another ebay scam?

Rainman

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2745851540&category=636

i often buy huge lots of baseball cards on ebay and have seen this auction (w/the exact same picture) run at least 5x. at least 2-3 times, the auction has sold for $120+. i emailed the buyer after the first few times noticing that he ran the same picture w/each auction- of course i got no response. i asked why his feedback was private. his response "well, a friend told me i could make it private. so i thought i would." before i questioned him on the same picture for multiple auctions scam, i emailed him asking for the reserve. he stated it's 120 and i should bid "in confidence" since he has 35 perfect feedbacks. my question- why make feedbacks private if you have 100%? I have over 80 perfect feedbacks- mine's not private. i'd also like to know how/why people keep bidding on his auctions (there's not much of a picture as you can see) for $120.

VCRayGuns

Text

euphoria18

Link that works

Learn how to link probably...lol

JErik20

I e-mailed him inquiring about the auction and his private feedback, acting like i was interested in the lot. No way anyone with perfect feedback makes it private

It is total BS that members can make their feedback private. That is why i feel safe buying from eBay, and why eBay has gotten as big as it has. If everyone made their feedback private, i'd never use eBay again

Erik

Rainman

how do you do a link? and i agree that if your feedback's perfect there's no reason to make it private. i suspect the individual really has 1-2 feedbacks- probably by friends (or himself using another ID) and that's why he doesn't want to make it public. also, based on the cards you could make out in the picture, 120 seems a bit high. but i've seen at least 3-4 other auctions of his (same picture) close for 120.

JErik20

tO MAKE IT A LINK, JUST GET YOUR CURSOR WHERE YOU WANT IT AND CLICK ON THE LITTLE TAB AT THE TOP THAT SAYS "HTTP" AND FILL IN THE INFO THERE

I'LL LET YOU KNOW IF I HEAR BACK FROM THE GUY TO GET HIS EXPLANATION

ERIK

JErik20

Here's his reply:

"Hello. I have made my feedback private due to the advice of a friend. He
buys and sells alot on Ebay and says he has had trouble selling items for
what they are worth when people can look up to see how cheaply he bought it
in the first place if he happens to get a great deal. I haven't done a ton
of buying but I just thought that logic made sense so I took his advice.
Plus I thought that as long as I have perfect feedback that it wouldn't be
such an issue. Apparently that's not true as you're the 2nd person to ask
about this. As for the collection that's posted, it is the same one that was
listed earlier because the item didn't sell. My reserve was set at $120,
which it is again. If I don't get a bid to match that price I may drop it to
$100 at that point but I put too much time and money in this collection to
accept less so I may just keep it. I hope that helps you some.
Thanks, Chris"

Dummy said: "Plus I thought that as long as I have perfect feedback that it wouldn't be
such an issue". Well if it's private how in the heck do we know it's perfect?? I don't think he's thinking very much

Erik

Rainman

Interesting he says it didn't sell. B/c I posted this in another forum (sports card memorabilia), and someone looked up stats on his feedback- it did show all positives- but that could be b/c he had friends bidding on his items- or it could be that he was the BUYER not the seller. Also, the person who looked up his feedback stats said that this auction DID sell- for $200+ (see the sports card memorabilia forum). So how can this guy post the SAME pic if the item DID sell? I suspect it sold and the buyer got it, realized the cards weren't of high quality and returned it, or didn't pay. Not to mention he's listed the auction weekly since July- w/the exact description, exact pictures, etc.

What bothers me is his explanation doesn't sound plausible- I know as a buyer I look for perfect (or near perfect) feedback- anyone w/0 or private feedback raises my suspicion. Not to mention his pictures on the auction are extremely bad- you can't see what cards you're getting (he takes a picture of the box in poor light and a picture of a stack of cards in toploaders) and he uses the generic line everyone uses for monster/large lots- i.e., "tons of bonds, sosa, mcgwire rcs." in reality you usually get sosa's donruss rc- which is a dime a dozen (I had 25 at one point from opening wax packs), bonds' topps card which isn't his true RC and which is also over produced (and can be had cheaply). As for Mcgwire, you usually get his topps 87 card which isn't his rc and is also over produced (and can be had cheaply). I've sold a few 3200 count boxes on EBay (not for $120)- and always provide a pic of the RCs as well as a fairly detailed list of just what is in those boxes (generally cards I have duplicates of or players I don't collect).

On top of all this, the most I've ever paid for 10,000 baseball cards has been $75...and that included McGwire's TRUE RC (85 topps- worth $50), Ripken's RC, and many other vintage cards (including a Nolan Ryan from 1975 and 1977) as well as newer cards, autos, GU, RCs, etc.