Fake 4001 on ebay

landon · Post by **landon** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 10:11 am

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2510977013&category=4713

Damn Fake!!

ojobob2 · Post by **ojobob2** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 2:21 pm

ok....thats just the crappest thing i have ever seen

davecondra · Post by **davecondra** » Sun Feb 23, 2003 8:03 pm

One of the worst ever. And people are actually bidding on it! Unbelievable!!

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 5:21 am

It would make good firewood

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 5:23 am

Or if you need a bass to smash on stage ... this is the one!!!!

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 5:23 am

How exactly does one tell?

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 6:59 am

The bass has the wrong paint job, it has the wrong tuners, it has the wrong pickups, it has the wrong strap buttons, The fret board is the wrong color, it has a bolt on neck, Ric 4001's never have a bolt on neck ...

IT IS A BAD COPY!!!

Somebody just slapped a Ric nameplate on it and tried to pass it off as the real thing ... It is dishonest ... like a bait and switch scheme ....

That's the problem with ebay, fuzzy pictures, innaccurate descriptions, dumb seller, dishonest sellers ... buyer beware ... I buy off of ebay but I sometimes get taken and sometimes get good deals ...

davecondra · Post by **davecondra** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 10:30 am

I e-mailed the seller and told him it wasn't a real Rick. (I probably wasn't the only one). He replied that he was cancelling the auction.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 11:18 am

Unfortunately, the seller 'dickspawn' (which contains a bad double meaning - what was the seller thinking by not using a hyphen in the right place?) has reposted the item

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2510977013&category=4713

and is still claiming it is a Rickenbacker. I guess some people never learn.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 11:29 am

Can't RIC shut down the auction therefor?

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 11:56 am

We did send in a deletion order to eBay yesterday but it can take up to 48 hours for their database to reflect it, especially if it's outside of the U.S.A.

It's better for folks to direct their comments to us at [email protected] and let us handle these situations because if we delete the auction (as opposed to them cancelling it voluntarily) it makes a negative entry in their eBay profile that will be used against them if they try to do it in the future.

jeff_ulmer · Post by **jeff_ulmer** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 3:32 pm

I will keep that email address handy since I do daily searches on ebay for basses (window shopping unfortunately), and see these all the time. It's too bad you can't seize the nameplates at least.

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 7:43 am

Unfortunately, there's a whole mentality among certain people that just because some abstract, intellectual property is concerned, it's okay . . . not just the common thievery that it really is. While eBay is often the preferred playground of these individuals, there are also other places these folks congregate for illicit activity, for example:

Beatgear Cavern Swap Shop

Voxtalks Classified

jeff_ulmer · Post by **jeff_ulmer** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 8:43 am

In an effort to educate buyers, and hopefully depreciate the market for fakes, would it be possible for Ric to set up a section on the website that provides detailed photos of different era guitars and basses, and possibly some of the fakes, so that recognizing a bogus instrument is easier for the lay person? While some of the fakes are pretty obvious, I've seen legit Rics I would have thought were fakes from time to time due to hardware or configurations that aren't necessarily common.

Things like what nameplates go with what year, pickup placement, etc., would be good to have as a reference. It's not only the actual fakes that are a problem, but newer basses being passed off as vintage should also be a concern.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 12:12 pm

Quite a good idea, Jeff.