Miguel Cabrera 2011 GU Phoenix Bat!!!

[dangerzone79]

Kudos to Chris, right on. I'm fairly new here but it does feel like a very supportive, tight knit, family atmosphere. I love that.

[tella27]

Chris is solid - I figured he would take care of the issue.

[xpress34]

I work 98% of the time out of the country with my new job... therefore, I rarely have time now to keep up with GUU.

Again my apologies. I have a pic of the original slide my buddy took (photographer for MLB, Getty... Etc.) and he has given me a copy of the photo in which he took that shows somewhat of a match (somewhat because of the size/no very much use). Unfortunately, I do not have the original digital image to post for proprietary reasons (as everyone is aware, anyone who works for these major photography sources have rights for their images).

The actual copy of the photograph he gave me is small 5x7 (Could be smaller).

I will do my best to post the HOF Bats COA once I get back into the country as I am away for business this week.

Lastly, As for taking three days to refund the money I apologize again. I was out of the country and because of past HACKING issues overseas I did not want to open/access my account until I returned to the USA.

I would hope due to my long standing relationship/dedication to this website that it would not hurt my reputation in anyway, but everyone is entitled to their personal opinion.

I know my response to this bat was completely unprofessional... Therefore, again, my apologies to the buyer/anyone who was offended.

I broke down your response to analyze it and try to make sense of it for myself and everyone else who was blown away by this brazen unprofessionalism.

Facts (from the thread):

7/12/13 (Friday) Bat is offered for sale.

7/14/13 (Sunday) One poster says he'll take it and posts his eMail. (no public response from you)

7/16/13 (Tuesday) Another poster says Money Sent (guessing he eMailed you outside the forum to make the deal)

7/16/13 (Tuesday) Just 10 minutes after the 'Money Sent' post, you renege on the deal and say you have a photo match and money is being refunded.

7/22/13 (Monday) You post your response to the criticism.

1st, I'm no Lawyer, but I have studied Contract Law for work and since you made an explicit offer and it was accepted, and paid for, you are LEGALLY bound to the deal. If the buyer so desires, he can sue you for Breach of Contract. Your offer was made in a public forum and I'm sure he can show proof of the agreement via eMail between you and proof of electronic (I'm guessing) payment before you changed the terms of the contract. Just letting you know that beyond being unprofessional, it's illegal.

2nd, if your buddy shoots for Getty, I'm sure he can get you a better copy than a 5x7. I have friends who are professional photographers and this part just makes no sense. To that end, you claimed to have a photo match, now it's 'maybe' a photo match?

3rd, I guess I'm missing something on the 3 days to refund, as per my notes above from reading the thread, it appears you refunded 10 minutes after the post that payment was made.

Finally, your 'hope' that your longstanding relationship etc would keep your reputation from being hurt. It only takes once. If another 'longstanding' member screwed someone here, would you simply forgive them and move on? What about people like JO Sports. If he only faked ONE GU jerseys, should it be forgiven?

It sucks if you find out something might be worth more after the fact, but if you didn't have the time to research it because of your job, why should the buyer be the one who has to suffer? You either shouldn't have listed the bat to begin with, or you should be a big enough person to let him have the bat for the agreed upon price.

IMHO that is the ONLY way you might salvage some of your reputation. If you're not willing to do that, why would anyone ever consider buying from you again? The deal wouldn't truly be done until they had the item in their hands. You've changed your mind one here - who says it won't happen again.

I've said it many times on these boards - and I'll say it again - in this hobby, the ONLY thing you truly have is your reputation. And it only takes one bad transaction that you aren't willing to make right to destroy it.

Sorry for the rant, but just wanted to share my .02.

- Smitty

P.S. - I would be very interested to hear from the BUYER and their take on the whole turn of events.

[anthony3133]

I, among the rest of you, really respect Chris and the site, so I really don't want to comment much until Chris had addressed the situation to his satisfaction. I'm not much into drama, so I wasn't going to really press the situation as it stood, however, I do appreciate Chris watching out for us and the integrity of the hobby and he evidently wanted a little more explanation based on his reading of the thread.

I did, however, want to respond to Smitty's inquiry: Payment was actually sent on Saturday 7/13 after a deal had been made through email/text. I was told if payment were sent on that Saturday, the bat would be mailed Monday. I simply asked after payment was sent, that the seller confirm payment was received (we all like that peace of mind when it comes to sending $ electronically).
I did not receive a response all of Saturday or all of Sunday. On Monday, he finally responded to tell me he would look to make sure he received payment (which by then I confirmed through paypal that he had) and again, asked for my mailing address that I already provided when payment was sent. I did not hear back. The next day, I posted on the forum that payment was sent, hoping to receive a reply since I failed to hear back via text/email. So, while I expected that the bat was in midshipment by that time, the seller then promptly posted about canceling the sale.
Just wanted to clear that up.....

[frikativ54]

Just FYI, I don't think that this is the first time this seller has engaged in a shady transaction. Check out the following thread:

Another Forum Member Ripped Me Off!

Also, I was a bit disturbed by the quoted comment from Clayton in the following post:

On Women Collectors.

Just thought that this is important information, when talking about Mr. Lemmons.

[commando]

I have a feeling the bat is on its way to someone else, who probably paid more $$$$... It'll be interesting to see if Mr. Cavalier's requests are met.

[rchimes13@yahoo.com]

My feelings are, based on timing etc., that the seller needed cash so he found a way to get an "advance" and then refunded once he had resources to do so! I'm willing to bet the bat was never in his hands or if it is/was he never had intentions to actually follow thru with sale....who would sell a Cabrera Tigers era gamer for $500????

[Hoosier39]

My feelings are, based on timing etc., that the seller needed cash so he found a way to get an "advance" and then refunded once he had resources to do so! I'm willing to bet the bat was never in his hands or if it is/was he never had intentions to actually follow thru with sale....who would sell a Cabrera Tigers era gamer for $500????

Interesting. Never thought of this one...

[STLHAMMER32]

My feelings are, based on timing etc., that the seller needed cash so he found a way to get an "advance" and then refunded once he had resources to do so! I'm willing to bet the bat was never in his hands or if it is/was he never had intentions to actually follow thru with sale....who would sell a Cabrera Tigers era gamer for $500????

I remember seeing this bat for sale by Tim @ HOF BATS....I can't remember the original price but it was listed at a great price and I believe that his description detailed the bat not being a known brand for game use but likely BP which may have justified the price being low...I have a photo of him using the phoenix brand in a game, however..

[tella27]

My feelings are, based on timing etc., that the seller needed cash so he found a way to get an "advance" and then refunded once he had resources to do so! I'm willing to bet the bat was never in his hands or if it is/was he never had intentions to actually follow thru with sale....who would sell a Cabrera Tigers era gamer for $500????

Paypal pretty much allows people to get 30 day interest free loans. Say a claim would have been put in the seller can drag everything out for almost 30 days before Paypal sends the buyers money back. This seems to happen pretty often on eBay. Those "great deals" aren't so great sometimes. Its cheaper than a payday loan.