Thanks for the heads-up Rob. Have you reported him to Ebay yet?

Thanks. I'm getting bent over the hood getting the Thelma and Louise treatment right now over a pair of Audix mics I bought from eBay.

Report the clod, and spread the word.

I've been down the road before with eBay and fraud items. You are S.O.L. trying to recover funds or items from eBay fraud. The scammers know this, and know they will never be caught or prosecuted.

A Class-Action Beating would do the trick, if you can locate them.

Yeah, I got screwed one time also, and even with all the Ebay claims of protection, you end up with nothing, and they get away with the loot Scott free...

Beware!

I did report him to ebay, but who knows what they will do about it, and by the time they shut these items down, he will be back up with another name. He's getting smarter with each success and failure too. When I e-mailed all the high bidders on one of his items to inform that they were being scammed, he changed his tactic to have the high bidders names hidden so I or others can do that to him again. He is only listing pro audio gear at this point (at least under the one user ID, but he could have dozens of different scams going at one time in a variety of categories). Yes, ebay and paypal are worthless in terms of help after getting robbed. I have been had once, but am much wiser now.

I can confirm the guy is a complete fraud. I just made up a ridiculous question: "Does the Crane Song unit support the PLL standard?" He quickly responded "Hello,

Yes the unit supports the european PLL standard.Could you tell me where you are from ?
Thanks,
John"

Unbelievable.

I reported him twice in detail, and you reported him once, and this gear is -still- up. Unreal. I'll never trust Ebay or Paypal again. They don't care if we get ripped off. They get their fees either way.

It's almost worth writing to the Federal Trade Commission about, though in this "give all the money to my rich friends and their companies" Bush admin. no one gives a f*&k about protecting the consumer, so who knows what good that would do.

Here is his info:

205.188.209.38 resolves to cache-dl02.proxy.aol.com

If anyone out there is a better geek than I and has ideas on how to go further against this guy, I'm happy to do the legwork. I've already sent the message with all headers to AOL.

Rob...

I really appreciate your heads up! As a newbie Ebay gear slut who has been buying practically everything I have there, this is a shocker to me. You are absolutely right, it has all the earmarks of a scam - no feedback, bidder's IDs hidden...

He is "selling" a lot of high priced stuff and presumably getting a lot response. I cannot believe Ebay would allow itself to be used this way. Talk about buyer beware!

What kind of "lies" did you catch him in, and what is his escrow site URL?

We got him! He's been shut down (at least under this name).

I guess that is why it is called Evil Bay!

Only bought once, from Evil Bay and I have to say I was lied to and bought something that was not what was represented. I am too ashamed to tell you what it was but it was a piece of pro audio gear.

How many times do you hear, barely used in a smoke free home studio.

This item had been used for rentals, according to to tags on it. It also had the refurbished label still on manufacturers box and when I took it apart because it did not work properly, I found there had been something spilled all over the inside, covering the electronics and it was filthy inside. I must say he did a great job of polishing the chassis but forgot to pull the knobs and clean around them. I have since cleaned things up and was able to get it working properly after a little soldering and some cleaning up.

I still watch Evil Bay all time but I don't trust what I see.

I'm having some fun with this guy. I E-mailed him and asked him If all the input modules have variactor or vidicon-tube chokes in them. He replied back and said they're variactor chokes. I think I'll ask him what kind of crystals are in the output section of the teleporter quartz or dilithium

Great advice as I have used eBay a number of times with success however one has to be careful. I have been ripped off using the trsding post, a simialr concept.

Great advice as I have used eBay a number of times with success however one has to be careful. I have been ripped off using the trading post, a simialr concept.

Come on, Folks. I'm all with you on shutting down the scam artists but that doesn't make eBay a bad company. Otherwise you better start cutting up your credit cards because there is a lot of fraud out there related to those things, you know.

10 years ago the extend of your/my possibility to shop for used high end gear (or anything for that matter) was largely limited to a small number of specialized shops in the area, involving potentially multiple hours of drive if you could find it at all. I think all of that is a lot easier now.

The mission is to make places like eBay better and safer by pointing out flaws, thus eliminating potential for fraud. If you are dealing with unknown quantities just use your head and apply a healthy dose of caution.

Just my opinion,

MisterBlue.

I think I'll ask him what kind of crystals are in the output section of the teleporter quartz or dilithium

That's too funny! Mostly because everyone that is anyone knows that the output of the teleporter section can only be quartz because it has to be coupled through the plasma relay matrix of a anti biophotoshere reactor after it has been through the quad matrix of a heisenberg compensator. And dilithium can only be used in the output section after it has been fused through a negative charged proto tri-croton after it has been decoupled with a phase-inducer.

I've had nothing but good luck on Ebay.
I've bought stuff from Canada, the US and Australia.
You have to do your homework.
If the seller has no feedback or has feedback for totally unrelated items, is protecting bidder's identities and is shipping from a suspicious country (Indonesia comes to mind!)the red lights should go on.
If they ask for bank or wire transfer only, it's usually a sign of fraud.
If they offer escrow, make sure it's the real thing and not another phoney website they've set up to perpetrate the fraud.
If you know someone in the city where the goods are located, ask if they can personally check out the merchandise, especially if it's a big-ticket item.
Use a credit card if you can because there is some protection there.
Email the seller.
Talk to him by phone if it's a high cost item.
Personally, I've never bought anything over 300 bucks on Ebay.
If it's a U47, I think I'd pay the freight and fly there to check it out and pick it up personally.
Never gamble more than you can afford to lose!
Again, do your homework before plunking down your hard-earned cash!

Thats too funny.
If my typing chops were a little better I would ask him something along those lines, but it would take too long to type out

Audiogaff must have done his studies aboard the enterprise! Tell me, is the food any good there?

Audiogaff must have done his studies aboard the enterprise! Tell me, is the food any good there?

That's Admiral Gaff. Who has spent time as an engineer in Audio, Electronics and Trekology. And yes, the Enterprise has the best food replicators within the Alpha quadrant and the far side of the Mutra Nebula...

I'm just glad Admiral Gaff isn't selling on ebay.
I was ready to buy whatever he was selling and the only word that I recognized was dilithium. I hope he takes pay-pal
:eek:
Phil

Did Admiral Gaff used to be called Scotty?-

You have to watch it on Ebay- more so if the deal is to good to be true- last year before the mac G5's came out there were sellers from Eastern Europe claiming to have G5's for sale (supposedly they were out over there first) needless to say, it was western union transfers, and so called private auctions where you had to register first- needless to say a few lost their 3 grand to those thiefs...

I have to agree that Ebay is an incredible place to find great gear at unbelievable prices as long as you know what you are doing (and you are lucky). In the old days you might look for years for the exact piece you wanted (say a U-47).

The problems occur when you do get stiffed - almost no recourse at all. Even if it is a reputable dealer with great feedback - your money might be on the one deal where he decides he would rather cash in rather than worry about his feedback rating. Then there is practically nothing you can do.

Out of five things I have bought there, I have had 4 questionable results.

1)made the mistake of buying something (else) from a non-Ebayer who emailed me after I won an auction. That turned out fine in the end, but the guy was awfully moody during the process.

2)received a HD multitrack smelling heavily of smoke when I opened it - but I didn't ask first, so... also wasn't the exact (more common) model I expected, but my fault for not noticing the tiny difference.

3) Paid for a piece and the guy didn't send it or contact me for 3 weeks, wrote him an email and got no reply, got his phone number from Ebay but it was disconnected! I left some really negative feedback and heard from him within hours. received soon after that

4) One guy delivered but tried to charge me twice, I had paid immediately after winning, 3 weeks later I get an email saying "pay me now or I will leave negative feedback and contact Ebay fraud" fortunately, I had my PayPal receipt. He said it was a mistake.

However, I still won't stop buying. But for a big ticket item I will definitely check feedback and email a question first. For over $500 I will probably ask for a phone number, too.

Speaking of Audio Fraud - I must relate this story, and I will even mention the name because I am now so p****d about it...

B&H Camera in New York City probably has the biggest selection of tube mics in the city. I have my prized 1961 U-67. In 1990 the original Telefunken tube started going microphonic, so I found a new replacement. The mic worked great with it.

Years later I went to B&H and spoke to the audio salesperson in charge of tube mics. I asked if they bought mics, related my story to him and asked "what does this mean for the value of my mic?" (Okay, I was not really serious about selling it, but I wanted to see what he woud say.)

He said, "It might as well be a U87, without the original tube it is just another mic"

"Can I find a replacement tube?" I asked. He replied it was absolutely impossible.

I have since found out

1) it does not affect the value "that much" as long as the mic/tube works well, according to a few tube mic specialists I spoke to, because...

2) it is easy to find replacement tubes, I found two original, unused (factory "new" 1960s) Telefunken replacement tubes for $65 apiece.

Go fish....

I agree with those of you that said "don't blame ebay". They have way too damn many sellers at any given time to keep up with these punks that rip people off. I think they are dependent on other users like us to tip them off to them. But they do take a couple of days from the time you tell them about it to follow-up. I reported him to the FBI, paypal, as well as ebay, and it sounds like others of you reported him as well. That's what it takes. He disappeared before his auction was over, so it worked this time. However, he, and others will continue to do the same thing. When you see this type of thing again, please report them. I love the idea of screwing with them. Very funny comments. I have discovered some great sellers on EBay including Soundpure.com and others. I will continue to use it cause there are some deals, but I feel sorry for those that don't use some common sense when the signs are there. Thanks for all the great posts.

Rob

Originally posted by hbj:
I'll never trust Ebay or Paypal again. They don't care if we get ripped off. They get their fees either way.

That is the bad part.

The first time I was defrauded, it was over a $75 subwoofer. I did the due diligence and filed all the paperwork, only to have eBay tell me there was a $75 deductible... bye, bye refund. I filed an interstate mail fraud complaint with Texas and USPS, both went nowhere.

The second time is still in progress. [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.compudox…"]This asshole[/]="http://www.compudox…"]This asshole[/] still has my $150 even though PayPal has a Pending action to recover my funds (minus fees, of course). I'll be happy to get my $145 back, albeit a month later.

If PayPal welches this deal, it will prove to me that PP advertising about $500 buyer protection is no more than BS. Even if a buyer ponies up the extra $5, etc for the Buyer Protection Insurance, it is so rife with loopholes it appears unenforceable.

I supposed I could always spend a couple thousand in lawyer fees to recover my $150.

In short, you can rob people all you want, because they cannot do anything to you. Remember that kid in Singapore doing graffiti? A Class Action Beating is the only thing that is effective against clods.

Originally posted by AudioGaff:
That's too funny! Mostly because everyone that is anyone knows that the output of the teleporter section can only be quartz because it has to be coupled through the plasma relay matrix of a anti biophotoshere reactor after it has been through the quad matrix of a heisenberg compensator.

Typical AudioGaff, recommending quartz in the output section of the teleporter when you know dilithium is so much cheaper.

Now i'll have to save up for another ten months just to afford one channel of quartz driven teleportation when i could buy 4 channels of dilitium driven teleportation today!!

I suppose you don't care for the new dilithium teleporters with quartz emulation either... the ads say that by creating a feedback loop in the buffer relays they can get it to emit even order harmonic distortion that sounds JUST LIKE quartz phased through the heisenberg compensator you mentioned...

greg

[ March 15, 2004, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: teleharmonic ]

Follow up: PayPal successfully refunded my payment, including the fees. I got my entire $150 back.

I suppose you don't care for the new dilithium teleporters with quartz emulation either...

Nope, I sure don't. I'd rather just use deuterium and suffer with the biomatter magnetic artifacts then try to emulate. It's the signal degradtion in the trimotal feedback loop caused by cheap cobalt trididium polyduranide that happens in the molecular imaging scanners pattern buffer relays that ruins it for me...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3711720623

Check out the URL above for an Ebay auction ending tomorrow. No bids at $1600 starting bid for a Digi002 with an additional $1600 worth of add-ons like 2 firewire drives, a Mackie control extender ....

Location is: "United States"
feedback rating is: 91%
has never sold anything before.

I guess this is a good example of what to stay away from.

The band is in the CR listening to their takes, I'm in the lounge, reading these posts and laughing like crazy in front of the computer. The band here thinks that my dipstick isn't quite touching oil.

I've recently run into a few folks that have been real happy with the way they both bought and sold gear through the new auction setup through Guitar Center and Instrument Exchange. http://www.instrumentexchange.com/index.asp Guitar Center is now using them to sell all their used gear and other blow-out or discontinued stuff. They have the option to use ebay but have better protection and no listing fees. Worth looking into and checking it out for yourselves.

EBay Scam

Hi all,

First post for me but this subject interested me in as much as we all like great gear deals and we all worry about rip offs. I live in the ozarks and ran into an FBI agent from Little Rock office a while back that was on vacation with his kids. I asked him if they had a unit dealing with Internet Fraud and Scams and he replied they did. I also remember lasst year they busted a guy from Conway AR taking peoples money on ebay for computers and not delivering them. Best I remember the FBI worked with the state's AG and State Police to bring him down. That would definately put a stop to the guy.

Just a suggestion.

Bill