Bid And Get 'spoofed.'

[LAFidel]

I have bid on several instruments listed on ebay within the last year. I was not the highest bidder on either one. Each time, I have received emails after the conclusion of the auction telling me that, although I failed to submit the highest bid, that the high bidder had reneged, blah-blah...and that the instrument could now be mine. All I had to do was respond to this email and send money. I have also received various 'phishing' emails asking for credit card information, etc. Very convincingly delivered with the ebay logos, I might add.

 

All this has led me to the conclusion that ebay is a VERY risky proposition. Caveat emptor!

[ceemonster]

i find it troubling that a suttner listed on this site with notes about replaced or repaired ends or some such, and subsequently withdrawn (i don't recall the exact statements, and that's the problem), may have/seems to have, reappeared on ebay with no such notes, just a cryptic sentence stating the sale was "as is" and bidders should email questions. two emails from me asking whether anything on the box had been replaced/altered/repaired and for details thereof, went unanswered.

[s2maur]

i find it troubling that a suttner listed on this site with notes about replaced or repaired ends or some such, and subsequently withdrawn (i don't recall the exact statements, and that's the problem), may have/seems to have, reappeared on ebay with no such notes, just a cryptic sentence stating the sale was "as is" and bidders should email questions. two emails from me asking whether anything on the box had been replaced/altered/repaired and for details thereof, went unanswered.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ceemonster,

I believe I did respond to the second inquiry of yours and explained that I do not purposely ignore questions from any potential buyer. In case you hadn't noticed, ebay was having some problems. I would receive the same buyer questions twice from some and even after I answered others they still showed up in My Ebay message folder as unanswered. LaFidel is a friend of mine. She has already purchased a Suttner anglo from me a few years back. She made an honest bid because I was selling an honest product. Did you look at my feedback? I explained the "AS IS" in very understandable terms. If the makers of these instruments don't send warranties or guarrantees with these instruments then why should I warrant or guarrantee their workmanship for them.

I did not refer anybody to ebay in my c.net buy and sell forum post because I did not want to have to pay two fees for selling this instrument. It was quite clear that it was not going to sell in this forum so I stated that it was no longer availabe. I'm going to lose money on the sale of this concertina as it is so any amount I can save I will. I don't begrudge donating money to this forum for its services because I have done so many times before due to instruments sold here.

I don't appreciate your associating me with the dishonest offers to sell my Suttner to LaFidel from real scam artists. If you were confused about what I was offering then you needed to be more pro-active by asking me more questions. I still have a copy of your question and my response sent thru ebay so please, don't try to make me out as a scam artist which is what I feel you are doing.

You will note that LAFidel did not say that the after auction offers came from the seller s2maur415 which is me. She emailed me about this knowing that I would want to make a report to ebay about the after auction closed scams. Unfortunately she has only the email addresses and not any ebay user ID's so there really isn't much that can be done by ebay.

 

Steve

[brightfield]

I

All this has led me to the conclusion that ebay is a VERY risky proposition.  Caveat emptor!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think there is no doubt that ebay has its risks, but as in everything in life its a matter of weighing the benefits against the risks and coming to your own conclusion about whether to use the site or not. The fact is, the benefits are considerable and include

 

- access to a far wider market than is possible by other means

- some very good prices which you won't find equalled anywhere else

- convenience

 

My wife is semi-disabled and hasn't been able to work for over 15 years now and shopping is very challenging for her. About a year ago she discovered ebay and has now made over 280 transactions - both buying and selling included. The number of problems has been very small, and almost always it has been possible to resolve them by a communication with the seller or customer.

 

The thing about ebay is that you have to spend a lot of time researching before you start to bid. The system of providing access to a seller's records allows you to check out a dealer's past history in great detail before you commit to buy from him/her.

 

My wife decided that she wanted to buy me an antique concertina and because she spends to much time on the PC, she was able to research the market in great detail over a three month period. She learned the value of the instruments, what to look out for, how to date them from serial numbers etc, and also brought her added ebay expertise in on when to bid, the best timing of auctions etc. Then in March she struck on an 1890 Lahcenal. Because the seller had not placed the item to complete its auction at either the best day of the week, or the best time, it seemed to have attracted few other bids. She hung around "watching" the bidding until two minutes before the auction ended, placing her final bid just 15 seconds before the close, and won it. for about 25% of its current retail value.

 

It is currently with a well-known reparirer being tuned and having a bit of other work done, and I can only say that without ebay I would not have been able to afford this lovely little instrument.

 

Incidentally, you hear a lot of bad news about the Post Office, but in the 280+ transactions my wife had made, there has not been a single case of a parcel going astray in the postal system.

[LAFidel]

i find it troubling that a suttner listed on this site with notes about replaced or repaired ends or some such, and subsequently withdrawn (i don't recall the exact statements, and that's the problem), may have/seems to have, reappeared on ebay with no such notes, just a cryptic sentence stating the sale was "as is" and bidders should email questions. two emails from me asking whether anything on the box had been replaced/altered/repaired and for details thereof, went unanswered.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ceemonster,

I believe I did respond to the second inquiry of yours and explained that I do not purposely ignore questions from any potential buyer. In case you hadn't noticed, ebay was having some problems. I would receive the same buyer questions twice from some and even after I answered others they still showed up in My Ebay message folder as unanswered. LaFidel is a friend of mine. She has already purchased a Suttner anglo from me a few years back. She made an honest bid because I was selling an honest product. Did you look at my feedback? I explained the "AS IS" in very understandable terms. If the makers of these instruments don't send warranties or guarrantees with these instruments then why should I warrant or guarrantee their workmanship for them.

I did not refer anybody to ebay in my c.net buy and sell forum post because I did not want to have to pay two fees for selling this instrument. It was quite clear that it was not going to sell in this forum so I stated that it was no longer availabe. I'm going to lose money on the sale of this concertina as it is so any amount I can save I will. I don't begrudge donating money to this forum for its services because I have done so many times before due to instruments sold here.

I don't appreciate your associating me with the dishonest offers to sell my Suttner to LaFidel from real scam artists. If you were confused about what I was offering then you needed to be more pro-active by asking me more questions. I still have a copy of your question and my response sent thru ebay so please, don't try to make me out as a scam artist which is what I feel you are doing.

You will note that LAFidel did not say that the after auction offers came from the seller s2maur415 which is me. She emailed me about this knowing that I would want to make a report to ebay about the after auction closed scams. Unfortunately she has only the email addresses and not any ebay user ID's so there really isn't much that can be done by ebay.

 

Steve

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[LAFidel]

Let me assure all readers that Steve Maurice is not the 'spoofer' I encountered on ebay. I frankly would not have bid on the instrument if I had not recognized him as the seller. I own a similar Suttner purchased from him about two years ago and have been pleased not only with the instrument, but with the transaction.

 

That said, I would repeat my warning that ebay appears to be a magnet for scam artists. It is unfortunate that honest buyers and sellers cannot be better protected from the actions of these miscreants.