Discussion: Dealer Knowingly Bids Against His Customers Then Offers The Item To The Customer Anyway.

parcelpostguy:

More details are needed here. Were you there when it happened? Did your dealer leave the cover in his show stock? Did your dealer have the cover on the back table in an open box or in an open briefcase? Did your dealer wave the cover under the other guy's nose?

Whatever the answers are, this person should be called Hustler, not Poacher.

Solution for you parcelpostguy for shows: Become a dealer, perhaps an American Philatelic Society dealer-member. I think that status could get you into at least an APS-sponsored show before the general public is allowed in.

A similar thing happened to me. I was bidding on an auction and there was one bidder that was bidding over my every bid until the bidder went over what was the maximum that I wanted to pay for it. Then around a week later I went to a local stamp show and a dealer says to me that he had something that he knew I was interested in. He had the exact item that I lost the bid on and he was selling it for around double what it went for in the auction. I told him that I was the underbidder in that auction and that I stopped bidding when the item went over the price that I wanted to pay for it. Thus, I told him that I wasn't interested in paying double for it, especially now that I knew who had bid against me for it.

Jogil,

The dealer was gambling that you wanted it REALLY badly (or didn't realize they were bidding specifically against you).

I've had dealers do this to me (for me?) in the past. In some cases, I paid up because the item was still at a price I could live with, but in other cases, like you I passed. The most memorable case I can recall was an inadvertent one: in the auction of Steve Belasco's stamp dealer material, I ended up bidding against Richard Friedberg on a group of United States Stamp Co. stock certificates from 1866... superb items. I bid him up extremely high, but he ended up winning out. It wasn't until after the fact that I learned he was the one who won the lot, and I ended up buying one of the pieces from him. He still uses an image of one of the certificates in his ads. When he learned that I was the competing underbidder, he was annoyed with me, stating that I should have just used him as an agent and we wouldn't have bid against one another costing the other money. Oh well, I don't use agents, nor did I have any way of knowing he was the competing bidder.

In a different case, when I wouldn't pay what the dealer wanted for the material, he ruefully cried "but I bought this for you!"

#1. Not at that price!

#2. More importantly, I never asked you to buy anything for me. Unless I contract with you to act on my behalf, it's on you, not me. Don't make assumptions (or presumptions).

I'm not only a cheapskate about certain things, but also extremely particular, so I almost never ever give anyone free rein to go out and get material on my behalf, unless it's bulk wholesale material of the cheap variety, or something at a predetermined rate or maximum. Never anything carte blanche.

It's just dealers doing dealer things. *shrug*

"Solution for you parcelpostguy for shows: Become a dealer, perhaps an American Philatelic Society dealer-member. I think that status could get you into at least an APS-sponsored show before the general public is allowed in."

Doesn't the APS only sponsor GASS? and I'm not so sure you could get in early without being a booth holder.

A. Not at the booth, but elsewhere in the venue during the Thursday set-up day.

B. No

C. No. It was in material grouped for patrons who were coming to pick up the items already purchased. The entitled dealer was just caught going through everything looking for items to "borrow" to try to sell in the show. Money does not change hands at that time. He is quite well known for that action.

D. No, rather he needed to beat him back with a stick.

Now on a different item which I would have purchased in a heartbeat went to a collector/accumulator who was able to walk the floor during set up day. He sometimes assists a dealer at their booth. Saw a cover under a dealers table plastic marked $900 and purchased it outright, no discount requested. The Scott Catalog for such covers starts at $6500.00. Of the hundreds of dollars of $5, $2 and several 20-50 cent Prexies was one 901, 3c Defense making up the odd cents needed. I collect the Defense issue and that is the only way one finds defense on high postage and fees items.

I have no interest to take a booth as a dealer and more importantly I have no dealers stock of material to offer for sale. Nor do I want to particularly work a booth as help.

The Al Kugel first part Cherrystone Auction has some material in my area of interest and several dealers contacted me to see what I would be bidding on as they did not want to bid against their customer. Much to their surprise my answer was nothing. The two items I am looking for are not in the first part. [One is a usage for which two are known and I would like to own Al's as well. The other is a low retail value but high rarity piece I am afraid will in up in some huge remainder lot.] Otherwise what is being offered will not improve my holdings. The only item of real interest is a piece which seems to have a stamp missing and or cannot be rated in its current state. It is not the Alaska 423/Q-11 tag which is missing a stamp.