I am not sure if he is a board member or not, but I was hoping someone could tell me what their experience has been in dealing with him, especially in regard to grading....

thanks!!

Jeff - My personal experience with Pete was that he overgraded his vintage cards by at least 3 grades (his EX was, at best, my G)

Thank you, Mark, I value your assessment....

I've had a few dealings with Pete, have not had any major problems. His grading might have been off, I don't remember. What amazes me is that he has basically been running the same ads with the same stuff for years. There is one War News Pictures Dirty Dozen card that he has been advertising for almost ten years.

I agree with Mark. I've bought a few cards from Pete and his grading is a lot less conservative than mine. But he seems like a very nice guy, and he's excellent when it comes to communication and shipping.

Alan

If he is running the same ads, I would assume he is not doing it because he sells a lot of material, but because he want to support the Wrapper. Seems like an admirable goal to me.

Alan, I hadn't thought of that angle...if that's the case, then more power to him! In any case, when I've dealt with him over the years he seemed to be a very nice guy and delivered the cards very promptly.

I've dealt with Pete many times in the past from his Wrapper ads and have met him at shows, and have always found him to be a true gentleman and a friendly/honorable dealer. He is firm on his prices, but doesn't hesitate to provide a refund when you prefer to return a purchase, such as if there is a disagreement on grading. So, wouldn't hesitate if that is a concern -- he'll keep you whole.

He isn't like Hugh Jones or Robert Foster (true dealers who were selling their material and then always trying to find more, new vintage material to next turn over). He's been, it seems, brokering a single huge lot of vintage cards to collectors down through the years. Hence the phenomenon Chuck noticed -- the same WNP Dirty Dozen card being for sale for more than a decade. Initially, there was a lot of truly wonderful, premium-grade stock. He had all the vintage NS sets -- great stuff -- and priced accordingly. And like the wonderful vintage cards being sold by Robert Foster, another famous Wrapper dealer, at one time the prices seemed to really be "up there" but, if you wanted his top-grade material, you paid the price. The market has since caught up with him.

I agree with the observation that now, he's probably continuing to loyally run the ad on the leftovers mainly to support Les and THE WRAPPER.

I would like to ask the members to refrain from this type of thread...using a person's name as the title and subject. Whether it be compliments or criticism, it makes me uncomfortable to let a person "hang out to dry" like this. As far as I know, Pete does not even own a computer; but that's not the point. The point is: who's next? "Todd Riley," "Ralph Perry," "Dan Calandriello," or "Les Davis?" I hope some of you are starting to see my point; it is uncomfortable to have collectors take their best shot at you....[from one who knows].

I'm not sure I understand why you would feel this way. It's pretty standard fair on these boards for a person to ask opinions of a dealer when they haven't had any transactions with that person before. He is a dealer right?

Hello to All ,

I agree with Paul on this one .

If we can't ask advice , offer suggestions , congratulate winners , chastise the naughty ( Broadway (p)Ricks StrkeZone / dspbaba ) etc ...what can we do in this public forum ?

The Gallery is looking good .

---------

Mark

ps ..please post all your opinions of me underneath , i don't mind .
I'll take them all on board , i'll look , live and learn .

Cheers .

I don't see anything bad about what was written about Pete. I don't know him, haven't bought anything from him but everyone above who has seems to really like the guy. Has a good return policy, good stuff (he may have had a long time) but he does tend to overgrade in their opinion. I remember similar threads on the baseball side on Larry Fritsch (RIP) and others. I think a generous return policy can override any bad feelings people might have over grading......

I agree. The fact that Pete tends to overgrade doesn't mean I won't buy anything from him. It just means I have to take his grading system into account, and figure out whether the likely actual condition is still worth the price. And it is a factor that he's a nice guy. If he wasn't a nice guy, I wouldn't buy from him no matter how he graded cards. I keep a list of people I won't deal with and several of those names have come from discussions in this forum.

Alan

I hesitate to comment on this, out of fear I'll be the next target! I've done my best to keep a good reputation, but it's always more fun to put down folks behind their backs than it is to praise them. Let's face it: The tabloids sell better than the regular papers because people enjoy juicy gossip more than they do dry facts! It also seems odd to justify these public opinion polls of private individuals because "the sports guys do it". Heck, I always thought if there was one hobby we did not want to be like, it was Sports card collecting!

To be fair, ebay offers feedback on buyers and sellers, and this is kind of similar. But eBay only offers room for a sentence of two about a specific purchase and the seller has a chance to respond. Whereas here, Pete won't have a chance to respond, because he doesn't even have a computer. I think it's safe to assume if he hears he's being criticized on the forum (even if there is a mix of compliments), he's going to feel upset. And he'll feel like it was done behind his back (which it was, since nobody told him about it... yet.)

I'm very much against overgrading, but I fell the buyer needs to tell the seller he's unhappy and ask for an adjustment or a refund. (That's what I do.) I expect the dealer to split the cost of the postage with me too, so no one person gets hit with the full expense. Sometimes it's an honest mistake, and sometimes there is just a difference of opinion. But the dealer will never change if you don't tell him about it.

Stuff on the internet stays up for a very long time, like a drift net, and it can do a lot of damage over time. Maybe not in Pete's case, but if this becomes standard fair, at the very least we can expect to upset enough dealers that some will say "Fine, if they don't like me repeating ads (or whatever the gripe), then I won't advertise! Screw 'em!" And that isn't going to help the struggling Wrapper very much.

People do have the right to learn from other collector's bad (and good) experiences, but since these are not vending machines but flesh and blood dealers with human feelings we're talking about, we should show more consideration.

I would suggest the LEAST we could do is refrain from posting these personal opinions (and sometimes, personal attacks) on-line for the entire world to see. Perhaps the best compromise is to request people to email their experiences privately, so it's more like a private phone conversation instead of a party line. That way these threads won't end up looking like dartboards of famous dealers peppered with snide comments. (Keep in mind, I LOVE to be snide! I raze sports card collectors all the time in my ads! But I would draw the line at criticizing individuals.) It's cliche to say, but remember that old Golden Rule thingy. It really does work better than no rule at all.

If after everyone says the guy is a pleasure to deal with, provides quick delivery, offers refunds w/o hassles, but tends to overgrade, I'd say he is someone anyone could do business with.

Just take the overgrading into consideration. If you don't you will never buy from him again. If you do, occasionally you will be surprised in a good way.