Did I miss this on the forum?

[softball66]

Guys I apologize if this is already posted, 40 plus mint gloves from the 1950s etc. on eBay. If so, I apologize, but wanted to know what everyone thought, where these came from etc.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Baseball-Gl ... dZViewItem

[BretMan]

I don't remember seeing any posts here about that auction and hadn't yet seen it on eBay either. It says that the auction ended early due to "an error in the listing"- likely an off-eBay offer to skirt the sellers fees.

The strange thing about this is that I seem to remember that same lot of gloves being sold on eBay a couple of years ago. My memory might be fuzzy on this, but a lot of gloves like that tends to stick out. I also remember the photos of the printed lists showing which gloves were in the sale.

Could it be the buyer from a couple of years ago moving the whole lot?

[vintagebrett]

Yes, those gloves have been up before. I was going to bid at the end but they disappeared about a day before the auction was supposed to end. There were some nice Sonnett's i was interested in. If anyone on the forum was able to purchase the lot, you know where to reach me.

[softball66]

I would bet money this lot of gloves came originally from the Lepsett sale in the late 1980s and which many are featured in the Mace glove book, i.e. Hoffman, Herman, Hack, Dark, Rizzuto etc. Be interesting to know where this seller got these.

[kenyon]

This is my theory. This seller didn't intend on going through with the auction, just testing the market.

[softball66]

Well, to show how faint my memory is and how accurate one of our posters is, yes this lot has been put on eBay before. And like before, the seller felt disappointed that so many low-ball, private offers were being made, and that it would be better just to end the sale early and that was THE ONLY REASON. The seller told me they would really like to get in to someone's hands who would appreciate the gloves. And, no, they did not come from the Lepsett sale but from a family member's store when it closed.

[vintagebrett]

Joe, if they want to sell gloves individually, I would definitely have an interest in the Sonnett / OK gloves.

[kenyon]

Joe, I would be definately interested in a few of the Spalding models.

[david bushing]

Joe, the guy made a point of not taking a buy it now and I, like most ebay bidders, left a rather large snipe bid but he ended it early. I guess I question his legitimacy since he obviously lied about not ending early and then he did. Is this a sort of show and tell to let people know he has something? There should be an ebay rule that states if you post it, let it run, otherwise keep it to yourself. David Bushing

[kenyon]

We've all seen current bid amounts double, triple, even quadruple in the last few minutes of an auction, that's the reality of auctions.

For him to pull the auction with more than a day remaining does not provide an accurate view of true interest in this lot of gloves.

[softball66]

At least my read on this seller is that they seem sincere to me. The collection or "assembly" was left behind to them and they appeared to me to be indifferent to needing the money for the lot or for an urgent requirement to sell it. That's my impression at least. They're reading the glove forum and were a little upset at the "digs," on motive. And more upset, it seems, from the email they were getting thru eBay.
I certainly don't want the seller to be angry about the response.
Could be that they might want to break up the collection or consider what is to them " a sensible offer," for the group. I don't know for sure, and had forgotten I'd talked to them before.
For me, EBay is NOT always the best way to sell an item or items. And certainly it opens one up to rather severe scrutiny from time to time.
My two cents.

[vintagebrett]

I agree that you often get lowball offers through eBay. However, if you put an item up for auction with no reserve and then end it before all bids have been placed, people who had a serious interest are bound to be a little suspicious. If you have a price in mind for the group, put a buy it now price up or a reserve. At least then, the serious buyers know what is expected and can make their decision based on that.

[Studboy]

I also contacted seller after the item was ended early as I was VERY interested in the lot. I was told by the seller that they ended the lot because people didn't think they would ship the item to them (it was listed as local pickup only). They didn't show any interest is selling off eBay. I to feel that if you list an item with no reserve you should let the auction run otherwise use a reserve. If they are reading the posts feel free to contact me, I'm interested in the bunch.

[lefty147]

They changed the listed at the bottom saying they would ship the lot . Also I can remember seeing that lot at least 2 other times for sale, and for some reason it never gets sold. It does make you wonder if they really want to sell them. Why not just put a reserve on it. Canceling bids to end an auction isn't a good practice. Mike

[BretMan]

Kind of glad to see that others remember these same gloves being on eBay more than once. At least it wasn't just my memory playing tricks on me.

To the seller, if you are still reading these posts: Apologies if any of our speculations caused you to become upset. It's just that when you are presented with an unorthodox set of circumstances- and more than once, at that- then you bound draw unorthodox conclusions.

Why not try listing these gloves, either as a group or individually, in the "For Sale" section of this forum? It's free, there are no eBay fees, you can entertain offers without being bound to sell and you have a built-in audience of readers that would be highly interested in your product.