Scam Artist Stamp Seller On Ebay

There's a guy I have dealt w several times. This guy is a dealer/buyer and a scammer on both ends, however he can. He recently purchased some items from me on ebay stamps and such, totaling around $45. He lives in the Netherlands and I charged $14 for shipping with tracking. he complained heavily, and asked me to send it first class mail w stamps to save on shipping. Since I had dealt w him before I figured he would be an honest buyer. After only 10 business days he opened a case on me, sending me a message saying he couldn't wait any longer. He goes and leaves me a negative on ebay because I messaged him angrily accusing him of scamming me. ebay did remove it after seeing his messages. Now I go and look on his account where he is selling all sorts of repro items as originals for high $$. I know they are fake because there are many items I sold to him for $1 and $2 and he's selling as original on there. ebay seller name is Rarity Stamps.

Here are a few items which I have the same notes here, (Copies/repros) with the exact same serial numbers. All of these I know 100% I sold to him for a few bucks each. They are not even good fakes but a novice buyer will eventually end up with these. I honestly wish I had just destroyed these because I never had any intention of these getting on the market as originals.

334765998199
334711928652
334711926593
334711927121
334765998122
334765998090

Some of the items have a buy it now over $300, so I really hate to see someone getting burned because I let these get into the hands of a criminal!

Tried reporting to ebay but my hopes aren't very high! I attached a pic of one of his fakes which I have the same serial number on the same note, I also have another of the SS Camp notes w the same serial number.

I wish I knew; I would have taken them as reproductions for a few dollars.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that there are dishonest people on ebay. Seriously though, that really sucks.

Yeah quite a shocker, a scammer on ebay lol, but always good to get the word out!

Passionfruit,



You have done all that is reasonable to do, IMHO.

John

Is it possible to contact the vendor, (through ebay) and ask "Are these genuine or facsimiles?"

and that query in ebay is then open to buyers?

I agree with the notion of outing known scammers.

That said, what's happening here is completely foreseeable when selling fakes on ebay.

When you know, know, know something is fake, it should be marked as such before parting with it. This used to be a requirement of ebay when selling faked, forged and counterfeit stamps; unfortunately, they seem to have watered that down.

There might be some gray areas. Should you mark a Fournier or Sperati that sells for more than a genuine example? I can see both sides. I don't think anyone who is specifically paying for a particular Fournier would mind an unobtrusive marking on the reverse. Others will say you're molesting a piece of history.

One of the problems with that is some people "know, know, know" but are actually "wrong, wrong, wrong". It still comes down to the fact that the buyer has to know what he or she is buying. Knowledgeable collectors rarely get taken.

Or sending it unmarked (just in case your are wrong) to the APS for its reference collection or if actually good, for them to sell for the APS' benefit.

Classy option.




I don't disagree that buyers should know. I don't go all the way to, "hey, if they don't know any better, screw 'em."

That said, over the last many years I've occasionally posted here one of my two favorite thoughts from Robson Lowe - if you need to rely on a certificate when buying something, you should be collecting something else.

Again, easy to say when you're Robbie Lowe.

An elitist attitude that likely would not bode well for the hobby if implemented.

Then you'll be happy to know that Robbie is no longer killing the hobby.



Every time I've posted it, I've qualified it for a reason. I still love it.

And may he continue to rest in peace.

Was thinking I could have wrote "COPY" on the back, but it would be easy enough to scribble it off, or put some kind of ink stamping over that too. I guess when stuff falls into the hands of scammers they set out to do what they do.

Personally, I think it's worth it to try. You can tell from this thread that my opinion is not universal.