
A co-founder of retro game grading service WATA is now being accused of running a side business on eBay. Further investigations by Proof journalist, Seth Abramson, suggest WATA's Mark Haspel is selling graded games under an alias.
Abramson was recently reviewing some of his previous purchases and found a note from a seller informing him how he could contact Haspel for more games. He's also matched up addresses on parcels linked back to Haspel. At the time of the Proof report, Haspel's account was selling 74 WATA-graded Atari 2600 games valued at around $46,000 USD.
Proof believes Haspel is selling Atari games exclusively on eBay in an attempt to go unnoticed by American journalists who have so far only focused on record-breaking Nintendo game sales. And out of all the Atari games listed, only one of them had a grade lower than 9.0 and no seal rating lower than A+. According to WATA's standards, these qualify as an "investment grade" purchases.
The same source alleges Haspel could be studying the market with the assistance of WATA's 'population' data in an attempt to increase the value of Atari titles. And unlike any other collectibles market, this data is not made public.
"there is a chance that Haspel is selling only Atari games because he knows that this market is waning due to few people sending in these games to be graded...If Haspel is using any such data to determine which games to buy, get graded, and sell, there’s at least the danger that he’s participating in what investigators might consider insider trading."
“In almost every collectibles market in the US, grading companies make population reports public so that no one in the market has special access to corporate data they could use to make investments relating to their own company."
Former WATA board member Jeff Meyer resigned from his position in January last year after being accused of selling a large collection of WATA-graded games in 2019 for large amounts of cash.
WATA also previously denied allegations made by YouTuber and journalist Karl Jobst about supposed "fraud and deception" in the retro video game market:
"Wata Games is the trusted leader in collectible video game grading and we're honored to play a key role in this booming industry that we are incredibly passionate about. We're humbled by the support of our thousands of customers who trust us to provide accurate and transparent grading. The claims in this video are completely baseless and defamatory and it is unfortunate that Mr. Jobst did not contact us to give us the opportunity to correct him."
To catch up on the full story, see our previous stories.
[source sethabramson.substack.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 24
"Investment grade".
I'm going to need a moment to process this.
Good old west. Only us can look at video games as investments. Yuck.
Unfortunately people still seem to be buying WATA graded items on eBay, regardless of this whole situation. I guess they still just have $$ in their eyes while having their heads buried in the sand.
so a shady venture capitalist, cofounder of a company found to be artificially inflating game prices in an attempt to fleece profits from hobbyists, is found breaking the rules?
well I just can't believe it, I'm shocked 😐
@CharlieGirl The problem does not only lie in the inflated prices. Here, we have a direct conflict of interests: the grade of a game has a direct influence on the price and he can grade his games as he want (more or less).
This thing is like an onion: the more layers you peel, the more it stinks.
Reason #13,297 for why games should go fully digital.
I grade this a 90. Wait, I can sell this on Ebay.... 95!
@mlj11
Let me point out that in a digital-only structure, a society-managed aftermarket cannot exist.
The ludicrous investment piece sales and market manipulation here damages the aftermarket, and does harm the market overall, but that's the fault of whoever is manipulating the market for their gain.
@mlj11 No, thank you. That has its own share of anti-consumer issues. Having the choice is fine, but an all-digital future will be the time I duck out of gaming for good.
So the guy didn't even bother to check his typo and now it's a "Arari" game.
@Markiemania95 that future is sadly much closer than I hope it would be.
@vicviper001 and the more it makes you cry.
@CharlieGirl Shady person works at shady company. It's a tale as old as capitalism.
Emulation is the future, everyone..
Maybe I can get rich by creating the next investment trend: graded toilet paper sheets
"Wata Games is the trusted leader in collectible video game grading"
... What websites is this guy reading?
@Jayenkai
That's part of the deception, keep asserting your authority until it becomes an authority.
I wish someone else would be first-party reporting on this story. I don't like situations where they can be described as "word vs. word."
And I am not saying the reporting isn't correct — but I always like confirmation because it makes more difficult for those in the wrong to deny the allegations.
Man Karl really blew the lid on this whole scheme. The more they dig the more mold they find underneath. Jobst you absolute legend.
@Jayenkai His.
@ATaco He did the entire retro gaming world a huge service.
Crooked shysters.
These dudes need to be taken down by the law.
Removed - inappropriate
This whole overpaying for 'investment' video games (or anything else) reminds me of the title of a movie that was even before my time: 'Never Give a Sucker an Even Break'
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