Either this is the magical point where the profits from PWCC aren’t worth the trouble anymore, or this is simply about shutting them down because they have been shilling their own auctions.
That shilling must either be in the form of employees or employees conspiring with consignors. I don’t believe they would make this move based on consignors alone, doesn’t make sense. As the platform-provider, Ebay are responsible for any would-be (currently inexistent) security installations to prevent shilling. Surely, they would have a hard time maneuvering around that in any legal scenario.
I figured. It was highly recommended, so I finally sent a few bigger cards there. I actually sold a few of them, but am now worried about the others and was curious how everyone was reacting to this. I saw the comment above where a payout request was made, which is understandable.
Do PWCC reps get a commission? I have had a guy call me from PWCC often trying to get me to consign with them or use their vault and was super pushy, seemed odd.
PWCC is the last major player to not be bought out. Perhaps negotiations are tough and their buyers are unforgiving. Keep in mind the guys who bought CGC, Goldin, PSA, etc. have virtually unlimited influence. They probably know everyone on the board of eBay on a first name basis.
I’m guessing there’s some power dynamic here. The impact of eBay’s decision is far greater than the problem they’re trying to solve. PWCC has policies and procedures around shill bidding and a system in place to identify when I bid on my own cards with my eBay account. PWCC actively manages this.
The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Somebody else is flexing. Why would eBay send an email calling out PWCC? This has agenda written all over it.
Most likely just a song & dance between ebay/pwcc negotiating for terms, pwcc realizing they didnt have enough leverage and working on something internal and ebay taking the early chance to give them the boot and try to steal back the trading card auction market. Imho it’s more likely to be bad for ebay than it is bad for pwcc if they can move quickly but who knows, there is a huge element of ease with ebay in terms of everybody has accounts, payment processing setup, tooling, all of that those switching costs are pretty high when moving to a new platform so pwcc better make something sick if they are going to run with it themselves.
That’s quite surprising considering PWCC sets the standard and likely holds a massive % of the whole volume of eBay’s trading cards/collectables section. I have almost my entire net worth tied at PWCC and quite frankly I’m not too worried for the time being, so far over the last few years they’ve treated me waaaay better than eBay has as a seller. Wouldn’t mind cutting the middleman here that is eBay, with all its limitations.
But… why did eBay send this email out to anyone who isn’t a PWCC employee?
I’ve bought from PWCC on many occasions but I’ve had nothing yet, so I’m guessing this email was only sent out to US eBay users perhaps? Either way, I don’t understand why this needed to be broadcast to the public by eBay themselves. It gives off very strong competition stifling vibes.
At any rate, if PWCC play their cards right they could become the de facto trading card marketplace if all ties with eBay are severed.
**Thanks for reaching out about the issue. We find Ebay’s allegations against us as completely untrue and slanderous. PWCC is proud of the work we do to create a trusted marketplace and for that reason we vehemently deny their claims.
While the transition away from Ebay may have come a little faster than we would have liked and under different circumstances, we are excited about the opportunity presented to us to create our own proprietary marketplace under PWCC’s website and brand… A marketplace that is designed with the trust and safety the public deserves.
This marketplace will be introduced soon and we look forward to its presentation. You will have the option to have your cards shipped back to you once theyre uploaded if you wish to do so.**
Just FYI I received no emails from eBay and I’ve been buying from pwcc regularly. I wonder what the selection criteria was for who got the email and who didn’t
From what I have read here it seems like ebay have sent this email out to lots of people which PWCC feels is slanderous to them - so I’m guessing there has been some disagreement.
Honestly I think this will be the best move for PWCC whether it was forced or not. I’ve always had a great experience with them, sure sometimes stuff doesn’t get paid, but they are one of the only auction houses that actually tell you if items are getting paid or not - you have to respect that. Most of the time my items do get paid. They also currently are the king of Pokemon card sales although I don’t know how it is in sports cards. They have also built up a huge brand and image which they will take with them to their website.
My guess is independently they will save whatever their ebay % fees are and have gained from years of marketing through ebay.
I monitor heritage/pwcc/goldin for deals - and best believe I’ll be monitoring PWCC on their website.
In my opinion it was a very unprofessional email sent by ebay without any evidence supporting their claims provided publicly I’m disappointed in ebay.
PWCC probably does more to prevent shills on their listings then ebay does on every other listing!
