As some of you know, our eBay account "Gameusedkid" was suspended recently. I assume full responsibility for this. It was my mistake. I do not think it is appropriate to try to explain because the bottom line is I was at fault. I assume most have already made up their minds anyways about me and my indescretion.
It was brought to my attention that there was a "discussion" on this board about me and my company. I even was told someone was posting messages acting as me. I have never posted on this board until right now. Whatever was said by this poster was incorrect. I do not know if they were supporting me or bashing me, but it was not me.
I understand that when you are suspended you must wait 30 days unitl you can resume. As some of you know I started up again as "CSIGamers." If someone wants to report me to eBay I guess that is your perrogative. I have posted a few items and will continue to post more in the coming weeks. All I can say is that there may be some great deals because I am not repeating my mistakes! If you are hesitant to bid, or want to punish me, I understand; but, the items will be real and the bids will be accurate.
For 12 years I have maintained a good reputation in the hobby for selling real items and for generally having a pleasant personality. I do my best to fill the orders promptly and I try to package them well. I vow to do my best to continue and provide real game used items to the hobby world.
Thank you to those who have supported me and thank you for reading.
RON, I WILL NOT MAKE JUDGEMENT ON WHAT OCCURED ON EBAY, BUT I WILL APPLAUD YOU IN ADMITTING THAT YOU MADE A MISTAKE, IT SAYS ALOT OF YOUR CHARACTER FOR ADDRESSING THIS RATHER THAN HIDING AS IS COMMON ON THIS FORUM. AS I MENTIONED BEFORE I HAVE DELT WITH YOU FOR SEVERAL YEARS AND HAVE YET TO BE DISSAPOINTED IN YOUR CONDUCT OR THE ITEMS I HAVE OBTAINED FROM YOU. THEY HAVE BOTH BEEN TOP NOTCH! THANK YOU FOR ADDRESSING THIS MATTER, AND I LOOK FOWARD TO CONTINUING OUR BUISNESS RELATIONSHIP.
I also appreciate Ron responding to this forum. He's one of a very small group of people that I feel sells quality items. I look forward to doing business with him again.
Steve, you are a real understanding guy. If I'm ever in dire financial straits, would you mind buying some items from me on E-Bay after I've shilled the price up a bit? I don't see why Ron should be the sole beneficiary of your charity.
I also appreciate Ron responding to this forum. He's one of a very small group of people that I feel sells quality items. I look forward to doing business with him again.
Can you comment on the Erving jerseys pictured below? The blue one was listed on eBay some time ago and had a CSI letter.
A friend of mine owns the white one and he said it too has a CSI COA. He purchased his from an ad in the SCD a few years back.
I also know of a 3rd that's in the possession of a collector, although he told me he has no letter with his.
Can you confirm that you did indeed issue letters for 2 or more of these? I've sent emails to your site regarding these jerseys, but have never received a response. I've been told there was/is a company with a similar name to your company's name and I'd like to know for certain who issued the letters for these two jerseys.
I have to assume that the reason he was suspended was because of shill bidding (if I assumed wrong please tell me). If all of the respondents are comfortable with cheating bidders into paying higher prices, I guess it is their prerogative. I personally do not find any integrity in that. Sure he may have quality items, but that should not make him immune to having business ethics.
I was going to bid on this item of his, but I had to wonder about the bidder with 0 feedback:
It seems some of you people miss the point. How do think “Ichiro Honda” would feel if he found out he paid $250.00 more than he should have? Better yet, how about if it happened to YOU? If Mr. Fukushima was truly “sorry”, how about offering a refund to all the collectors he committed a fraudulent transaction with?
you made a mistake??? and that was??? and how many times did you make this mistake before you got caught??? i bet it was the first time, cause you sell real gamers huh? Jeff
Do you plan to contact those individuals who where effected by this and offer to refund a portion of what they paid since your actions led to them having over paid for items within the relative market place and the means in which it was sold?
I'm going to guess that this was the accusation that was the problem and the one that Ron admitted to, in an indirect way since it was just labeled as "a mistake". If in fact that is not what the "mistake" is, I have no problem recalling everything I've stated about it.
Business ethics are a pretty serious offense in my book. Did you start the auctions low and realize you weren't getting what you wanted for them? If so why didn't you just set the minimum bid at the lowest you'd take.
If you were just shilling the bids to get more money then that is just unexcusable, imho.
I've never dealt with Ron before and from what I heard he was a reputable guy with great items. I never dealt with him but still held him up there in the group of dealers I felt I could trust because of word of mouth. I'm not sure I'd bid on any auctions now or even buy from the website now, although there are some items I had interest in.
Sorry, how sorry could you be? I bet you were real sorry signing your name and depositing those checks into the bank account. I bet you were real sorry when you were clicking the place bid button and raising how much the winning bidder would have to pay for the auction... or are you just really sorry you got caught???? To me, I don't care about a dealers rep, I have even bought from Ron.. but un my opinion, shilling and selling fakes fall into the same category... your stealing the money from the collector... People will still buy from you and drink the Kool Aid just as those same collectors defend some of these bad authenticators and auction houses. but the one true good thing about this hooby is... the collector chooses who he/she spends their money with... so I am sorry as well, sorry that you did this and make me never want to buy from you... I'll never tell others what to do with their money and who or who not to spend it with.. this is my opinion and that is it... STEALING is stealing !!! period.
Ron,
Shilling is a serious offense in my opinion. If I was EBAY, you should be excluded for life to sell on EBAY. If the money was good then, what makes you think that you wouldn't do it again. Hey pal, in my book once your integrity is lost you can never retain it. Sorry and best of luck selling on your site.
Hmn, I've just been suspended by E-Bay for shill bidding, so I'm going to post an abstract apology in the vein of Mark MaGwire's classic congressional testimony and expect everything to continue business as usual based solely on my word.
In an added stroke of genius, I'll admit to continuing to flout E-Bay rules by admitting to circumventing my suspension and continuing to list my items under a new account.
Surely if nothing will convince the collecting public that my days of shill bidding are over, my ignoring my suspension and continuing to break E-Bay rules ought to win 'em over. (Well, that and my promise of great deals now that my auctions aren't going to be artificially inflated by my shill bidding.)
I've asked this question before and am still debating the answer: Is it that baseball card dealers are so stupid or is it that they think collectors are that stupid? Opinions?
BTW, Ron, since you are so trustworthy now, would you mind posting the e-mail address of the E-Bay representative who suspended your account? It would make it real convenient to report you.
I noticed Ron's ebay account suspended and posted it on the forum a few days ago.
I cant believe Ron can come out and ask for forgiveness on shill bidding on his own auctions on ebay and then go ahead and start up immediately on ebay under "CSIgamers" saying that he learned his lesson and it wont happen again.
What Ron needs to do is not apologize to us forum members, but to contact the high bidders of all his auctions that he shill bid on and offer a full refund or the difference is cash his bids caused the final price to jump to, that's who he owes an apology to! Until then, I think he should stop selling items on ebay and make amends to the people he cheated.
Also, While were on the subject of California Sports Investments. I question one of the items Ron has recently sold on ebay and another currently on his website.
One of our forum members e-mailed me about a questionable Manny Ramirez bat Ron had on ebay. He contacted Ron about a Manny Ramirez LVS M-9 maple bat that was listed on ebay and was supposedly used during 2004 ALDS vs the Angels. He was told by Ron that his "Red Sox" source said it was indeed used in the ALDS series. The forum member had taped the entire 2004 ALDS series and reviewed the tapes of Manny at bat, he noticed that Manny used a black LVS ash bat for the entire series, not a maple.
On his website he has listed a blonde Manny Ramirez M-9 maple bat. I have never seen Manny in any 2004 games or in any 2004 game photos of Manny at bat swinging a blond LVS bat. This is most likely a BP bat, not a game used bat as listed on his website and should be listed as such.
Ron you posted the following: "For 12 years I have maintained a good reputation in the hobby for selling real items and for generally having a pleasant personality."
In my opinion your 12 years has just gone down the drain, you have cheated your fellow collectors, the same people who have trusted and supported you all these years. If you can go ahead and shill bid on your auctions, who knows what else you did to the items you sold on ebay and your website!
Anyone find it ironic that he was caught shilling on a Giambi bat? That was a Giambi-esque apology since you never clarified what exactly you were apologizing for.
I can also confirm that the black LVS M9 maple bat was not used during the ALDS series as claimed. He used a regular ash LVS S318 the entire series. Like Bobby said, I cannot recall Manny ever using a blonde M9 or seeing photos of him using a blonde M9. If it was used at all, it was a BP bat.
Nice work by Bobby uncovering this mess before anymore rampant fraud could occur.
Was just wondering to myself if we ever would have known about this story of CSI shill bidding if it weren't for this forum. Like the last poster, I wanted to thank you Eric for bringing us together on this website.
And here is another question- will SCD pick up this story? From people I have talked to, I get the feeling SCD doesn't want to acknowledge this forum. For the most part they run a publication that shows everything's just going great in the hobby! For the most part, when high ticket items are pulled from big auctions because they are deemed to be questionable, you will not see a story about it in SCD. Probably because until recently they were doing business with the people who botched the authentication.
The deepest SCD seems to delve into the negative parts of the hobby is operation bullpen updates. And unless you're an advertiser, it's hard to get them to write stories about you- see the recent story about how Mr. Mint Alan Rosen lost weight, shaved his head, and got an earring. That's Pulitzer prize worthy writing.
I challenge them to report this story and mention that Ron admitted his mistake and made an apology on the gameusedforum.com website.
If they were actually reporting hobby news, this would cartainly qualify as it.
If it's okay with you, Eric- I'd like to post this as its own thread in case there are any SCD lurkers out there.
I do not believe the CSI shill bidding story is newsworthy. However, you could write a novel about Lampson and Grey Flannel.
Sports Collectors Digest should write an article about "Lampson and The Green Ripken Shirt"...sounds kinda like a Disney movie.
Instead, expect a story about what White Sox players sign at the hotel...
I was a subscriber to SCD from 1982-2000.
You should contact the bidders you outbid and stole from as i believe it wasnt a mistake........you just got caught. I was going to bid on a Vlad gamer of yours and i am glad i didn't bid on it now as i got the same one for 200$ cheaper. I have never done business with you but you do have fine game used stuff. So in my book if you want to make good with all the collectors and the "game used" community, refund the dollars you took from them. Now that would be an apology.
I'ts a beauty, dripping with pine tar, weight ring impression tons of ball and heavy seam marks and signed to boot with psa authentication.
Couldnt pass it up
Click on the link below, and then click on the bat for more detailed pics.....I recall seeing these Vlad 2004 Angels game used HR bats on ebay some time ago. Nice bats with tons of use. Can anyone photo match these bats to the particular HR?
I've bought from Ron the first month he started. He has added alot of Great Game used gear to my collection. Ron also took back a jersey from me 11 years later . He felt bad for me , told me that I should not have to be stuck with the jersey. I sent jersey ,letter from Lou & company back to Ron. He sent check to me in a few days. Ron has kept me in this hobby .
Ron, Thank you very much !!
Aloha & Mahalo,
REX
