Does anyone smell something funky here?

jhpfunk · May 23, 2007 1:22PM

Fellows-

I was going to ask the board before the auction I'm about to desrcibe ended, but I figured I'd hold my cards tight to my chest (pun intended). A week ago, the Ebay seller "yorktownsc" sells two cards that are instantly re-posted on Ebay from the buyer "jmpkcp". These are the auction links for the original and re-sale auctions:

original:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160114996797
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160114996762

re-sale:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290117479025
http://cgi.ebay.com/1909-T206-Hughie-Jennings-One-Hand-Showing-PSA-6-EX-MT_W0QQitemZ290117479574QQihZ019QQcategoryZ31718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The first time around I was outbid for both cards, but was the runner up bidder for the "two hands". The second time around, I bought the same "two hands" card for $70 less than it sold for the first time and decided to skip the "one hand" auction...which consequently sold for signifacantly less than it did the first time. I inquired when I initially saw the re-listings for both cards as to why the seller would immediately re-sell both cards and his response was that he thought he got a great deal and thought he'd be able to turn around and sell them for more. He had a BIN going for both cards somewhere around $800.

My question to the board is does this smell fishy at all? Do you think it was shill bids gone wrong for the first set of auctions? I've dealt with the original seller many times and have alwys been satisfied. Now that Ebay hides the bidder's identity, it seems like shill bidding can go on more than before. Would anyone have a problem paying the seller or the second auction? He seems to have good feedback and was very cortial with answering my question. I know I got a great deal. I'm sure the immediate re-posting of both cards didn't help the seller's cause. Let me know your thoughts.

nightcrawler · May 23, 2007 4:46PM

Sure does seem strange???

original:

Link1

Link2

re-sale:

Link3

Link4

Doubt there's any real proof of the shill but still odd. I've felt the burn of the shill lately.

Morgoth · May 23, 2007 10:52PM

Looks fishy but hard to prove. I just had someone place 13 one dollar bids on an item to get me to my 15 dollar max bid.

1989FleerBillRipkencollector · May 24, 2007 5:26AM

Ones in Virginia and what I think is the flipper is in Ca. Doubt ebay even confirms location though. The "flipper" has bought other cards similar so maybe he thought it ended too cheap and wanted to flip or he was as some do, bidding it up to keep his investments at a cetain price and got stuck.

rbdjr1 · May 24, 2007 10:11AM

<< <i>Looks fishy but hard to prove. I just had someone place 13 one dollar bids on an item to get me to my 15 dollar max bid. >>

jmbkb4 · May 24, 2007 1:22PM

funky indeed.

fishy indeed.

report this.

jhpfunk · May 25, 2007 8:31AM

I paid the seller. I hope evrything works out.

sonoranmonsoon · May 26, 2007 6:05AM

It is very possible these cards were quickly flipped by a buyer that is not connected to the origional seller. I have won many cards on ebay from Yorktown over the last few years. I believe he runs a class act, and I will buy from him without hesitation. We have to be a bit careful when we toss the schill word around.

RipublicaninMass · May 26, 2007 6:09AM

how could JMK win the auction, pay, and get the card and relist it on ebay in a matter of 3 days?

sonoranmonsoon · May 26, 2007 6:50AM

<< <i>how could JMK win the auction, pay, and get the card and relist it on ebay in a matter of 3 days? >>

You bring up an interesting point. He could pay by Paypal and list the item before receiving it. My problem is the pics. Looking at the little imperfections the picture looks exactly the same. He could have copied the pic, but he would have had to do a great job of hiding the ebay watermark. The seller could have emailed the pic to him, but that seems unlikely. I truly do not get this one. If it was a schill deal, it backfired. He is out the ebay fees from the first sale. Hmmmm

I just noticed something. The second seller only accepts PayPal. You can not mail payment to him. I doubt the second seller lives in California. The card used for the ID may have been origionally in California. I bet the second seller is also in Virginia. Hmmmmmmm

Does anyone smell something funky here?

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