this looks dodgy (ebay:Griffo Audio And Electronic)

On the other hand you might just get a bargin. Know anybody in RI who can check out the address?

Regards

Howard

It looks very very bad. But I put in a bid on a hicap and here's why:

The guy says that the buyer only has to pay half up front. Then the item ships. ONly after receipt do you have to pay the other half. I figure that if I keep my bid fairly low, I can afford the risk of losing a few $$ if the guy is a snake.

I agree it looks shaky. I was willing to suspend disbelief when I saw all the hicaps. Many dealers have several hicaps. BUT, when he listed FIVE Nat 01'a, that's a bit incredible. Not sure what to do with that. Why would ANY dealer have FIVE old style Nat 1's??????

Judd

Here's another tidbit:

I just emailed the seller and it bounced. Anybody else get through to him?

Judd

Howard, I like your idea - we need an East Coast naimee to check this out - any takers?

Paying half up front makes little sense as well, since he says he cant wait for a money order to clear, how can he wait for two cash payments (with a shipment of the component between)?

I also find it odd he is selling 10 pages of gear but has no (not even one) feedback.

Justin, I might withdraw my bid if I were you.

cheers,

Dan

I'm thinking about it. I have some more time.

Judd

Look a little further guys and do not send him cash!!!!!!!!

My god, just a few clicks reveals: a)the serial numbers are the same as named for two auctions that ended on 1/25--one with a successful high bidder, the other reserve not met--and with same verbiage about not leaving the stereo cabinet. No way he's the original seller reposting, or the winner--how could the transaction have been completed so quickly?

Then click on seller's other items and you'll see he triple posted almost every item (290 + listed). So it's no mistake. This guy is just trying to get any sucker to send him some cash--it's ok, just send half.

I alerted ebay about this and I'll be shocked if the postings aren't gone by Friday.

--Eric

I did a Google search for "Griffo" and "Tiverton" and found that there was someone with that name at that address but she died last month! The list of surviving family members doesn't include anyone living in Tiverton RI. Doesn't look good!

Does sound extremely dodgy... As Eric Says...

In Completed items... there is a NAT01 which has exactly that picture sold to a guy in Korea... 5 days ago!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3002196877&category=294

John
Shore

PS my mail bounced too...

[This message was edited by johno on WEDNESDAY 29 January 2003 at 19:23.]

Question is where is Toy and his faithfull steed in these situations?

These auctions were cancelled by Ebay. So, I guess you were all right.

Judd

Judd-
I was the first bidder on that HiCap! You out bid my measly $75... I bid on it for the same reasons you did.
Just goes to show that if it's too good to be true, then it is!
David

Naw,

I was the only one who bid on that hicap. I bid 100, and it was only at $1 when it went down.
Judd

quote:

---

Question is where is Toy and his faithfull steed in these situations?

---

Why am I and Marco so important in these matters?

I wouldn't buy/sell anything on Ebay.

Pink Fish is where it's at. The hi-fi game, especially buying and selling s/h gear is a very small world...

I sold my P25 to a forum member within an hour of posting the ad on Pink Fish. I also bought my Densen B300XS from a guy who knows Big Tone of Groovehandle/ formerly of HFC, but I didn't know until Tone told me he had a mate... etc.

Then I realised that my deal with another honorable forum member who had recently visited my house was about to go through...

The only left-over piece of kit I still have kicking around is my Rega Fono disk stage...

Everything else I've sold was either through my dealer, or through the grapevine.



Regards,

Steve.

Must have been one of the other 5 (!!!) HiCaps then.
Oh well.
David

this has GOT to be some sort of a joke. I cannot bleieve he is back with the same old crap.

Good lord!!!!

Judd

I've contacted the ebay police on him again.

The thing is, if he weren't so stupid as to repeat the serial numbers of the hicap, there would be no irrefutable evidence that he's a fraud--until you send him cash and don't get it, that is.

--Eric

Do you get a response from EBay on these issues?
Let us know if you do. I don't know what policing methods they use, but it would be a shame if we were unable to use this resource due to a couple of crooks.

"Make something idiot proof , and nature will make a better idiot." sustitute words where applicable.

Regards

Howard

I checked his other items and he has 113 of them. It looks like he was able to post a new item about once every minute. How is this even possible. He made them all 3 day auctions, I think, in order to get them closed before ebay could shut them down (maybe they are 5 day).

BTW, how do you report this to ebay. I cannot find a place on the site for reporting abuse in an easy way.

Judd

I reported this the first time. I did not get a personal response, but the items disappeared. However, that time he was listing each item three times, which made it obvious.

They still have not removed the stuff posted today. He did get smarter and go for three day auctions. If he's really smart he'll note the bidders and contact them directly once these auctions get shut down.

As far as how you contact the ebay police, they do make it a huge pita. I got there by clicking help at the top, which opens a window, then safe trading, then customer support/safe harbor, then policy violation. The problem then is there is no entry for "shady seller offering goods cripped of the completed items for cash only", so I just picked something and put in my complaint.

Hopefully they will deal with this. If they email him and he says "yes I copied the ad but I really do have two hicaps for sale" I suppose they might take the position that they'll deal with it if transactions go wrong. But he is demanding you send cash via UPS (which is against their policy) and to the yacht club, not a person's name. I don't think ebay will find that kosher. I still can't believe he's getting bidders.

--Eric

http://www.tiverton.org/
is the home page for the city. They don't have an email link for the police, but I think they did for the city manager. We wouldn't want one bad apple to keep us all from visiting Tiverton on our next vacation.

I does look as if EBay does take this seriously and do respond quite well. It seems their customers are doing the policing though.
I must admit to not checking out the sellers but most of my purchases have been mainly in the USA and for small $ purchases. I do tend to look at the sellers "shop" now and see if he looks like a dealer/private seller.I don't think I'd buy a "large" purchase though.

Howard

Why bother with frauding used Naim gear?
High end HiFi is a very niche market and Naim gear is a small segment of that. Seems like there'd be a more lucrative product without such a discerning end user...
Whatever. Too bad he's being such a jerk about it.
David

F.Y.I. to all...

The same guy that had an incredible amount of audio equipment listed on Ebay under Griffo Audio has now re-listed as Leary Electronics. Same address, same descriptions & same payment method requested. I have also notified Ebay police and they have suspended all this guy's listings for a second (that I know of) time!

It's like my ol' Grandfather used to tell me... "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!"

Thanx!
TNJB

An alert ebay browser emailed me the following warning:
Ebay has cancelled this seller's listings several times over fraud (under several different user names) - I would suggest you contact ebay investigations to check on this before sending any money!

I then received a warning from ebay themselves:
We are writing to inform you that we recently ended all listings for seller ******** on eBay. The seller's privileges to trade on eBay have been temporarily suspended while we investigate this matter further. (The current account status can be viewed next to the user ID of the seller on the eBay site.).

Our records indicate that you were a participating bidder or buyer in this seller's listing. You will need to use your own personal judgment in deciding whether to complete this transaction.

As described in our User Agreement, eBay is only a venue, and we cannot guarantee that sellers will complete transactions nor can we guarantee the delivery or quality of bought items. As a basic principle, a buyer should know with whom he or she is dealing before sending a payment to a seller.

Depending on the circumstances, you might decide to delay payment to a seller until completely confident that the transaction will be completed safely. If you decide to delay payment but already paid by personal cheque, you may wish to contact your bank to discuss whether it would be possible to stop payment on the cheque. If you paid with a credit card, you may wish to contact your credit card company's security department to discuss this payment - many companies provide protection in certain circumstances. If you paid by money order, you may want to contact that money order company for information on how to stop payment.

Please note that the ending of the listings for this seller is a precautionary measure. The grounds for this suspension may be the result of a mistake or misunderstanding.

It's just like buying a dotcom stock. If it looks too good, it is!

I would just like to add that I have bought off the e-bay site and had no problems. I won the bid, the chap e-mailed me and supplied his telephone number. I rang him and agreed to send him my cheque. Once he had cleared it I recieved my purchase. But this scam surely highlights a potential problem and we should therefore all be at least vigalent in our dealings and abide by the e-bay rules of trading, that at least should help us keep safe. We should all be grateful to those who noticed the problem and a big thankyou to you all.