Probstein has left eBay

Greener pastures.

On rare occasions we had success with Rick. We did not, however, purchase any snake oil.

@Klif50 said:
Not to say bad things about them, but several years ago I sent them a bunch of cards/sets. Only about half showed up for auction and when I asked for the rest of them back they had disappeared and they had no record of receiving them. They were all sent in the same box. I would be hesitant to send them anything to sell.

Happened to me as well.

@CardGeek said:
it seems strange that they would leave ebay before their new platform is up and running.

ebay would go Scorched earth as they did with PWCC. All the stuff eBay covers up due to them making money on a sellers scams ends when ebay realizes there is no more profit for them.

I mean. He’s shady and slimy but,… tell me about the fees again?

I guess I wont be sending anymore stuff to Probstein.

I remember when he first started his business. You could call him directly and he would answer the phone. That was a long, long time ago. I never had an issue purchasing.

I think theres a lot of upside with synpe. there will be good deals for the first couple weeks for buyers and for consignors the fees are the lowest between all other platforms.

@MihirIsHere247 said:
Lower fees means better margins. I am definitely following and selling on Snype!

Uh huh prive u really not a bot!

Okay, I'll bite. This prompted me to look at the site. Issues I would have:

1. It appears shipping is known only upon checkout, which means you have no idea of what shipping would be ahead of time if you won, say, a $10 card. I see a combined shipping option for items won within a 30 day window, which is nice, but I'd like to know a baseline shipping rate if I won one card or one box or one case.

2. Sales tax? I cook that into whatever I buy, so it would be nice to know if sales tax will be charged on something I won at checkout.

3. Finding items is not easy. No filters to search items. I really don't care to manually search for items. Ebay is nice because I use saved search terms. Heritage/REA/etc are nice because you can filter categories for ranges of items that might fit your niche. Additionally, as an example, if I search for "pack PSA," I get packers singles and pokemon singles intermixed with graded packs. If I do "Topps pack PSA," it eliminates the pokemon stuff, but I still get Packers singles and some graded cards that came out of silver packs.

@BaltimoreYankee said:

@Harnessracing said:
Although I wouldn’t trust Rick Probstein as far as I could throw him, I’ve never had any issues with purchases except when trying to get a combined invoice but eventually I do.

I have had one: I purchased a complete set of 1954 Topps World on Wheels cards and card #1 was missing (it was a $100 set and card # is the most valuable at around $15). The card was featured in the first photo on the eBay sale so they obviously had the card. The set came in sheets with the space for that card empty. I asked for a partial refund so I could purchase card #1 and was denied.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/13728584#Comment_13728584

Hundreds of eBayers (including some members on here) have been burned by Probstein in the past year. Probstein has 1107 negatives in the past 12 months.

Where is the buyer protection on his new platform?

@BaltimoreYankee said:

@Harnessracing said:
Although I wouldn’t trust Rick Probstein as far as I could throw him, I’ve never had any issues with purchases except when trying to get a combined invoice but eventually I do.

I have had one: I purchased a complete set of 1954 Topps World on Wheels cards and card #1 was missing (it was a $100 set and card # is the most valuable at around $15). The card was featured in the first photo on the eBay sale so they obviously had the card. The set came in sheets with the space for that card empty. I asked for a partial refund so I could purchase card #1 and was denied.

Not surprised at all

I tried the site. I set the bid to be a snipe. The site already tells me my snipe isn't high enough to win.

Synpee is for LIVS and Rubes!

@JBK said:

@Estil said:
Is this anything like Elvis has left the building?

I had the same reaction when I first read the thread title.

The key difference, though, is that a lot of people miss Elvis.

Here tell he makes an occasional appearance at a local department store chain.🎶📀🎸

Had a few issues over the years. I heard the shill comments, but whether true or not, I sniped my best bid and if I won, then I was happy. I am also not a hot item buyer, never chasing hot prospects or things like that, so most of what I was winning was probably flying under the radar of many others.

I think they made it right each time I had an issue, but had to really fight a couple times. A semi-common occurrence was buying multiple items, only getting 3 out of 4 and then ebay claiming that tracking showed delivered, so too bad, so sad. I returned items a couple times and it went smoothly, so I appreciated that. Never tried to sell anything through him either.

I question if he has the following to be successful on his own site. Maybe he does, but with all the perceived negatives of ebay, the traffic doesn't lie most of the time.

As a buyer I see it as a great time to buy from him cause there won’t be as many eyes on his auctions. On the flip side I also wouldn’t be listing with him……cause there won’t be as many eyes on his auctions.

@mrmopar said:

I think they made it right each time I had an issue, but had to really fight a couple times. A semi-common occurrence was buying multiple items, only getting 3 out of 4 and then ebay claiming that tracking showed delivered, so too bad, so sad.

This in a nutshell is why Probstein is not good for the hobby. Filling orders properly is "Seller 101" and based on the above, customers have to really fight to get 100% of their order.

His 1107 negatives (dissatisfied customers) in 1 year is astounding. I'm surprised eBay doesn't crack down on this.

Trading card prices is one of the most and easily manipulated of all hobbies.

Even pumping threads here are tantamount to small scale manipulation. Recent threads like "Vintage drying up" or the infamous "Excitment Brewing" are examples... Honest Dissenters are often flamed by those with fiscal interests.

Not saying this is good or bad, merely pointing out that it simply is.

@1982FBWaxMemories said:
Trading card prices is one of the most and easily manipulated of all hobbies.

Even pumping threads here are tantamount to small scale manipulation. Recent threads like "Vintage drying up" or the infamous "Excitment Brewing" are examples... Honest Dissenters are often flamed by those with fiscal interests.

Not saying this is good or bad, merely pointing out that it simply is.

100 percent agree prices are manipulated with bogus auctions on EBAY and other places but disagree about recent threads being tantamount to small scale manipulation. Both those threads were collectors giving their opinions which is not going to change the market either way.

Regarding high quality vintage drying up. If there's ample material out there for sale and the items are not selling than obviously its not drying up. On the other hand if there's not much high grade vintage for sale and when it does come up for sale it sells for over current market value, then the OP of that thread was spot on. Personally I agree with him as its very hard for me to find PSA 9 centered cards from the 70's, and when I do, the card is not a legit 9 because of centering or printing issues. Currently high grade vintage sports cards has more demand than supply which is why when top items do come up for sale they sell for very high prices.

The next time you go to a sports card convention try finding a dealer who is selling 1972-1977 Hall of Famers in PSA 9 condition. The last two major conventions I attended there were less than 5 in total. It should be noted that I'm a buyer of this material, not a seller. So if what you say is correct and people are talking up material for financial reasons this would only hurt me.