Wheatstone Anglo Offers

[Erik Murray]

No, I don't think it belongs in the Buy and Sell section. I put a bid in on the Wheatstone Anglo on Ebay now. On the day I was outbid I got an email message offering to sell me a similar item for the amount of my bid. This message was written by someone not so familiar with the English language. There was no description of any actual instrument or really any indication that this person even knows what a concertina is. The title was copied from the Ebay listing.

A day or two later I got another similar message from a different address. The sender identified himself as Robert Marius.

Then a third from a third email address. This one just called himself "Ebay seller" and went so far as to copy text from the legitimate listing's description. The price had gone up some, not as high as the real listing though.

This is all pretty funny and I didn't reply to any of it. I was wondering if anyone else has had any of these offers. They came to me through the Ebay system as "question for seller" emails. They were able to contact me that way because I had something for sale.

It strikes me as odd that concertinas get picked for this. I suppose it goes on with other things but I've been buying and selling on Ebay for some time now and haven't seen this until now.

I noticed one of Chris Algar's listings had the photo and most of the text copied to another listing once. The "seller" spelled the title "...Concetina". There was a bid but I think the listing disappeared early, probably identified to Ebay as bogus.

EM

[john]

My son had the ame thing happen to him after bidding on an engine on E-Bay.

[Stephen Chambers]

Yes, I have had some similar experiences. I've received three of these (seemingly fraudulent) "offers" in the last couple of days alone, from two different people. They seem to have stemmed from a "Question for seller" that I sent, via eBay, to the genuine seller of a valuable button accordion that I had placed a bid on. I forwarded all of these emails to *spam@ebay.com* for them to deal with.

 

Last year I placed a bid on a Jeffries anglo and received an email, purportedly from another eBayer (whose identity appeared to have been stolen - it even said "see my feedback" !) in America, offering me a similar concertina from a shop they were supposedly closing down in Romania (strange place to to be selling a Jeffries !), yet the email had originated from a Spanish address. I was tempted to reply, asking them if it was in "Romanian" or "Spanish" fingering, but simply reported it to eBay instead.

 

The eBay site is a huge one, and (like the rest of the internet these days) policing it is an almost impossible task, so I guess the message is "beware of robbers lurking in dark corners !"

[Rhomylly]

I had the same thing happen to me after I bid on, and lost, Frank Edgley's 24-button that he'd posted, the one he took to NESI.

 

Like what are the odds that someone besides Frank would be selling one of his 24-buttons right now?

 

And the "seller" was also not a native English/American speaker. I informed Ebay *and* Frank, who chuckled, and that was the end of the matter.

[Stephen Chambers]

P.S. I just checked my Inbox, after finishing my above posting, to find yet another of the phoney "update your account information" emails, that claim to come from eBay, but they are really attempts to steal your identity. Under no circumstances should you give them any information (I won't tell you the answer I sent them, it wasn't very polite !).

 

If you get one of these just forward it to *spoof@ebay.com*.

[Frank Edgley]

I would caution everyone to be VERY careful. I recently put a (demo) 24 button up for sale on E-Bay. I had, at that time made only three, of which I had one and I knew where the other 2 were. Someone who had bid on my instrument sent me an e-mail saying he had been contacted by someone (I think with a Spanish e-mail) saying he had an Edgley 24 button and he would sell it much cheaper. (I forget the amount). I knew this was impossible and the person who contacted me said he was going to report it. I can invision someone sending a money order out and never seeing hide nor hair of concertina or money again. Besides dealing with reputable people, or those you know, I don't know how to avoid these thieves and con men .

[JimLucas]

Besides dealing with reputable people, or those you know, I don't know how to avoid these thieves and con men .

One thing to do is never respond to emails that refer to eBay (or more generally, to "offers" from strangers), but only deal directly with items appearing on the eBay site. Of course, there's still a possibility of problems, but with the emails there's almost a guarantee.