Ebay Cartel ID StaMPDeals 5 May Sales

In the US Unused 19th Century category for 5 May there are 26 sales recorded by stampdeals at a total cost of $27,303. This does not include other cartel IDs nor does it include other dates or timeframes or other categories. That is astounding. Some sales were obviously to shill bidders. Others not so obvious. Extrapolating out the total scope of fraud in dollars leads to a picture of fraud on a massive scale. Does ebay not see this? If not why not? Fraud on ebay is a huge issue. What to do? Many good people have tried in vain to stop this. What will it take. It is extremely damaging to the hobby.

The link below shows the items starting at the 31st one on page one where the "from the UK" listings start and continues to page two. Note: The items locations are listing as being in Blountville, TN.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/19th-Centu...H_Complete=1

https://www.ebay.com/sch/19th-Centu...gn=2&_skc=50

It is damaging to the hobby on two fronts.

Firstly, as this information becomes more mainstream in the hobby, prospective collectors will be potentially put off as they will believe there are too many charlatans in the trade.

Second, any buyers of this material who have paid over the odds will probably be blissfully unaware of this until their dying day. It's when the next of kin try to sell is when the true value of the material might come out. This of course is assuming the next of kin have a clue that their deceased relative even collects stamps and has spent good money on them.

I can't stress this enough. Keep receipts, build instructions into your will, even tell your spouse or a trusted relative so he/she doesn't get ripped off, perhaps by the same charlatans we are discussing today.