MEARS Practices

[tella27]

I first want to apologize to the forum members forbacking MEARS on a prior thread that questioned their practices.


I sent a couple items to MEARS to be authenticated andthen sold in their auction that is open at this time (2/22-3/2). One of these items was a Kobe Bryantjersey. When I purchased the Bryant itcame with an opinion of being game issued. I contacted Troy at MEARS and discussed my items prior to sending andasked about the Bryant being gone over by their “experts” and decided on if itwas game issued or game worn since the letter I have is from no one I had heardof. The jersey does have the inventorytag from the NBA but does not show in the Meigray database sine it wasn’t purchasedfrom them. I sent in my items and waitedto hear the outcome on the Bryant jersey but heard nothing. I exchanged a couple emails with Troy in thedays leading up to the auction but still nothing on the jersey. When the auction opened the Bryant was listedas GAME WORN and gave a description of the jersey. The auction had gone 8 days of the 10 whenout of the blue the description of the jersey was changed to GAME ISSUED. When I saw this today I called MEARS to findout what was going on – I was told by the lady in sales she didn’t know why thelisting was changed but its MEARS policy to contact the consignee if anyquestions or changes come up or are going to be made – I was not contacted.



Troy emailed me saying that he found more info on thehistory of the jersey and changed the listing. This “new info” was not shared with me and since its not in the Meigraydatabase outside of Kobe Bryant calling what info trumps the “extensive research”that MEARS does and wouldn’t anythingoutside of Meigray and Bryant be nothing but opinion? Now if the jersey would have been found asgame issued from the beginning I wouldn’t have any issue but it was listed ontheir auction for 8 days of a 10 day auction before the change was made.


Here is the kicker – in an email from Troy after I calledMEARS Troy says that whether the jersey shows light use or not the jersey isstill issued to Bryant and – GET THIS – he doesn’t feel that the change inlisting description will affect the closing value!!?? WHAT?? He’s saying there is not value difference between game used and gameissued?? Not to mention that the jerseywas STILL listed in the GAME USED section.



To me this is very shady and I feel that the only tworeasons this was done was –

First – whatever their “experts” found when they didtheir extensive research was questioned and instead of contacting me to say heywe didn’t do our job and ask me what I wanted to do with the listing they werehoping I wouldn’t notice and the jersey would sell still and they would make15% off something.



Second – this goes along a little with the other threadabout them. They knew from the beginningthat it was only found to be issued but knew that a game worn Kobe Bryantjersey would bring people to the site. After 8 days of running it as GAME WORN they changed the listing to GAMEISSUED with only 2 days left. Thisallowed the traffic to be brought in and to cover themselves they changed itwith 48 hours left and hoped that someone would still bid up the price and theymake 15% of something. The jersey hadbids on it until the change.



Either way its VERY shady on their part and no one willgive me a genuine answer on why this happened or what this “history” they foundis. I had the jersey pulled from theauction and not following the advice of Troy and his thoughts of it selling forthe same amount it would have when listed as GAME WORN..

[tella27]

sorry about the typos - I was writing while mad and didnt read over it very well...

[ChrisCavalier]

I just deleted a few posts from this thread. Please note the following forum rules:

16. In instances where a forum member is identifying an item in the hobby they believe to have issues, the poster should clearly state their findings in the form of an opinion and provide adequate rationale for why they believe there is an issue. When possible, we recommend that the poster questioning an item attempt to contact the seller of the item and allow at least 24 hours for the seller to reply before posting. This will prevent postings that may be generated based on misunderstandings of an item. In addition, while this forum is designed to help educate collectors, we will not allow comments that accuse entities in the hobby of participating in any form of criminal wrong-doing. Any posts suggesting criminal wrong-doing should be brought to the attention of the moderators immediately.

17. It is expected that all posts are to be created with a sincere attempt to benefit the hobby. By participating in this forum, you agree to the responsibility of contributing to, and helping to maintain, a positive and constructive environment. Any posts which the Administrator deems as a personal attack or an attempt to unnecessarily discredit others will be subject to the administrative rules of the forum.

A full listing of the forum rules can be found here:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...hread.php?t=99

In addition, I made a modification to the initial post as I believe it also was not in accordance with the rule above. Please note if anyone wants to post on this thread, or on the site in general, it is expected that the forum rules be followed and, if not, appropriate steps may be taken by the administrators.

As always, if anyone cares to email me directly with any questions they can do so at chris@gameuseduniverse.com

Thanks,
Chris

[mickeymbz]

"This “new info” was not shared with me and since its not in the Meigraydatabase outside of Kobe Bryant calling what info trumps the “extensive research”that MEARS does and wouldn’t anythingoutside of Meigray and Bryant be nothing but opinion?"

If you look at any of their (so-called) LOA's they are all "opinion" letters..as are all LOA's ,,,i believe the only one that stands only is Meigray who uses actually use the term "game worn" ..thus a TRUE loa.

[trsent]

That came over wrong, let me try it again:

From: Troy Kinunen [mailto:troy@mearsonline.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 8:37 PM
To: Joel Alpert
Subject: help

Joel,

Please print this on my behalf as I cannot log onto the GUF forum.

This week, after the auction was in progress, information was brought to my attention regarding the origin of the Kobe Bryant jersey that was consigned by Kris Klarner.

I was informed that the jersey was previously sold with the following description,

“This jersey was sold as game issued by Dan Ceniceros at DC Sports. When Dan sold it, it was crisp and factory fresh. It had no wear and no fabric pulls. In the eBay auction, the seller posted the letter from DC Sports. So it appears that the seller washed the jersey a bunch of times, and added "manufactured wear" in the form of fabric pulls, etc.”

I was unaware of the background of the jersey and I had not read the thread above. Once I was provided this information, I amended the description. This was not acceptable to Kris so I offered to return the jersey.

My comment regarding the value of the jersey was based on the facts that this jersey has been discussed, previously, and now recently on GUF.
A Kobe Bryant “game issue” jersey is worth approximately $800-$900, and it was my opinion it would have sold for that amount with the amended description.

I am not certain how the fact that the jersey is out of the auction will change the actual value or the history of the jersey. It cannot now be auctioned in another auction as “game worn” without being disclosed. The facts of the jersey revert back to its history.

I do apologize to the buying public for offering this jersey and not discovering the original history. Kris Klarner did tell me that there was a difference of opinion regarding the wear, but did not make it clear to me to the extent of the differences between the jersey in its current state and the description provided in the original post. I would not have accepted the jersey if I had known the total background story, and again, I apologize for not finding the post which offered the jerseys’ history.

Once I was aware of complete background, I thought it was only responsible to remove any game worn reference from the listing. This is something that infuriated Kris Klarner. I apologize to you for not communicating better to make you aware of my intentions. I truly thought it would not affect the final price.

Finally, I want to address the Green Bay Packers jersey that has been debated on GUF. We have a new writer/authenticator that has filled the position of a more experienced writer that has left MEARS and taken a position with another auction house.

Items valued at less than $500 are not generally inspected by me. I have noted that many have concerns over some of the descriptions recently offered by MEARS. I will promise that I will personally inspect any game worn item that is offered in the MEARS Auction for the next 12 months to make sure that descriptions, titles, game use is more accurately noted by our firm.

Regards,

Troy R. Kinunen / MEARS
troy@mearsonline.com
(414) 828 9990


--
Troy R. Kinunen
President MEARS Auctions
President MEARS Evaluation Services
www.mearsonlineauctions.com
www.mearsonline.com
www.mearsbuysgameusedbats.com

[tella27]

Here are pictures of the jersey before I bought it and after I received it - as it can be seen the marking around the 24 are IDENTICAL. Ive pointed it out with arrows. Ive also pointed out the snag on the front - it can been seen in the pictures prior to my purchase. The only difference is the fold line in the bottom tag but this fold is called out in an email to me from Mos_Def. This is the same jersey now as when he had it - it HAS NOT BEEN WASHED OR ALTERED IN ANY WAY.
Wood floor is Mos_Def - Black is me

[Mulligans]

I rarely weigh in on these topics…..In my opinion, this is certainly not a perfect Science with the new Basketball Jerseys…… and you can argue whether MEARS communicated properly, but I do think Troy apologized for any missteps they may have made?


I don’t have any connections at MEARS and I’m pretty sure they have no clue who I am.…They are not perfect by any means, but in my opinion, Troy and his group are by far one of the finest Authenticators in the Country.


I have used their services many times for Auctions as well as Authentications. I have not always been happy with their conclusions, because sometimes the truth can hurt……. But, one thing for sure, they are extremely thorough and VERY GOOD at what they do. I can’t imagine them doing anything purposely to mislead anyone?

[yanks12025]

Nice to see my post get deleted. I figured it would be good for the forum to know a member who alters game use and protect them in the future. But I guess you think it's better for them not to know and then get ripped off.

[ChrisCavalier]

Nice to see my post get deleted. I figured it would be good for the forum to know a member who alters game use and protect them in the future. But I guess you think it's better for them not to know and then get ripped off.

Brock,

Please note that your post was deleted because of an accusation you made that would need to be verified. If your accusation is found to be accurate, administrative action would be taken but these are not accusations to be taken lightly. In fact, GUU has taken action multiple times to remove people from the forum when it is proven that their actions on the site were potentially detrimental to the community. That is why I asked people to post here in accordance with the forum rules.

As such, please note that your comments about GUU are not correct and, in fact, potentially slanderous. The same is true of comments made elsewhere and action may be taken. Again, if posts are made here with factual information and in accordance with the forum rules they will be left on the site.

Please let me know if that answers your question.

Sincerely,
Chris

[yanks12025]

That's answers it, thanks.