Cartel Ebay Accounts NARU'd

It's been a while since I last heard about this scum seller but glad to see Philip Rhyle is still being re-exposed here.

Could someone enlighten the rest of us by the term "cartel sellers" are there other entities involved with P.R. and don't people like him (and I use the term people very generously) usually work in solitude?

I don't mean to include shady sellers or dealers who overlook flaws, embellish or misdescribe the condition of their material, though that in itself is a crime against responsible philately, just on a different scale.

--Jim Wentzell
stampguyaps177-681

Jim,
I think that there is a misconception with 'cartel sellers'. Some folks assume there is a group involved (probably taken from the term cartel) but it is just PR. PR does use his girlfriend and does hire some help in his activities but he is the person behind the fraud.

If you search on this forum on 'cartel' you will find that the community here is quite active in keeping hobbyists informed. But as you can see, there are always some hobbyists who are willing to deal with the very worst sellers no matter how much it damages the hobby. <shrugs>
Don

Thanks Don for the quick reply....

Yes I concur, it's like dealing with the devil; shouldn't be done unless you are doing so for a much greater principle. Like participating in some sort of sting or fraud exposure. Maybe even buying something and leaving negative feedback, or disputing receipt of a correctly described item, in order to enlighten others about deceptive practices.

Just because you're "getting a great deal" doesn't justify enriching the criminals.

My two cents.

--Jim Wentzell
stampguyaps177-681

No, but rescuing material from his stock might lead one to make a few buys. Pretty slippery slope though.

Not to mention that one doesn't always research every product they buy to see if the seller of the goods is squeaky clean. The posters here that downplay a company like Nike exploiting child labor because it's not as important to them as a regummed stamp is just silly. My point is not that I endorse the cartel since I have never made a purchase from them and I doubt I ever will but if a savvy buyer spots a deal then who am I to judge who they purchase from and what they purchase?

Everyone is entitled to an opinion about dealing with a known criminal. And everyone is entitled to have an opinion about others dealing with known criminals. People are going to deal with whoever the wish, but once it is made public in a thread then anyone is entitled to give that opinion as a response.

Amazing how some posters draw a moral equivalency between the supply chain practices that some large corporations employ in order to meet the expectations of consumers and the criminal, as defined by law, operations of PR. There are no parallels between the two. It is like lumping credit card companies that charge exorbitant interest rates in with leg breaking loan sharks. One is legal and one is not.

I do judge people that know what PR is about and yet choose to patronize him. Trying to rationalize it by using the same old tired song of evil corporations being the same does not cut it.

As I mentioned, PR does indeed use other people to run his business. Since he has committed felonies and has been deported he is no longer allowed in Canada, Ireland, or the US. So instead he uses agents (i.e. his girlfriend) in the larger auctions bidding specifically on stamps he knows he can alter for profit.
The auction houses know exactly who she is and who they are dealing with, but obviously they do not have skin in the game of helping the hobby. They are a business and they are making a buck. Hobbyists who deal with him also have no skin in the game of helping the hobby, they too a putting profit ahead of the hobby. It is what it is.

I find it interesting that a lot of folks get upset with the 'grading trend' driving the loss of rarer material but my opinion is that this one person has also permanently altered huge amounts of the rarer material in our hobby.
Don

If you want to see evidence of shill bidding just do a search for recently sold high-end NH stamps. I just did a search for sold stamps matching "244 NH" in unused 19th century stamps and saw multiple examples of the same stamps selling repeatedly for about the same amount from multiple cartel sellers. It isn't hard to see. Here is just one example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1893-US-Co...263288086435
and
https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-1893-4-...282732395130

You can see these every day. The evidence of shill bidding is extremely clear.

He's gotten even more clever- the shill bid accounts do not show a high proportion of bidding on his lots. Which means, he owns A LOT of these accounts. Not terribly surprising, accounts can be purchased for a price.

Where the Heck are all these bidders when I need em. LOL
I'm practically Giving stuff away.

XFstamps is still active and this lot is grossly misidentified as a rare variety


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kedah-Mala...AOSwgsxaYfX~

Here is one coil he has for sale. What a joke.
Look at the cut on that one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Frankli...AOSwRLZaXNtU


He has some interesting stuff. Look hard for flaws and do not buy anything that can be modified from another stamp. I have bought a few items from this guy with no issues, but buyer beware. But I always look for problems and never bid if I cannot see the back. But I do that will all dealers on ebay. Get a good deal or pass.

My understanding is that he or a close confederate are expert regummers. I saw a few interesting stamps in his listings than cannot be mistaken for or modified from another stamp, but does he not also repair a lot of items or change out the gum?

You can usually tell a re-gum by the darkened perfs on the obverse on one edge.
Also look for re-perfs. If the perfs are too symmetrical and clean, they are usually recut.