Ripken Jersey American Mem.

[CollectGU]

Re: Ripken Jersey American Mem.

Rudy,

You don't actually have to give them your credit card, you can give them auction house references instead....

Regards,
Dave

[stkmtimo]

Re: Ripken Jersey American Mem.

chris,


like i said, i personally couldn't care less whether any auction house is "open to my input". the smart ones realize it benefits them greatly to do so. the polite ones also manage to recognize when i'm owed a thank you.

rudy.

Rudy,

Fantastic post all around! I completely agree with you. If I can ask, has any auction house ever thanked you or sent you anything to thank you for your time and research?

Tim

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Ripken Jersey American Mem.

improving the hobby undeniably and necessarily involves improving the auction houses. these improvements aren't a one-way street with collectors bearing sole responsibility. auction houses and dealers not only bear significant responsibility in helping to improve the hobby but i believe they've got the lion's share of work to do.

like i said, i personally couldn't care less whether any auction house is "open to my input". the smart ones realize it benefits them greatly to do so. the polite ones also manage to recognize when i'm owed a thank you.

Hello Rudy,

Thank you for your post. Let me begin by apologizing if my post seemed one-sided. Personally, I was simply looking to provide some perspective regarding the utility I believe this site is providing to the hobby as well as how I believe we can continue to protect collectors in the future (the primary reason this site exists to begin with).

In this instance, the high bidder in the auction is not going to end up paying an excessive amount of money for a jersey that likely was never worn by Ripken. Alternatively, I have seen some sellers in the marketplace claim they are completely in their jurisdiction to sell an item in question because it has been authenticated by a "reputable third party authenticator". As someone who created this site to protect the collector, I am glad to see AMI respond the way they did.

In fact, I think the fact that AMI was willing to listen to the concerns of our members and not fall back on the Lampson certification shows the impact we are having in the market. Am I suggesting that a primary objective of ours should be to endeavor to have the auction houses listen to us. No. However, when they do listen I believe that helps the collecting community. Until we can get every collector to read this site, getting our voice heard by sellers is a powerful way to create change in the market and help the collector. To simply go through the exercise of revealing when suspect items are in the market without preventing collectors from buying them would not achieve the objective I think we are working toward.

At the end of the day, I agree sellers should be thankful for what we are doing in the market. However, I think there are some out there who might argue we are impeding the "gravy train" by informing collectors of items they would be willing to buy if we didn't educate them. Said another way, if enough collectors believe something is real why not let them think so as long as everyone is making money. The problem is, aside from being morally wrong, the one who ultimately stands to lose is the collector.

Fortunately, I believe we are gaining more and more credibility and visibility in the market to the point where it is getting more and more difficult not to hear the voices of those on this site. In the end, I also think the one who will ultimately benefit is the collector. I was simply stating that I believe this trend will continue as members of the collecting community recognize that are intention is to be an advocate of the collector and not a bunch of renegades "acting as more of a personal vendeta [sic] forum than information based" (that is the way an authenticator at MEARS described us on their bulletin boards).

That was the main purpose of my post...to say we are having a bigger impact in the hobby and that we will hopefully see more and more entities respond as AMI did as they see us as people who act responsibly (as was the case in this thread) and not as others in the market try to make us out to be.

Sincerely,
Chris Cavalier

[lund6771]

Re: Ripken Jersey American Mem.

I think the beauty of the site is what it does for the collector...it helps people with genuine interests to enhance their collection...I agree with Rudy 110%...this site does the work to benift the collector/consumer...

some of these auction houses are such a joke...put anything out there that may seem somewhat passable...have an idiot like Lampson write a letter...what do you get?...a collector who gets screwed, an auction house that acts stupid because they are backed by an authenticator, and an aunthenticator who gets away because it's his "opinion"...it's all BS and the collector is the ultimate guy that gets hurt...

If an auction house was smart, they would quickly learrn that they better learn to work with this site...It's pretty obvious that this site is gaining steam and isn't going anywhere...the people here actually take it personal when they see acollector being taken adavantage of...

[bigtime59]

Re: Ripken Jersey American Mem.

Victor seemed genuinely appreciative of our goals but also cautioned that our efforts would be much better received as long as we are careful not to do so in a confrontational manner.

Well...I feel like I'm being called out here, as I've been known to get a little snarky over just how obvious some of the flaws in these fake Orioles jerseys are...but hey, until the faking fakers can do their jobs a little better, I'm going to continue to serve my observations with a side of sarcasm!

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Ripken Jersey American Mem.

Well...I feel like I'm being called out here, as I've been known to get a little snarky over just how obvious some of the flaws in these fake Orioles jerseys are...but hey, until the faking fakers can do their jobs a little better, I'm going to continue to serve my observations with a side of sarcasm!

Hello bigtime,

I apologize if you interpreted that comment to be calling you out but the comment actually had nothing to do with anything on this thread. In fact, I think the posts I made emphasized the fact that the forum is more likely to have a strong affect on the hobby when it approaches situations as it did in this case. That is, the issues were identified, the seller was contacted, the seller acted on the information and the collector was not sold an item that is questionable. Once again, my apologies if you thought I was referring to you.

The comment you quoted was more of a general observation based on some previous perceptions of the forum that existed before our rules were implemented (in fact, I quoted one comment made publicly by someone at MEARS on their bulletin board in my last post). Specifically, in regard to the situation with AMI, I think there were some interactions between the forum and AMI that will need to be explained before people can put it behind them. Personally, I think it has a lot to do with misunderstandings between the parties which is often the case when tensions exist. However, I think the fact that AMI responded to what we had to say here shows that they respect the information generated from our members. In fact, in my mind Victor's calling me back personally to tell me he was not going to sell the jersey is probably something akin to a thank you for our members. I know people will say they would prefer to hear it themselves by having him post a thank you on the forum but I think, given some of the previous history, that will likely take some time.

Once again, I'm sorry if you thought that comment referred to you and thanks again for your contributions to help protect collectors stay free of suspect merchandise. I really think Victor's actions showed he is beginning to understand more about our site (and our intentions) and, in the end, that will go a long way to helping collectors.

Sincerely,
Chris Cavalier