Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Thwonp t1_j9d4eji wrote

I'm sorry but I call bullshit. No sealed iPhone is worth close to that much.

"LCG Auctions is the nation’s premier auction house specializing in professionally graded toys and collectibles. "

Graded collectibles are a bubble at best and a fraud at worst. It's very lucrative for auction houses and grading companies to artifically inflate the market so they can take a cut of listings and gradings. Just like with graded retro games and coins before that. I wouldn't be surprised if the buyer was in bed with the auction house, the grading company, or both.

Karl Jobst explains it better.

4

DanielPhermous t1_j9d6umt wrote

Artificially inflate what market, exactly? I doubt there's a huge pile of sealed, mint, original iPhones anywhere. This is the first time in fifteen years I've heard of one being sold.

2

Gden t1_j9dfkue wrote

Arguably having grading on anything hurts everything by making it seem like grading is worth using on everything else

3

Sweetwill62 t1_j9e5dlm wrote

The market they are trying to create, same way they created the market for retro games as we know it. Used to be just a whole bunch of regional collectors until the collectors noticed that a few people were just buying up tons of stuff but weren't selling it. A few years later we see the bullshit media piece about a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros selling for a million dollars. Yeah a sealed copy of a game that had millions of copies printed is somehow worth a million dollars. Nope just the owners buying and selling it to themselves to try and create a market to profit off of, and they did because people are dumb enough to fall for it.

3

DanielPhermous t1_j9e689t wrote

Sure, if you like. I mean, there's no evidence that this was anything but a normal auction apart from a YouTube video from a speed runner, so I'm not inclined to jump immediately on to the conspiracy train here.

1

Sweetwill62 t1_j9e6t0y wrote

The person who put up the item for sale at the auction house is friends with the people who own the auction house. And it was not ever sold for anywhere close to that price beforehand. If just those two bits of info aren't enough for you then I honestly don't know what is.

2

DanielPhermous t1_j9e9058 wrote

> The person who put up the item for sale at the auction house is friends with the people who own the auction house.

Not according to the article.

“Green considered selling the iPhone over the years, but kept it until she contacted LCG Auctions in October after learning that another first-generation iPhone from 2007 was sold for nearly $40,000. She told Insider's Jackson she needed the money for her cosmetic tattoo studio.”

1

Sweetwill62 t1_j9e946d wrote

I'm talking about the sealed copy of Super Mario Bros.

1

DanielPhermous t1_j9e9865 wrote

And I’m talking about the initial accusation that this auction was rigged in the same way.

1

Sweetwill62 t1_j9e9ffo wrote

Ok? I didn't say it was rigged in the same way, just for the same purpose.

1

zuma15 t1_j9d74cm wrote

Yeah it's a scam. They tried the same shit with VHS tapes. Good catch.

1