Old News About Stamp Fraud

As for the current discussion, I would agree that ebay is a dangerous place. They should remove items designed to fool the 'newbies', and they should banish crooks from their site on a permanent basis. It is unconscionable that they ignore fraud.

Very interesting topic


Wert : It's companies like Mystic who dictate catalog price to Scott ( it's stamps politic ) Mystic, kenmore and Arpin ( Vista ) here, are so happy to sell at Scott catalogue ( or very close ) their on approval stuff.

Area66....Can you be absolutely sure ebay has NO influence on ANY stamp catalogue pricing..?

Robert

Wert, Pierre Omidyar ( ebay founder ) was 5 years old when I started to collect stamps, it's my 2 cents, but I don't even thing Scott make the effort to check anything on ebay. they go restaurant with Mystic and decide how many % to increase this year. lol seriously, I'm probably not far from the truth. Unless they bring NYstamps with them .... The only thing that interest me , it's to fill my 1840-1950 Scott int at the cheapest price, glue or no glue

While I can't say with certainty, I doubt Scott editors use ebay prices on a regular basis, but I'd guess there are a few cases where they do. Scott prices are based on the retail, qty 1 price for a completely sound stamp in the grade of very fine, sold by a full-time, full-service dealer. There's no easy way to weed through all the faulty material and low-grade stamps making up the bulk of what sells on ebay. Given the vastness of the worldwide-to-date catalog of stamps, it's probably much more quicker and easier just to consult dealers and their price lists. And much of ebay is collector-to-collector sales, not dealer-to-collector sales, which (if I remember correctly) is what Scott prices are based on.

How did this thread get hijacked from the subject of ebay fraud - to Scott catalog prices?

ebay have an escrow service for car purchase , you send the money to escrow and once the buyer is satisfy the seller receive money, you can cancel the sale if the seller refuse to use it. Will be nice to have a similar system for stamps over let say $ 500, where you can send it to expertise and only on positive certification the seller will be paid.

But once again ebay take control of Escrot, only this company can do so now, before you have few of them. I used them few time for purchase of Oscale brass locomotive.

Biggest issue from what I am getting back from ebay buyers is the unschooled selling stamps to the unschooled.

There is only one draw back that I can see when deciding to educate new buyers to beware of fraud..By the time they have gone through all the information we have given them, or the websites that educate them, they have already been taken..And new people come on line all the time..For the fraudulent seller, it is like shooting fish in a barrel..I DO NOT see any resolution to this problem...NONE

Robert

Robert,
One of the unique things about Stamp Smarter is that we are helping new hobbyists even if they have never even gone to the Stamp Smarter web site. This is because we are working with many great sellers who respond to our suggestions to improve their listings. To date a bit over $850,000 worth of listings have been improved (or removed) after we contacted these sellers. So that's potentially 481 listings where a new hobbyists might have been saved from making a bad buying decision.

This is certainly better than doing nothing and just giving up on helping philately.
Don

Yes Don, I have to agree with you there...And stamp smarter needs to be commended on their effort..

But it is a struggle..

Robert

Which was my route and unfortunately, a very good lesson.

Couple observations as a newbie to the SCF forum (please forgive/correct any errors, I'm not totally familiar with the site):

1. Lots of links to ebay on the SCF home page but none to something as useful as Stamp Smarter. No buyers guide/tips, no buyers beware.
2. How about a "Fraud" or "Buyer's Tips" forum? Stamp Smarter does a great job but other than Don mentioning it, how is anyone going to find it? That is the only way I found it, through Don's replies. I especially like the Sellers Totals, or scorecard if you will. Quickly can identify problem dealers as well as dealers who are responsive.
3. How about reverse links from SCF sellers on ebay back to SCF? There are probably more, but Gary at Southwest Stamps does have links on his listings for buyers tips which were helpful for me (my first introduction, or education I should say). Don't know if anyone else does it, but Gary also has a link to Stamp Smarter as well.

I earlier noted that people get numb to certain issues and essentially shrug their shoulders. As I noted early in this thread, I had posted a new thread in the ebay forum showing a current example of the fraud and unethical selling practices I found on ebay in an effort to help "get the word out". Couple of days later, after a hundred and so views, no replies or responses.
In general, I find passionate replies from the same handful of people but otherwise I get the feeling it's "Yeah, and so what else is new". In some ways, this has colored my view of the issue, and I begin to take it as "just the way it is".

Don - For some reason, I cannot log in to Stamp Smarter and will need to re-register. I will then start posting reviews, specifically the one I mentioned. Great job by the way.

Nothingman,
Email sent to you with your log in info, let me know if you need further assistance.
Don

And I have litte doubt there is fraud in all the other parts of ebay. Just because it exists everywhere, doesn't mean ebay should be turning a blind eye towards it. There was fraud long before ebay - should we dismantle all police forces?