Great Video on Game Grading & Auction House Fraud--Parallels to Trading Cards

[PumpnDumpling]

Originally Posted by pip

They convinced ALL of us that if it's not in a TPG holder, then something must be wrong with it. It was a masterful stroke of psychological reprogramming.

This is a bit much, we can only speak for ourselves and i suspect few actual collectors of any intelligence were duped into thinking such a ridiculous idea

Question authority, think for yourself, develop critical thinking skills

Nothing wrong with TPG's existing in this market, just don't be a Timmy

[YouTheManNick]

Originally Posted by Doctor Claw

Very informative piece. One wonders why so many mainstream media outlets merely parrot and trumpet the hype, instead of digging beneath the self-serving quotes of the profiteers. I suppose it is just laziness.

Because they don't care. For us collectors, this stuff matters... a lot. But for those who don't have the collector gene they just see us as a bunch of weirdos spending money on cardboard, plastic, paper, etc. Their boss tells them to write a story on the game that sold for a bunch of money, they write it, laugh at the ridiculousness of it and move on to the next assignment.

Originally Posted by PumpnDumpling

just don't be a Timmy

Sean from Reserved Investments. Is that you?

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by Doctor Claw

One wonders why so many mainstream media outlets merely parrot and trumpet the hype, instead of digging beneath the self-serving quotes of the profiteers. I suppose it is just laziness. But bravo to the guy who did that video.

There’s nothing to wonder about: the majority of these fluff pieces are paid advertisements.

[katho]

Wow...Great Video

[biggieruth]

Great Video. I always thought some of these sold prices for cards where money laundering and fixed prices between a few people. No way a Mahomes,Luka,Brady,Trout ect... rookie card are worth the prices these cards are going for.

[Kobe101]

What an incredible video!

We have grading companies, auction houses, fractional shares and big time investors…. Hmm I wonder if something similar has been happening.

I am glad I never bought into the grading hype but I did put some money in Rally that was a huge mistake. It just sits there and I can’t get it out. Smh

[kyle1707]

Sounds like what is happening In cards the last 2 years

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by kyle1707

Sounds like what is happening In cards the last 2 years

Two years? Closer to ten. Our hobby’s much larger and older than the video game hobby.

[auburn35]

Looks like Wata and Heritage have issued their public relations responses.

https://goombastomp.com/heritage-auc...f-retro-games/

“Heritage Auctions wishes it had been given the opportunity to respond before the video’s publication, because there are numerous misstatements of fact and inaccurate conclusions contained within the piece.
Heritage strongly refutes any allegation that it or its officers are involved in shill bidding, “market manipulation” or any similarly illegal or unethical practices. Heritage prides itself on our transparency and being a place built by and for collectors.”

“Wata Games is the trusted leader in collectible video game grading and we’re honored to play a key role in this booming industry that we are incredibly passionate about. We’re humbled by the support of our thousands of customers who trust us to provide accurate and transparent grading. The claims in this video are completely baseless and defamatory and it is unfortunate that Mr. Jobst did not contact us to give us the opportunity to correct him.”

[pspa123]

Originally Posted by auburn35

Looks like Wata and Heritage have issued their public relations responses.

https://goombastomp.com/heritage-auc...f-retro-games/

“Heritage Auctions wishes it had been given the opportunity to respond before the video’s publication, because there are numerous misstatements of fact and inaccurate conclusions contained within the piece.
Heritage strongly refutes any allegation that it or its officers are involved in shill bidding, “market manipulation” or any similarly illegal or unethical practices. Heritage prides itself on our transparency and being a place built by and for collectors.”

“Wata Games is the trusted leader in collectible video game grading and we’re honored to play a key role in this booming industry that we are incredibly passionate about. We’re humbled by the support of our thousands of customers who trust us to provide accurate and transparent grading. The claims in this video are completely baseless and defamatory and it is unfortunate that Mr. Jobst did not contact us to give us the opportunity to correct him.”

They strongly deny the allegations, but it's a misuse of the word "refutes," they haven't DISPROVED the allegations.

[JRX]

I mean they're not going to come out and say "yeah we're scamming everyone and we can't release a pop report because .... HEY LOOK OVER THERE!"

[corndog]

Originally Posted by pspa123

They strongly deny the allegations, but it's a misuse of the word "refutes," they haven't DISPROVED the allegations.

Seems to be a familiar theme.

[pspa123]

Originally Posted by corndog

Seems to be a familiar theme.

A company of this magnitude or their PR firm could at least not misuse words.

Hmmm... according to one online dictionary deny is an alternate meaning of refute, so I may have spoken too quickly there. Sounds strange to me but whatever.

[pip]

Originally Posted by pspa123

They strongly deny the allegations, but it's a misuse of the word "refutes," they haven't DISPROVED the allegations.

That's quite the malapropism by Heritage.

[sickmantz]

Always underlying all of these ridiculous high dollar sales is the possibility of money laundering

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by sickmantz

Always underlying all of these ridiculous high dollar sales is the possibility of money laundering

Definitely this.

But frankly money laundering doesn’t require ridiculous high dollar sales.

Lesser amounts can (and likely are) keeping launderers under the radar.

[auburn35]

Humorous response from the video creator.
Seems to parallel the various sports card companies that have also uncovered no issues, after conducting internal investigations.

[salthill]

http://twitter.com/SethAbramson/stat...96583446274050

[pip]

Originally Posted by auburn35

Humorous response from the video creator.
Seems to parallel the various sports card companies that have also uncovered no issues, after conducting internal investigations.

Didn't PWCC also conduct an internal investigation to determine if there was an employee who was/is shill bidding? In this business, all these "internal investigations" don't seem to be beset with a high degree of success.

[BamBam20]

added to watch later list -- thank you for the suggestion!

EDIT: Update -- Just watched. That was fantastic. Thank you again for pointing us all to this video!

[NYRE2PECT]

Originally Posted by pip

Didn't PWCC also conduct an internal investigation to determine if there was an employee who was/is shill bidding? In this business, all these "internal investigations" don't seem to be beset with a high degree of success.

Classic.

I have inspected myself and found that I have done nothing wrong! Carry on.

[BamBam20]

Originally Posted by auburn35

Humorous response from the video creator.
Seems to parallel the various sports card companies that have also uncovered no issues, after conducting internal investigations.

HAHAHA! That's great.

[ken161]

Great video. Very informative. Highly recommended for all serious collectors.

[pip]

4 Days

Over 700,000 views and over 8,000 comments. WATA and Heritage pretty much had to respond to this. Their "rebuttal" on social media might fuel even more views, however.

[mattglet]

Originally Posted by ken161

Great video. Very informative. Highly recommended for any collector.

Fixed that for you.