8 replies to this topic

[Perry Werner]

Howdy:

Please be aware of what I am believing to be an Ebay scam for what appears to be and sounds like a gorgeous 1916 Wheatstone Tenor-Treble here.....

http://www.ebay.co.u...c6#ht_919wt_902

Starting at £1. It also mentions a Buy It Now Price of £1200 in the second subject line though it cannot be purchased as an Ebay Buy It Now.

Also, if you read the description, the seller wishes to be contacted at their email address given in the description.

I did correspond with the "seller" this morning and all sounded good. I checked his over 50000 ratings and for the most part it sounded legitimate. I was told that they would send a Paypal invoice. I called Ebay to ask them what they thought and their agent said that at first glance it looked okay due to their feedback. She did a bit more research to find that many more of their expensive items were listed the same way as the Wheatstone as far as the buy it now and the price and the email contact information.

Then the seller, rather than sending me a Paypal invoice, sent me their bank transfer information. That was the end of it for me. This guy (actually someone named Maria) was not getting my money. So once again, when it's too good to be true it usually is.

Anyway be wary out there. Glad I was but geez I would have liked to have what looks like a nice instrument.

By the way Ebay did verify that if you do get caught up in a scam you are either protected by them or Paypal should a deal not go down correctly. That is a relief.

Be careful,
Perry Werner

PS: I'm going to also cross post this to General Discussions in case anyone does not see this.

[Laitch]

To support Perry's view of this sale, a concertina listing with exactly the same text heading but including "Original Case" after the "In" was sold on ebay (scroll down ~3 entries) for over £3000 in December 2011, so this is almost certain to be a scam perpetrated by someone with sloppy copy-and-paste skill.

[Peter Laban]

The owner of the account has weighed in by inserting this into the listing:

[Kautilya]

The owner of the account has weighed in by inserting this into the listing:

So who lives near Swaffham to check it out to see if it has been checked out of Swaffham antiques
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Swaffham-Antiques-Supplies?_trksid=p4340.l2563

[Theo]

Starting at £1. It also mentions a Buy It Now Price of £1200 in the second subject line though it cannot be purchased as an Ebay Buy It Now.

Also, if you read the description, the seller wishes to be contacted at their email address given in the description.

Any ebay listing where the seller refuses to sell or to communicate through the Ebay system is highly likely to be a scam, it is certainly breaking ebay's own rules because it would allow sellers to avoid paying ebay fees.
When reporting such suspected frauds it may be more effective to report them for avoiding ebay fees, rather than as a suspected fraud which would require more work on ebays part to verify.

[Perry Werner]

Starting at £1. It also mentions a Buy It Now Price of £1200 in the second subject line though it cannot be purchased as an Ebay Buy It Now.

Also, if you read the description, the seller wishes to be contacted at their email address given in the description.

Any ebay listing where the seller refuses to sell or to communicate through the Ebay system is highly likely to be a scam, it is certainly breaking ebay's own rules because it would allow sellers to avoid paying ebay fees.
When reporting such suspected frauds it may be more effective to report them for avoiding ebay fees, rather than as a suspected fraud which would require more work on ebays part to verify.

When I called Ebay yesterday the agent was right on it. She was able to search all the "seller's" listings and calculate how the scam was being run and if it fit into the pattern of the "real" seller's account. It was kind of amazing to hear what she was able to research within a minute or two. The listing is now gone.

[badwellmac]

Hi there all,

As I read this thread, I was sitting in Swaffham !!

I checked out google maps and found 7,Cley Road

It is a warehouse with no name outside, through a high window

I could see some stored furniture

On the main door, was a large sign saying that the premises were up for rent

Blast, thought I was up for finding a bargain !!!

Regards

Karl

[Kautilya]

Hi there all,

As I read this thread, I was sitting in Swaffham !!

I checked out google maps and found 7,Cley Road

It is a warehouse with no name outside, through a high window

I could see some stored furniture

On the main door, was a large sign saying that the premises were up for rent

Blast, thought I was up for finding a bargain !!!

Regards

Karl

are u sure there was not a sveedish/daneesh tina player in there strapped onto a chair facing a camera, with duct tape over his mouth and a plastic transfusion pipe sucking the air from his neck....

[spindizzy]

Hi there all,

As I read this thread, I was sitting in Swaffham !!

I checked out google maps and found 7,Cley Road

It is a warehouse with no name outside, through a high window

I could see some stored furniture

On the main door, was a large sign saying that the premises were up for rent

Blast, thought I was up for finding a bargain !!!

Regards

Karl

are u sure there was not a sveedish/daneesh tina player in there strapped onto a chair facing a camera, with duct tape over his mouth and a plastic transfusion pipe sucking the air from his neck....

NO SPOILERS PLEASE - I haven't watched the last couple of episodes yet