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I just had a really weird and unsettling experience.
I currently have a signed item that I am selling on eBay to (hopefully) raise some funds for another piece I have had my eye on. The piece I have listed is signed by a person that I have great interest in. Periodically, I do a Google search of their name adding "autograph" to see if anything pops up of them fresh to the market.
Tonight I was floored to see my item on eBay come up on Google....except it's not my listing and it's not on eBay. Instead, it's being offered on a website by a business who is not me, that I don't know and have never done business with. The website is www.sportscollectibles.com. Also, the price on their website is almost three times the amount that I have set as a Buy It Now on eBay but they have a "markdown" on it which is still twice what I am asking for it on eBay. On top of all of that, they have used the scan of the piece that I provided on eBay on their site....as well as taking information that I provided in my description to use
As I say, I do not have this piece on commission with www.sportscollectibles.com and actually have never heard of them until this evening.
What's going on here? Anyone have any experience with this company? Are they scammers? Also, what would be your advice on what I might do?
Thanks!
Here is their website...it's pretty slick.
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Itseems obvious to me that this company has zero inventory and they only drop ship from other dealers. If you item is purchased, they will buy it from you and have you to ship it to their customer.
I'm always looking around at Abbott and Costello material on eBay and right now sportscollectibles.com has five listings of pieces of them offered. Every single one of them are also listed on eBay...from different sellers. The listings of these on sportscollectibles are, like my item, three times the amount of the actual owners' eBay listings with a "discount" to only make it two times the amount.
I also noticed that each one of the items they have lifted from eBay to sell on their site has a third party authentication letter accompanying it in the eBay listing.
They mention in each listing on their site that "items ship quickly and securely". How can they say that if the items are not theirs to be selling or in their possession?
Agree... if items are shipped to them for their hologram I would think shipping time could be an issue. Especially these days when priority mail and first class package service is taking weeks instead of days.
Karl is correct. Sportscollectibles is a site that aggregates items offered elsewhere and offers it for a markup. I think it crawls eBay and picks up items that typically have TPA authentication. As the seller, I am not sure if you ship to them or direct to the buyer, because I think they add their hologram to it. In any case, it's weird, but not a scam.
It just seems wrong in many ways. One of the things I've always appreciated is when a dealer or fellow collector can give me more information or answer questions regarding condition, etc. of a piece that I have interest in. This means they have the piece in hand to be able to do that....obviously not possible here with sportscollectibles when they don't even have the items legally consigned to them or own it in their inventory.
It seems unethical that they are using a person's scans and descriptions on their website when they don't have the permission of the seller whose property it is. The seller has done all the legwork and they just cut and paste these....hoping to potentially double or triple the price. I can understand using a previous description or scans if I have purchased it for resale or have it consigned with me, but they have done neither.
It looks like they have an extensive and studied inventory which they have had authenticated by JSA, PSA, etc. when that's not the case at all.
Totally win/win for them.
With that business model, I have to think they're being absolutely lit up with shipment delay complaints right now.
After reading this thread, I just went to their site and found one of my pieces that they have also used in their inventory. So I decided to jack up my buy it now price a little higher than their discounted selling price. I plan to monitor their price to see if they even notice and hope the piece actually sells on their site.
It would be interesting to phone sportscollectibles (they have an 800 number listed) and ask questions of their salesperson about details like condition, provenance etc. of your own piece........
Hmmm, as a seller I would only want to ship to buyer paypal confirmed address, if possible, to protect both parties. I wonder if sportscollectibles has shipped to them and then to buyer (w/ the fast shipping, it wouldn't seem so) or do they provide the buyer address for drop ship basically. Will see if any of my items are noticed on their site.
I have been on eBay for many years and I believe it is an EBay policy that they only stand behind the seller if the item is sent to the address in the buyer account, and I am sure the items everyone here is discussing exceeds $250 so a signature is necessary upon delivery.
Found one of my items on there. I referenced ebay in my ebay ad, they changed it to their site name for their site lol.
Yep, at least one of my JSA items is on their site. If I could keep track of knowing if they sold it and bump my price over theirs, I would haha. Or if I knew the specific ebay acct they use to buy item, I'd block them now. My item is truly a 1 of 1. Curious if I pull it, wonder if they have some tracking software to update their "in stock" status.
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