Another e-bay story but with a heartening ending

Posted by: JeremyT2 on 11 April 2007

I had not tried e-bay as a source for used kit until recently always trusting my dealer (Julian at Audio T in Brighton)to leverage my credit card. However, I saw a 282 being sold by Acoustica of Chester so I tried a bid and won. Delivered on time etc - great "experience" as they seem to say on e-bay.

Emboldened by this I bid on a NAP300 with a low bid in the context of the amp - £2500. Surprisingly I won - then the fun started I received an e-mail saying:
"Congratulations for your purchase. eBay is the insurer of this transaction by using a certified third party to insure that both parties comply to transaction requirements. We will be contacted as soon as possible for further details and instructions regarding payment and delivery"

This was followed by a couple of very genuine looking e-bay mails asking for payment through Western Union. I was obviously suspicious and have reported the bottonm feeding scoundrels but no not expect e-bay will do anything meaningful.

The heartening part of this story was that shortly after I won I received a e-mail from Dr Norman Solomon of Ultimate Home Entertainment Solutions - the Naim dealer in a castle near Stroud.

Norman expressed his concerns on the genuineness of the NAP300 for sale and advised me to tread carefully - having asked the seller some questions the answers to which had raised his doubts. Luckily I had spotted the likely fraud but I am genuinely impressed that Naim has dealers that do care enough to intervene in a situation like this for no direct return. It confirms ones faith in both the network and the brand.

Jeremy
Posted on: 11 April 2007 by Dr. Exotica
This is good news - hats off to Dr. Norman Solomon.

I have actually bought (and sold on occasion) all of my Naim equipment either through eBay or audiogon. Fortunately, I have never once had a bad experience. However, I only have owned old chrome bumpered stuff (except for an olive Armageddon), thus it is far less pricey (and perhaps less tempting to eBay crooks) than the fancy new black stuff (e.g., a 282 or a 300).
Posted on: 11 April 2007 by prowla
Nice one.
Whenever I see a dodgey looking whilst browsing on ebay, I report it. They usually get removed.
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by 151
quote:
Originally posted by JeremyT2:
I had not tried e-bay as a source for used kit until recently always trusting my dealer (Julian at Audio T in Brighton)to leverage my credit card. However, I saw a 282 being sold by Acoustica of Chester so I tried a bid and won. Delivered on time etc - great "experience" as they seem to say on e-bay.

Emboldened by this I bid on a NAP300 with a low bid in the context of the amp - £2500. Surprisingly I won - then the fun started I received an e-mail saying:
"Congratulations for your purchase. eBay is the insurer of this transaction by using a certified third party to insure that both parties comply to transaction requirements. We will be contacted as soon as possible for further details and instructions regarding payment and delivery"

This was followed by a couple of very genuine looking e-bay mails asking for payment through Western Union. I was obviously suspicious and have reported the bottonm feeding scoundrels but no not expect e-bay will do anything meaningful.

The heartening part of this story was that shortly after I won I received a e-mail from Dr Norman Solomon of Ultimate Home Entertainment Solutions - the Naim dealer in a castle near Stroud.

Norman expressed his concerns on the genuineness of the NAP300 for sale and advised me to tread carefully - having asked the seller some questions the answers to which had raised his doubts. Luckily I had spotted the likely fraud but I am genuinely impressed that Naim has dealers that do care enough to intervene in a situation like this for no direct return. It confirms ones faith in both the network and the brand.

Jeremy
ebay naim 300,£2200 or best offer,no ratings,cant pick up,that wasent a scam was it Roll Eyes why bid and encourage the ahole Roll Eyes
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by RichardM
Jeremy,

I think the 282 you won used to be mine. I have been keeping Geoff busy recently with a number of upgrades and I am pleased that you got a good service.

I can vouch for both him and the 282 as being genuine
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by JeremyT2
Thanks Richard

It works beautifully.

151 - why bid? Winker because we are not all as clever and perceptive as you obviously are. Winker and as I said not used e-bay before.
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by 151
nice of you to say so jeremy Smile
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by JonR
Jeremy,

A quick rule of thumb here is:-

If it looks too good to be true, then that's because it is!

Also, if you see any mention at all of "Western Union" in relation to a proposed transaction, steer well clear and avoid like the plague.

Congrats on the 282, btw.
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by KenM
I seem to have upset eBay without actually bidding or offering anything for sale. In fact, I've never bid or offered on eBay.

The other day, I clicked on a forum link to a pair of Focal floorstanding speakers (Chorus, I think). The response was 8 or 9 emails from eBay containing the words "invalid input" and another "misrepresenation of identity". I only looked at the email titles and then de;eted them, but thy're a bit touchy, aren't they?
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by davereay
Don't know why you should get these e-mails from e-bay Ken, how did they know your e-mail address? I have used e-bay about 300 times for selling and buying and have never had a problem. I never buy from people wih zero feedback, I never buy from abroad, I always read their fedback comments. However I would not buy something like a laptop on there, e-bay are touchy because they are trying to cut out fraudsters and protect their brand. The owners are set to overtake microsoft as the richest people on the planet so it is worth protecting!
Dave
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by KenM
It baffles me how they got my address, but I'll continue to buy through a dealer, not through ebay.
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by hungryhalibut
quote:
I'll continue to buy through a dealer, not through ebay


Ebay is fine if you are careful. If anything looks too good to be true then it probably is. I hav ebeen trying to see something via PFM and hififor sale and have been approached by someone who 'has to leave for the Netherlands tomorrow' and wants to give me a cheque via shipping company and for me to refund the balance blah blah blah. Like that's not a scam!!Sellers as well as buyers need to beware!!

Nigel
Posted on: 13 April 2007 by Rasher
I had a similar thing with a 2GB SD Ultra II camera memory card from Hong Kong. I bought it for £11 incl. postage and when it came, recieved an email from someone pointing out it was a fake and giving me instructions how to identify a fake and how to get my money back from Ebay. I had taken the risk that it was a fake (I'm not a complete idiot) and it works fine, so I'm not too unhappy that I've spent £11 on a SD card that's worth £15 instead of £29. It was worth the punt.
But it's good to know that there are people looking out for us anyway.
Posted on: 13 April 2007 by JWM
Happy ending? NO! - my £125 'best offer' for the CDS being advertised at the moment has been declined. Wanted something cheap for my second system Winker

James
Posted on: 13 April 2007 by ryan_d
There can be a lot of camaraderie on ebay....i had bid on an item that i knew to be a scam, but if you bid tehn they are usually removed just after, so was trying to piss the seller off. But in doing this i then received about 10 emails from concerned people that i was going to get ripped off, and some guy even sent me his phone number to discuss how it could be avoided.

The majority of sellers and buyers are honest...you just have to look for the hints that things might not be kosher.

RYan
Posted on: 13 April 2007 by JeremyT2
QUOTE]

Ebay is fine if you are careful. If anything looks too good to be true then it probably is. I hav ebeen trying to see something via PFM and hififor sale and have been approached by someone who 'has to leave for the Netherlands tomorrow' and wants to give me a cheque via shipping company and for me to refund the balance blah blah blah. Like that's not a scam!!Sellers as well as buyers need to beware!!

Nigel[/QUOTE]

Nigel see you are offloading lots of Naim kit at present - which do you find the best site - I'm interested as I have 202/200 HiCap and LP12 to market in the next month or so and wondered which method was giving the best response.

Jeremy