Heres our story:
We were contacted by Extreme Live Auctions on October 18 to send some of our used motorcycles to them for one of their live auctions. They had a sales pitch basically stating that we couldn't lose with their "Extreme Advantage Plan". They asked for the list of motorcycles we would be sending them with our "dealer cost" filled in. They then stamped "Approved" telling us they approved the prices we were asking. Along with the approved units/pricing they faxed us a contract.
A salesperson here called to go thru the contract with a representative (Lisa Hicks) from Extreme Live Auctions. Lisa assured our sales person that if the units did not bring our asking price at the auction they would cover the difference with an "incentive" of up to $35,000. Our salesperson specifically remembers asking her a worst case scenario: "Say the units sell for $2,000 each and only bring a total of $32,000 minus your auction fees... Then that is where the Incentive agreement comes in right? The $35,000? We would get the unit total plus the $35,000 incentive right?" And she said that was right. The following day, October 19, the auction listing contract was signed and Extreme Live Auctions arranged to have 16 of our motorcycles picked up for the auction on Sunday October 21 in St. Louis, Missouri.
They were not taking any phone calls on the Monday after the auction. Tuesday morning we received a fax with the total amount due to us, which was $27,213.50 less than what was promised to us by their representative! They listed the "incentive" of $2,800! BIG TIME SCAM!
Because we had never done business with Extreme Live
Auctions in the past we did some research on the company to see if we could
Find more information. Since we couldnt find anything negative on them we
Assumed they were a reputable business (so wrong!). After further
Investigation after we realized we had been scammed, we found a connection
Between Extreme Live Auctions and Midwest Public Auction. The results of our
Research on Midwest Public Auction were shocking there are reports by other
Dealers all over of being scammed in the exact same fashion. The firm
Connection between Extreme Live Auctions and Midwest Public Auction is
Addresses for both companies are listed on the contract we received from them. I
Requested a copy of the freight bill from the transporter (contracted by
Extreme Live Auctions to pick up our motorcycles) which confirms the delivery
Destination of 1550 Cravens Road, Poplar Bluff, MO (the registered address of
Midwest Public Auction). Yet they deny any association.
Extreme Live Auctions is owned by Auction House Productions.
The owner of Auction House Productions is Jeffrey Scott Shouppe according to
The State of Missouri Secretary of State Registration of Fictitious Name
Filing.
Coincidentally, I found that after the St. Louis Better
Business Bureau published BBB Suggests Caution When Dealing with Midwest
Public Auction of Poplar Bluff on September 5, the Registration of
Fictitious Name for Auction House Productions (owner of Extreme Live Auctions)
Was filed on September 13. This allows who I believe to be business
Associates to operate the same scam under a new name.
I also found that the owner of Extreme Live Auctions
(Jeffrey S Shouppe) and the owner of Midwest Public Auction (Donnie M
Smotherman) are both list addresses in the City of Goodlettsville, TN. (See the
State of Missouri Registration of Fictitious Name filings.)
Midwest Public Auction had listed Chase Motorsports (owner
Dylan Thompson) as a referral dealer; we called Dylan Thompson and were told
That he has always had positive experiences with Midwest Public Auction. Come
To find out later that Chase Motorsports purchases most of the units from
Midwest Public Auction. (This is unconfirmed but said by many other dealers.)
Upon speaking to another dealer that went thru the same scam
By Midwest Public Auction, I learned that the owner of Auction House
Productions (owner of Extreme Live Auctions), Jeffrey S Shouppe is thought to be an employee
Or agent of Chase Motorsports. (Again, I have been unable to confirm this.)
The way Extreme Live Auctions operates (identical to the
Statements made of Midwest Public Auction) is to contact dealerships (RV
Dealers, powersports, etc) shortly before they have an auction scheduled,
Promise you over the phone that you cant lose and make serious
Misrepresentations when you try verifying the terms of the contract prior to
Signing. If they are telling the truth about the sale price of our inventory at
The auction, they are selling the inventory at incredibly low prices and
Leaving the dealers with huge losses. Trying to contact any representative at
Extreme Live Auctions following the auction is near impossible. The only way we
Were able to get thru to anyone was to threaten not to send the Certificate of
Titles.
Once we were able to contact representatives from Extreme
Live Auctions they deny any kind of deceit by anyone from their company. We
Wouldnt even tell other dealers to be cautious we would tell them not to do
Business with this company PERIOD!
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