Was this a mistake?

[Dawg Pound]

I hate when companies advertise jerseys as "game used" when the player never made the field. In my opinion the player has to hit the field for it to be "game used" or "game worn".

[sportsnbikes]

I am glad this topic/company has been brought up on this post. I am new to the hobby and just had my first run in with this company some months back and red flags went up everywhere. I was looking to obtain a game used bat from a player and found one listed on sportsmemorabillia.com for an astounding $5,000.00. Even being new to the hobby, I had done my homework and knew this was absurd. I wrote emails to the company giving them a much lower reasonable offer which got declined. I then received calls from "greasy" salesmen trying to sell me the bat. I flat out told them that they were looking for a unicorn/dumb buyer to pay that price.

I then made an offer to a previous buyer on an auction house website for a bat, and then received a counter offer. Before I accepted the offer, I emailed the "greasy salesman" stating I received a much lower offer from a reputable auction house and could he match it. I kid you not, after that email was sent about my counteroffer all of a sudden that players bats on the auction site had offers placed on them. Coincidence, I think not? When the salesmen called me back I replied "nice job trying to play defense." The salesman was clearly flustered and ended the call quickly. The bat was then moved from that website and was listed on FANATICS website for the same absurd price. I take it these are sister companies???? I did some research and some of the sales team as worked for Steiner memorabilia as well. Sounds all waaayyyy to interconnected if you ask me??? Maybe I am just too new to the hobby, but my red flags were going up everywhere.

I too have seen many listings that are on ebay show up on their site. I assume as the previous post suggest, they just then purchase the item and jack the price up. If something looks fishy and smells fishy, it probably is fishy.

This practice is somewhat common these days. Many stores/memorabilia companies do it. Sears has even gotten in on the act.