Uninformed Ebay Dealer

I don't know if we're supposed to name names, so I won't say. I just looked at a certain ebay seller who has 3 Scott 313's listed at bargain basement prices...except I'm pretty sure they're all 480's. They've also got a 312 listed that's actually a 479 in my opinion. The funniest of them all is a mint 287 that's a 1998 reprint.

Yeah, I checked it out, Howell, and they are definitely #480. They showed up as newly listed. You should be able to count at least 13-1/2 perf holes one the long side of the stamp if it is a #313 (perf 12). You won't count that many on a perf 10 480. Someone who has this many to offer probably knows they are misidentified.

There is a seller from Malaysia that has been selling Scott 534B with Schermack perfs quite regular for the past year. None of them are the offset Washington Franklin and appear to be common Scott 409. I've messaged him several times but he continues to offer them.

Even more comical is the positive feedback he receieves from some of his US buyers.

I don't think its funny at all.

These people are well aware of what they are offering and really don't give a damn what we think. They are feeding upon the uneducated members of our hobby. The new collector will learn that he/she was cheated and perhaps give up the hobby. We need new members in our groups and these guys are stealing them from us.

I have no new suggestions as to how to fight these crooks other than to notify ebay and the collecting community and name names.

But, its not a laughing matter. Just my opinion.

Art

I have found several times a wrong Scott # is posted by ebay sellers. When spotted I send the seller a message suggesting it be corrected and supply the correct #. 100% of the time it is corrected and most of the time I get a note of thanks for spotting the error. I am sure there are a few dishonest people on ebay but so far since 1996 I have only been hooked by one not shipping me the item.

It is a different matter with those selling "meter" covers which are in fact just permit indicia covers. I sent three emails this weekend. One response was a thank you. One response was, "Yeah but its what collectors call a meter." Another response related that the documentation I provided for them to review regarding what is a meter is confusing. In each email I included a link to the International Postage Meter Stamp Catalog. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Intern...tamp_Catalog

If they've been informed that they're selling the wrong item and continue to do it, it's fraud in my opinion and one ought to file a complaint with ebay to get their account revoked. Fraud is a violation of ebay's policies.

I have seen on ebay very low prices in general... so I started to think they are fakes but I don´t really know.

I will check on them tonight and if changes are not made, they will be reported.

I have sent the seller a email stating that they are #480s....
Received 3 replies from him.....
1....stating he goofed and will end the item
2....OK...yes you are correct and I feel dumb.
3...I will contact he buyer and let him know....

Seems that atleast 1 sold....
Have not checked....
Tried to do my part by contacting seller....I should
have contacted ebay.

Well, here we go again......same Scott #313 and #312 that are actually #480 and #412. Might be an honest mistake as he seems to be principally a coin and sports card dealer. I sent him a note. Let's see what happens. 201083264219

Oops, #480 and #479 of course.

201083264219 - Not to mention that he has it listed as "NH" and it clearly has a hinge mark.
don

I did much the same when I encountered a 459 coil pair on ebay. The only problem was that this was a vertical pair, probably 409V. Sent the seller a note, only to be ignored. When I sent the note, there were about 6 hours left in the auction with no bids & I presumed noone was foolish enough to bid on such an obviously misidentified item. But someone eventually paid his $100 Buy-It-Now price for the pair. Hopefully the buyer eventually figured out his mistake.
But this brings up a question. Does it to any good to contact ebay about a misidentified item once the sale is complete? Will they do anything? Or will they just assume the buyer should have known better?

This is an interesting point. Should we or shouldn't we? It would warn us of a possible problem seller. I have seen a few posts on the forum with a link to a bogus listing. Perhaps this might be the "politically correct" answer.


-IBFS

"201083264219 - Not to mention that he has it listed as "NH" and it clearly has a hinge mark".

It doesn't absolutely have to be a hinge mark, because of the angle of the image. It might possibly be a natural gum crease or uneven gum application that is affected the lighting and appears like a hinge mark. Alas, this is one of the reasons that images don't always tell everything and stamps really must be seen in person.