Fanatics Collect was shocked to see eBay's email today stating that unidentified "individuals associated with" Fanatics Collect engaged in "shill bidding." To Fanatics Collect's knowledge, its employees have never engaged in any behavior that violates eBay's agreements and policies. Fanatics Collect goes to great lengths to ensure that its employees follow eBay's rules and Fanatics Collect employees do not have access to eBay's bidding records or information.

Fanatics Collect is considering all available legal options in response to eBay's defamatory press release and its bad-faith action to restrict Fanatics Collect's privileges on eBay. Fanatics Collect has only just learned of these allegations and eBay has refused to share any details supporting its allegations. Despite eBay's unwillingness to explain its claims, Fanatics Collect will continue to conduct its own internal review to ensure that its employees have not violated eBay's rules.

Fanatics Collect is proud of the work it has done over the years to improve eBay's own processes and to ensure that the platform is one that users can trust. These efforts went well beyond the measures that eBay takes to ensure legitimate auction processes. For example, Fanatics Collect worked tirelessly with eBay for over 10 years to remove the bid retraction option for buyers, eliminate forced return policies for sellers, and reduce the Significantly Not As Described (SNAD) window from 30 days to 3.

While Fanatics Collect became the world's premier site for the sale of trading cards using eBay's platform, in recent months, eBay's increasingly competing interests prompted Fanatics Collect to begin the process of moving on. Today's unilateral action by eBay simply hastens Fanatics Collect's move to its new platform.

The new platform will be live on the Fanatics Collect website very soon. The August Premier Auction will still close on August 21st and the September Premier Auction is scheduled to launch on September 1st. Fanatics Collect is excited about the future, looks forward to launching all marketplaces on its new platform, and is confident in the benefits that will bring to buyers and sellers.