AMI payments

[b.heagy]

Re: AMI payments

I recently met an employee of AMI and they were looking for another auction house to work for. I clearly see why after reading all the posts this past year.

[33bird]

Re: AMI payments

Yea, I got the same letter. As for the lawsuit against them they finally responded and they denied EVERYTHING. Even that they owed me money! So I printed off their invoice to me that stated they owed me 22k for the Bird jersey they sold- and I also gave a copy of this dumb letter that you guys see on here and gave them to my lawyer as obvious proof that they owe me money. My lawyer said they are trying to buy time and are obvious crooks. I'll keep y'all posted.

[rose14]

Re: AMI payments

Let me get this straight. AMI wants the you the "Authorized Dealer" to do all the work (photography, writing, shipping, etc) while they still get credit for the consignment and buyer premiums. The "Authorized Dealer" (AD) gets paid directly for their new items that they are selling but the fees for the consignment and buyers premium paid to the AD is subtracted from the amount that AMI owes to the AD for previous consignments. So what is it they are offering? AMI does nothing but gets credit for 35% of the sale of that item. I guess AMI believes that they can showcase those items wit their large customer list. There already is a company that does the same thing wiith a much larger buying base with just a fraction of the fees that AMI charges and it's call Ebay.

I can't believe how stupid and desperate that Victor and Kieta are with this stupid plan. This shows you just how bad financialy they are. Here are a few questions that I would love for them to answer.

1) Is AMI going to cover all of the Paypal fees that the "AD" is charged when they accept a payment for an AMI auction item?

2) Is AMI going to insure that the "AD" is financialy secure if the wining bidder decides to call his credit card company and say that they never received the item and decides to file a chargeback with their credit card company?

3) Is AMI going to insure that the winning bidder will receive the actual item that was auctioned?

4) Is AMI going to insure that winning bidders will be refunded if the item purchased is found to be not authentic?

Both Victor and Kieta deserve to go to prison for along time for the crap they have pulled this past year. I was very fotunate to get paid last year but many out there have been taken. Some of them have been taken for large sums of money.

It's ironic that AMI tries to portray themselves as high end with their verson of the Robb Report with the flashy ads and articles catered to the wealthy when they don't even have two nickels to rub together except for the money that they stole from their consignors.

[trsent]

Re: AMI payments--

April 21, 2009

Dear Stephen Smith:

We, as many other businesses, have become adversely affected by the economic downturn. We are aware that there has been a delay of payments for your consignments and for this we truly apologize. Due to staff downsizing and upcoming deadline schedules, our availability on the phones has been scarce. However, we are returning phone calls. It has been difficult to answer everyone’s calls when we did not have answers ourselves . We will make every effort to be more available in the future.

Our intention is to continue the excellent business practices we have enjoyed for over 13 years and we have devised a plan to do just this. We command the best prices and the best authentication process in the industry and continue to do so.

Immediate action has been taken to reconcile your account. American Memorabilia has come up with a solution in which we would invite you to work with us so we can build our auctions back into a profitable adventure for all. Please accept this proposal as a way for American Memorabilia to make you whole. We have asked many consignors to help us with this solution and all feel that the solution is sound and will actually be to the benefit to all for future payment practices.

American Memorabilia will be using the buyer’s premium and any consignment fees we would normally incur to pay off your account.

Proposed Payment Plan Process:

• <LI class=MsoNormal>You will be set up as authorized dealer of American Memorabilia Inc. The authorized dealer will be explained to our bidders, letting them know that items denoted by the Authorized Dealer icon will be paid directly to seller of the memorabilia. That this entity or person has been deemed by American Memorabilia authorized to sell his merchandise through our system.
  
  <LI class=MsoNormal>You will be consigning your items to American Memorabilia, however, items will not leave your possession until they are paid to you by the bidder into your PayPal account.
  
  <LI class=MsoNormal>You will log the items into your authorized dealer account. Photos, descriptions, authentication, shipping will be handled by you. We will assist in this entire process. We will be available to help you write the descriptions and edit your photos. Once your account has been reconciled to your satisfaction, you will be able to send your items to American Memorabilia, where we will be able to photograph, authenticate, and ship the items, however, your payments will still be set up to go directly into your PayPal account.
  
  <LI class=MsoNormal>Items must be authenticated. Authentication accepted will be PSA, JSA, UDA, Steiner to name a few. You will be able to send in items to get authenticated and we will send them back to you after the process has been completed as an option.
  
  <LI class=MsoNormal>We will be setting up the payments to go directly into your PayPal account.
  
  <LI class=MsoNormal>All money including the buyer’s premium and any consignment fee normally charged will go directly to you.
  
  <LI class=MsoNormal>You will ship the items directly to buyer and you will be able to keep buyer info rmation.
  
  
• The additional money paid to you will be deducted from the money owed to you.

AMI New Proposed Plan Example:

Amount

Formula
Description

$1,000

High Bid

$150

High Bid * 15%
Consign Fee (normally paid to AMI)

$850

High Bid – 15%
Your Normal consignment payment

$200

High Bid * 20%
Buyer’s Premium (normally paid to AMI)

$1,200

High Bid +
Buyer Premium + Consignment Fee
Total amount deposited into your paypal account paid directly from the wining bidder

$350

Buyer Premium +
Consignment Fee
This amount will be deducted from your Pos with (money which is owed to you)

Example Based On: 15% Consignment Fee and 20% Buyer Premium

We understand there will be a lot of questions. We are working on the step by step implementation of this process and will be info rming you of the details via email and phone this week. We will have certain hours that the phone lines will be available to give you a status update and answer your questions in the next couple of days.

Following are the next auction dates. Deadline means that all items must have descriptions, authentication and pictures attached to them in order for them to get placed into the following auction.

Auction End Date
Consignment Deadline
May 28, 2009
May 1, 2009
June 25, 2009
June 1, 2009
July 23, 2009
June 25, 2009
August 27, 2009
July 31, 2009




Sincerely,




American Memorabilia Inc.

Thanks for posting this letter - It is the same one my associate received. He found it funny that they want to sell his items to pay him back.

I believe the seller gets paid directly by the buyer so AMI doesn't touch the money, from what I was told.

[bobbys]

Re: AMI payments

Let me get this straight. AMI wants the you the "Authorized Dealer" to do all the work (photography, writing, shipping, etc) while they still get credit for the consignment and buyer premiums. The "Authorized Dealer" (AD) gets paid directly for their new items that they are selling but the fees for the consignment and buyers premium paid to the AD is subtracted from the amount that AMI owes to the AD for previous consignments. So what is it they are offering? AMI does nothing but gets credit for 35% of the sale of that item. I guess AMI believes that they can showcase those items wit their large customer list. There already is a company that does the same thing wiith a much larger buying base with just a fraction of the fees that AMI charges and it's call Ebay.

I can't believe how stupid and desperate that Victor and Kieta are with this stupid plan. This shows you just how bad financialy they are. Here are a few questions that I would love for them to answer.

1) Is AMI going to cover all of the Paypal fees that the "AD" is charged when they accept a payment for an AMI auction item?

2) Is AMI going to insure that the "AD" is financialy secure if the wining bidder decides to call his credit card company and say that they never received the item and decides to file a chargeback with their credit card company?

3) Is AMI going to insure that the winning bidder will receive the actual item that was auctioned?

4) Is AMI going to insure that winning bidders will be refunded if the item purchased is found to be not authentic?

Both Victor and Kieta deserve to go to prison for along time for the crap they have pulled this past year. I was very fotunate to get paid last year but many out there have been taken. Some of them have been taken for large sums of money.

It's ironic that AMI tries to portray themselves as high end with their verson of the Robb Report with the flashy ads and articles catered to the wealthy when they don't even have two nickels to rub together except for the money that they stole from their consignors.

Geez, the AMI says you can send stuff to them and they will get it authenticated and send it back? Does anyone here trust AMI enough to send them a high dollar item, and believe it will ever be sent back? It seems to me like a risky deal to work with AMI right now.

[kingjammy24]

Re: AMI payments

dave grob's analysis of AMI's new plan:

http://www.mearsonline.com/news/newsDetail.asp?id=641

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

Re: AMI payments

i read an article the other day about charlie munger. for those unaware, munger is warren buffett's right-hand man; chairman of berkshire hathaway. he gets almost as much interest in his advice and wisdom as buffett does. anyway, there was a line in the article that struck me as particularly relevant:

"Good businesses are ethical businesses, he tells us. A business model that relies on trickery is doomed to fail."

rudy.

[sportscentury]

Re: AMI payments

dave grob's analysis of AMI's new plan:

http://www.mearsonline.com/news/newsDetail.asp?id=641

rudy.

Dave Grob has always been a reasonable, gentle person who has acted in a professional and dare I say diplomatic manner (I mean this all as a compliment, as I have great respect for him). Even this gentle framing of his, though, points to the inevitable (or, rather, impending) doom of AMI. It is very difficult for me to understand why anyone in his right mind would do business with these folks. I'm sure many of you remember my GUF posts from years ago pointing out the red flags, so this sentiment on my part is nothing new. There used to be a GUF member who regularly defended AMI, and, being that he has not posted on their behalf in some time, I can only presume that even he has thought better of their situation and future (to his credit). I bid a not-so-fond farewell to James A. Rast and his many real and imaginary AMI associates. Like Dave, I hope those who are owed money are ultimately paid.

[hblakewolf]

Re: AMI payments

Dave Grob has always been a reasonable, gentle person who has acted in a professional and dare I say diplomatic manner (I mean this all as a compliment, as I have great respect for him). Even this gentle framing of his, though, points to the inevitable (or, rather, impending) doom of AMI. It is very difficult for me to understand why anyone in his right mind would do business with these folks. I'm sure many of you remember my GUF posts from years ago pointing out the red flags, so this sentiment on my part is nothing new. There used to be a GUF member who regularly defended AMI, and, being that he has not posted on their behalf in some time, I can only presume that even he has thought better of their situation and future (to his credit). I bid a not-so-fond farewell to James A. Rast and his many real and imaginary AMI associates. Like Dave, I hope those who are owed money are ultimately paid.

Reid-

Dave O'Brien and his AMI pom-poms?



Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@comcast.net

[CollectGU]

Re: AMI payments

There used to be a GUF member who regularly defended AMI, and, being that he has not posted on their behalf in some time, I can only presume that even he has thought better of their situation and future (to his credit).

Reid,

This is correct. I am not on speaking terms with AMI and find what they have done to people over the past 10-12 months outrageous and unforgivable...

Dave

[shoremen44]

Re: AMI payments

Not that this is an update to anyone, but I just got off the phone with our friends at AMI, and thank god I only consigned to them once and they owe me very little money...

The response is "that they have changed the way of doing business and this should bring in new revenues into AMI and they will assess those reveunes to then pay consigners what is owed"... when I asked where is the money from the item I consiged the answer was "the issue is not where the money is from that payment and whether or not AMI was paid"...

they agreed they owe me the money, and yet there is no clear answer as to how and when I will be paid.

When I explained that I have owned my own business and my currrent job is running national accounts for a global company, and she should stop trying to talk me in circles because I wasnt buying it, the phone went silent.

If you are owed enough GET A LAWYER... if not... do as I am going to... I am going to plan my next Vegas trip around my small claims court date with AMI...

[jonincleve]

Re: AMI payments

The response is "that they have changed the way of doing business and this should bring in new revenues into AMI and they will assess those reveunes to then pay consigners what is owed"... when I asked where is the money from the item I consiged the answer was "the issue is not where the money is from that payment and whether or not AMI was paid"...


either they have your money from the sale or they have your item from the non-sale and can return it. you can't be "a little pregnant' you either are or you're not.

they could have my grail item right now with a photo match and i would not put a penny buying or selling through this company.

serious question do you think they will make it to the national convention as a company? or will their booth be empty.

take care
john

[hblakewolf]

Re: AMI payments

The response is "that they have changed the way of doing business and this should bring in new revenues into AMI and they will assess those reveunes to then pay consigners what is owed"... when I asked where is the money from the item I consiged the answer was "the issue is not where the money is from that payment and whether or not AMI was paid"...


either they have your money from the sale or they have your item from the non-sale and can return it. you can't be "a little pregnant' you either are or you're not.

they could have my grail item right now with a photo match and i would not put a penny buying or selling through this company.

serious question do you think they will make it to the national convention as a company? or will their booth be empty.


take care
john

Just a wild guess.......



Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@comcast.net

[sportscentury]

Re: AMI payments

Reid,

This is correct. I am not on speaking terms with AMI and find what they have done to people over the past 10-12 months outrageous and unforgivable...

Dave

Dave,

Fair enough.

Reid

[cordovacollector]

Re: AMI payments

Just a question for an attorney: If the seller has not been paid for a high end item, AMI sold it and collected the money, AMI mailed the item to New Buyer, New Buyer lists it in Auction House Unknown ... wouldn't the New Buyer that bought it from AMI be in receipt of stolen property even if he doesn't know it?