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A Certain Feeling Of Déjà Vu ...


Chris Timson

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What goes around comes around, on ebay at least.

 

Chris

 

Why didn't I feel any curious about the outcome when following the link... :D

 

 

I am curious about the outcome this time. What's new is that the starting price is lower. And the wording of the ad makes it looks like he really wants to sell, whereas previously he was suggesting if you were special he might just let you have it. So perhaps he'll let the auction go to completion, unlike the two previous occasions when there was a risk he might sell it (the latter time because he put a decimal point in the wrong place). When he first got this concertina, there was a good chance he might have sold it at that price, after all it is rather less than he paid for it. But with all the messing around and the world moving on and that, well we'll just have to see.

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Having exerience of dealing with him and having tried the instrument, I pity anybody who buys it.

 

The thing that surprises me is his 100% feedback.

 

Mind you, for anyone who doesn't have much to do with Ebay; 'feedback' is a VERY blunt tool. Nice but unwary people get bad feedback by not being solicitous enough. Crooks keep their records clean by relying on the "Give me bad feedback and I'll do the same to you" lever.

 

Even allowing for that you'd think he'd have upset someone to the point of making a stand.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It seems to be just a game that he is playing with it, and an excuse to be rude to even more people:

Question & Answer

Answered On 27-Dec-13

Q: hi I would love a concertina and have seen a wheatstone before,what model number is this one?

A: Hello 'rootseire', I'm sure you would. So, you forget to ask Santa for one?! There isn't any model number for this one given in the Horniman Library, probably because it is unique, but in the place where the model number is usually given it has the letters AG. Anyway, cheer up! You may have good tidings from your fairy godmother.


He listed it last time at only €99.00, without reserve, then cancelled all bids before the end of the auction (and the usual final flurry of bids that might normally be expected at the end):

Bid retraction and cancellation history

s.gif
Bidder l***aiconTealStar_25x25.gifs.gif Cancelled: EUR 1,200.00 Bid:23-Dec-13 22:43:35 GMT Cancelled: 27-Dec-13 23:20:06 GMT
s.gif
Bidder p***biconTealStar_25x25.gifs.gifCancelled: EUR 1,100.00 Bid:22-Dec-13 17:05:57 GMT Cancelled: 27-Dec-13 23:20:07 GMT

Bidder e***1iconBlueStar_25x25.gifs.gifCancelled: EUR 158.00 Bid:21-Dec-13 16:48:14 GMT Cancelled: 27-Dec-13 23:20:07 GMT

Bidder r***e s.gif Cancelled: EUR 1,000.00 Bid:21-Dec-13 16:28:37 GMT Cancelled: 27-Dec-13 23:20:07 GMT


And this time he's relisted it with a Starting bid: EUR 9,900.00 Approximately £8,269.81 - which is a bit like childishly sticking two fingers up at all the other concertina players, and potential concertina players, who might actually like to give the instrument a deserving home.

It's not even unique either, though he claims it is - I've played on another one like it (only in better condition) that was made for a boxer in the 1920s, and we know of others.

He's 'avin a larf, only really it's sad. :rolleyes: :(

Edited by Stephen Chambers
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I have seen extremely similar behaviour in the classic car world. One of them had a genuinely unique vehicle, which made it difficult to put a value on it. The owner claimed to have turned down several implausibly high offers at shows. Every couple of months he'd put it on eBay with a low starting bid, then cancel the auction near the end when it looked like there was a chance it might sell for less than what he believed it to be worth, often throwing about bizarre and unnecessary insults, accusations and even threats in the process. Each time he did this he alienated a few more of the relatively small number of people who were genuinely interested in buying the vehicle. In the end he sold it privately for an undisclosed sum.

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And in a classic example of type, our friend gpanda has relisted the beast at a starting price of 99 euros, waited until bidding was brisk and then delisted on the grounds of an error in the listing. Subsequently he (he? Perhaps an unwarranted assumption) has relisted it again for 9900 euros (yes, that's over 8000 pounds).

 

Clearly this is some sort of private game he is playing with the world and he will never sell it. Personally, I think it's a financial version of Mornington Crescent, possibly using Buffett's Variation or the Threadneedle Underspend.

 

Chris

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I didn't get the video until I watched it the second time.... :wacko:

 

Is it just a coincidence that this fellows eBay name is gpanda and "deja vu all over again" often is attributed to the American baseball icon Yogi Berra who inspired the cartoon character Yogi Bear?!! :o Or that the "big bear in the sky" constellation Ursa Major is widely known as the Big Dipper. :huh: Does gpanda have concertina delusions of grandeur and wants to supplant Colin as the "Big" Dipper? :P

 

Conspiracy theories are running rampant. B) Time to call in the concertina ninja and investigate! :ph34r:

 

Or has gpanda simply become unbearable and it is time we move on? :rolleyes:

 

Greg

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Well, it might get hard for any panda to be recognized as more than Ursa Minor..., which might in fact fit...

 

Let's presume the "unique instrument" to symbolise Polaris, so that the owner can just revolve around it with his various listings... B)

 

(déjà vu included every 24 hours then)

 

Thus Colin might be outta danger at least.

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Is it just a coincidence that this fellows eBay name is gpanda and ... Yogi Berra ... inspired the cartoon character Yogi Bear?!! :o

 

 

You have no idea how close you're (sort of) getting to why I think he uses that eBay ID... :lol:

 

(Only, it's got nothing to do with practitioners of yoga, though it does have a Tibetan Buddhist retreat centre.)

 

I'll say no more! B)

Edited by Stephen Chambers
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