Home Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum

***Here we go again: Another ebayer selling counterfeit vintage packs--here's proof***

For those following my posts the last couple weeks you'll remember on friday evening I exposed ebayer (hunter17045) out of Enola, Pa for selling counterfeit vintage packs on ebay. I also exposed the fact that the wrappers used by (hunter17045) to construct his packs were coming from another PA ebayer (codyemma17) who himself won these wrappers on ebay.

Two weeks ago, after exposing (import-export-co) as well for selling bad packs on ebay, I thought it wise to see if any particular ebayer was suddenly selling an inordinate or suspiciously large amount of vintage wrappers. My thinking of course being that my exposure of (import-export-co) my scare off some other counterfeiters.

Then ten days ago I noticed an ebayer (pastoney) out of Elizabethville, PA had recently listed twenty-eight auctions comprising a whopping 174 pre-'75 high-grade vintage wrappers--this definitely caught my eye. Being out of PA could this ebayer possibly have some ties to (hunter17045). When checking the map it turns out both ebayer's are only sixteen miles apart! (Enola being a city suburb and Elizabethville being a very small town out in the surrounding countryside).

I sensed I was on to something. Knowing that (hunter17045) was using wrappers purchased by (codyemma17) I decided to go back and very carefully study all of (codyemma17)'s wrapper winnings and see if any of his raw wrappers showed up on any of (pastoney)'s wax packs.

Well it didn't take long and lo & behold I discovered several of (pastoney)'s counterfeit packs were constructed of wrappers purchased also by (codyemma17) on ebay. So I then knew that there were two different ebay user ID's (living 13 miles apart) selling counterfeit vintage wax packs constucted from wrappers won by a third user ID (codyemma17).

So either all three user ID's are the same person or we have a couple people in the Enola/Elizabeth PA area conspiring together to construct and/or sell expensive, high-end counterfeit packs on ebay.

Also in the last ten days (pastoney) has stopped listing vintage packs on ebay and is only rapidly selling off his wrappers. Likewise (codyemma17), who for the last three months was bidding on the majority of clean pre-72 bb & ff wax wrappers, has not placed a bid in over a week.

Here's just one example of my proof: On March 3rd, (codyemma17) won on ebay a 1965 Philadilphia fb wax wrapper(listing# 200308309317).
Then on April 24th (pastoney) sold on ebay a 1965 Philadelphia fb wax pack (listing# 160329598098). There are numberous identical signs of handling and wear on the raw wrapper and the wrapper on the wax pack.

Fellow ebayer (1989FleerBillRipkencollector) will be posting the side-by-side pictures and I will then follow by highlighting these identical characteristics.
"You tell 'em I'm coming...and hell's coming with me"--Wyatt Earp

Comments

  • Where's DALEMURPHY?
  • storm888storm888 Posts: 11,701 ✭✭✭
    If enough complaints continue to flow in at

    www.ic3.gov

    the FEDS will eventually act.


    ............

    EBAY has now banned the sale of raw wax-packs, but sellers
    are getting around the ban by not using the word "wax" in the
    title.

    It will take some time to get rid of all of them.

    EBAY has now declared that selling counterfeit packs constitutes "copyright infringement."
    A fact that they should have recognized a long time ago.


    Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
  • Unfortunately the small picture of the raw wrapper that appeared in the original ebay listing downloaded above. A fellow ebayer (barfvader) in a subsequent reply below has posted the enlarged picture for our convience. Please refer to this larger version to make your comparisons on the points below:

    Firstly on the front of both wrappers you will see two dirty wax spots on the (F) in football. Also you will see two small dirty wax spots on the (T) in football.

    On the reverse of both wrappers you will see on the third row of words that the (h) in (with) has a very small red smuge

    On the reverse of both wrappers you will see some smudged black ink right below the large letters (NFL).

    Also on the reverse of both wrappers at the end of the first line of words you will see the word (word). Look closely and you will see a small horizontal line along the top of the word and then a longer vertical line running to the right side of (word).

    Also on both wrapper reverses there is a long continuous crease that goes horizontally through the words (school bookcovers).

    Also on both wrapper reverses on the second line of words there is a thin angular crease that runs through the word (for) just above the word (with) with the red smudge.

    And on the word (clearly) see the two thin smudge lines heading downward directly below the (rl).

    Last I want to mention that when one first looks at the wrapper on the wax pack one is immediately drawn to the two vertical creases. These creases are made more prominant than they actually are because the camera created shadows whereby exaggerating the creases. But the picture of the raw wrapper comes from a scan and in scanning the wrapper was flattened out. Additionally the scan produces no shadows so now the wrinkles are barely noticeble. However if you look at the original (enlarged) raw wrapper scan you can see the faint outline of those two vertical wrinkles in the identical locations.
    "You tell 'em I'm coming...and hell's coming with me"--Wyatt Earp
  • DboneesqDboneesq Posts: 18,219 ✭✭
    If I remember correctly, "Pastoney" was one of the sellers that a group of us unopened collectors always stayed away from.
    STAY HEALTHY!

    Doug

    Liquidating my collection for the 3rd and final time. Time for others to enjoy what I have enjoyed over the last several decades. Money could be put to better use.
  • storm888storm888 Posts: 11,701 ✭✭✭


    << <i>If I remember correctly, "Pastoney" was one of the sellers that a group of us unopened collectors always stayed away from. >>



    /////////////


    There are a slew of threads about him.

    Use the search function, to see many of his exploits.


    Here Is One
    Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
  • BarfvaderBarfvader Posts: 2,859 ✭✭✭✭
  • Thank you barfvader. Now every point that I highlighted is easily viewable to all members. The wrapper won by (codyemma17) on March 3rd is the IDENTICAL wrapper on the counterfeit wax pack sold by (pastoney) on April 24th.

    And thank you Storm for giving us the link to a thread discussing (pastoney)'s shady reputation.

    Since I am relatively new to these boards I was not aware that fellow board member and vintage pack expert (Grote 15) was well aware of (pastoney)'s expoits some time back and added that (pastoney) had previously used another ebay user ID (xyzblaster) to further perpetrate his expoits on hard working ebayers.
    "You tell 'em I'm coming...and hell's coming with me"--Wyatt Earp
  • gemintgemint Posts: 6,147 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That wrapper looks like it's seen its share of irons over the years. I wonder how many times that wrapper was used to manufacture a pack? image
  • Wondering if I should "buy them" and ask for local pickup (These idiots are about 20miles away)..

    I bet they have links to this guy (also in the Central PA).. His trial is set for the fall of this year I beleive..

    http://comment-blog.advance.net/cgi-bin/mte/mt-search.cgi?tag=Roger%20Hooper&blog_id=3032
    Cory
    ----------------------
    Working on:
    Football
    1973 Topps PSA 8+ (99.81%)
    1976 Topps PSA 9+ (36.36%)
    1977 Topps PSA 9+ (100%)

    Baseball
    1938 Goudey (56.25%)
    1951 Topps Redbacks PSA 8 (100%)
    1952 Bowman PSA 7+ (63.10%)
    1953 Topps PSA 5+ (91.24%)
    1973 Topps PSA 8+ (70.76%)
    1985 Fleer PSA 10 (54.85%)
  • Pastoney is a resealer that we exposed a few months ago. "We" won a few auctions of his and hers and of course left immediate negs. I also had pics of the husband and wife team that sold them.
  • ICE9ICE9 Posts: 552 ✭✭✭
    KUDOS to Summerof68 for taking on the SCUM selling this chit on ebay...you're making a difference in our little corner of the world...thanks.
    "Must these Englishmen Live That I Might Die? Must They Live That I Might Die?" - The Blue Oyster Cult
  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    Agreed, however if 75% of all ebay packs are bogus why would anyone even bother buying them then?


    Summer could expose just about every seller.


    Steve
    Good for you.
  • larryallen73larryallen73 Posts: 6,069 ✭✭✭
    Really great work. Thank you.
  • nightcrawlernightcrawler Posts: 5,110 ✭✭

    As a board member I should have known better even before this. But you've really opened my eyes.

    Thanks very much for all of your hard work summer. image
Sign In or Register to comment.