What The Heck?

Do you think these guys know that these are 1992, not 1892?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/19157414809...RK:MEBIDX:IT

Of course they know. The title line is carefully crafted to deceive. They are, in fact, "Columbians" (1992 Columbians) and the one on cover is no. 231 (1893). Juxtaposing the two implies that the singles are the 1893 set but the title line does not say so.

This is an excellent example of utter, total, calculating, cold-blooded deceit.

But more puzzling to me is why a bidder with 1300 feedbacks is bidding #$200 for this. Am I correct to assume that all eight bidders have swallowed the deceit? I can't explain it any other way but . . .

Pristine mint 1893 Columbians would sell for how many tens of thousands of dollars? Surely the bidders have to know these can't be genuine but then why pay $200????

This will keep me awake at night. What am I missing?

Well I think it is just two bidders, the first bidders I assume were going for the nice cover. They dropped out at about $25.00

Okay. I hadn't stopped to analyze. I asked what I was missing and you supplied it.

But even so, $25.00 for a two-cent Columbian cover?? Maybe $2 plus $23 for the 1992s? But even that sounds high, given that the original commemorative panes have been mutilated; the cv for the intact 6 panes is only $30.

Am I right in thinking the early bidders saw the fraud and hoped to get these for $25 so that they could turn around and try to unload them deceitfully for $100 or $200? And that the 2 bidders who are still going merely think the sucker-market for these is higher than $100, more like $500?

Oh well. Perhaps I CAN sleep tonight.

There are only 2 bidders left right now and the one leading has raised his bid 3 times to try and keep from getting outbid.

That last bidder with the 3 overbids is ripe for getting shilled.

Yep. OTOH, when shilling takes place it can be hard to distinguish shiller from shillee.

Gah! That's an awful, deceptive listing. The seller is asking for a return on this one, since his listing states that he takes returns. Looks like he sells a fair amount of items, so at least on first glance I wouldn't expect this to be an effort for a big, quick sale only to hightail it out of town. That certainly *could* be the case but that's not my impression based on current and past sales.

You still have to wonder if the high bidder really knows what he's bidding on or only sees the date on the cover and assumes the stamps are the same age and thus he's making a killing for only a few hundred dollars. Too bad we can only speculate and will probably never know for sure.

P.T. Barnum was right.... And reading what's stated in the description, "sold as is", might make a return a problem?

Very sleazy

OTOH, I think those 1992 Columbians look awesome and much better off the sheets. If I had more than 1 set, I'd be tearing a set up right now to frame or do some kind of display with.

Um, yes. But look below at the "description." He is selling "as is"--so he in fact does not "take returns."

Sleaze and more sleaze.

Edited: oops, I see Al E. already made my point. Apologies.

ebay rules trump seller rules - returns are allowed for items not as described, but then again there's not much of description.

However, they are listed under 19th Century Used stamps. To me that's enough to be not as described.

All the seller has to say is that the unused ones are indeed (1992) Columbians while the used one is indeed a 19thc stamp. The 1992s are obviously not used, so caveat emptor, the buyer should not have assumed the unused ones were 19thc. And they are "Collumbians."

What's not to like, ebay???

But yes, ebay trumps everything, including God Almighty, so I suppose if a buyer complained, ebay could take the money out of the seller's account.

The old stamps were line perforated and the new stamps were box perforated. Also, the perforation gauge measurements are different between the old stamps and the new stamps.

The fact that the seller has a contradiction in their terms & conditions won't go well for the seller since ambiguous terms will favor the buyer. Regardless of policy, if lots are paid for by paypal and/or AMEX, they can still be returned. Paypal + AMEX gives extra rewards points and a double layer of consumer-friendly protection.