Claiming "Collected" Instruments

[chuck_king]

Last week I bought a 650D off eBay, and when I went to register it I discovered that somebody else had registered it as a "Collected Instrument" the day before I got it. I have been corresponding with gibsonlp to try to get it switched over to "My records", but it seems to me that this must happen fairly often, given the frequency with which people here buy Ricks off the 'Bay. I wonder if that process could be automated---I can't imagine there would be any rush of people claiming Collected Instruments they didn't actually own.

[admin]

Chuck: We try to make sure that instruments and their owners are connected properly. An automated process may be more convenient but also runs the risk of additional errors in the Register.

A great question though and something that Gil and I need to discuss in more detail.

It looks like the instrument of which you speak is now added to your records.

[gibsonlp]

Actually, since we started "collecting" instruments off the bay and such sources I received only 3-4 requests for such a change, normally I do it as soon as I read the request.
Writing a chunk of code to handle such a request would be perfect only in an utopic world, in reality - many security aspects should be taken into consideration when allowing other people to edit content (web 2.0...)
We try to minimize our involvement as much as possible to save time, but there is no actual way of having a reliable database without someone (Peter, actually...) who will actually look at any modification/new submission to fight vandalism.

Nonetheless - thank you very much for your suggestion.

[dr_bob]

Hey Gil or Peter

I recently purchased a 1971 330FG that I would like to register on the forum. Someone else previously had registered it. What do you need from me to get the registration switched over?

[gibsonlp]

Just PM me the serial number.

[cjj]

Perhaps this has been covered before but, since serial numbers are available in the register, how do you make sure someone doesn't just send you a serial number and claim it to be theirs when it really isn't? In the case of an instrument entered as owned by a member, you can of course, contact the member and ask if they sold it (though they may not know just who they sold it to, especially if it was via Ebay). But for collected serial numbers this would be next to impossible.

I'm not sure it really matters since the register isn't really an official document, but since one of the stated advantages to registering is to help prove ownership in the event of loss, etc. this could be an issue. There are various unscrupulous types out there who will get serial numbers of things, then report them as stolen, etc., and create all sorts of hassles for the true owner...

-cj

[gibsonlp]

This is indeed a good question.
first of all - we do keep the history of changes on each instrument, so if someone "stole" someone's instrument on the registry I could revert everything back.

Up until now - the only time we were requested to change the owner was either by the seller, by members who bought an instrument on the bay or by members who bought "collected items".

The first is easy - the owner can ask to change ownership without any problem.
The second is a bit trickier, however - odd as it may seem - we DO follow ebay sales (hence the collected items) so we can easily know if the instrument was sold or not, once it was sold - we have no way of knowing who has it (but we can try and match someone who claims he bought it*), and believing one he has it would be the same as allowing one to simply add an instrument, we have no way of knowing if he actually has the instrument or not.
The third is easy as well, a collected item is an item found online without any idea regarding to the owner, if someone says that he bought it - we believe him.

* For ebay sales - I do have a way of knowing if the person that claims he purchased the instrument is indeed the one who did it, it is not 100% proof, but very close. I will not disclose this method as it is basically "security by obscurity"...

If someone claims someone's instrument and we don't know if the instrument was sold or not, we simply contact the current owner, so it is pretty hard to "steal" someone's instrument.

[JakeK]

Dunno if this is on topic, but I registered Dave Rogers' Rose Morris 1993/12 and added pics.