that card which were physically produced in 2000 when Upper Deck had an exclusive license prohibiting that & they were even selling single cards to others which was completely against their licensing agreements in every sport. Card companies were only licensed to sell boxes & cases of cards in nearly every case prior to 2002. This was told to me by Dawn Ridley-Nash who then was the person in charge of NFL licensing.
I then caught Playoff's President red-handed stealing cards from MY department to be sold to dealers out the back door. I fought with him constantly over the wrong things Playoff was doing which evertually had him downgrade me to an outside consultant. But I got a full 3-months of training working inside a big card company. I even worked 6-7 days a week with a MINIMUM of 70-hours per week to learn as much as I could from everyone & everywhere I could get to.
It was sick what I saw there! Right when I started they were moving from Grand Prairie to Arlington, TX. So the old CS manager had thrown away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cards (autographs too) that could have been used for replacements for long overdue redemptions from 1999!!! I was able to save some, but most had been badly damaged being thrown in an industrial dumpster with literally thousands of pounds of cards! This guy (Noel) was a moron as far as hobby knowledge goes!
I took what evidence I could to bury them once I left, but as I was preparing my case against them once I returned to FL- they had me arrersted for Grand Theft over $200.000- a 1ST DEGREE FELONY! I was released from jail on bond & after a 3-year battle all the charges against me were all dropped & once again the MLBPA believed my story and they finaally pulled D/P's baseball license which bankrputed them also. During that three years I kept fighting for them to make an inventory list of what was "stolen" & they never made one! After consulting several attorneys, the general answer was that one of the FIRST things done in any theft case is to make an inventory list of what was taken. So why after 3-YEARS was no list made?
It turned out that the person that I thought was helping me from the NFLPA (Dawn) was blocking the release of the inventory list! To hide the evidence of course. That evidence was never released & they kept my 14-year personal collection as well. But in the end I got even.
eBay has changed drastically over the past few years as well regarding sports cards. eBay helps NO ONE regarding fraud anymore & even punishes those who try to help others??? I know first hand after being suspended for 2-weeks for trying to collect evidence from NSA sellers against who refuses to answer any of my e-mails. NSA is the company that made only the best SUPERSTAR "Game-Used" Dual Encased PATCH "cards" that were selling on eBay for $6.00-$10.00 each??? Imagine, a Game-Used Tom Brady/Peyton Manning Dual REAL "Game-Used" multi-color/layer PATCH card for $10.00? Or a Derek Jeter/Alex Rodriguez Dual GU Patch card for $10.00? IMPOSSIBLE IF THEY WERE AUTHENTIC! Most of these patches were the rarest patches you've ever seen as well, like MLB logo patches and shoulder patches. The old saying "if it seems to be too good, it probably is" fits perfectly in this instance!
Here is a good link about NSA:
http://www.sportscardforum.com/showthread.php?t=998332
In rapping this up, I want every one of you to know that YOU CAN MAKE A MAJOR DIFFERENCE TO CHANGE BAD THINGS IN LIFE BY YOURSELF- I'm living proof. All it takes is percerverence, patience, and a drive to improve things for everyone- ESPECIALLY CHILDREN in our hobby who cannot fight for themselves!!!
You must complain to the right people such as the Hobby Relations Representative which every card company has, or the person in charge of card company licensing for each sport's Player's Association. These are all easily found in search engines. When you first call, ALWAYS ask who you are speaking to & keep notes as you go along or tape record the conversation. You can buy a 4-hour digital tape recorder for like $50.00 in Target these days & use a phone with a speaker. If the person you wind up speaking to doesn't sound like they are willing to help, or seem uncaring ask to speak to their boss- EVERYONE HAS A BOSS!
Another major problem that needs immediate attention: Not one card company is doing anything to STOP pack searching & the selling of these packs on eBay. These crooks bend packs & the ones that are unbendable have the key cards. Or they weigh packs & the ones that are different from the rest also have key cards.. I didn't want to let this secret out, but it's more fair if EVERYONE knows how they do it since card companies are doing nothing to stop it!
Every year I send them all a long letter explaning this with ideas on how to stop it, they never reply and they never try things to stop searching. That is a plague in our hobby right now. Go to eBay & type hot pack in the search box. The results are hundreds of packs ending every few days that leave hundreds of boxes MISSING THE KEY CARDS. They sell those boxes as if those key cards were still in there 90% of the time. IF THAT'S NOT FRAUD, THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS!!! These searchers can also search blaster boxes to know which ones have the best cards by weighing them! ALL OF THIS NEEDS TO STOP FOR GOOD ASAP!
I have a rare/deadly form of Muscular Dystrophy (since 2006), five ruptured disks in my neck & lowest part of my back with severe sciatica in both legs (late-2001 at age 34). I had two heart attacks from taking Vioxx (2004), and my life will be cut very short because of all this. So it's your turn to take over!
THE FUTURE OF THE HOBBY DEPENDS SOLELY ON YOU! They recently formed a group that is looking out for brick & mortar card shops, but do you think they care about us collectors? NO WAY!! They care about making more money from us & THAT'S IT! So we collectors need to band together & form our own group to fight for our rights. I'm too sick to do it, but someone out there can and I hope they will...
I was the only non-attorney fighting for every redemption holder in the Score Board bankruptcy (1997) & for this this Al Muir of Beckett was nice enough to do a full page article (I think it was November, 1997) about my fight with the courts. At least I inspired Fleer to donate 5,000 autographs (one per household) to those who could prove they were owed a redemption. I ot a nice Steve Young 8X10 Card Sheet autographed wityh the Fleer Autograph Authenticity stamp. I so wish I would have kept that because I've never seen another one anywhere. I collect great lefty quartebacks (the few that there are).
By 2001, I was fighting Pacific asking them for copies of LOA's (Letters of Authenticity) that come with ALL full game-used items for GU cards I had from 2001 Private Stock Baseball. They refused no matter who I was transferred to. The excuses went from silly to ridiculous. So I posted the whole story on my website , and part of my taped conversation with the then Vice-President. The MLB Player's Association was reading my website on a regular basis and then they asked Pacific for exactly what I was. It turned out to be exactly what I thought- THEY HAD NO LOA's BECAUSE THEY WERE FAKE GAME-USED ITEMS!!! Pacific lost their baseball license about a month later which bankrputed them a few years later. That was not my intent, but somtimes retribution is more harsh than we expect.
Next I went after Playoff. I spoke with the owner (Ann Blake) for hours every day for a month in May, 2001. She told me "you know the hobby from more angles better than anyone I ever met". That was quite a compliment, but I spent countless hours learning what I knew from 1997-2001. Then she offered me an all expenses paid trip to Grand Prairie, TX to meet the company & go with them to the Cleveland National as their VIP guest. That was one of the coolest things I ever had the opportunity to do in this hobby, but I didn't let it effect my investigation of Playoff. A week later, she offered me a job as a Senior Manager of Customer Service/Redemptions & Replacements. Little did she know that I took the job to investigate them from the inside.
What I discovered was FAR WORSE than any rumors I ever heard (and most of you have heard) througout the years! Back door selling of expensive autographed inserts (for pennies on the dollar) to big dealers like Dave & Adam's Card World as an incentive to promise to buy cases of not yet produced products was 100% true & I caught the President doing it red-handed. They also produced cards that were against their licensing rules like 2000 Retro Ichiro RC's (I destroyed all but ten of each version, I still own one of each) & parallels of that card which were physically produced in 2000 when Upper Deck had an exclusive license prohibiting that & they were even selling single cards to others which was completely against their licensing agreements in every sport. Card companies were only licensed to sell boxes & cases of cards in nearly every case prior to 2002. This was told to me by Dawn Ridley-Nash who then was the person in charge of NFL licensing.
I then caught Playoff's President red-handed stealing cards from MY department to be sold to dealers out the back door. I fought with him constantly over the wrong things Playoff was doing which evertually had him downgrade me to an outside consultant. But I got a full 3-months of training working inside a big card company. I even worked 6-7 days a week with a MINIMUM of 70-hours per week to learn as much as I could from everyone & everywhere I could get to.
It was sick what I saw there! Right when I started they were moving from Grand Prairie to Arlington, TX. So the old CS manager had thrown away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cards (autographs too) that could have been used for replacements for long overdue redemptions from 1999!!! I was able to save some, but most had been badly damaged being thrown in an industrial dumpster with literally thousands of pounds of cards! This guy (Noel) was a moron as far as hobby knowledge goes!
I took what evidence I could to bury them once I left, but as I was preparing my case against them once I returned to FL- they had me arrersted for Grand Theft over $200.000- a 1ST DEGREE FELONY! I was released from jail on bond & after a 3-year battle all the charges against me were all dropped & once again the MLBPA believed my story and they finaally pulled D/P's baseball license which bankrputed them also. During that three years I kept fighting for them to make an inventory list of what was "stolen" & they never made one! After consulting several attorneys, the general answer was that one of the FIRST things done in any theft case is to make an inventory list of what was taken. So why after 3-YEARS was no list made?
It turned out that the person that I thought was helping me from the NFLPA (Dawn) was blocking the release of the inventory list! To hide the evidence of course. That evidence was never released & they kept my 14-year personal collection as well. But in the end I got even.
eBay has changed drastically over the past few years as well regarding sports cards. eBay helps NO ONE regarding fraud anymore & even punishes those who try to help others??? I know first hand after being suspended for 2-weeks for trying to collect evidence from NSA sellers against who refuses to answer any of my e-mails. NSA is the company that made only the best SUPERSTAR "Game-Used" Dual Encased PATCH "cards" that were selling on eBay for $6.00-$10.00 each??? Imagine, a Game-Used Tom Brady/Peyton Manning Dual REAL "Game-Used" multi-color/layer PATCH card for $10.00? Or a Derek Jeter/Alex Rodriguez Dual GU Patch card for $10.00? IMPOSSIBLE IF THEY WERE AUTHENTIC! Most of these patches were the rarest patches you've ever seen as well, like MLB logo patches and shoulder patches. The old saying "if it seems to be too good, it probably is" fits perfectly in this instance!
Here is a good link about NSA:
http://www.sportscardforum.com/showthread.php?t=998332
In rapping this up, I want every one of you to know that YOU CAN MAKE A MAJOR DIFFERENCE TO CHANGE BAD THINGS IN LIFE BY YOURSELF- I'm living proof. All it takes is percerverence, patience, and a drive to improve things for everyone- ESPECIALLY CHILDREN in our hobby who cannot fight for themselves!!!
You must complain to the right people such as the Hobby Relations Representative which every card company has, or the person in charge of card company licensing for each sport's Player's Association. These are all easily found in search engines. When you first call, ALWAYS ask who you are speaking to & keep notes as you go along or tape record the conversation. You can buy a 4-hour digital tape recorder for like $50.00 in Target these days & use a phone with a speaker. If the person you wind up speaking to doesn't sound like they are willing to help, or seem uncaring ask to speak to their boss- EVERYONE HAS A BOSS!
Another major problem that needs immediate attention: Not one card company is doing anything to STOP pack searching & the selling of these packs on eBay. These crooks bend packs & the ones that are unbendable have the key cards. Or they weigh packs & the ones that are different from the rest also have key cards.. I didn't want to let this secret out, but it's more fair if EVERYONE knows how they do it since card companies are doing nothing to stop it!
Every year I send them all a long letter explaning this with ideas on how to stop it, they never reply and they never try things to stop searching. That is a plague in our hobby right now. Go to eBay & type hot pack in the search box. The results are hundreds of packs ending every few days that leave hundreds of boxes MISSING THE KEY CARDS. They sell those boxes as if those key cards were still in there 90% of the time. IF THAT'S NOT FRAUD, THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS!!! These searchers can also search blaster boxes to know which ones have the best cards by weighing them! ALL OF THIS NEEDS TO STOP FOR GOOD ASAP!
I have a rare/deadly form of Muscular Dystrophy (since 2006), five ruptured disks in my neck & lowest part of my back with severe sciatica in both legs (late-2001 at age 34). I had two heart attacks from taking Vioxx (2004), and my life will be cut very short because of all this. So it's your turn to take over!
THE FUTURE OF THE HOBBY DEPENDS SOLELY ON YOU! They recently formed a group that is looking out for brick & mortar card shops, but do you think they care about us collectors? NO WAY!! They care about making more money from us & THAT'S IT! So we collectors need to band together & form our own group to fight for our rights. I'm too sick to do it, but someone out there can and I hope they will...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)