Steiner Offers

[Tedw9]

I posted a quick post about this in the other thread, but I thought it deserved it's own thread. Chris, if you want to move this or delete it, I understand, I just wanted to share this with others who may have made offers.

I made an offer on a game used bat and Steiner came back with a counter offer which I accepted. I got the bill from Chris and called Steiner yesterday to pay, but the guy was unavailable. He called me back tonight and took my information. When we got to the point where he verified what I was buying he asked me to hold a minute.

When he came back on the phone, he told me the bat I had accepted the offer on had been sold. I guess that even though we may have made an offer and had it accepted, the inventory is still live and anyone can still buy it off the site. The bat I was wanting was on the site and disappeared the day after I accepted the offer. I just assumed they took it down because I had accepted the offer. Wrong. Someone else had purchased it.

That stinks because I had 2 great photos to photomatch it to, had video of the bat being used to hit a home run and it was MLB Authenticated. I was pretty pumped to get it.

But to Steiner's credit, the guy I talked to on the phone told me he had 2 other bats from the player in stock. He wasn't sure if they were MLB Authenticated, they may be just Steiner authenticated. But he said he would look tonight, for me to call him tomorrow and he would sell one of the bats to me at the price I agreed to, despite the fact the bats retail on the site is MUCH more than my offer. Very cool thing to do, they could have told me to just go pound sand, but they worked with me. I feel pretty confident in the Steiner hologram, the MLB hologram was just a bonus. At least I will know the bat I get is authentic, that is the big thing with me.

My advice to anyone who has made an offer on a game used item or a one of a kind item is to call asap to make sure you get your item. The item is still live and until you call and pay for it, someone else can swoop in and purchase it. And if by chance the item you agreed to buy is already sold, they may be willing to work with you and get you a comparable item at the same price.

Good luck with your items folks, I look forward to seeing what everyone picked up through this offer.

Steve

[Manram]

Re: Steiner Offers

Just out of curiosity what bat was it??

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Steiner Offers

Hello Steve,

A couple of things:

1) I actually spoke with Steiner today and that was the first time I heard what you just described. I assumed the items for which there were accepted offers were placed on "pending" or something of that nature. However, when I spoke with my Steiner contact today he said the items cannot be placed on hold because their system does not accommodate doing so and it would have to be done manually...something that really isn't practical for them given the size of their inventory.

2) As for Steiner working with you given your situation, my personal experience has always been good regarding Steiner trying to work with me and those involved with GUU. My previous contact was Sean Mahoney and he always tried to work things out when something unexpected happened. My current contact is Efrain Reyes and, from what I can tell already about Efrain, I am confident he will be doing the same.

However, with all that said, I would suggest people with accepted offers to pay as quickly as possible. In addition, that is something we will now be aware of and communicate to our members if we do run any similar programs with Steiner in the future.

Regards,
Chris

[perlman9]

Re: Steiner Offers

The same happened to me off their auction about a year ago where I won an item, and the later said they didn't have it but allowed me to get an item off their stock shelf which was a great deal for me. I think they are a great team and customer service is excellent and have a suspicion that their web site is connected to inventory and look off their system rather than look for the actual item when a sale is made. But glad it worked out as well as it did (I was also happy with how they handled it) and wish I saw either the JO post for offers or Steiner's before it expired. Hopefully another offer round happens again soon!

[kellsox]

Re: Steiner Offers

I accepted Steiner's counteroffer for an item and when I inquired about paying was told it had been sold. Initial response was to wait for another item from that player in a future shipment. Replacement offers were not anything great. It was 15 days between my offer and when the invoice was sent to me- too long.
kelly

[Tedw9]

Re: Steiner Offers

I just got off the phone with Steiner and I couldn't be happier. I believe I was talking with the gentleman that Chris mentioned, Efrain Reyes, and he hooked me up with another bat from their inventory. As I mentioned before, the bat he sold me was being sold for MUCH more than the bat I offered on, but he said they would give me the same deal on another bat. He couldn't have been nicer, gave me all the information I asked for and concluded the deal quickly. I wish all customer service was that good. I gotta give Steiner and Efrain a tip of the cap for going above and beyond.

Manram, the bat I was offering on was the Jason Varitek bat that was broken in half. I didn't care about it being broken in half, I just wanted a Tek bat for my collection. The one he sold me is just cracked, but shows nice game use and is MLB Authenticated.

Chris, Efrain explained the same thing to me about how the inventory works and I was worried others would call and find the same thing I did, that is why I posted the thread. I figured the sooner folks called, the better their chances of scoring the items they wanted. I really appreciate Steiner and Efrain taking care of me like they did and I appreciate all your hard work setting this up for all of us. If you didn't put this work in for us, (for free at that!), I wouldn't have a nice Tek gamer in my collection. So for that, I owe you a big thank you.

Kellsox, I was offered the same thing, I could wait for another shipment or I could take one they had in stock. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, that stinks. Do you mind me asking what item you were trying to pick up?

Steve

[kellsox]

Re: Steiner Offers

Scutaro GU bat- was offered a Hermida in place of it- passed...

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Steiner Offers

Steiner is a first rate company. They actually gave him free Yankee tickets out of the blue for tommorrow's game for buying the Mariano jersey from them. They are also always nice enough to confirm holograms and coas purported to be theirs on other auction sites. You can't blame them for selling stuff that was offered on. Look at how many people are on the wall of shame for not paying for the JO promotion, they have a ready, willing and able buyer why pass that up?

[kellsox]

Re: Steiner Offers

Steiner is a first rate company. They actually gave him free Yankee tickets out of the blue for tommorrow's game for buying the Mariano jersey from them. They are also always nice enough to confirm holograms and coas purported to be theirs on other auction sites. You can't blame them for selling stuff that was offered on. Look at how many people are on the wall of shame for not paying for the JO promotion, they have a ready, willing and able buyer why pass that up?

Then why run the promotion? Not questioning Steiner as a company as I have aquired many nice item in my collection from them. I am questioning the process in which the program was run. From the time I submitted the offer to the time I was sent an invoice 15 days had passed. Within that time, a counteroffer was sent to me and accepted the same day. Things worked out for some, but others are left disappointed after the process was strung out then offered different items(or told to wait until similar items arrive- if they ever do)

[bama0037]

Re: Steiner Offers

I can say that I have worked with Efrain Reyes on multiple occasions and it has always been a first rate experience. I am sure he will take care of anyone that is having issues.

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Steiner Offers

Then why run the promotion? Not questioning Steiner as a company as I have aquired many nice item in my collection from them. I am questioning the process in which the program was run. From the time I submitted the offer to the time I was sent an invoice 15 days had passed. Within that time, a counteroffer was sent to me and accepted the same day. Things worked out for some, but others are left disappointed after the process was strung out then offered different items(or told to wait until similar items arrive- if they ever do)

This is a suggestion for Chris that would alleviate both this and the nonpayment problem. Have each person submit a valid credit card number and once a deal is agreed to immediately process the card.

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Steiner Offers

Then why run the promotion? Not questioning Steiner as a company as I have aquired many nice item in my collection from them. I am questioning the process in which the program was run. From the time I submitted the offer to the time I was sent an invoice 15 days had passed. Within that time, a counteroffer was sent to me and accepted the same day. Things worked out for some, but others are left disappointed after the process was strung out then offered different items(or told to wait until similar items arrive- if they ever do)

Kelly,

I certainly apologize that the item was sold and we have explained that the process was actually clarified during the program and we will make sure to try to communicate things going forward. However, at the same time, your comments above do not accurately reflect the entire picture.

Actually, you initially made offers two different bats and neither offer was accepted. Steiner then made counter offers on both. We communicated the counter offers and you proceeded to accepted one and while asking additional questions about the second one (specifically, you requested pictures of the second bat because it was not listed on the Steiner site). We tried to fulfill your request and it took a little time to get a response from Steiner on the second item because they had to manually try to pull the item to get the pictures. Notably, they are a very big company with a large inventory and yet they tried to fulfill your request despite it not being a big ticket item. I think that says a little something about how they were trying to accommodate everyone's requests during the program. On our end, we planned to send out one invoice for both items. That was the reason an invoice was not issued right away. We were actually trying to get the information you requested at the time. Not to mention, at that time, we also dealing with the numerous other offers that were being submitting during the course of the program.

To be clear, as I have stated previously, the process of not holding or reserving items was clarified as we ran the program and was not something I personally understood at the beginning. For that I give you my sincere apology. However, the way you make things sound is not entirely accurate either as it doesn't reflect the entire situation. During that 15 day period, your initial offers were not accepted, counter offers were presented to you, you accepted one item and asked for more information on the other item, the information you requested was attempted to be ascertained for you (which took a little time to get since Steiner had to try to manually pull the item to try to get you the information you requested) and then, once everything was determined, an invoice was issued. As such, simply saying it took 15 days to get an invoice is not really a complete and accurate representation of the situation.

Again, I personally apologize for not being clear about the protocols of reserving items. It was different than I thought and I clearly misunderstood how Steiner handles these things. In fact, it took the situation occurring for me to fully understand the process and I will take the blame for not understanding. Steiner has their policies and I wasn't clear as to how they worked. However, at the same time, please don't provide only partial information in your posts in an attempt to try to project some form of negligence in the process. We had to handle a great number of offers, counter offers, subsequent requests for information, etc and we tried to handle things as quickly and efficiently as possible. We also learned about the reserving of the items in the process. While I certainly will take responsibility for not being totally aware of the situation, I also don't think it is fair for you to paint a picture that doesn't totally reflect the entirely of the situation either.

Again, you have my personal apology for not getting the Scutaro bat. In fact, if you are interested, I will see what I can do to find you another one. I don't think that would be too monumental a task and I will be happy to try to get one for you at your offer price if you are interested.

Sincerely,
Chris

[kellsox]

Re: Steiner Offers

Chris-
Sorry if my initial portrayal of the situation didn't paint the whole picture- I was just frustrated by the process.

Here is the timeline to clarify:
6/15 offer sent
6/22 counter offers sent to me
15 min later I accepted 1 offer and asked for further info on the other item.
6/23 - No info on the other item- I asked if I should proceed on the Scutaro- told to wait on other item
6/24- other item not avail- invoice to be sent to me "shortly"
6/30- invoice sent
7/1- told item was not avail

I hope this gives clarity to my earlier posts.
Thanks for the offer of obtaining the bat- no need to do that, it's not really about the bat but more about the way things were run. It was a great opportunity given to forum members that didn't go the way I thought it would.

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Steiner Offers

Chris-
Sorry if my initial portrayal of the situation didn't paint the whole picture- I was just frustrated by the process.

Here is the timeline to clarify:
6/15 offer sent
6/22 counter offers sent to me
15 min later I accepted 1 offer and asked for further info on the other item.
6/23 - No info on the other item- I asked if I should proceed on the Scutaro- told to wait on other item
6/24- other item not avail- invoice to be sent to me "shortly"
6/30- invoice sent
7/1- told item was not avail

I hope this gives clarity to my earlier posts.
Thanks for the offer of obtaining the bat- no need to do that, it's not really about the bat but more about the way things were run. It was a great opportunity given to forum members that didn't go the way I thought it would.

Kelly,

No need to keep going around on this. The email on the 24th included the statement "The shipping will basically be $10 and payment can be made directly to Steiner." Again, if either of us knew there was the potential for the item to be sold, we obviously both would have responded differently.

As I mentioned earlier, I will be happy to find you a Scutaro bat at the price you offered if you like. Otherwise, I hope you understand there was never any intent to have you miss out on an item you were ready to buy. It was simply a matter of there being a great deal of offers and we were trying to manage the process in waves given the number of offers, counter offers, requests for information, etc. If we weren't interested in trying to help members get items at below asking prices we would have never run the program in the first place.

Sincerely,
Chris

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Steiner Offers

Steiner is a first rate company. They actually gave him free Yankee tickets out of the blue for tommorrow's game for buying the Mariano jersey from them. They are also always nice enough to confirm holograms and coas purported to be theirs on other auction sites. You can't blame them for selling stuff that was offered on. Look at how many people are on the wall of shame for not paying for the JO promotion, they have a ready, willing and able buyer why pass that up?

Hey Justin,

I traded emails with Efrain this morning and he said he left you a message yesterday. Would you be able to give him a call?

Thanks,
Chris