Let me start by saying - I liked Track and Price. Useful tool. Let me then say - selling your own notes while having the power to report past prices is a very great responsibility to avoid situations like this one. So I notice this $5 1865 note http://www.ebay.com/itm/262026992677 on theBay today. Now, I am in the market as it were, and while this note is a bit more than I'd spend, I look anyways, just to look. Looks like a rare bank, perhaps it's a good deal. So I check it out, and notice it's being sold by... trackandprice. I wonder how rare this note is? Let's check. Wow, it sold, according to T&P, for $1,150 just a few months ago. Same note, same serial. Hmmm, looking to take a bath on this note for several hundred dollars it appears just a few months after purchase. Something... is... not... right... So I try to look up the old auction, it's no longer listed, so I look for the seller, check their feedback, and look for this auction. Sure enough, there it is, feedback number is the same, so seller is the buyer (sitting at 800 feedback on both pages at this moment). But was it purchased for $1,150? No. No it wasn't. Someone looking at T&P to see if this was a "good price" would think they were buying several hundred dollars under recent sale price, and instead would be buying for several hundred OVER recent sale price. From the person selling the note, reporting the past price. That is dirty pool. Trust nobody (also posted at PCGS forum, for thoroughness)
This is not the only note where this is the case. I've noticed this note http://www.ebay.com/itm/262026994638 in the past - mainly because it's WAY in my wheelhouse since I collect Chester notes. It's just too pricey for me. But is it a good value? Let's check Track & Price... Wow, seems like he's selling it at a loss, a bit under it's last sale. Same note, same serial. Might be a good time to buy it, right, seeing as supposedly it sold back in 2013 for just under $900? Except... it didn't... doing more detective work, yes, we can find the feedback from the original listed seller who sold it to T&P. Again, seller is as listed, buyer has the same matching 800 feedback, so it's definitely T&P. Surprise surprise, the note wasn't sold at $863, rather it was sold at $385 - less than half the value. Once again, someone checking the T&P index for value and sales history to see if they were getting a good deal would see information purporting to show they were buying at under past sale, when in fact they'd be paying almost exactly twice the amount of the past sale. Once - maybe friends and family are inclined to believe the honest mistake angle. But this is not an isolated incident. The T&P software has entries that misreport and overvalue items T&P is actively selling on eBay. And that ain't cool.
Perhaps these findings should be brought to the attention of the Track and Price folks, someone has to be "in charge" and I'm sure they want their product to be a truly trustworthy site. If collectors lose confidence in their product they might be persuaded to perform some kind of followup on reported selling prices.
I've been made aware that there is some question concerning the accuracy of some of my Track&Price pricing. Because of the volume of the number of auctions I do daily it is entirely possible that this has happened on occasion . I will make every effort to rectify the info. In the future if anyone sees discrepancies please let me know. I am fortunate to have so many loyal customers that contact me when error(s) are found. I've worked over the last 15 years to do my best. One of the most important things my dad said to me when he was alive was "don't shame my name" and I have tried very hard to live this way. Thank you Sandy
Say it aint so Joe. I hope that track and price set the record straight, it would be a shame to lose trust in one of the best tools for paper money collectors.
Not to flog a dead horse, but this is still an issue... eBay note https://www.ebay.com/itm/1902PB-5-NewYork-NY-1375/253260759138 is a note I would be interested in. Note the seller... T&P software says hey - this looks like it is below last sale: Heritage says... Umm... no. Caveat - I still think this is good software and worth a purchase. But it should not be used when dealing with notes in the seller's inventory - at least not yet. I have seen some newer entries that do line up properly, but as you can see, many older notes are still not reflected properly. And I have yet to see an error not in the seller's favor...
