Fraudulent sale on eBay


I JUST TONIGHT SEPT 10, CAME ACROSS AN AUCTION FOR JBL 300 "SUMMITS". (300S THEYRE NOT SUMMITS). FOR SALE FOR $300.00. FORGET IT!!! I BID $65,000. I REPORTED TO EBAY. BUT THIS LOOKS LIKE THE SAME WOMAN I HELPED PUT OUT OF THE SCAMMING BUSINESS 15 YEARS AGO. IT MEANS WHEN THEY TAKE THIS DOWN, A STRING OF "TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE" auctions WILL COME UP. THE WOMAN Interpol caught went to prison but she may be out right about now. She SUPPOSEDLY sold brand new in box Martin Logan Vistas for $3000 with free overnight delivery from Europe! Good deal since the delivery was $6,000.00.   I just followed her all day bidding millions of dollars on each auction.  As soon as you see the "DO NOT BID, contact me directly" its a scam, head south.

128x128brahmslover

@brahmslover 

You didn’t really bid sixty five thousand dollars for those $300 speakers did you?😁

I don't like scammers either, but what were the crazy bids about? If she wasn't a scammer, you could be held legally responsible to pay them. 

"Assume anything you buy from Hong Kong in counterfeit "

Xenophobic?

I don't think it is ethical to paint an entire country as dishonest and out to scam everyone.

Believe me. There are con artists and scammers in every country.

Not Xenophobic, just not naive. This is based on my experience as a trial lawyer representing multiple manufacturers against counterfeit sellers on eBay, including cutting into counterfeiter cables as exhibits and filing multiple lawsuits against counterfeiters. Counterfeiters in Hong Kong are not policed. On the other hand, you will not get mugged in Hong Kong. 

Read Tiffany (NJ) Inc. v. eBay Inc. 600 F.3d 93 (2nd Cir. 2010).  75% of Tiffany jewelry sold on eBay was counterfeit at that time. EBay’s VeRO program is designed to prevent a Court from entering an injunction against eBay. 95% of all VeRO complaints I filed were against sellers located in Hong Kong selling high end cables. 

Hong Kong is a wonderful city.  It is cleaner than any city in the USA. In ten days, I saw one dent on a car. The food is amazing. The Jockey’s Club is a horse racing track with eight story stands. They have no sense of historical preservation.  Horrible construction regulations. It is safe, even walking down the streets drunk at 3:00 am. Very polite people without any public displays of affection.  You, however, should never express a political opinion. 

There are a lot of scammers with "Do not bid" messages.

Yesterday I flagged such an ad for a Nakamichi Dragon turntable. It was removed in a couple hours.

If it's too good to be true, ........

 

 

...it'll be too true to be good.....

Funny how that statement can be 'flipped' and still work...😏

EBay does have an authentication process for some often counterfeit items, such a watches over $2000. Never had a problem with an authenticated watch.

I just followed her all day bidding millions of dollars on each auction.  

This sounds like the beginnings of a romance... that bards may sing of for generations to come.

Yeah, well, I have bought the last fleecebay item. Kenwood KD 500 w/ arm, was wrapped in bubble and then wrapped in cardboard. The word "fragile" does not appear anywhere. I like the KD series, but I wanted this arm it is saveable.  Arrived crushed. When will I learn about fleecebay, apparently I'm a slow learner.  BTW, I topped your bid by a $

I’ve done a bunch of transactions on eBay, both buying and selling with 100% positive results. I only buy and sell domestically and always check feedback and transaction numbers from whom I’m buying. Not that hard. If there’s a whiff of illegitimacy about an item, don’t buy it. The vast majority of sellers are honest. To condemn the entire site because of the comparative few whom are not is ridiculous.

@puptent ,

Why are you blaming eBay for a sellers lousy packaging? Also, cutesy phrases like ’fleecebay’ or ’flea bay’ are neither amusing nor clever. Just a head’s up.

 

@thecarpathian +1

I agree with everything that you said. It's been the fashion for a long time to criticize ebay, and they deserve it sometimes, but they are also a good resource for a lot of things.

@roxy54 ​​@thecarpathian

+1 ..,,. EBay as a whole provides a good sellers broad forum with generally acceptable favourable results for both sellers and buyers.

MY TAKE:

So let’s use a rifle instead of a shotgun approach, and let’s restrict all these rants and disparaging comments about EBay to strictly audio , and a further lens focus on EBay’s regrettable , disappointing, and infuriating willfull blindness on carved out cohort of shameless illegal counterfeiters selling on EBay primarily out of China.

example: ( Note: see the tsunami of prior AGON posts on illegal counterfeiters and especially KIMBER KABLES and CARDAS CABLES posting on their websites that all China sourced ones are cheap inferior build illegal frauds AND EBay’s express refusal to moderate them .)

The point:

(1) the EBay seller crooks in China and the incidence of other ad hoc occasional EBay seller bottom feeders committing fraudulent transactions and/or POS shipping logistics can be tamed with a common sense screening approach before buying  with a bit of research and risk management .

(a) In essence, it’s pretty simple; if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. ( = a must to avoid) 

(B) Seller prior positive feedback is a prime indicator of a good less risky buy, and conversely, an absence of them, is a harbinger of high risk and invariable a bad experience…. (Another must to avoid ) = Full stop.

EZPZ 

I just got the best deal ever on ebay.  I've been buying cheap little subs because I want to try out the multiple sub thing.  The guy was selling it as "for parts or not working" because he couldn't test the speaker level inputs.  He has a video attached that demonstrates that it works through the RCAs which is what I'll be using.  $19.99 + shipping!  I'm up to 6: 2x10", 2x8", 2x5.25".  

EPISODE ES-SUB-EVO10-200 Powered Subwoofer (Gloss Black) | eBay

The manufacturers’ concerns are that, if you buy a counterfeit cable and assume it is real, you will complain publicly how poorly it performs because it sounds like lamp cord from Home Depot.  Counterfeiting damages their reputations and impairs their trademark’s goodwill.  
 

Both Cardas and Kimber have authentication programs.  Call them if you think you purchased a counterfeit cable. They will help. 

I've been on ebay for twenty years (maybe more) as a seller and a buyer. I currently do not sell on ebay (one of my first buys was my SAE 2100L). I do browse, however. Ebay feels the need to compete with Amazon (talk about Chinesium...) and have opened their doors to sketchy sellers, here and abroad. I've seen cartridges for astronomical prices with no cantilever, and visible body cracks. I purchased a turntable on ebay, seller's feed back said "The Best Packaged Turntable I've Ever Seen". So, I took a chance. The Best Package Ever turntable arrived at my house wrapped with bubble wrap, and then wrapped with cardboard. There was no indication that what was being shipped was fragile. It arrived with the arm bent and broken, head shell and cartridge attached (cheap to start with, but worthless now). Yes, I had a couple clues, I asked the seller some  questions, and he either didn't own this one (burgled? Uncle Ned's shed?)), or didn't honestly know anything. Description said "Audio tested", So I'll assume he had a DIN connector, but the head shell wires were soldered and molten solder had fallen on the plastic coated wires and shorted them. People acquire things, and in this economy, think they can turn them on ebay for much needed, or wanted $$$. Etsy is turning into a hungry corporation, think Reverb, and there's not much else out there (do I trust craigslist? facebook?) for equipment and media that I CAN AFFORD. I had two good experiences with USAUDIOMART, and have purchased a few things on Audiogon. I buy a lot of media on Discogs, and have only had one disappointment, so far. In some ways Discogs reminds me of how ebay was back in the day.... Yeah, there's still some good on ebay, if you separate the grain from the chafe, but can't ebay do that for us? Say a young person, or not, decides to get back into audio, or vinyl, and they shop on ebay. Will they know what they're looking at? And if they come to Audiogon for advice, is "If You Don't have at least a 5K budget..." really helpful?    I'm old and frustrated. The world is passing me by, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't going the wrong way.

@puptent 

I get what you're saying, and we all know that ebay is greedy and has some egregious faults, but in the case that you mention, you should have specifically asked about packing details, and also asked for close-up photos of the cartridge etc. If the seller didn't want to do that for you, you shouldn't have bought it.

Has anyone ordered the CEC transports from ebay? They are Japanese voltage, which require a transformer, but are a lot cheaper than the US-voltage variants for sale in US. Too good to be true, or is low price a function of the need to purchase a separate transformer? The sellers seem to have great and long sale history, or is that something that can be jiggered?

 

Similar experience several years ago when I "paid" chump change for a SS Conrad Johnson power amp. PayPal and my bank ran with it and the not-so-sophisticated scammers were busted...........in Texas

@markalarsen 

"Not Xenophobic, just not naive. This is based on my experience as a trial lawyer"

So you are judging the country based on its criminals?

And I should trust the word of a lawyer? That's hilarious. 

 

 

@tony1954 yes, I am judging Hong Kong based on its criminals whose major activities include counterfeiting.  I have direct knowledge from barristers in Hong Kong. I have direct knowledge from litigating this issue for speaker manufacturers. You obviously have no direct knowledge but are comfortable calling me a liar.  That reflects poorly on your character. 
 

 

“China leads the world in counterfeit and pirated products. In fact, 75% of the value of counterfeit and pirated goods seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2021 was from China and Hong Kong. Within China’s borders, forgeries of luxury-brand products are more prevalent than in any other country in the world.“

 

 

So the US doesn't have criminals or counterfeiters? 

You can couch your comments in pro-American jargon, but you live in a glass house and shouldn't be throwing stones.

I do not dispute that China contributes to worldwide counterfeiting, it's the your tarring an entire country based on a few percentage of the population that I find distasteful.

@tony1954 These are facts, not racial slurs. Arguing with people who are not anchored to facts is like mud wrestling with pigs. You get filthy and the pigs love it. 

Of course there are counterfeiters in the USA and in Canada too. However our governments do try to stem the flow of counterfeit goods, unlike the PRC and other countries. There are outstanding products made in the PRC and some great brands too.