1968 4001 on eBay---Cheater!!!

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 7:46 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2538872575&category=4713

The features are obviously all wrong for a 1968. I asked the seller what the serial # was and he replied: H1 7221.

So that's an August 1988 4003 Silver.

Emailed the seller suggesting him change the item heading and description to avoid people doubting his honesty and integrity.

He replied with one rude sentence: "if you arent bidding on the bass why dont you just mind your own business..."

I think he (eBay ID:"tsuinado") is determined to go out there and CHEAT!

I wonder if eBay tolerates such a dishonest seller?

(Yeah, maybe I should just mind my own business, but I just hate people cheating!)

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 7:54 pm

In case the image does not show up completely above...

ricnvolved · Post by **ricnvolved** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 8:16 pm

Concerning the seller's rude insult to Paul Yan, I'll simply quote my departed & sorely missed grandfather who was a master of zingers and one-liners: "STOMP HIS ***!!"

Paul, you did the right thing in contacting the seller. Too bad the guy's a butt-hole. And thanks especially for alerting us about the serial number discrepancy. eBay should be notified but I don't think they care about such things anymore.

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 8:50 pm

Ha! The seller's behaviour reminds me of a band's name-"The Damned".

Well, today is Sunday and I happen to have some time for not "minding my own business".

ricnvolved · Post by **ricnvolved** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 8:54 pm

I've contacted the (so far) lone bidder on the bass to notify him of the seller's misleading description. I'll give an update when/if the bidder responds.

jazzsmith · Post by **jazzsmith** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 3:43 am

Same here - I contacted both the buyer and seller

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 4:50 am

Yeah, I wrote to him yesterday too, his response was terse. I wrote about this in Rics for sale.

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 10:01 am

The problem is the guy thinks it's "HI", which Would be a '68. BUT... it's H1, which is of course, Much later.As Pat Paulsen used to say, "Picky, picky, picky..."

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 11:38 am

The $800.00 bid is gone, must have been retracted, now there is a $400.00 bid on it, let's see what happens with this one.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 12:24 pm

Well I unfortunately helped this seller by pointing out to him or her that a 68 is HI not H1, I contacted a bidder, told him, and he e-mailed me back that the person told him the serial # is HI. Yesterday he or she told me it was H1, and it also says that in the ad. I checked out Ebays rules and Regulations and the bottom line seems to be that we are on our own, they are not responsible for misleading info, or omissions. So thats that, we seem to have a case of out and out fraud here and can do nothing about it. the reason this stuff pisses me off so much is that whoever buys it is going to think they have a real 68 4001, and may in turn sell it to a cousin of mine or something, who knows? The seller obviously now knows (if they didn't before) that their bass is not a 68, and is willingly misrepresenting it as one and there is nothing we can do to prevent them from screwing some unsuspecting person. Asi es la vida, (such is life).

jazzsmith · Post by **jazzsmith** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 12:55 pm

A few months ago, someone tried to sell a Gibson J-50 on ebay that was supposedly given to him in 1968 by Marty Robbins. He went on to tell many tall tales about this "legendary" guitar that had been played by everyone in Nasville except Hank William's ghost. He went on and on about how, in the late '60's he and Roger Miller had visited a sick friend in the hospital (Luther Perkins?) and had played sad songs on this guitar until the wee hours. The problem was, this was clearly a mid-'70's Gibson. The tuners, the bridge, the label, the serial number, all pointerd to 1975 manufacture. I informed the seller of this and he went on to tell me a couple more stories. Twice this guitar was listed and got a solitary bid each time. Twice I informed the bidder and suggested that they do their own research or consult someone knowledgable about Gibson flat tops. I think that it is important to do this. It discourages cheats and frauds and helps out naive buyers. I still do a search for J-50's now and then just to make sure that the "Marty Robbins" guitar doesn't reappear.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 1:09 pm

Yeah, I did that with the current $400.00 bidder, he seems to want to believe this person, if a few more of us e-mailed him, it might help. I hate to see this, especially when it is deliberate. Hey what did they play for Perkins? "Dang me?" very sad song.

jazzsmith · Post by **jazzsmith** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 4:31 pm

"They ought to take a rope and hang me"...yeah, I dunno. The second time that he listed that guitar, he eliminated the close ups and had far away shots of it leaning against a Rolls Royce. The Rolls probably belonged to Patsey Cline!

ricnvolved · Post by **ricnvolved** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 7:43 pm

eBay really doesn't care that sellers are dishonest like this; to seriously discourage it would cut into their profitability. Jeffrey Smith is exactly right about blowing the whistle on any seller that willfully misrepresents the item up for bid. I would WANT someone to alert me to a likely scam. To those who say "Well, it's really none of our business.", I would ask this question-- You wouldn't want someone to let YOU know that you're probably getting ripped off on something you had bid on?

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 2:03 am

The second bidder has just thanked me, now I have e-mailed the third, it is at $405 as of 8:00 this morning. I don't care what people think of this, I wouldn't want this to happen to me. This would be like buying a 75 Chevy thinking it was a 55, I would want to know I was getting screwed.