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Probstein Question - How long before they contact you about a consignment?
ndleo
Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭✭✭
I sent a consignment to Probstein on 8/8 by FedEx Ground. The auction ended on 8/22. I sent an email to Rick on 8/22 about an issue with the auction. I still haven't heard anything from Rick about receiving the item, the auction listing, or the sale.
This is the first time I have used Probstein so I don't know if this is normal. How long after the sale does he send the check? I sent a letter with my contact info with the consignment, so I know he has it. I have only used PWCC in the past and they send emails every step of the process.
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UPDATE 9/10
I finally talked to Rick at the end of the week. There was a mix-up with the letter I sent and there were errors in the listing. At the end of the day we worked something out that I can live with.
Rick's business model is definitely different than Brents, but I do think Rick's fee schedule works much better for the $100-$500 boxes that I am looking to move. Now that I have the issues with the first consignment worked out, I will try Probstein again for the next modern box consignment I put together.
In fairness to Rick I wanted to close this issue out.
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UPDATE 9/27
After a 17 day delay I finally got paid by Rick. I misunderstood the deal that he offered me so the outcome wasn't as good as I expected. I actually ended up with 15% less than the lowest previous ebay sale for the item I sent him. Just so it's clear to everyone, the consignment was for 2 modern basketball hobby boxes that sell for $400+.
I asked for the boxes to be listed separately, instead they were listed as a lot. On top of that the description shorted the pack count by 2/3. Someone got a great deal.
Rick seems to very busy with his move so it maybe small items (less than $1000) aren't getting any attention. After I thought about the entire experience I don't think I will be using Probstein going forward. Rick apologized for the issues, but I will keep looking. I've gotten too busy to run auctions myself, so any recommendations for modern box consignors would be appreciated.
I will be watching PWCC's modern boxes to see if they command the premium some of the graded cards get. I noticed that a 2000 EX Football box recently sold for a little under $150, consistent results like that would justify the higher fee.
This is the first time I have used Probstein so I don't know if this is normal. How long after the sale does he send the check? I sent a letter with my contact info with the consignment, so I know he has it. I have only used PWCC in the past and they send emails every step of the process.
-----------------------------------------
UPDATE 9/10
I finally talked to Rick at the end of the week. There was a mix-up with the letter I sent and there were errors in the listing. At the end of the day we worked something out that I can live with.
Rick's business model is definitely different than Brents, but I do think Rick's fee schedule works much better for the $100-$500 boxes that I am looking to move. Now that I have the issues with the first consignment worked out, I will try Probstein again for the next modern box consignment I put together.
In fairness to Rick I wanted to close this issue out.
---------------------
UPDATE 9/27
After a 17 day delay I finally got paid by Rick. I misunderstood the deal that he offered me so the outcome wasn't as good as I expected. I actually ended up with 15% less than the lowest previous ebay sale for the item I sent him. Just so it's clear to everyone, the consignment was for 2 modern basketball hobby boxes that sell for $400+.
I asked for the boxes to be listed separately, instead they were listed as a lot. On top of that the description shorted the pack count by 2/3. Someone got a great deal.
Rick seems to very busy with his move so it maybe small items (less than $1000) aren't getting any attention. After I thought about the entire experience I don't think I will be using Probstein going forward. Rick apologized for the issues, but I will keep looking. I've gotten too busy to run auctions myself, so any recommendations for modern box consignors would be appreciated.
I will be watching PWCC's modern boxes to see if they command the premium some of the graded cards get. I noticed that a 2000 EX Football box recently sold for a little under $150, consistent results like that would justify the higher fee.
Mike
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Did you see your items up for sale on eBay?
I bought a T3 from him and took the lower grade one and gave it to him to sell.
At first, he thought it was a return since it was the same card.
But, once the card went up, and sold - I remember receiving the money extremely fast.
My overall impression? Great experience. Tho, that's for 1 card.
There were a couple of issues with the listing that I emailed to him on 8/22. I haven't heard anything from him or his team. I'm going to wait until after Labor Day to see if he responds, but I have to admit this experience hasn't been as positive as with PWCC. There are more details that I'm sure other people would like to know, but I want to at least discuss it with Rick before I post in a public forum.
I know, if I were dissatisfied? He wouldn't get any more of my business.
But, in my case - the exchange of a 5 for a 4 meant mitigating the cost by selling the 4.
Prior to that?
I think the last time I sold something? Carter administration.
I never buy anything with the intent to sell, but sometimes things just happen in this hobby!
Stone
I never buy anything with the intent to sell, but sometimes things just happen in this hobby!
Totally understand Mike.
If I need the dough? Gone.
I will say also, if I had bought PSA 8 RCs that are white hot?
Like the Clemente - a few weeks back?
I wouldn't hesitate if someone wanted to give me 90K.
I happened to see the item was up for sale on the last day of the auction. I sent it to him before a long business trip and didn't bother to check ebay since I was expecting an email with confirmation that it was received and the auction would start soon. I know he does a lot of volume so I really wasn't that concerned.
There were a couple of issues with the listing that I emailed to him on 8/22. I haven't heard anything from him or his team. I'm going to wait until after Labor Day to see if he responds, but I have to admit this experience hasn't been as positive as with PWCC. There are more details that I'm sure other people would like to know, but I want to at least discuss it with Rick before I post in a public forum.
I've consigned with Probstien123 for over 4 years and have nothing but positive results. Maybe you should follow your own advice before starting a thread like this. IMO
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I've consigned with Probstien123 for over 4 years and have nothing but positive results. Maybe you should follow your own advice before starting a thread like this. Weak IMO
He gave Rick 10 days to respond. Going public is just fine.
He's backed up from the national
They've moved
People are on vacation
"Pretty backed up" he wrote when i asked when my cards were going up
I haven't consigned to Probstein. What made you decide to change from PWCC to Probstein out of curiosity?
I wanted to try Probstein out since I have a lot of modern boxes I want to pare down. I sent him an email asking about the consignment process and he replied quickly. His rates are a little better than PWCC for the boxes I had in mind. I also sent a graded card consignment to PWCC at the same time so I have a side by side experience.
I happened to see the item was up for sale on the last day of the auction. I sent it to him before a long business trip and didn't bother to check ebay since I was expecting an email with confirmation that it was received and the auction would start soon. I know he does a lot of volume so I really wasn't that concerned.
There were a couple of issues with the listing that I emailed to him on 8/22. I haven't heard anything from him or his team. I'm going to wait until after Labor Day to see if he responds, but I have to admit this experience hasn't been as positive as with PWCC. There are more details that I'm sure other people would like to know, but I want to at least discuss it with Rick before I post in a public forum.
I've consigned with Probstien123 for over 4 years and have nothing but positive results. Maybe you should follow your own advice before starting a thread like this. Weak IMO
Great you can answer my questions then. When you send a consignment in, what is the communication flow? Should I expect to hear from him when the items are received or listed? How about at the end of the auction? Again my only experience is with PWCC and they send emails every step of the way.
I have bought thousands of dollars worth of cards from Probstein over the past year, so I'm not being critical of Rick. However there was an issue with my consignment item and I have a question.
You don't get any emails or at least I haven't. You send your item(s) out with delivery confirmation and that's how you track it. Your stuff should be uploaded on the ebay in two days then once it sells, it's a matter of days before you receive payment via PayPal! PWCC is good just takes longer to pay and rates are higher.
Ok. That helps. My item sold on 8/22, when would I typically see the check?
He doesn't know because:
He's backed up from the national
They've moved
People are on vacation
"Pretty backed up" he wrote when i asked when my cards were going up
He doesn't know because:
He's backed up from the national
They've moved
People are on vacation
"Pretty backed up" he wrote when i asked when my cards were going up
Any communication from them? If this were me I would be very angry. I was thinking about consigning some things, but after reading this thread I probably won't now. How "backed up" can you be for being over a month before listing some cards lol? Doesn't he have a team of well over a dozen people working for him? People deserve an explanation.
He doesn't know because:
He's backed up from the national
They've moved
People are on vacation
"Pretty backed up" he wrote when i asked when my cards were going up
Maybe he's no longer ACCEPTING CONSIGNMENTS!!! Lol
Kevin
He is, but only "Passively".
8/31
"Still pretty backed up"
My Patince is wearing very thin. Is he going to be able to retire on my few hundred bucks of consignments? Highly doubtful. However, I could have listed them as BIN or on the boards for the last two months.
Someone asked earlier what makes you choose a consigner. For me - there are pros and cons.
With Probstein, I like that he has always listed my cards quickly. Also once the buyer makes the payment, the wait time to get paid is pretty quickly. The two biggest cons working against him that I can really say are an issue is that the listing titles have become a joke in the sense that every card is "centered" or high end" when they are clearly not. I feel like he’s trying to keep up in a race with PWCC but just can’t get in the inside track. Soon it’s going to be like comparing Circuit City to Best Buy and we know who won that race. Business that refuse to change get left behind.
With PWCC, I really like the design on their eBay page. It looks like they make more of an effort to appeal to the bidders with big front and back scans and a little nice description. I am sure a lot is cut and paste but for the really nice cards, they usually write a little something personal which adds a nice tough. Also with the high end sticker (not that I always agree with what they label HE and not) but basically they figured out a way to pretty much raise the price on the market single handedly by adding high end stickers so now people are fighting to grab a card at a price they normally would never have thought they would have to pay. They could very much be the reason why prices have skyrocketed this past year. Just think about it. Plus Brent gets back to you quickly when you send him an email. The two biggest cons are that it could take weeks and weeks before your card posts because they have everything super organized (which sucks when you just want your card up so that it sells and you get paid) but then it's also a lengthy wait time to get your sales funds back. If you have a nice card though and they give it a high end sticker, then it can be worth it. To add one more thing - I wouldn’t be surprised if they started charging more fee's to the seller in the near future because they know it will attract more bids/buyers – but then this could also hurt them as they can lose more business.
Overall winner: PWCC
Mark
For lower end (less than $500) boxes, probsteins fee structure makes much more sense. my last consignment didn't goes as well as planned due to the listing error, but i am willing to give him another shot in a couple of months. it seems like rick may have a lot on his plate right now and non-premium items may not be a priority right now.
Fun times
Rip - Sorry to hear that. Even when Rick and I worked out a deal, I still had to get on him to come through. I don't think it is intentional, I just think he has other priorities. I honestly don't see why people would use Probstein for cards that sell for well into 4 figures or 5 figures, he must be cutting them a deal or charging no fees.
I sent two more consignment lots to PWCC the past month. One is already up and doing well and the other is in the queue for the next auction. I didn't even have to send Brent any emails to find out!
Sorry to hear this. Same thing happened to me months ago. In the end he mailed the cards back to me. I had to call him though.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Is Rick still even accepting consignnents
most likely "actively"
This is really troubling. Imagine if you had sent some hot cards two months ago trying to cash in on that run up and they just sat there. I get it that it is easy to box things up and avoid the listing and shipping process but the time lag on selling and receiving funds doesn't sound very appealing to me. When I am selling it is usually to offset the cost of another purchase and I would rather just take my chances on getting what I perceive to be good prices.
I have consigned through Rick for the past few years. Every item that sells I get an notice within a few hours of the sale. Out of the hundreds of listings I've sold, very few have required changes. A quick call is all it took to get the item posted correctly, or updated to become accurate.
Rick is one of the most stand-up guys I've known in this business, and someone I'm totally comfortable with doing more business with and recommending to others.
Have you consigned recently? I have had only one experience and it went very badly, it cost me about 15% due to the listing error. I do agree that Rick is stand-up guy when you speak with him, but I don't feel comfortable sending any more of my boxes to him. I do hope it improves since his fee schedule makes sense for boxes <$500, but I'll wait to see feedback from other consignors.
After 11 weeks, with no response from Rick, maybe it's time to consider the cards stolen.
4 requests to ship them back woth no response, calling him tomorrow. It has come to actually having to do WORK to get my Consignments back
Rip - May I ask what types of items you sent Rick for auction? The reason I ask, is that I had a theory that Probstein maybe is not focusing on the lower dollar ungraded singles, however I see that the number of low dollar ungraded singles seems to be as high as ever.
At least for the boxes I sent him were listed quickly, completely wrong description that undersold the value, but it was listed quickly. So at least I lost money in a timely manner.
Is there a third option for ebay consignments?
Lot of of trimmed 52 topps including highs
Lot of trimmed auto cards 1950s including hofers
114 jordan cards 88 fleer and up
OK. I would think Rick would want to post those items since they are different that the raw modern inserts he lists by the thousands. Strange situation.
Been reading this thread with some interest and had to chime in to report that I had a similar situation as Rip. I consigned a couple lots of mid grade 50's/60's HOF's with Probstein sometime last year as a trial to see how it went...those were listed quickly and sold at decent prices. I then decided this was working out well so I put together a larger lot of eclectic items (some cards, some other non-card/oddball things etc..) It was admittedly an eclectic grouping, but the items all appeared to be consistent with items and price ranges he was actively listing.
The weeks eventually turned into months and Rick continued to reply that he was backed up and they would be posted 'next week'...after a couple of months of these exchanges (I was extra patient), I finally decided to cut bait and asked him to ship my stuff back. It still took a few inquiries after that to get them back, but I finally did receive them. I think the total elapsed time was at least 3 months if not more.
I myself would still consider consigning with him, but only higher end singles which can be listed/processed fast. If it's anything other that requires extra time to describe properly etc. I personally wouldn't bother.
My 2 cents.
I'm beginning to to think the "more eyes" on his auctions are BS. If more people listed at 99 cents instead of inflated BINs or high starting bids(myself included), they'd get " more eyes" as well.
Baseball season is drawing to a close, and he's had my items since the height of it. At this point I'm out the shipping fee to him, and I've missed a window of opportunity.