Response to Claims

[Bootyhunter]

Now tell us all about those tri Fett baggies Jeff

 

[lee gray]

I can actually understand the part about you dont know what you bought from who as I dont keep records myself. I couldnt tell you who i sold or bought 90 percent off my items. I was just going through my feedback from years ago on ebay with star wars ids thinking wonder what I got from them. Also when the the phantom menace came out I had a contact in america who i would send darth mauls to and he would send me new figures and we did quite alot of trades but cant remember who he is now. (but then that was 17 odd years ago))

Now thats out of the way i look forward to hearing your defense about the more solid allegations.

 

[edd_jedi]

Can I just say that I have one baggie I brought to FF that I was not going to sell but had brought it there to show it and get there opinion on was the very odd ESB-a Made in China baggie with a 1995 (I think 90s) Pin Head Han from a later Hassbo 4 pack.
It was not for sale but a part of my own collection . I'm still unsure its Fake looks like a shop or factory sample as the figure is a China COO and I have never seen another ESB-a China baggie ever ??

Sorry Jeff that is simply not true, I was there at that event and the 1995 Han baggie was for sale in the same box as all your other baggies, I asked about it and you gave me a price for it (can't remember amount.) You did say you had not seen another one before, but there was no mention of it being suspect or not being for sale.

Also there is now a third solid example of you selling a baggie you have already been told is fake:

http://starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32568&p=434866#p434866

 

[laurencedyer]

First of all I would like to thank you Jeff for coming onto the Forum to respond to claims as your title suggests as this was the documented format that the investigation group had requested you originally followed.


Secondly
You did actually entitle your post "Responce to claims" which is not what you have done.
I am not a proof reader or anywhere near qualified to start critisising someone elses posts or writing but this is my summary of your responce. I have not even started to discect your second responce as all itis is a continuation to your first responce with no real meat on the bones as to spaek.

Firstly, I'd like to start by saying how seriously I take these allegations of fraud. I am not manufacturing baggies, selling resealed baggies or even knowingly re-selling fake baggies.
Opening statement counteracting the accusations post originally posted by Frank.

I value Frank's knowledge on the subject of baggies and want to believe that he and the team's concerns are well intentioned and in the interest of the hobby. However, I do wish they had contacted me directly to me to clarify these concerns as I have been in regular contact with Frank and several of the other members of the team over the years as they buy baggies from me, so lines of communication were wide open.
Agreeing with the communities original reaction to Franks original post and compounding our faults of posting without discussing this with you before going public.

As a collector of Vintage Star Wars for over 20 years now, I have made some good friends in the hobby but the initial thread that Frank posted has now taken a turn towards that of a lynch mob. In the past week I've been shocked by just how many comments of a more personal nature there are, about my family, home or even the cars I drive. All in reply to Frank's original post about fake baggies, can we please keep to the facts and concerns about baggies?
Briefly summarising the last weeks post and comments that it turned into a lynch mob and that comments where made of a personal nature.

I was interviewed on the Vintage Rebellion Podcast to address the accusation publicly & I tried to do just that. I hope everyone interested has taken the time to listen to it. Since it aired it's become apparent to me that my lack of presence on the Star Wars Forum UK is just adding to people's concerns. So now I've joined SWFUK to post this open letter.
Telling us of his previous defence on the podcast and that the community wanted you to answer here.

Whilst my original intention was to take all my baggies to Frank for inspection, upon reflection I feel that an independent assessment by UKG would be the best option all round. So on Tuesday 17th January 2017, I spoke with Steve Ward of UKG at length and he has agreed to inspect EVERY baggie I have both in both my own personal collection & all my spares (i.e. ones I have to sell/trade).
Advising what actions you are going to take with what you currently have in stoc kby an independant body.

We feel this is the best way to identify any fakes I may have picked up over the years and therefore remove any doubt over the baggies I chose to sell off in the future. Until Steve's report is complete ALL my baggie sales are on hold
Compounding what your previous paragraph said only including the word "We" at the begining rather than "I". Who is the "We" a co conspiritor.

Therefore, so that Steve can inspect them, I ask anyone reading this who has bought ANY of the following baggie types from me in the past to you can return them to me by the end of January for a full refund. SW-a / SW-b / SW-d / ESB-b / ROTJ-a / ESB-H / ESB-H (extra wide) / POTF figures in Palitoy-a & Meccano w/Red Sticker.
Offer of putting things right to correct your reputation.

Once the audit of over 650 baggies has been completed I will be posting a full list of the baggies Steve deems fake, which will be opened and sold as mint loose figures on my stall at future Farthest From events.
Further actions suggested to re-establish your reputation.

I thank you in advance for your patience while we await the facts & assure you that the truth will out.

Yours sincerely

Jeff Glanville
Sign off from the thread.

Here are my thoughts with regards your post.
The thread was entitled Response to Claims but not a single responce to any allogation has been made.
This thread does not address a single accusation but acts as a smokescreen in a similar way to the podcast did of how much of a nice guy you are due to the actions you are going to take.

I will outlined below what I believe needs answering from either the podcast or the original accusations post.
On the Podcast you made the follwing comments.

At the end of the podcast you say this
I have baggies in my collection that Frank said is now right that I will not sell. I do not agree with him as I've checked them and they look right to me… take them to Frank. Me and Grant go to meet him together… amount of baggies I've sold compared to fake is small… got 300 left…
So you said you had 300 baggies yet today you state that you have 650 to audit which is a significant amount of difference from the podcast wouldn't you agree.


At around 42 minutes into the podcast you mentioned that it was believed / claimed that you had around 100 fake baggies and played the quantity down by saying it was not a huge amount, I was surprised no one has picked this comment up before with the lack of concern you had for the number.


42.30
Q. Have you ever sent off a baggie that you knew had been rejected by someone else

No. I've sold these baggies on the post to baggie collectors and they've never said there was a problem and this is going back 3 or 4 years and Frank was one of them and the white ones… I had 16? Of those. Not a huge amount… they reckon I have 100 baggies which are fake? I just the height of 16.5 and the heat seal at the top was different to the bottom… and people said not right but Frank said that's rubbish mate there are difference with top and bottom and ROTJ Boba Fetts had a different seal with a cross hatch. I've measured mine here at 16.5. If someone cut them and put a different figure in it'd be shorter. 4 or 5 mm and be under 16.5. These aren't cut to reseal. I'm confused

I personally have one fake baggie and was disapointed to here it was fake as I had sold it onto someone yet here you brush aside the claim of 100 fakes, why? (My fake was traced back to you).

At 33 minutes on you discuss the fake Meccano Red Label baggies. The whole conversation centres around your actions of refunding the buyer's and not a single mentioned of where they we're sourced further adding to what a great guy you are.
33:07
Q. SO 4 years ago you've sent baggies to Frank. He's looked at them and no these aren't right. Where are those baggies now?
No longer in baggies any more. They're taken out and in loose sets. But if I think they're ok there's a box where all the baggies have come back … and I will not resell that…. It's like I have an issue with these Mecanno baggies bought 3 Boba Fett and 3 Dengar…sold a Dengar and 2 BF, kept the rest for myself. The guy who bought the Dengar has come back and said they're fake… I said oh dear and didn't realise…when put next to the original one you could see it was a lot darker and I had nothing to compare it to I then obviously contacted the guy I sent the Boba Fett to and I said it could be fake do you want money back and he said no give me £250 off it and I said ok. I can't remember the guy I sold the other ones regarding the fakes… couldn't remember his name…that baggie came up on the forum and one of my friends said that baggie…I remember asking Frank… the guy got back to me and said it's a fake. I said yes, he sent it back and I refunded him. Now this morning my paypal is frozen…. I put a post on FB, my email address is there and if anyone has any problems please contact me and I will deal with it the best I can… I've had people contact me to refund all of the baggies they bought off me and that's really unfair because these ones that Frank mentioned is only a small amount of what I sold… can't tar all of them with the same brush. People are obviously panicking and now saying they want all of their money back but I will do my best to refund people if they are not happy to a degree. . they have to prove to me… take them to Frank and he can tell me these ones are fake, these ones are genuine and I just want to get on

You also said that you had purchased the one's mentioned from Rob Glaxon and the Palitoy one's from Chris Murray. The community established who Glaxon was but who is Chris Murray and is he located in the UK?


There is a lot to answer but here are some of the claims that need a response from the original post and evidence that has slowly been revealed during the course of the week.

1. It was demonstrated that a little over a year ago you had an extremely rare ESB - b Fett in your own collection which wasn't for sale and you stated at the time that it was bought over 5 year's ago for a large sum of cash and that you had never seen one since. At the time you demonstrated knowledge of the item's appearance and rarity yet this year you have been able to get a supply of these items with what would appear to be touched up paint on the baggie logo changing it's apperance.
Where did they come from?

2. It has also been documented that you didnt have any Meccano Red Sticker baggies but have been able to get a supply this year.
Where did the Meccano baggies come from?

3. It has also been documented that you have had a supply of Tri Logo Fett Mailers that 1 example has been proven as Fake by AFA and CAS with paint touch ups on the figure. There has also been documented evidence that you have been acquiring Trilogo Fetts.
Where did the supply of Trilogo Fett Mailers come from?

4. It has also been documented that you have also been selling Boosk Mailers where the mailer box is deemed to be fake due to weight and the fresh smell of adhesive.
Where did the boosk Mailers come from?

These are just a few of the more recent allogations that need a responce before the whole Rob Glaxon theory stands any credability.

My personal opinion is that if you want to shake these allogations off and prove your inocence and reasure faith in the community these are the major questions you have to start to answer.

But unfortunately I dont think you can answer them as in my opinion and that is all it is you are a. in cahoots with someone and you are protecting them or b. you are making them yourself hence the allogation in the original post.

 

[Ian_C]

Well, it's great to know Jeff is trying to come on and defend himself, but this second post, like the first, really has a whole lot of.......nothing.

This second post is very long. It starts with a couple of personal issues and his choice on how to respond. Then he mentions Frank's email, but rather than respond, simply says he doesn't know how to trace back emails of his own. Odd defence.

He admits someone helped write his first post. Excellent, but we'd rather see a defence against alleagtaions, not confirmation he didn't write the initial post.

Then we get several lines about people he has met in the hobby. This has what to do about the situation at hand?

Several moments about how he held back from selling to Frank as he was making more money off others. With all the emails shown asking for Frank's opinion, doesn't that seem counter-productive to withhold the "rarest" items from Frank for authentication, regardless of who they would be sold to?

The point about people who might be sending to AFA/UKG is an easy answer. With the amount sold, if a percentage is returned, the net profit is still pretty good. Plus, all the ones returned could just be resold again to other people. With many sales on ebay, the risk of community involvement is lessened too. Note, I am NOT saying this is what was done, just presenting an answer that would easily answer the question IF such a scam is taking place.

There are some comments about reseals on taped baggies being a gamble. Agreed, but the level of detail demonstrated in knowing how to identify all the baggie types would show that under scrutiny, one should easily be able to tell when tape at least a couple of decades old has come apart and been resealed.

Admitting there are a lot of questions to be answered and then changing the topic is not an answer to those questions.

The reason given for not keeping records sounds good, BUT you should still be able to research past paypal transactions and narrow it down.

If you were scammed out of $1400 by Rob Gratson, why would such a scam never be reported? That's a LOT of money. And how can you say the questionable baggies came from him, when just a couple of lines above you said you could never track them and therefore not trace back what came from whom?

If Frank says some were fake, but others disagree, you typically go with the authority. That's like Joe Blow saying Bill McBride is wrong about a DT saber, so you'll sell it anyway.

Edd has answered the 1995 Han baggie issue. That becomes a "he said, she said" scenario to me as obviously I wasn't there, but Edd's credibility isn't being questioned here, so it's hard to stay in the middle on that one.

Then, the post is finished up by saying it's taken a long time to post this, and he'll be back to answer more. In my opinion only, perhaps less time should have been spent on circumstantial evidence and personal stories, and more on answering the actual questions in this last post of yours.

That's two long posts, and both have barely answered anything, although there has been a couple of deflections...

Ian

 

[Frunkstar]

Podcast Transcript

(waffle and indecipherable comments cut)


1:18
Q.  How would you describe yourself as SW collector?
Pretty fun really…collecting over 20 years, mainly baggies…I've recently been collecting cards…got mailers, a lot of loose figures…  it's just a bit of a hobby really… I really enjoy the whole genre of SW the whole craze really.
2:13
Q.  How long you been a seller on ebay?
For about 10 years I've had an account roughly
Q.  and primarily baggies?
Primarily baggies but I also do loose figures…smaller vehicles, just started doing carded figures… I buy cards in order to build a full set
3.00
Q.  Can I ask you to set the scene for baggies.  It's very unusual we have a collector who has such a huge amount of baggies. What is it about baggies that has interested you when most collectors go down the loose route or the carded route first.
I sold my original SW that I had from home…then I realised how much money it was worth so I… started collecting SW figures in a bag, and I noticed that baggies at the time when I was doing this, probably about 15 years ago, I had family in the States and when I was out there I come across quite  few toys out there they were a lot cheaper than the UK, we're talking probably about half the cost, and baggies was something I come across out there and I actually loved the idea of the different varieties of baggies they look lovely mint and crispy in their bags so I just started collecting them, bringing them back to the UK and I started collecting baggies on ebay but they were a lot cheaper back then…until recently ½ price cheaper than they are in the UK because there's so many more of them.  So that started my craze of baggies.  I started them up, put them in a box, displaying them and started collecting all variants… bit of a craze or an addiction as they'd say.
4.52
Q.  How many baggies do you think you've sold?  How many do you think you own?
I have boxes of baggies all over the place.  I've basically got one display of baggies on my wall in my garage of all the nice variants that are more appealing to the eye which people have seen I take nice photographs of that.  I've got boxes of baggies where I've collect doublers, triplers, quadruplers, just because I thought a bit further down the line these are going to be worth some money.  And I've got a big collection… at one point I was over 1000 baggies… most people from the States and I just bought them.
6:05
Q.  As you've got these baggies coming in, you said you'd spot duplicates, possibly put the best examples to one side for display, the rest would go out for sale.  Is that correct?
Yes.  Best examples go in one box, some in my wall for my display.  I've never gone down the route of grading…  (edit – lots of waffle about grading, prefer to have in hand, doesn't like graded loose, baggies, cards)
6.51
Q.  Did you do a lot of research on them for example, on theswca an article on Kenner baggies by Bill Wills and Todd DeMartino?
Yes, yes, that was my bible for the first 6 or 7 years.  I would look at that and see what other baggies were out there.  There were baggies coming out that I didn't know, that were on that guide.  So I bought them anyway because they were saying they were genuine and at the time I didn't realise these could be faked and it was back in 2002/2004.  It wasn't until I met a certain person in the baggie world that really… I'd say was a friend… I used to ask a lot about baggies and he taught me a lot about baggies.  Can't say any names unfortunately apparently.  (edit – he was not told this by me.  This is believed to be Frank Mewes.  He uses names later) 
8.22
Q.  So to set a context on how you see yourself as a baggie collector.   Would you say you've been someone who has contributed to baggie guide, for example new discoveries of baggies, or are you someone who has always gone to the experts for advice?
I always generally went to the Kenner MIHK baggies and didn't have much interest in the standard MIHK baggies…too plain…I thought the ones with the Kenner logo would be worth more money down the line because of the whole look of the baggies because of the tape seal and the heat seal… tape seals are not to collect really, the heat seals are the way to go… obviously I don't really realise the consequences of the tape seal a long time ago…many baggies where tape has dried up and come away from the baggie.  Didn't really make it worth what a baggie is so, another reason why I started selling some of my collection off.  I had to really as I'm coming a bit of a hoarder.  This is why for the last 3 or 4 years I've been sell off large quantities of my baggies
10:10
Q.  You know the reason you're on here….post on swfuk…accusing you of being a manufacturer and distributor of fake baggies…this is your one chance to get your message across… will invite your accusers the same opportunity to respond…we will not be the Jerry Springer show going back and forth.  Likened to ToyToni, McWilliams, Billybob, we want you to be honest and we will be completely impartial.  Can you explain your relationship with us the podcasters.
I know some of your names from someone local.  He buys SW items off me and I drop items off with him for posting…friendly with him…I'm not a media person.  Although I have a FB page my wife set this up.  I don't use it.  I'm not one of these…doing these silly accounts… my life is pretty hectic… when I have a spare hour I'm on the phone or computer looking for baggies on ebay or any SW deals I can find… as I said I buy from the States, I copy all the item numbers…send them to my cousin in the States.  He collects them once every month or 2 depending on how many and that's how I get around postage costs.  Marc Hockley and Grant Criddle is the guys who knows you guys.  Grant's idea for me to come on and put my ideas to you guys…  (edit – we interrupted here off on a tangent)
14.45
Some are saying your silence is a sign of no smoke without fire.   Have you been manufacturing fake baggies?
No.  Not at all.  I wouldn't know where to start.
15:20
Q.  But you've certainly been a distributor.  Sold a vast amount of baggies.  Why were these previously outed baggies been reposted or resold as legit?
I don't quite get you.  Anyone who said they weren't happy. Maybe fake…. I've never sold them on ebay or to anyone else.  I put them in a box here and that's where they stay.   If I look at them and think something isn't right here I normally take them out their baggies and put them in my collection of loose figures.  Someone told me I was reselling them but I don't know which one these are?
16:15
Q.  So when people return.  You inspect them in your hand.  Talk me through the process
I look at it… and if I think they're correct I put them to onside I don't resell them.   I put them aside.   It's my loss.  I don't know how much I paid for them.  I don't know if it was a long, long time ago, or just recent, I only sent the item number to my mate in the States.  As far as I know I don't know where they come… just from ebay.  However, I know where the ones mentioned have come from if I can mention the name… Rob Glaxon (I think) sw a, b and d came from him…spent £4000 on him over a year or 2…. Had a fire in his house…not a nice guy…. Bought lots of baggies from him where were graded and I sold on and they've been fine so I can assume these 'a' ones come from him.  Another guy called Chris  (Murray?  Mottey) … palitoy ones from… he said if they were wrong he'd give me my money back. So I'm asking people if they're wrong…I want to take all my baggie collection.  I want to take them to Frank Mewes in Wales…he can personally inspect them all…I'm really, really stressed out today to be honest with you…posted on FB…Frank thanked me…I posted it wrong or something.  He wants it on the forum apparently…think I need to join or something…spent me an hour putting it on there.
19:13
Q.  Categorically deny making.  If someone sends a baggie back to you and not happy such as FF, you'll put them away.  Are you organised and would have one box with certain fake baggies, or could you put a baggie down in a wrong place and could mix them up?
No.  They are all in different boxes, correct boxes…different variants in different boxes…sold best part of 400 or 500 baggies on ebay in last year… lot of these have been AFA and UKG graded… I'm unaware if they're going to be graded…if I was faking surely I'd be asking people if they'd be grading them?  Then I'd send the real ones for graders, and fake ones for people who only collect them?  I just simply do not know… I get very few back from graders who say they can't grade them for fake.  AFA have been very…?.... palitoy A trilogo Fett… they won't grade in the bag but are happy to grade out of the bag.  But UKGthe guy there Steve he grades quite a few that I've sold to people.  The amount I've sold and graded….very few not happy with tape or font…Ive said send them back and I'll refund.  I've even sold some of these baggies to people who are supposed to be baggie experts and they accepted them and over the moon with them  and I've just assumed, well not assumed, but the baggies I've got which are similar to them are fine.  If I had been told…there was a couple where he said I don't like the look of this one but I may have had only two of them.   I put them to one side…. I've got nearly 13 sets of SW figures that I collect and like putting them together and I've sold quite a sets on ebay and recently I've sold some last 17 sets as well
23:31
Q.  I've bought 3 baggies off you, 2 were fine, 1 I sent back as I already owned it and you refunded.  If I had said Jeff this is fake.  You would accept as refund and then where would the baggie go?
All depends why it was returned…tape seal resealed is problematic from AFA…tape comes away and someone puts a tape over to restick it, I've collected baggies for a long time.  I know what to look for.  I know to look for the top seal, the cross hatching across the top, some have got them, some haven't got them.  Some are just one bag with tape at the bottom.  Some are heat seal with tape at the bottom.   Again I also measure baggies.  I knew about people who cut baggies at the top.  All my baggies which have been returned to me..they conform to top and bottom…tape comes away because they're old.  Where is the reseal?  I can't get to grips with that.  Some of the people said that the font's wrong.  And they put it up with another baggie that similar it…it's blotching.  That could be a print error or something. :? :?
 26:11
Q.  I want to get to the forum post. Have you read it?
It's awful.  Absolutely awful….what these people ..so called my friends. .met at shows… done this and not informed me…didn't ask to meet or go through my collection…. Most of my collection is here in my garage.  Got some stuff in the loft.  Got some stuff in my parent's house.  I've got stuff here there and everywhere…. I'm more than happy showing my entire baggie collection.
27.19
Q. If I turned up to your house now.  Could you show me where the fakes are.  Do you have fake baggies in your collection?
The only fake baggies what I'm aware of are these ones which have been pulled by Frank.  But Frank's not said 100% these are fake.  He's obviously looked at them.  I've actually gone through them and pulled all the ones with the funny text on.  I've probably got about 20-25 of them in total which are pulled out on the site which I have here in my collection and I'm not selling.  They're in my collection.  Why would I keep baggies I know are fake or sell them on?  It makes no sense.  It's pretty bad… naughty really when there's no real evidence.  Some have photographed me dealing… I've just got these whole heartedly and then sold them on down the line.  I remember buying these WA (?) white text logos.  I remember them.  I just put them away.  I sold them in the past and nobody said there was a problem.  Now they're looking at them and saying they're possibly fake.  Bit late guys.  Should have told me way back… we didn't you tell me about investigation…supposed to be my friends… I've just really lost interest in… got all my stuff here…selling these baggies are they're starting to perish…tape drying…invest in carded stuff so selling baggies.  Using these baggies to fund.  I don't really need cash money.  Not as though I'm a poor person I have a successful business.  Houses that I buy and sell on, 3 out on rent.  I don't make baggies for a buck or 2.  I haven't got time… this is just crazy.
END OR PART ONE.
 
PART TWO
30:30
Q.  How long what you say you've known Frank?  Frank has mentioned he's contact you in the past and told you some are fake over 4 years.  Do you have any collection of that?
Yes.  I remember that…I've sent stuff to Frank to check if they're ok… Frank has even bought stuff off me  and said Jeff mate, this is not right and I've said ok and taken it out … he obviously knows his stuff… he bought some stuff off me and accepted it as genuine.  So I'm unaware that stuff I'm selling is supposed to be fake..Stevie from UKG disagrees with a lot of it.  A lot of my stuff goes through him and it's rare something that's not right.  People come to me and say have you got this, have you got that and I have a look.  Sometimes I haven't got all of them, most of the times I have genuine ones, a lot of the people want top end ones and I'm not sell those again.  If I was faking I'd have loads of top end ones… Blue Snaggletooths I was collecting many of them.  I sorted of had at one stage 60 (could be 16) of them.  I've probably got about 4 now that I don't want to sell anymore as they're getting quite rare now and they're in my sets.  Frank I've known probably about 5 years and he's contacted me on many occasions and he's been a real good go to guy and this is why I just can't understand why he didn't contact me about this.
33:07
Q.  SO 4 years ago you've sent baggies to Frank.  He's looked at them and no these aren't right.  Where are those baggies now?
No longer in baggies any more.  They're taken out and in loose sets.  But if I think they're ok there's a box where all the baggies have come back … and I will not resell that…. It's like I have an issue with these Mecanno baggies bought 3 Boba Fett and 3 Dengar…sold a Dengar and 2 BF, kept the rest for myself.  The guy who bought the Dengar has come back and said they're fake… I said oh dear and didn't realise…when put next to the original one you could see it was a lot darker and I had nothing to compare it to I then obviously contacted the guy I sent the Boba Fett to and I said it could be fake do you want money back and he said no give me £250 off it and I said ok.  I can't remember the guy I sold the other ones regarding the fakes… couldn't remember his name…that baggie came up on the forum and one of my friends said that baggie…I remember asking Frank… the guy got back to me and said it's a fake.  I said yes, he sent it back and I refunded him.  Now this morning my paypal is frozen…. I put a post on FB, my email address is there and if anyone has any problems please contact me and I will deal with it the best I can… I've had people contact me to refund all of the baggies they bought off me and that's really unfair because these ones that Frank mentioned is only a small amount of what I sold… can't tar all of them with the same brush.  People are obviously panicking and now saying they want all of their money back but I will do my best to refund people if they are not happy to a degree. .  they have to prove to me… take them to Frank and he can tell me these ones are fake, these ones are genuine and I just want to get on with my life.
36:43
Q.  To not contact you first was I think a mistake.  A lot of people will disagree with that.  But I do understand that Frank is a very knowledge person who is very passionate and he must have been dismayed and angry… a lot of people are…invested money with you…not all of us are rich… you have to appreciate there's a lot of anger out there.  I'm not convinced a fake baggie someone's bought off you… I want to hear you say I will rip it open… I want to hear your intention of these fake baggies.  I worried you've sold them on, or other people have.  I want to hear you're going to stamp this out.
I've put my email up there.  I had my phone number but a lot of people said no as I'll have people phoning all of the time day and night from other countries … the reason why I don't take them out is because it's a baggie that's fake but at least I've got proof of what a fake baggie looks like.  I will never sell a baggie further on to someone that I know is fake…. I want to take these fake baggies…Frank to look at them… he's only seen some of these in photos.. I want him to look at them not rip them up and destroy them.  I would never sell these on for profit, no, definitely not.
39:36
Q.  I understand that but keep all the fake baggies?  Surely a couple of samples would be enough?
Ive kept a sample of each one yeah.  There's quite a few different ones that people have said are not right, or retaped, I've put to one side because the figure inside… hand on heart I would never sell them on.  Never intentionally sell them on.  I have enough baggies here I can sell on ebay and offload and… I sell to lots of people.  Not happy with them I'll give them their money back.  What more can I do?
Q.  Mark the baggies.  Stick a hole in them.  What happens if your kids sell your collection?  Where is the future proofing?
I did say to Frank I'd take 400 or 500 and if he can prove their fake… Frank said he'd ripped them up… I said yes that's fine.  The amount of money I've paid for these baggies going back years now is probably the same cost or more if I got these figures graded.  The figures are new, they smell new.  They're not some old figure which has just been bunged in there.  I can't see  how these are just taken from some kids play box and put into a baggie
42:30
Q.  Have you ever sent off a baggie that you knew had been rejected by someone else
No.  I've sold these baggies on the post to baggie collectors and they've never said there was a problem and this is going back 3 or 4 years and Frank was one of them and the white ones… I had 16?  Of those.  Not a huge amount… they reckon I have 100 baggies which are fake?  I just the height of 16.5 and the heat seal at the top was different to the bottom… and people said not right but Frank said that's rubbish mate there are difference with top and bottom and ROTJ Boba Fetts had a different seal with a cross hatch.  I've measured mine here at 16.5.  If someone cut them and put a different figure in it'd be shorter.  4 or 5 mm and be under 16.5.  These aren't cut to reseal.  I'm confused.
44:30
Q.  You've said only a few.  At FF you had a whole load there
150 baggies, a baggie of almost every figure I had.  I took one of my Fetts… one guy that was really nice to me that I sold lots of baggies too… he spent half an hour going through all my baggies and found 3 that are not right.  Why would I bring fake baggies to a place like that with people knowing what they're looking for.  Frank says he's got photographs of swe's that aren't right.  2 a Luke and a Gamorrean Guard or something… taken them out and put them to one side and I want Frank to check them and tell me what to look for…. Drive to wales… long call last night and I was nearly in tears and he's meant to be my friend
46:50
Q.  You were very open to allow people rummage through your baggies for a considerable amount of time.  You looked like someone with nothing to hide and yet some were found.  Where are these now?
They're here in a separate box.  I won't open them until someone comes and takes a look.  The SW a, b and d… drive to wales… or come here.  I had 2 sw c that are quite rare but I thought they'd look worn and looked naff and they're all come back to me because the graders said fake and they said why they're not right and they're in the box too.  I'm more than happy to give money back.. don't need to collect money I'm not desperate…sold these to people who know about baggies but they never complained so I assume the rest are fine…I'm concerned about baggie tape…drying up… especially ones in loft so I've taken them down. Put them in steel containers… I've got baggies (trash monster?) ex-factory stock and I sent them to Frank and he's like hmmm. Don't know if they're from Kenner or a load of new ones… I just kept them as I know a trash monster (I think that's what he's saying) can go for £50 or £60 and I just bought these for $20 each so I'm making money selling these loose you know
50:00
Q.  You tend to turn a baggie up.  For example, I need a palitoy m.  Have all your baggies come from your collection or do you reach out to another person who supplies them?  Are you the middle man or has all of the baggies come from you?
I've got quite a few plaitoy K baggies… C3PO, 3 of them… can't remember so many… generally people tell me what they want and I do go on the sites ebay in America and I genuinely pick them up.  3 or 4 weeks for certain  baggies as they're cheaper as I don't pay all the postage and the tax to come through as I get it sent in a bulk lot… sometimes help people out sourcing them… not a lot come that way most of what they ask me I have in my collection…some things I haven't got so if I was faking them I'd say ok I can get that for you and that I would fake them wouldn't I… I say I haven't got it… can't understand… I have a lot and lot of baggies… I'm always getting baggies sent to the office from uK or states in job lot… for years… I have a baggie on ebay and some guy says fake… R5 from a damaged popy box and it's tape sealed in ESB c and it's sealed and that's how it comes so I emailed him back and said it's not fake that's how they come
53:06
Q  You saw the post.  Describe your relationship with the accusers
They've been buying baggies off me for the last 4 or 5 years… met some at FF… only time Ive met them through Marc… lovely show and I love doing it… first few times I barely sold a baggie it was loose and carded and boxed and nobody was interested… sold 25 baggies at the last show.  Didn't sleep last night to be honest with you. … dreadful night…never had this about what people think of me… happy to speak to anyone… 
Q.  Why do you think they've done this if you've a good relationship with them?
I've been selling baggies to other people in other countries and they got rejected for grading  and these obviously contacted these and it's got back to them that it calls come from me.. but there's a lot of people for me… who say it has been dealt wrong… a lot of people think I'm a faker doing this for money… these have been in my possession for a long time and it's only recently I've decided to let them go.  Some of these people bought them… I contacted Frank about a guy who I bought from who bought the mecanno Dengar off me and I spent £400 for a lot of baggies and he said I was a faker and not on the level about me.  I phoned Frank and asked him if he knew this guy to talk some sense into him and said I'd refund him.  I knew about the Dengar… he just didn't believe me…Why would I do that?  Frank… you never told me there was a problem.  I heard on the grapevine there was a conspiracy against me… jealous I'm selling these baggies I don't know .  I phoned Frank and said is there any issues and he said no mate everything's cool and I said fair enough …  I was honest with Frank.  I said there was some fake ones and he can check them… I wont run away I want people to hear my story.
58:25
Q. I'm going to ask you a question that's specific about baggies with red text.......

Jeff - I've never sold a baggie with red text....I've sent pictures... I've still got them in my collection. I've never sold any.

Follow up Q. Ok, because Frank says that he's seen them listed on your ebay account even though you knew that they were not correct and he told you 6 months ago (edit - should be 6 months before hand) that they weren't correct. You're saying that's not true and they weren't on your ebay account?

Jeff - No. I haven't sold a red text baggie on my account. I can't remember... I've got 3 red text baggies....this was about 5, maybe 4 years ago and I bought them all. I said to Frank, "have you seen these before?" and he said "I think they're fake". And I said ok. I've still got them. I've still got them in a box. But I've not sold them on. Because.. you know. I'm a little bit dubious sometimes because Frank says sometimes that something may be fake or not legit then all of a sudden it pops up on his site, actually these are determined legit... I don't like taking them out their bag really because just in case that bag was legit..... somebody said I should destroy them just in case they got in the wrong hands, it's a good point.... I didn't think it that way.

Follow up Q. So, I'm going to clarify that because a couple of people have asked about the red text baggies... you're saying about 4-5 years ago you contacted Frank about these red text baggies... he said they're either fake or rebagged from another toy line.... and then he said 6 months after that date they were listed on the ebay account. You're saying no, that's not true.

Jeff - I can't remember ever selling these erm.. they're folded....their almost rolled, someone tapped them and then they've stamped MIHK over the top, and they've gone over the top of the cellotape as well, when you take the cellotape off the actual Hong Kong stamp is on the cellotape. There's (indeciperhable) on the bag first it's been taped over... I've never sold. Did anyone show me where I've sold that on ebay? I've never sold one on ebay as far as I can remember.

Follow up Q - that's a good point. If any of our listeners is aware or has any evidence at all of a red text baggie being sold on ebay we'd like to see the picture.

Jeff - I've never seen the red baggie being sold on ebay. I do know I have a red text made in macou (sp?) baggie which is on Frank's site there... and that's got red text on it and I asked Frank about that and he said that's genuine... (then goes into a description of baggie with O and U)... and I want to show Frank...I wouldn't know the value of that.. I put things a higher value to see if they sell, if they don't sell I drop it by £10 or £15. If they don't sell I take them off and put them back in the box. I just see what sort of interest there are on it. It's not that I need to sell them
1:02:05
Q.  With regards to previous baggie scandals… bullyboy.. do you believe that you own any of his stuff?
I've got a feelling… palitoy a with last 17… sold to some guy in the States and Frank said they look like BB baggies… and again I've got some here.  The guy sent them back.. last 17 mint in bag I can get them graded no problem at all…  happy to refund…take to Frank… BB did it back in 90s so tape will look old now… resealed ones don't appear to be bagged very well… I know what to look for.  You can't fake that.  I double check these things.
Q.  Frank spoke with you for 1.5 hours but was fairly guarded.  How did it go?
I was contacted by a couple of people… seen what is on forum.. urgent… contact me.. phone was on charge in car and I was going to bed… phoned Grant and he told me and read it to me… I said I need to phone Frank.. I just spoke to him a week or two ago and asked him if there were any issues…  and he said no, no not at all.  So I called him and said what's going on?.... you can speak to me anytime…. He said there's a lot of people saying baggies from you aren't right
1:06:06
Q.  The Mecanno baggies.  The ones with red sticker… what do you know about them and did they come from one source together?
Yes I bought them from one source from the states.  3 trilogo Fetts and 4 Dengars… Dengars were stapled with a rusty staple… I got excited as they looked old.. other ones were heat sealed in a crispy bag… didn't have the made in macu sticker which I did flag up … Jason Joiner at FF last time  ( I believe he means FF from further back as the rest makes no sense otherwise) … he had a baggie mailer… he had a Boba Fett and that was in a heat sealed baggie and sticker had come off so I do remember they came in heat sealed baggies but Frank said they don't so I don't know if Jason Joiner has a fake … but I did ask Jason at the last FF and I wanted to check against his.. he sold his set on and I wanted to check the material to see if it was the same from the one I saw in his collection and I was disappointed with that
1:08:10
Q.  Do you believe somebody is selling you fake baggies on puporse knowing you are an ebay seller that can't be traced back to them?
I don't know… I see a lot of baggies on ebay.. I do a deal off ebay… I know lots of people with contacts… I don't want to name names but I have mailers in the past.. boxes of 4 LOM baggies in the lost which I wont sell… I do a deal which gets sent to my cousin in states but it can take 2 or 3 months before I fill a box so I forget who I get them off … I do have a PayPal transaction but that goes to my cousin and he pays it and I'm trying to chase the red mecanno guy up… I have refunded everyone…  why would I fake them… they're not even the right size… they are slightly bigger… again something I just can't understand
1:10:20
Q.  Where do you see your position in the future?
To be honest with you it all depends if they'll have me.  Some people for me, some aren't… I understand… I don't know… I've got a load of baggies I won't sell as they're my collection but I have a load here I will sell… this is why I want to go to Frank… then I can go on ebay and sell them and be completely reassured they're not a problem and that's what I want to do
1:11:46
Q.  At the next FF I want you to be there.  You've been open and honest and you've made it clear you want to make things right.  If you were at FF and if people brought baggies you're happy to check, chat and not hide anything here?
I'm the lowest I've ever been… this is not the Jeff people know…
1:12:46
Q.  to be honest you're coming on and talking to us says what the type of guy you are.  You're not hiding.  With TT nobody could get a hold of.  You've come on here… you've made a few mistakes and you want to make amends and not hide.  Not hope it goes away.  It's not done in the best way … you want to sort this out.  You have to accept you have to sort this… come to FF and address everyone with a concern.  I don't get the impression you're not a mastermind of evil… get this sorted… it can end well. 
I have nothing to hide.  I'm a collector of baggies and sold about 5 or 600 of them.  I keep buying them but not as much.  I lost enthusiasm this last year.. hope people still buy them off me… the graders are there to help… sure I'll ask people are you grading or collecting… then I could send fake to collectors and genuine for grading…  some of the text on the baggies from Frank (assuming pics on swfuk) they're blotchy.. but some of the ones I have are not.  They're perfect and I've sold 4 batches of SW ones and 3 batches of ESB ones… sold sets, kept sets… take them to Frank.  He can be judge and jury… then Frank can say right guys I've checked them all and all Jeff's are correct and I can sell them knowing Frank has checked and I'd be happy with that…. A lot of people are baying for my blood… I'm not that type of person.  I'm open to questions. Email me.  I put a thread on FB but I've told it's in the wrong place and I can't find it out.  Grant said this is the best place to get your message across
1:17:36
Q.  The post you put on FB is in a pinned post… kind of hidden but however what you've written has now been transferred onto the forum
Oh thanks… wouldn't have a clue.. don't do a lot of that…
Q.  Thanks for your time
Thanks for having me
Q.  Our pleasure to have you on.  Were you manufacturing baggies?
No.
Q. Were previously identified fake baggies sold by you… we've asked you time and time again
No… I haven't purposefully sold… especially not on ebay… they're in the box… biggest problem I get is split baggies or tape coming away and it's common issue….
Q.  This has been your side.  A one side story so far
I have baggies in my collection that Frank said is now right that I will not sell.  I do not agree with him as I've checked them and they look right to me… take them to Frank.  Me and Grant go to meet him together… amount of baggies I've sold compared to fake is small… got 300 left…
Q.  We will get the other side one and ask them to reply
Sure
Q.  Thanks for coming on.

 

[j10e5f6f6]

Hi There .

Please could Everyone who has Purchased any of these Baggies in Question return them as soon as possible so I can get them and my remaining Baggies taken to Steve at UKG for inspection and his own professional appraisal .

That includes Frank Mewes and Laurance Dyer Please who I think has a few of them right now under CSI invitation.

Although I have given a window of time being 7-10 days as of Friday 20th to Monday 30th January to return any of these issue baggies, I will of course wait till Mid February to give everyone a chance to return them to myself in order so they have time to reach me before shipping to UKG.

Once Steve has completed this detailed inspection I will report back on the Forum with his findings .
I hope therefore this will address all these issues at hand and we can once and for all bring this episode to a close .

Please contact me if you have any further questions or baggie returns so I can keep a list of the baggies I'm expecting and if you can put a note inside with what you paid please Contact me at : [email protected] or my Ebay site : j10e5f6f6

Please note I am not selling anymore baggies either on EBay nor Direct until this matter is resolved although I am still receiving many want lists from some of you guys.
Its best for everyone as I don't want to sell any baggies that may be at risk of not being genuine?

Thanks You for your Patience with this ongoing matter.
Regards Jeff

Could Frank please post this on your Baggietastic Facebook page for everyone to see. Cheers .

 

[edd_jedi]

Once Steve has completed this detailed inspection I will report back on the Forum with his findings .
I hope therefore this will address all these issues at hand and we can once and for all bring this episode to a close .

Jeff, you are an expert at deflecting questions and responsibility which does nothing to support your case. You seem to be missing the point here. Getting your remaining baggies authenticated is NOT the end of this "episode." It is a 100% concrete, proven fact that you have:

1) Sold many fake baggies
2) Knowingly sold some fake baggies
3) Know the source of the fake baggies, if it is not you

All of which you have so far denied despite staggering amounts of evidence. Until these three simple accusations have been answered and rectified somehow, consider this matter very much open. Getting your remaining baggies authenticated by UKG may be important to you, nobody else cares.

 

[Frunkstar]

Hi There .

Please could Everyone who has Purchased any of these Baggies in Question return them as soon as possible so I can get them and my remaining Baggies taken to Steve at UKG for inspection and his own professional appraisal .

That includes Frank Mewes and Laurance Dyer Please who I think has a few of them right now under CSI invitation.

Although I have given a window of time being 7-10 days as of Friday 20th to Monday 30th January to return any of these issue baggies, I will of course wait till Mid February to give everyone a chance to return them to myself in order so they have time to reach me before shipping to UKG.

Once Steve has completed this detailed inspection I will report back on the Forum with his findings .
I hope therefore this will address all these issues at hand and we can once and for all bring this episode to a close .

Please contact me if you have any further questions or baggie returns so I can keep a list of the baggies I'm expecting and if you can put a note inside with what you paid please Contact me at : [email protected] or my Ebay site : j10e5f6f6

Please note I am not selling anymore baggies either on EBay nor Direct until this matter is resolved although I am still receiving many want lists from some of you guys.
Its best for everyone as I don't want to sell any baggies that may be at risk of not being genuine?

Thanks You for your Patience with this ongoing matter.
Regards Jeff

Could Frank please post this on your Baggietastic Facebook page for everyone to see. Cheers .

Really???? That's it??? :?

I have stayed out of this thread now bar posting the pod cast transcript to give you the opportunity to come good on your side & provide some EVIDENCE to back up what you are saying, yet all we are getting is smokescreens & mirrors, what we have to date from you is is "goodbye & thanks for all the fish" ??

I would reel off some questions regarding some of the issues we have MAJOR concerns about (as well as concrete evidence), but I have the distinct impression we would not get a STRAIGHT ANSWER to a single one, so not much point is there??

What I will say is that if you are not making these baggies then provide us at least a shred of proof that you are not the mastermind of some overly elaborate faking scam, is that really too much to ask under the circumstances.

& don't say you do not need the cash

 

[Ian_C]

Although I have given a window of time being 7-10 days as of Friday 20th to Monday 30th January to return any of these issue baggies, I will of course wait till Mid February to give everyone a chance to return them to myself in order so they have time to reach me before shipping to UKG.

What about all the international sales? Those can take 6-8 weeks to return to the UK, if not more, and that's just North America.

When you've sold bad product, there is NO timetable for a return to get a refund. That's how it works. :roll:

You came on here, saying you would answer ANY questions, and to date, you've answered nothing. If you're trying to clear your name, this isn't the way to do it.

Ian

 

[Palifan]

Once Steve has completed this detailed inspection I will report back on the Forum with his findings .
I hope therefore this will address all these issues at hand and we can once and for all bring this episode to a close .

Jeff, you are an expert at deflecting questions and responsibility which does nothing to support your case. You seem to be missing the point here. Getting your remaining baggies authenticated is NOT the end of this "episode." It is a 100% concrete, proven fact that you have:

1) Sold many fake baggies
2) Knowingly sold some fake baggies
3) Know the source of the fake baggies, if it is not you

All of which you have so far denied despite staggering amounts of evidence. Until these three simple accusations have been answered and rectified somehow, consider this matter very much open. Getting your remaining baggies authenticated by UKG may be important to you, nobody else cares.

This really is what needs to happen Jeff, both Ed and Frank have spelt it out and you really do need to answer these questions to move forward in some way, they are easy enough to see so should be simple to answer. Also I've no idea how anyone is supposed to know that the baggies that they are sending you are the ones you are send UKG?! You could just find originals of these baggies (the ones that do exist), and send them in. I maybe wrong about that due to baggies being sent back to you all never existed but I'm thinking people are going to need Steve to post something direct about his findings as it might be hard for people to swallow if everything that's reported comes from you.

The main thing though is for you to first off answer the allegations.

Ian

 

[Caswellbot]

Surprise surprise, Yet again Jeff has failed to respond on his "response" page.

 

[maxf]

Has anybody spoken to UKG lately - are they seriously going to look at 650 baggies? I doubt it myself - at least not in any detail. That's days of work for a firm which already have a backlog of work.

Given Jeff isn't giving any concrete response to the claims, I'm firmly on Franks side with all of this. I would have liked a reasonable explanation but it just isn't coming. It's a joke really.

 

[newswseller]

You guys should start another thread where folks can post pictures of what they have returned, so Steve at UKG can confirm if that is what he inspected and also everyone can track if Jeff is actually refunding folks

 

[Joe]

It would be great if I could genuinely begin my reply to this thread by thanking Jeff for registering on SWF in order to answer the questions that have been asked but sadly, after reading both of his rather lengthy posts I'm not sure there is much to thank him for.

For me the biggest issues here are simply the following (and to date there has been no real answer to either):

-The amount of suspect baggies that Jeff has "unknowingly" bought and then resold.

As most know I've been involved in this hobby for a long time and I've seen some pretty crazy things happen but I'm sorry..nobody, not even the greenest collector with less than 6 months collecting experience under their belt ends up with that many fakes in their collection..it just doesn't happen.

While I'm not in the same league in terms of experience as Frank, I too have followed baggie variations and sales over the years. One thing I can tell you is that in the last 10+ years I have never seen as many questionable baggies come to the market through one single seller as we have with Jeff.

I've outed many fake baggie sellers before: http://starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10670 & http://forum.rebelscum.com/showthread.php?t=1039086 (including Jeff) and while home made heat sealing isn't exactly a new scam it's definitely not something we see all that regularly. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the amount of fakes Jeff has sold/owned in the last few years is probably greater in number than all of the dodgy baggies I've ever seen or heard about going back 10 years (all combined!).

We've seen Jeff state multiple times that he's a huge fan of bagged figures, he collects and sells them and has been involved in collecting for many years..yet he still doesn't know if the items he's selling are original? Even if that is true - he's got one of the most experienced baggie collectors in the world practically on speed dial should he get stuck!

You only have to look through Frank's email screenshots to see how many times it's been stressed that some of his stock wasn't right..

I'm sorry to those that still genuinely believe that he's this harmless Mr Bean type guy who just keeps getting himself in a bit of a muddle but it's pretty obvious at this stage that he's not. Why would you repeatedly bother a guy via email in order to get his opinion on your baggies if you never listen to his advice? It just doesn't make any sense. It almost feels like you were using Frank's expertise to see what you could get away with. If he noticed something wasn't right you would then palm it all off to less experienced collectors who knew no better.


-The fact that Jeff denies making the fakes himself, insists he was sold them in good faith yet isn't all that interested in chasing up the money he has personally lost or publicly outing the sellers that have sold them to him.

Personally, if I got wind of someone stitching me up with fakes, especially if I was then selling them on to others I would be livid and I wouldn't rest until I made sure every collector on this planet knew their name for all the wrong reasons. Jeff's replies are so relaxed in comparison to how most people would react in his situation it's untrue!

My first reaction upon hearing about something like this would be to come on asap and state categorically which figures I had bought, when I bought them and most importantly who I bought them from. I don't know what Jeff's thought process is here but if he's going to continue to spend time writing long winded responses to these allegations that offer no real value other than to paint himself in a good light then he might as well not bother.

I might be wrong but I've not seen many apologies to the community over all of this either. First thing an innocent man does is apologise and then he makes it right whatever the cost..there should be no time limits on refunds, no attempt to distract people from the issue at hand and no reason to sling mud at others (I mean, really? Calling Frank out on being too cheap a customer after getting free advice from him for YEARS??...)

Jeff- If you really are the innocent party here then you've got to be far more forthcoming with relative information. The community deserves to know where these fakes have come from and who is manufacturing them and at present you've got a long way to go to prove it isn't you.

 

[Jez]

Great post

 

[momike]

Second that....well said joe :wink:

The thing that strikes me the most is that all these fakes seem to be coming from jeff and no one else, like joe said he has seen more questionable baggies coming from Jeff than in the last 10 years period. Someone is/has been faking these so surely they would of come out of the woodwork elsewhere before now but they haven't. Like others have said you need to name the person(s) these baggies have come from jeff because at the minute all roads lead back to you

 

[Palifan]

Second that....well said joe :wink:

The thing that strikes me the most is that all these fakes seem to be coming from jeff and no one else, like joe said he has seen more questionable baggies coming from Jeff than in the last 10 years period. Someone is/has been faking these so surely they would of come out of the woodwork elsewhere before now but they haven't. Like others have said you need to name the person(s) these baggies have come from jeff because at the minute all roads lead back to you

This is very true about all the cakes seeming to come from one place and one place only. I'd say it's strange but like with TT if you stop to think about it for a minute it seems pretty obvious why the fakes are coming from one place.

Ian

 

[Cymonguk]

Here is a question related to the above that concerns me, that someone has mentioned in passing, but I have not collected any baggies so I don't know the scene. What proportion of baggies come through Jeff? On one hand if he is the major seller then of course he will sell more fakes (by sheer numbers alone), on the other hand it points to a serious worry.

Generally when someone has a successful business model, in this case buying up baggie collections/sets, and selling for profit that model is often ripped off unless there is a specific barrier to entry. In this case Jeff tells us he just buys up US stuff (mainly from ebay in his interview and letters) and imports in big lots to avoid shipping problems. There seems to be no reason another buyer couldn't do this, hence I would expect some competition.

a) If there is competition who are the big sellers, and what is their rate of fakes, have we missed ones coming from those people?

b) If there is no competition, why not, I could set up the same model with the appropriate investment. So why has nobody done this, what is the barrier that is stopping people. As an example I am sure I could talk to Iainitfc and agree a model for him to ship stuff over from the US in lots that I had bought for a handling cost. Is the barrier something else (i.e. a specific contact(s) who is selling lots of these items to jeff)

I do understand that as per the claim that some of these were bought a long time ago, and he is continuously selling them off, but it concerns me that Jeff seems to be the major source of baggies and fakes.

 

[maxf]

b) If there is no competition, why not, I could set up the same model with the appropriate investment. So why has nobody done this, what is the barrier that is stopping people. As an example I am sure I could talk to Iainitfc and agree a model for him to ship stuff over from the US in lots that I had bought for a handling cost. Is the barrier something else (i.e. a specific contact(s) who is selling lots of these items to jeff)

Because it's bollocks. Back in the early 2000s you could buy on eBay US and sell in the U.K. at a profit - consistently. I did it. As soon as I got a real job I didn't have time to hunt for the misspelled auctions anymore so didn't. A couple of years later, people were wise to it and the opportunities dropped right off. I don't believe for a second there was a CONSISTENT opportunity for him to buy in bulk in the US from publically accessible sources. Why isn't Iain doing it if so?

So that leads me to think it's either a)a **** bollocks story or b)they are coming from a 'source' who he won't reveal. Neither works for me.