Charleybrown

On 6/17/2022 at 3:13 PM, DT0428 said:

Nice presenting 6.5 too. 5.5 sold for 75k. Ouch no one should be putting big books in an auction during a recession

The 5.5 was ugly and the 6.5 was pretty nice as you mentioned. Way too many AF 15's hit the market all at once. I have a Hulk 1 thats supposed to go up in August. Is it possible to pull the book from the auction with heritage. Never thought about doing that but it seems like its going to be a slaughter in that auction.

Wow 6.5 just sold for 120k at heritage. I sold my 6.5 for 170k in the last clink auction and thought that was bad. I feel like Indiana rolling under the trap door right now. 

On 5/30/2022 at 8:28 AM, kbmcvay said:

A lot of items look they shot up pretty quick with 3-5 dozen bids in the first couple days and then not much activity since. Interested to see what happens as these come to a close in the next 10 days (especially since I'm the high bidder on a multi-dozen bid page currently).

The af 15 7.5 shot up in the last hour or so last night. Watching the 6.5 closely to see if there’s a deal to be had. Looks almost as nice as the 7.5

On 9/22/2021 at 8:03 AM, Bronty said:

Do you ever stop to ask questions before concocting new conspiracies?    Early Genesis games are sealed with a big empty oval space up top.   Sometimes that slides down over the top of the box.    That is all you are seeing there at the top and anyone collecting genesis for more than five minutes knows that.    As for thr bottom, there has been a QC issue with respect to inner blisters .   Some have torn.   That’s probably what you’re looking at.   
 

Consider asking a question or two next time.  

So if this were to be regraded it would have the same 9.4 A seal?

what I take away from Haspel's statement is that WATA's executive page is all fluff. They use people who have credibility in the industry and plaster them on a page that says executive team in big bold letters. A potential customer who is on the fence about sending their games in  sees a guy who started cgc and think "if he's part of the team im in good hands!"  When in fact he has no real role and by Haspel's own words he rarely does any work for wata if any at this point. This is disingenuous and makes me wonder what other shenanigans they would be up to. It appears they did the same thing with Dain using his good name for credibility even after he cut ties with the company.

On 9/2/2021 at 11:16 PM, Bronty said:

Yep.   He wasn’t thrilled about that.

He’s not thrilled with a 5000% return?? He was looking for a 50,000% return

It’s his fault for not crossing over. Wata might be unscrupulous but the results speak for themselves.

On 9/2/2021 at 9:28 PM, Domo Arigato said:

That assumes that those on the other side of the argument are the ones that need "getting through to". 

 

For the 100th time why is Mark selling games on ebay graded by WATA when he works for or with WATA. The CEO stated and it is published in the new york times that no employee can grade with WATA or sell games graded by WATA. You have no answer for this other than whataboutism. Maybe WATA should do themselves a favor and make a statement on this instead of ignoring it.

On 9/2/2021 at 9:14 PM, jaybuck43 said:

Apparently since every time he sold a game it sold for more than market  price.  So somehow he was breaking the market while everyone else selling Atari was selling down.

im going out on a limb here but I have a feeling youre not going to get through to anyone on the other side of the argument. Seems like Domo can do this all day/night long.

On 9/2/2021 at 7:16 PM, jaybuck43 said:

You're absolutely right, you can look at the history.  I've got nothing better to do, so I did.

 

Six of Haspel's last video game feedbacks are viewable.  3 of those 6 sales were almost assuredly procured from Heritage.  Here's the breakdown.

In November 2020 HA sold an open box containing 6 sealed red box Space invaders all sealed.  Hammer price?  $3840 or $640 per game.  Last month M*S*H sold a Space Invaders red box on eBay (On August 2nd)  for $1100 that was graded "12/17/20" and contains the annotation "From Opened Factory 6-pack".  From that same auction "someone" bought a factory six pack of Secret Quest for $990, or $165 a game, and guess what, last month (Aug 27) M*S*H sold a Secret Quest 9.6 A++  for $249.99, which was graded "12/17/20" and contains the annotation "From Opened Factory 6-pack".  From the same auction, "someone" bought a 9.6 NS Intellivision Donkey Kong for $630.  The same copy was sold by M*S*H for Buy it Now/BO for $750    

Now with the first two, I can give Haspel the benefit of the doubt.  MAYBE it's just a coincidence that 3 weeks earlier than getting them graded boxes just HAPPENED to sell, sure.   Same with the Donkey Kong.  MAYBE someone bought it on Heritage and then sold it to Haspel who turned around and sold it on eBay.  MAYBE.  But hoofbeats and all that...

So, Mark was able to successfully flip every single one of his acquisitions.  I have no idea where he got the other 3 games from, the grade dates don't match up with any of the sold boxes and I don't see the Cert having been sold on HA, so I am assuming that they were not acquired through HA.  

Going deeper, I looked through his feedback, I cannot find any feedback of Haspel selling WATA graded games before sometime last year.   More interesting, EVERY sale is BIN/OBO.  So I started running down some sales.  

Now again, to give Haspel the benefit of the doubt, I can't view the cert.  I can't view the seal grade on his copy.  So MAYBE there is a slight difference between HA sales and Haspel's copy and thats why Haspel gets a better price.  But... again that smell test.

Raiders of the Lost Ark 9.6

HA March 2021 $336 MSH "Past 6 Months" $875 obo

Pac-Man Atari 5200 9.0

HA No direct comp, 8.0 A++,   Feb 2021 $240, 8.5 A++ Feb 2021 $288, Open box 3 pac April 2021 $432 ($144 per game).  MSH "Past 6 Months" $425 obo

Raiders of the Lost Ark 9.4 Atari 2600

HA Jan 2021 9.4 NS $168, Feb 2021 9.4 NS $ 312, April 2021 9.4 NS $210, August 2021 9.4 NS $168.  MSH "Past 6 months" $650 obo

Donky Kong 9.6 Intellivsion

HA Dec 2020 9.6 NS $444, Dec 2020 9.6 NS $432.  MSH "Past 6 Months" $750 obo

Pac-Man Atari 5200 9.6

HA June 2021 9.6 NS $456.  MSH "Past 6 Months".  $1,750 obo

Jungle Hunt 9.0 A++

HA January 2021 $79.  MSH "Past 6 months".  $135 obo

The Earth Dies Screaming 9.6 Atari 2600

HA Jan 2021 $408.  June 2021 $312.  MSH "Past 6 months".  $750 obo.

 

OK I am going to stop here, I can do more later if you guys want but I need to make dinner.  But EVERY SINGLE LISTING is sold for OBO listed DOUBLE of market price in most cases (that Pac Man sticks out so I wonder if there is some reason he had it listed for such an insane amount).  But yea, this just adds to the smell test issue.  Not only is the guy who works with WATA selling WATA graded games, every single one is getting hit on the button for significantly more than the market at the time.  

So you’re saying he was able to get his games graded very quickly even though he’s not an employee?!  or did he pay the rush fee to grade common Atari games?

and Bronty chiming in and cherry picking one data point where Haspel turned a $50 Profit just shows how biased he is in all of this.

On 9/2/2021 at 5:28 PM, Domo Arigato said:

I'll just post a quote that I made in the other thread on this matter.

 

 

So youre resorting to whataboutism instead of debating facts surrounding the current situation.

On 9/2/2021 at 5:19 PM, Domo Arigato said:

There's also another possible reason for that.

It's called knowing how to grade and buying appropriately. 

 

Haha so you think a listed executive on a grading company website should know how to grade and sell his graded games on the open market when the ceo of said company said they don’t allow either?

On 9/2/2021 at 5:11 PM, Domo Arigato said:

Anyone that can read the reporting by Seth, and not bust out laughing, must have robot blood in them.  I'm surprised the guy doesn't have some automatic ominous music playing in the background while you read his report.  The "Mysterious Bronty". 

The mysterious Bronty then picked up a book to read.  As he read the first page, he glanced to his left.  What was he looking at?  Was it possibly someone wanting to make a nefarious deal with him?  Or was he silently contemplating evil things he could do before delving into what very possibly could be a book on market manipulation?  We have reached out to him for comment, but of course, his silence speaks volumes on the matter.

I might as well run down and pick up a copy of the National Enquirer.  They have a bit of truth sprinkled in too......along with the two-headed alien babies.

 

There's a difference between Haspel poking a bear and poking a loon.

 

The thread has been locked and scrubbed more than once.  I don't think there was any kind of great revelation here.  If people would stop trying to silence opposing opinions, viewpoints, and facts that disagree with their conclusions, then perhaps it wouldn't happen.

 

 

Seths reporting is over the top. The one article lumping Politics into this was garbage. Mark Haspel having an eBay sales page selling Wata graded games is not a good look. That’s a fact. Let’s see if there’s any further investigation. I’d be willing to bet he’s selling More than common Atari games.

On 9/2/2021 at 3:04 PM, wombat said:

Hard to tell which side you are talking about. 

Is he biased? I havent noticed!

On 9/2/2021 at 2:27 PM, comicwiz said:

It's not even just a bad look. In and of itself, the actions are abhorrent. Collectively though, and in the face of the other allegations, it's like a monsoon level bad. 

Again, if this were someone that had never been groomed under a policy where conflict of interest - perceived or real - detrimentally impacts the appearance of impartiality, one might say, maybe he didn't know.

But he did know.

Even when Pat Conti alleges in the video that he saw Haspel hurriedly working a convention floor looking for sealed games, then walked the ones he bought over to WATA - it's basically hearsay, and we don't really get a sense of a time when this occurred in relation to his involvement with WATA (i.e. was this before he began with WATA, etc.)

Revealing he was, and is still actively selling on eBay is made even uglier for the simple reason that no one twisted Denis Kahn's arm to go on record, in one of the worlds most recognized newspapers in the country, and say that people working for WATA can't have their games graded by WATA.

These all look WATA graded to me.

If you check his sales history there’s a boatload of 9.6 and 9.8’s. What’s that naked gun meme “nothing to see here!”

On 9/2/2021 at 12:27 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

 

 

Has it occured to you that Bronty is trying to get this thread shut down? 

The buyer of the first Super Mario for 100k stepped forward (Jim Halperin and co.). Why hasnt anyone stepped up and stated they bought one of these recent high sales. All of a sudden everyone is anonymous on all of these purchases. If I paid 1.5 mil for a game a few months ago I would want to put everyone at ease and step forward and say yes I paid this much for this game, here is the proof and I stand by my purchase. Maybe that's not possible because these games are being bought by someone with a vested interest i.e Wata. What better advertising could they get for 1.5 mil? 

On 8/31/2021 at 4:37 PM, jimjum12 said:

He's doing this on eBay in the open... what is it, Fraud by Appointment ?

Doing Fraud Right Since 1969 ? 

Are we sure this isn't butthurt from people who are failing to do what Haspel is succeeding at ?

How much of the market share do these few gentleman cater to ? I've yet to see those numbers. 

GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Of course we’re jealous! He’s potentially printing money over there. We only see the Atari 9.8 factory on eBay. I bet the real money is in the private sales of Nintendo games. 

On 8/31/2021 at 4:30 PM, COI said:

I wasn't the one asking about the W2. 

I don't think Haspel's involvement is a good look at all, for what it's worth. 

Optics are bad, but I'm waiting for the bodies. Abramson is certain the financial future of America is at stake, so I'm holding my outrage until the evidence is clear and the arguments are tight.

Abramson is a tool. But this recent discovery about Haspel is one of the most interesting things he’s presented thus far. 

On 8/31/2021 at 4:19 PM, COI said:

How does that invalidate what I just said about the motivated reasoning around here?

And he didn't try to say Hapel wasn't employed by WATA, he ASKED whether or not Haspel drew a W2. He was drilling down specifically into the words being used and whether the evidence warranted those words. I know you want to wave this stuff away, but it matters. It's the different between good and bad evidence/weak and strong arguments. 

So give ME a break. 

You think it matters if he has a w-2? That’s weaksauce. He’s on the executive page of the company. This isn’t a large company either. Also if you look at his eBay store Sales over the last year it’s all Atari 9.2-9.8’s. He’s cranking them out like a factory over there.

On 8/31/2021 at 4:05 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Give me a break.   Bronty wasn’t called out when the new article was posted.  He just jumped in again & tried to say that Haspel wasn’t employed by Wata.  He was shown to be wrong, and then took his ball and went home.

I’ve seen many people defending Haspel’s actions on other forums and groups. I guess if you have significant sums of money invested in this hobby you want the pump to keep pumping!

1 hour ago, Mxwll Smrt said:

No, that's not what I've been saying...and that’s not why I made the suggestion to put you on the list... I actually agree that if and when there's a sense of funny business that its ok to bail…

In my eyes, and I watched everyone's bids, you were very much a key part of the problem.

And I feel you ruined the listing…7 days out... and I have every right to post my perceptions/experience... and although you may be of the belief what you did was a "big fat nothing burger" or that I’m a “drama queen, difficult”, etc, I see your behavior as harmful to board members… and you’ve solidified it by making a few defamatory, retaliatory and meritless claims here… especially that I was unethical and dishonest and somehow had something to do with the bid increments.

IMO, based on what I saw and experienced, your bidding behavior was inexperienced and then your attempt to blame me on the eBay mail system for what you very much was responsible for is why you're nominated.

As a bidder, you, along with another, drove the book’s pricing...and although others intermittently put in their bids, you and the other drove the price above GPA… in fact, as you know, you helped drive it to the highest price for the grade ever within the first 3 days of a 10 day listing.

Both you and the other were nominated… but he’s not a board member. 

And here’s what I saw… You, along with 9 others (3 were out quickly) drove the price up to $9900.00 in 3 days time. You, along with the other "big shot" bidder began to go back and forth with each other within 12 hours of the listing’s start… and I watched…

… and the book (with all of you) went from $9.99 onward... and up... and every time you were displaced as the top bidder, you came back big and strong... and so did other bidders that were leaving margins on their bids so they wouldn't be displaced… but you kept going... you had to be on top (see the attachment with the bids)...

I do not mean to insult you, but being so heavy 3 days in to the listing was your deal and a sign of either a lack of experience or a “I’m going to get this book at any cost”…. and that is just what it was.... your choice...

Your commentary that I was somehow unethical with the listing has been proven to be absurd... but it hasn't stopped you... and you cancelled all of your bids but it didn't collapse the listing... it made everyone uncomfortable. 

I think otherwise of your reasoning.... but hey, let Shai Hulud judge…

Youre totally wrong. Your assessment is off just like you think mine is. The only difference is I can admit that I was wrong and it does not appear like shill bidding. When I made the decision to retract I made a judgement call. I didnt do anything shady or out of line. It seems like most people who are reasonable agree that its not a big deal to pull your bid if you suspect shady behavior. Ebay is not regulated and there is a lot of funny business. My buddy consigned an item with a very famous auction house on ebay and it ran a total of 6 times. The first 5 times it kept hitting high prices but the buyer "mysteriously" did not pay. This past week it sold for a third of the price it was hitting in the 5 times prior and this time they paid. Just one example of the funny business that goes on at ebay.

1 hour ago, Gaard said:

Just an FYI ... if I was bidding on a book, and for whatever reason I suspected funny business was going on, I wouldn't hesitate to retract my bids (if the auction was still going on).

Thats all I was saying yet this guy posts a warning about me for doing just that. If i pulled out of the auction last minute or won and didnt pay thats one thing but I got bid up in 1k increments the same day i put in my bid. I have a good reputation and have bought and sold many high dollar books without a hitch. This is the first time ive had an issue with a seller about something like this.

20 minutes ago, ExNihilo said:

@Charleybrown @Mxwll Smrt

I may be off the mark on the intended purpose of the eBay Blocked User thread, but I sense this is devolving into something that is better suited to PM's.  You both stated your case and now it's up to the community to decide whether they want to add you to their personal blocked lists.

From my perspective, neither party is looking very good right now.

Fair enough. I originally came here to state my case that this guy was salty and overreacting about a nothing burger. It seems like he has a history of doing this. In any case ill stop posting about this and I apologize if we clogged up the thread.