Thoughts on this...

[xpress34]

I was watching and won an auction last night for a GU (?) Pujols Cardinals Hat that was signed and inscribed ROY-01' and with his #5.

I'm not sure about the GU part, but I was bidding on the item more as a RARE Pujols inscription as I have an excelelnt exemplar to compare it with - my Pujols AU ball w/ ROY-01' inscription.

I got the ball signed in-person at the start of the 2002 season when I worked for Nike in downtown Denver. Pujols ROY inscriptions are VERY few and far between (I've been looking since 2002 and have seen maybe 5 surface - NONE on Balls, all on equipment)

Anyway, I get an eMail from eBay today that the auction has been CANCELLED and REMOVED (for NO specific Reasons) and that I am under no obligation to purchase the item.

I pull the seller's ID up and guess what - the Contact Seller link is 'invalid' so I can't even write the Seller to see what the hell is up.

I want the item I won and don't know if eBay will respond to my inquiries. Any thoughts???

Thanks -

Chris

[GarkoCollector]

Ebay is known to make errors like this, but they seem to be rare. If the item was pulled, it was probably proven to not be legit.

I have a Pujols signed ball and I asked for him to sign it 2001 NL ROY. It was signed early in 02 at a game in Pittsburgh. When I asked, he initially hesitated, but he also saw me let a bunch of kids go ahead of me to get autographs and I waited until they were done. I think he did it because of that, and that only.

I'd let this one go. It was most likely not legit and it was reported.

[xpress34]

Garko -

Thanks for your input.

I just find it odd though that this would happen AFTER the auction had closed.

- Chris

[xpress34]

Tom -

I forgot to add... I'd love to see a pic of your Pujols Ball... just because I have yet to see another ball with the inscription... one Power Seller 'supposedly' had one on the 'bay about two years ago, but could not supply a picture? He had a pic for all of his other 3,000 + items for sale, but mysteriously could not produce a picture of the ball and the inscription...

I'll post a pic of mine when I get home later...

All the best -

Chris

[gingi79]

I'm a huge fan of late NYC artist Keith Haring. I purchased on ebay an original signed pencil drawing of his and was beyond thrilled as I never thought I would be able to afford one. The seller had an eBay store with several pieces of similar artists and very high transaction numbers at 100% so I felt that it was most likely legit. A day later, I was getting ready to pay via Paypal and when I went to the auction, it was gone. I checked my email and received the same email xpress did.

I had spoken to the seller via email about the piece before bidding and when I asked him what the deal was, he told me he had been suspened by eBay for Shill bidding. I was the only bidder on my item and we almost completed the deal until he refused to take PayPal anymore. When you couple the absence of any recourse with the fact I "won" the item at 10x less it's value if real, I decided to pass.

I believe that most of the time, "If it's too good to be true, it probably isn't real"

[b.heagy]

The seller may have "borrowed" an image from someone else who had the actual item and was reported. Just a thought........

[xpress34]

Actually, I was able to send a response to the seller and he actually responded very quickly.

He says eBay pulled several of his auctions and he is currently trying to find out why.

He's not a power seller, but he does have almost 1,500 feedback (not private either) with 100% positive.

He seems to be on the up and up, so I will wait and see and let you all know.

I had a similar issue happen to me when I use to sell on the 'Bay and what I finally found out from eBay was that without consulting me, someone who was the 2nd highest bidder on an auction reported my auction as a fake without cause or proof. It wasn't a fake - it was a Bobby Estalella Rox GU jersey that Bobby gave me personally and signed and took photos and all when I was still with Nike... apparently (no proof) the 2nd highest bidder was mad because they got sniped and thought it was shill bidding or something.

I'll keep you all posted on where this goes.

- Chris

[earlywynnfan]

I once had listed a couple dozen items on ebay, only to have them pulled -- some had just closed -- because I had put "always willing to trade for Negro League autos" on the bottom. Since ebay has a "no-trade" rule, I was stopped. The problem then becomes, when I posted them again, everyone was suspect.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

[trsent]

If someone pays to have a PSA/DNA Quick Opinion on an item, and PSA/DNA finds the autograph suspect or if someone reports the autograph suspect and eBay decides to make the seller have the item certified before listing it, they may pull the listing after it ended.

This is very common for them to do with an item such as an Albert Pujols autograph that has not been certified prior to listing.

[xpress34]

If someone pays to have a PSA/DNA Quick Opinion on an item, and PSA/DNA finds the autograph suspect or if someone reports the autograph suspect and eBay decides to make the seller have the item certified before listing it, they may pull the listing after it ended.

This is very common for them to do with an item such as an Albert Pujols autograph that has not been certified prior to listing.

Joel -

Just home for lunch for a minute... rcvd another message from the seller, and that is what happened. Funny thing is, his auto matches mine that I got 1st hand - and I've sent mine to PSA/DNA before and because they had never seen a ROY inscribed Pujols auto, it came back as 'unable to determine'...

Like I said before, I'm not buying the hat based on it being GU or Not, I am interested in it due to the scarcity of Pujols ROY inscribed items period.

What's funny is I've had friends with other 'early' Pujols autos sent back from PSA/DNA as well NOT certified because it doesn't match their exemplars...and we all know how much they like to claim that sigs don't change... Pujols used a very pointed 'A' in Albert his 1st few years, unlike the rounded 'A' he uses now...

I will add pictures when I get how of my ROY ball and another GU ball he signed for me in 2006 and you can see the difference in his sig in just 5 years...

- Chris