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Ebay Representatives Audrey Zwibelman & Gordon Cheng Meet With Dealers/Sellers At 2018 National Sports Collectors Convention

Below is a link to Rich Mueller's "Sports Collectors Daily" from August 5th, 2018.

Rich, by the way, does a great job of posting hobby-related news and I highly recommend subscribing (doesn't cost a penny) to his daily column.

I want to thank Rich for posting the below.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/ebay-reps-meeting-collectors-...

Quoting Ebay representative Audrey Zwibelman "“Authentication at eBay in general, and not just this category, is near and dear to our hearts,” she said. “It’s a huge priority for us.”

Is that why, Audrey, you and Ebay, in my opinion, have allowed and enabled the "Florida" forgeries and other obvious garbage to flood Ebay over the last twenty years, which in turn makes it difficult for dealers/collectors to sell their authentic items!!!

As a matter of fact, from my observations over the last few years, Ebay no longer enforces their own "Banned COA List."

Then you go on to say that you want collectors/dealers on Ebay to take advantage of the "Report A Listing" option.

And according to Audrey, "Ebay has a security team which reviews (and in my opinion ignores) those reports on a daily basis."

Is she (Audrey Zwibelman) serious!!!

Since the EMR Team was terminated years ago, I must have "Reported" hundreds upon hundreds of auctions (forgeries) and they simply get ignored.

And to top it off, I would have at least a half-dozen of my collector friends "Report" the same auctions and not one has ever been removed!!!

Not one!!!

So what she (Audrey Zwibelman) says is bogus, in my opinion.

Topic 2:

I'm not sure which (Audrey Zwibelman or Gordon Cheng) genius said this, but they commented on giving "tips for sellers."

They said "One of those that seems basic but often results in missed opportunities for sellers is making sure you’re ahead of the curve when it comes to selling items of specific players and hot teams. The resulting interest on eBay often comes from beyond the realm of avid collectors. It’s true of any collectibles market. The most important things are stay on top of pop culture and by that I mean current trends and events,” Cheng suggested. “If a player is really hot, like Shohei Ohtani this year or Aaron Judge last year, just make sure you stock up on their items and have plenty of them to sell."

Talk about genius. Geez.

If we all knew next year's hot player(s) or item, we would all be rich buying them low and selling high.

The irony being, Ebay wants all us to be "ahead of the curve" on "loading up on next year's hot items," while Ebay "remains behind the curve when it comes to "Authentication at Ebay in general."

I'll be polite when I write "Ebay's facade is transparent."

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Comment by Scott Paul on August 5, 2018 at 4:31pm: Great post!

Comment by CJCollector on August 5, 2018 at 4:43pm: Thank you, Scott.

I really thought the Ebay reps would have come forward with some real substance.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Comment by Scott Paul on August 5, 2018 at 5:16pm: I know what you mean Christopher. Look at this quote:

We highly encourage that,” Zwibelman said. “The more eyeballs that we have on the site from trusted sources who can say ‘this is absolutely a fake’ and report that (is helpful), so we really encourage that because the authenticated products are then able to rise to the top.”

Have they ever looked at any of the signature studies here on AML ? And their "Trusted" sellers that they want to help them are they the ones with near perfect ratings who sell common forgeries and well known secretarial signatures? Or is it the major TPA's who have tons of certified secretarials on eBay right now. How many Mantle fakes are there on now I bet a lot.

I have no respect for them what so ever. I also believe they have no real interest in stopping people from selling fake autographs. Sure they might take action if forced into it but before they let someone sell a Charlton Heston why not say if it is "CHALLTON" you cannot sell it?

Comment by CJCollector on August 5, 2018 at 5:20pm: Well written, Scott.

They have all the power and authority to remove the forgeries (they had the EMR Team in place), but I guess there is too much money to lose by not allowing the sellers of forgeries to do their business on Ebay.

It's all lip service.

Comment by Steve on August 5, 2018 at 5:29pm: Can you imagine the dip in their stock if they truly enforced the rules they claim to enforce? Give the appearance of trying to be on the up and up, on the surface that is, but behind closed doors, keep the money making machine rolling.

Comment by CJCollector on August 5, 2018 at 5:31pm: Exactly, Steve.

Comment by Richard S. Simon on August 5, 2018 at 5:54pm: They SUK.

Comment by CJCollector on August 5, 2018 at 6:18pm: Rich, can you tell us how you really feel.

Comment by Fuddjcal on August 5, 2018 at 6:46pm: they are so stupid that e-bay. I loathe them PERIOD.

They have been selling the same items that got Tony Podsada taken away in handcuffs at the National. Should have arrested those skippies at E bay as well.

Comment by terrier8HOF on August 5, 2018 at 8:14pm: I told Christopher the same thing, they should have chained those ebay phonies to the other guy as they dragged him out the door. What a couple of phony hypocrites. That article made my blood boil.