I think it's important to do a bit of a real PSA on this auctioneer, currently operating on iCollector as PROPDOMAIN. He's infamous around here, but if one does a quick google search trying to do their due diligence on his auctions, there aren't many results to warn new collectors. Even when you find the RPF, he's buried in most of the threads that mention him. So what would be great is to slowly build a thread of actual experiences, good or bad, to paint a picture for the uninitiated which should become easy to find.
I've watched a bunch of his monthly auctions now and witnessed disgusting conduct, including shill bidding, unselling and re-auctioning completed lots for $10 more, blatantly misrepresenting items, massive overvaluation, not to mention the guy belching and complaining throughout the audio stream that he's not making enough money on things. Once an item does sell, and many don't, since he passes on selling anything that doesn't fetch quite enough for his whims, you haven't lived until you've experienced Mr. Brandon's particular brand of "customer service".
As for me, I'm good friends with a guy (not a member) who stumbled on one of these auctions searching for Man of Steel costume pieces months ago. Propdomain popped up with an upcoming listing for a "complete" set of "hero" appliques for a Superman suit. As with most of his photos, they were poorly lit, laid out in the guy's foyer with his bare feet visible occasionally. Here's the listing photo:
Otherwise, they appeared to a non-expert in the MOS design to be legit, so despite best judgement, he bid. The $1k worth of 'won' foam latex pieces arrived a month later... balled up in a bubble mailer. Here is one example of the parts:
It wasn't really funny, but I joked with my buddy David must think "N.G." stands for "nice going"
On close inspection the wrinkled pieces were an incomplete set, missing all the back pieces, bit of the belt and, with few exceptions, reject castings full of bubbles, unused paint tests, or castings from the preproduction concept suit. Clearly FX shop floor garbage. When politely asked in a detailed email about these discrepancies, David's reply was, well, it's best I put all his replies here to give a sense of his professionalism. (for clarity, the buyer was asking for a partial refund to reconcile received vs. described items) These are complete emails from David, unedited:
Every accusation is a fabrication, except my friend's insistence on being clear about the issues in making his replies more than 2 sentences. Dude was convinced my friend was a previous buyer of even lesser quality pieces. (that poor SOB) Thanks to his shill bidding vs. my buddy's desire to win the auction, this sale of parts had been David's most profitable by a wide margin; the 90+ other lots of MOS suit parts never broke $300 over the years. He refused to part with any significant percentage of his winnings. The pieces were returned and Paypal enforced a full refund. Most recently, David relisted them as 3 separate lots with the description, "No damage or junk here. In fact these are some of the nicest examples." http://www.icollector.com/SUPERMAN-MAN-OF-STEEL-HERO-SUIT-GLYPHS-LOT-2_i26555230 I think that right there is the best indication of how this guy operates. If you've ever watched or bid in a PropDomain auction, please add your experience!
I've watched a bunch of his monthly auctions now and witnessed disgusting conduct, including shill bidding, unselling and re-auctioning completed lots for $10 more, blatantly misrepresenting items, massive overvaluation, not to mention the guy belching and complaining throughout the audio stream that he's not making enough money on things. Once an item does sell, and many don't, since he passes on selling anything that doesn't fetch quite enough for his whims, you haven't lived until you've experienced Mr. Brandon's particular brand of "customer service".
As for me, I'm good friends with a guy (not a member) who stumbled on one of these auctions searching for Man of Steel costume pieces months ago. Propdomain popped up with an upcoming listing for a "complete" set of "hero" appliques for a Superman suit. As with most of his photos, they were poorly lit, laid out in the guy's foyer with his bare feet visible occasionally. Here's the listing photo:
Otherwise, they appeared to a non-expert in the MOS design to be legit, so despite best judgement, he bid. The $1k worth of 'won' foam latex pieces arrived a month later... balled up in a bubble mailer. Here is one example of the parts:
It wasn't really funny, but I joked with my buddy David must think "N.G." stands for "nice going"
On close inspection the wrinkled pieces were an incomplete set, missing all the back pieces, bit of the belt and, with few exceptions, reject castings full of bubbles, unused paint tests, or castings from the preproduction concept suit. Clearly FX shop floor garbage. When politely asked in a detailed email about these discrepancies, David's reply was, well, it's best I put all his replies here to give a sense of his professionalism. (for clarity, the buyer was asking for a partial refund to reconcile received vs. described items) These are complete emails from David, unedited:
-we went through this concerning the couple pieces that were missing so I don't know what the issue is here. I honestly don't know what the issue was with the S either
For the record I was originally asking $1500 for that Set of glyphs
I even took less than the lowered $500 reserve I was asking
-All of those were extra for a reason. We even talked about the missing pieces before you bid. To be honest I gave those away because they were old stock. I think you got incredible deals on that stuff
-You obviously have no intention of being happy and all you want to do is chisel the hell out of me
You got exactly what you paid for and this is been months
Did you file the complaint after all this time and we will never deal again
-You got exactly what was shown and exactly what you paid for regardless of the description we also talked about it before you bid and this is been months. We both know that you bought those cliffs to produce fraudulent Superman suit's. This is how PayPal works you can't keep the product and the money.
Since I assume as long as you have them you have either altered or switched out certain pieces to suit your needs your claim is invalid
-You are not fooling anyone you are the same person that's why you opened another account to buy a second set of glyphs so that you could pick and choose what you really wanted or try to connive me to give you half refund I remember blocking you before but you just opened another account
Nobody else bitches like you you you have a very unique away about that you complain you literally write a novel I have no doubt this is the same person
Every accusation is a fabrication, except my friend's insistence on being clear about the issues in making his replies more than 2 sentences. Dude was convinced my friend was a previous buyer of even lesser quality pieces. (that poor SOB) Thanks to his shill bidding vs. my buddy's desire to win the auction, this sale of parts had been David's most profitable by a wide margin; the 90+ other lots of MOS suit parts never broke $300 over the years. He refused to part with any significant percentage of his winnings. The pieces were returned and Paypal enforced a full refund. Most recently, David relisted them as 3 separate lots with the description, "No damage or junk here. In fact these are some of the nicest examples." http://www.icollector.com/SUPERMAN-MAN-OF-STEEL-HERO-SUIT-GLYPHS-LOT-2_i26555230 I think that right there is the best indication of how this guy operates. If you've ever watched or bid in a PropDomain auction, please add your experience!