Mastro Sports Auctions

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

Hmmmmm........very interesting.

I find is peculiar that Bill Mastro "wants time off".....so much so his name is now off the company he sold. He loved his biz, was proud of what it grew into. I wonder who or what swayed him from the integrity based company it was into the mess that ultimately has now been the focus of an investigation by the FBI.

There is obviously something else behind all this.

There were obviously decisions made, IMO, that were compromises.....maybe to avoid further investigation....maybe to avoid arrests? Who knows.

Fraud is a tough thing to win in court. One thing is for sure.....The FBI had some serious "Issues" with the company.

Now......they're gone, and the three left to run "Legendary" are starting off by stating what Robert Edwards Auctions has lived off of...."No in house bidding, all about our customers".

It should have always been that way. Shame on whoever was responsible for the processes that took place in these criminally run operations.

I remember laughing out loud when I saw on AMI's site "Let's get back to the good old day of bidding...." and so on, referring to the fact you can no longer place a "Max" bid on their auction items. The FBI shut that crapola down.

They shut it down because the auction house was seeing the max bids on their system, and making the poor souls who placed them pay for it by bidding.....shill bidding....the item right up to that bid JUST BEFORE the max placed by an honest, yet naive bidder.

Pathetic.

[kingjammy24]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

there is no new entity per se. doug allen and crew just shut down one business and opened up another. "legendary" is doug allen's auction house. a leopard doesn't change its spots. it'll be the usual mastro hijinks as usual. same old, same old. just call it "mastro II: electric boogaloo".

of course, the big question is why. anyway, here's one of my favorite parts from their press release:

“The principals employed by Legendary Auctions will put their own collecting interests aside and concentrate solely on providing opportunities for our customers,” said Allen. “There will be no mixing of business and pleasure at Legendary Auctions in terms of our own collecting pursuits. This will really be all about our customers.”

wait a minute wasn't mastro all about that? har har. "no no guys this one will really be about the customers..not like mastro". seriously though what an asinine thing to say. it's like Ford putting out a press release about their new lineup of cars saying "this time we decided to make them good!".

anyway mastro once posted on their website that they weren't dealers and they didn't sell stuff they owned. of course, they did exactly that. so now when doug says that there'll no mixing of business and pleasure in terms of their own collecting pursuits i'll assume that'll be exactly what'll be happening. anyone want to place any bets that "Legendary Auctions" will have a mysterious, unidentified authentication team just like mastro? what does this all really mean? simply that lou's paychecks will have a different name on them.

rudy.

[dirtyla2000]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

hi guys,the way I understand it , these auction houses have been hosing us for years but god forbid you decide to bid and change your mind,they blackball you! yet,if your items sell but dont get paid for they dont give a crap! Robert Edwards,Mears and I think thats it! the others purposely mislead there stuff for higher sales. its BS.GAME USED UNIVERSE IS NEW AND I HOPE DOESNT FALL INTO THE BS GAME! Mastro just pulled a good old fashion FLIP!

[TNTtoys]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

I received an email last night with "the big news" -- I am assuming that everyone else here received the same note?

[otismalibu]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

I have to say I was impressed with how Mastro shipped the item. Jersey was folded in a sealed bag, and the box was filled with cardboard spacers so that the Mears letter couldn't shift or wrinkle.

Compare that to another auction house I won't mention by name. The item (8x the value of the one mentioned above) was stuffed in a priority mail size box and shipped just like that. No plastic bag or anything.

[mvandor]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

Can't help but wonder iif this is not a direct result of the well publicized FBI investigation. Perhaps the brand had become tarnished, perhaps Bill Mastro was worn out by the wear and tear of the investigation and wanted out. Wonder if the new corporation acquired assets only or assets and liabilities? If just the first could be a liability dodge.

Lots of possible motivations.

[dcgreg25]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

I just got a call from someone at Mastro and it sounds like Legendary will take over the assets going forward starting with the next auction. Mastro will receive payment for and complete all transactions from the recently closed auction.

Its funny, if you call the phone number on the email announcing Legendary's formation, you get a voicemail for a restoration company and no mention of the auction house...at least as of when I called this morning.

[kingjammy24]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

Can't help but wonder iif this is not a direct result of the well publicized FBI investigation. Perhaps the brand had become tarnished, perhaps Bill Mastro was worn out by the wear and tear of the investigation and wanted out. Wonder if the new corporation acquired assets only or assets and liabilities? If just the first could be a liability dodge.

Lots of possible motivations.

as usual, mastro's explanation makes little sense. if bill simply wants to leave the hobby then why does that necessitate shutting down his life's work entirely? after all, bill already sold his interest in 2004. all he'd have to do is just quit. you'd think he'd be interested in seeing the business with his name on it continue and prosper for many years.

- in 2004, mastro sold his firm to silk road equity. silk road equity is headed by andrew filipowski. filipowski was doug allen's boss many years ago when doug worked as a VP for platinum technologies. safe to say that andrew and doug have a long history.

- fast forward to today: from a feb 2009 ny daily news article:
"A lawyer contacted by an angry consignor, however, said company founder Bill Mastro told him the company had a cash-flow problem.
"Mastro said the new owners have been reluctant to expand or renew their bank credit line," said the lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity."

wow..doug can't get his buddy's firm to renew their credit line? that's very odd. (at the time, doug said everything was fine, no problems, just a banking glitch. 1 month later, mastro shuts down. as always, doug's word is gold).

well wait a minute here..if doug couldn't secure financing for mastro, then how did he secure it for "legendary", especially in 2009 when credit has practically frozen? legendary is up and running within days of mastro folding? yeah that makes sense. just bill..wanting to leave the hobby. that's it.

my 2 cents: if "legendary" is revealed to be funded by silk road equity, then i think it's obvious what happened.

rudy.

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

as usual, mastro's explanation makes little sense. if bill simply wants to leave the hobby then why does that necessitate shutting down his life's work entirely? after all, bill already sold his interest in 2004. all he'd have to do is just quit. you'd think he'd be interested in seeing the business with his name on it continue and prosper for many years.

- in 2004, mastro sold his firm to silk road equity. silk road equity is headed by andrew filipowski. filipowski was doug allen's boss many years ago when doug worked as a VP for platinum technologies. safe to say that andrew and doug have a long history.

- fast forward to today: from a feb 2009 ny daily news article:
"A lawyer contacted by an angry consignor, however, said company founder Bill Mastro told him the company had a cash-flow problem.
"Mastro said the new owners have been reluctant to expand or renew their bank credit line," said the lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity."

wow..doug can't get his buddy's firm to renew their credit line? that's very odd. (at the time, doug said everything was fine, no problems, just a banking glitch. 1 month later, mastro shuts down. as always, doug's word is gold).

well wait a minute here..if doug couldn't secure financing for mastro, then how did he secure it for "legendary", especially in 2009 when credit has practically frozen? legendary is up and running within days of mastro folding? yeah that makes sense. just bill..wanting to leave the hobby. that's it.

my 2 cents: if "legendary" is revealed to be funded by silk road equity, then i think it's obvious what happened.

rudy.

Exactly, Rudy.

I think it's referred to in the brokerage business as an unfriendly takeover. But this one most likely carries a twist.

In creating the "appearance" that Bill's name is being removed from the company from this point on, how convenient is that for the three principles left to run the "new" company while shedding the perceived "baggage" that was Mastro Net? Pretty darn convenient.

So, were the problems that wrecked the largest Auction house in the business from Bill? Or were the majority of these problems the result of the sale and subsequent "management" team that took the reigns and ran with it? Does it even matter?

There is an obvious "changing of the guard" as far as company policy. But it's still the usual suspects running the show. My guess? We are all ending up left to deal with the same company with forced changed mandated by the FBI investigation.....and the results of a manufactured compromise on everyone involved to just end the speculation of "unfair" play, and start over with guidelines to be followed (or else) going forward.

You saw it at AMI......and we're seeing it here. Simple as that.

As long as the end result is a better invironment for the bidders (collectors).......then I guess it's a good thing.

[jppopma]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

I'd hate to be one of the people with a consignment check coming from Mastro.... Not coming out and saying that there will be problems and people being told a "sorry Mastro is no more" shell game, just how will these changes affect the timely payments??

[kingjammy24]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

unless of course the FBI investigation made silk road withdraw their funding and no bank would touch mastro unless there was a scapegoat and investors were told that the scapegoat is no longer part of the company so "everything's ok now".

any way you slice it, it doesn't appear to me to be simply a quaint little matter of bill mastro just wanting more time to feed the ducks in the park.

rudy.

[lowell25]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

You forgot to add coaches corner.

Looks like we have a new addition to the Game Used Sports Hall of Shame:

1. AMI
2. Bricol
3. Vintage
4. Historic
5. now Mastro...doesn't surprise me.

Should ebay be included for excessive costs, poor buisness practices, etc.?

[lowell25]

Auction sites suck...AMI Coaches corner Mastro net.

Can anyone tell me who I should Trust when I buy game used jersey's, helmets, ect. AMI SUCKS, Coaches Corner SUCKS, Mastro Net SUCKS. Should I just buy from MLB.COM and Steiner. PLEASE HELP.

[dirtyla2000]

Re: Mastro Sports Auctions

I would love the same answer!

[kingjammy24]

Re: Auction sites suck...AMI Coaches corner Mastro net.

Can anyone tell me who I should Trust when I buy game used jersey's, helmets, ect. AMI SUCKS, Coaches Corner SUCKS, Mastro Net SUCKS. Should I just buy from MLB.COM and Steiner. PLEASE HELP.

the answer to that question has always been the same: trust yourself. educate yourself on the items you want to collect. that way you won't need to place trust in others. noone will look after your best interests like you. mlb.com and steiner have both made numerous errors. if you know what you're doing, you'll spot the errors. the thing is, it's not that hard. this isn't rocket science. start with bill henderson's guide: http://www.mlbstyleguides.com/refguide.html . it provides a great introduction to collecting MLB gamers.

rudy.