$7,000 Jeffries On Ebay

[David Levine]

The putative large sale on Ebay of the 32 button Jeffries anglo did not happen. I made a stupid mistake. Thinking I was bidding in dollars, I bid a reasonable, but unwitting, amount in GBP that translated into $7,000 +. I apologized profusively to the seller, who responded with a rude message. I continued to apologize and offered to contact the underbidder, which I did (Ebay user name "busmick").

The seller responded with an even ruder email. I offered to pay the fees and to contact whoever else he wanted me to. More rudeness and a comment about "what is it with you people."

I told him "we" stayed up late into the night thinking of ways to frustrate and disappoint him. I didn't hear back from him.

So far as I know the concertina might still be for sale. At any rate, it didn't sell for the $7,000 bid. The underbidder, who I believe refused to buy it as a straight sale or second chance offer, offered $6,900 at the time of the auction, which isn't far off the $7K mark. On later contact he thought there was something dodgy going on.

It was "only" a careless error and I feel like an idiot for perhaps having caused a greater increase in the price of a Jeffries than it would ordinarily fetch, perhaps setting the bar at $7,000.

So herewith my apologies to all.

Edited June 11, 2004 by cocusflute

[Henk van Aalten]

Thinking I was bidding in dollars, I bid a reasonable, but unwitting, amount in GBP that translated into $7,000 +.

The only mistake I can imagine (and it happened to a very close relative), is the confusing situation with the "decimal -separator". The "." and the "," have a different meaning in the USA and our country (The Netherlands). So a bidding of USD 7,23 (which is seven dollars and 23 cents in The Netherlands) appeared in e-Bay as USD 7,230 (meaning 7000 and 230 dollars).

 

Personally I find your story hard to believe !! e-Bay very clearly indicates the currency for bidding.

[David Levine]

I too found it hard to believe that I did such a stupid thing. Apparantly the under-bidder found it hard to believe as well. But it was late at night, I was tired, ready for bed but thinking, "Perhaps no-one will bid as much, a shame to let it go for a low bid...", etc....

Stranger things have happened.

Edited June 11, 2004 by cocusflute

[Clive Thorne]

[

Personally I find your story hard to believe

Henk,

 

I think you're being a bit harsh here. I am inclined to give the fellow benefit of the doubt; after all if it were not a genuine mistake he would hardly have come into this forum and apologised to everyone, publicising the event and loosing his anonimity in the process!

 

After all I could say that 'Ebay always displays back to you exactly how much you have bid and asks you to confirm it, so there is no excuse for your 'close relative' being confused between the use of ',' and '.' !!

 

 

By the way 'Busmick' is the person who just bought the Jeffries Duet off E-bay for £2800, and bought a wheatstone anglo just a week ago, do we have a new (and well off) dealer or collector in town?

 

 

Clive.

[Paul Read]

Interesting story. Thanks for telling us all. Don't worry about the more vitriolic responses, it takes all sorts to make a forum.

 

Personally, I can see how the mistake could happen but you can't blame the seller for being unhappy! You do seem to have done your best to mitigate though.

[JimLucas]

Stranger things have happened.

They have, indeed, but I ain't gonna confess 'em here.

[Henk van Aalten]

I think you're being a bit harsh here.

For me there is a significant difference between the statement "I do not believe this" and "Personally I find your story hard to believe" (including the emoticon "unsure"). So my apologies to "cocusflute". I did not mean to be so harsh! You must have been too excited about the figures you saw.

(while typing this I see that you mention in a reply that it was very late)

 

After all I could say that 'Ebay always displays back to you exactly how much you have bid and asks you to confirm it, so there is no excuse for your 'close relative' being confused between the use of ',' and '.' !!

Clive you are right that e-Bay displays your bid, but in this display there is the same confusion for my 'close relative' between the period "." and the comma ","

 

More in general: I have "some doubts " about new members who post their first message in the buy-sell forum. My vocabulary of English is maybe to poor to express myself in a correct way, so I try this one: I feel more comfortable with first messages of new members in the general or teaching/learning forum.

[JimLucas]

Don't worry about the more vitriolic responses, it takes all sorts to make a forum.

Now that sounds like a low blow at Henk. "Vitriolic" is hardly the word I would have used. Henk is as much a gentleman as you, Paul, but it's no more unreasonable to be skeptical of such a tale than to believe it. We all base our trust and suspicions on our own personal experieces, and those differ.

 

Meanwhile, Cocusflute (say, I have one of those!) has apparently left a couple of very disappointed individuals in his wake, and has probably gained a couple of quite negative reviews on eBay. Either he's made a clean breast of things (my choice) or he's told us a tall tale. Either way, I don't see much point in arguing about it, either with him or amongst each other.

[Henk van Aalten]

Now that sounds like a low blow at Henk. "Vitriolic" is hardly the word I would have used.

I overlooked the original remark (and I do not often look back), but Jim quoted it. Well, being a chemist by education, H2SO4 is quite mild when you compare it to acids like HF or the famous mixture of HNO3 and H2SO4. So "vitriolic" does not sound so aggresive to me !!

[Paul Read]

Thank goodness for that. It was meant to be mild!

[David Levine]

Thanks for the support, folks. I never felt personally attacked. At least not enough to feel deeply offended.

In fact I am not a new member to this forum. I just forgot my password (I've been lurking and didn't post) and my email has changed, so I couldn't retrieve it. I had to re-register to post this.

I've been playing concertina for years, though for the past ten years or so I've been playing flute almost exclusively. I bought my old C/G Jeffries from Joel Cowan -- anybody remember him? -- when he still lived in Bellingham.

For those of you who took the winter thing with Noel Hill in Ballyvaughan this past winter, I was the flute-player sitting next to Francis Droney in Macneil O'Loughlin's pub on Friday night. I live in Clare most of the year. I only come back to the States to screw things up on Ebay.

I would play with Francis when he was 17 years old, in Doolin, when I was a fiddler and we were both young and arrogant. He's grown into a lovely man, married, with a baby. Francis is Chris Droney's son. I played with Chris as well, when I lived in Fanore.

I took some lessons from Noel Hill years ago in Lisdoonvarna, but I prefer Mary Mac's playing by far. The music isn't about notes per second, nor is it about ornaments per note. We need to be reminded every so often.

Edited June 11, 2004 by cocusflute

[Henk van Aalten]

For those of you who took the winter thing with Noel Hill in Ballyvaughan this past winter, I was the flute-player sitting next to Francis Droney in Macneil O'Loughlin's pub on Friday night. I live in Clare most of the year.....

 

....Francis is Chris Droney's son. I played with Chris as well, when I lived in Fanore.....

 

.....I took some lessons from Noel Hill years ago in Lisdoonvarna, but I prefer Mary Mac's playing by far. The music isn't about notes per second, nor is it about ornaments per note. We need to be reminded every so often......

Although people say (at least in The Netherlands): "there is only one chance to make a first impression", I like the second impression much better.

I missed the Noel Hill event in Ireland (hesitating too long), but the report by Bruce McCaskey, convinced me that I should have been there. I have a few links to Ireland and some special links to Ballyvaughan and Corofin (where I saw Chris Droney playing). On top of that I bought my concertina in Ennis.

 

I will seriously try to be there next year and I hope to drink a glass together with you!

[David Levine]

<<I will seriously try to be there next year and I hope to drink a glass together with you!>>

 

OK-- but we'll make it a pint. You buy and all will be forgiven!

[Chris Ghent]

Mistakes are easy to make (hands up anyone who is not an expert, no hands up here), and my feeling is to lean towards being a little sorry for both sides in this transaction. Offering to pay the expenses is decent. I am a bit surprised though that a person with a history of 388 transactions on Ebay can make such a mistake.

 

Chris

[mike byrne]

The Jeffries Concertina has re-appeared on ebay, being sold by a new seller in Canada!

[JimLucas]

The Jeffries Concertina has re-appeared on ebay, being sold by a new seller in Canada!

"New" in more ways than one. No eBay history, either.

With all text and pictures identical to the previous, it looks suspiciously like fraud.

Methinks someone should inquire of the prior seller.

 

Meanwhile, there's an intriguing ad for an early "Jones", but a Starting Bid of £2400, with no picture? I dunno.

 

Edited to correct typos. (I still don't understand how they manage to creep in after I've done my proofreading. )

Edited June 13, 2004 by JimLucas

[Helen]

Jim,

 

Snipers are making the typos.

 

Helen

[JimLucas]

Snipers are making the typos.

I can imagine them shooting out some of my letters, but how do they insert extras, even with a telescopic sight?