Well, over the last decade I've become quite the little eBay Detective having assisted in a few major busts concerning everything from the sale of fake Roman antiquities equating to $100k's (for a forum), to non-existent slimming powders involving many, to general rorts and shill bidding (shilling is when a seller uses other ID's, theirs or their mates', to bid prices higher).
So, the other day I purchased a Meerschaum out of Turkey. Afterwards, I researched the bidding to establish a rather large network of Turkish ID's all bidding on each other's pipes, hmmm very interesting indeedy - teeheehee, imagine their shock when I sent them an email setting out all the exact ID's, who had bid on what for whom, who was up who & who wasn't paying the rent. Told them they could jam their pipe where the sun don't shine, explained that what they were doing was dishonest, tantamount to stealing etc etc.
Their reply was one of indignation whilst, at the same time pleading with me to "go easy" (in relation to reporting them to ebay). They went on to say, "Look, listen, it's not like you paid $1m for the pipe, you paid $50 and our wholessale is $65" - and I care about that because? Thieving mongrel thing to do imo.
The only reason I bid on this pipe is because it was a particular rarely found animal, otherwise I would never gamble on buying a reconstituted pipe (albeit claimed to be "Block") from some local yocal eBay seller hawking his wares & predicably bidding up his prices.
Moral of the story - if you want to buy a Meerschaum new, due to the high number of ID's involved in this scam, then only buy from the most highly respected vendors on ebay (high & good f/back is an indication but does not always reflect 100% what's going on behind the scenes) or, better still, stick to a B&M store who only buy wholesale from trustworthy outlets over there. Otherwise, accept the risk that you were bid up by the seller or his mates, and if that doesn't bother you, go for it. NB: This usually only occurs with the low-end pipes from what I've obvserved, the ones that look like they're pretty much carved by beginners and learners, certainly not the super high end artist signed pipes.
If you ever have any doubts and want an eBay seller checked out just drop me a line and I'll see what I can do if there's a web that needs untangling
So, the other day I purchased a Meerschaum out of Turkey. Afterwards, I researched the bidding to establish a rather large network of Turkish ID's all bidding on each other's pipes, hmmm very interesting indeedy - teeheehee, imagine their shock when I sent them an email setting out all the exact ID's, who had bid on what for whom, who was up who & who wasn't paying the rent. Told them they could jam their pipe where the sun don't shine, explained that what they were doing was dishonest, tantamount to stealing etc etc.
Their reply was one of indignation whilst, at the same time pleading with me to "go easy" (in relation to reporting them to ebay). They went on to say, "Look, listen, it's not like you paid $1m for the pipe, you paid $50 and our wholessale is $65" - and I care about that because? Thieving mongrel thing to do imo.
The only reason I bid on this pipe is because it was a particular rarely found animal, otherwise I would never gamble on buying a reconstituted pipe (albeit claimed to be "Block") from some local yocal eBay seller hawking his wares & predicably bidding up his prices.
Moral of the story - if you want to buy a Meerschaum new, due to the high number of ID's involved in this scam, then only buy from the most highly respected vendors on ebay (high & good f/back is an indication but does not always reflect 100% what's going on behind the scenes) or, better still, stick to a B&M store who only buy wholesale from trustworthy outlets over there. Otherwise, accept the risk that you were bid up by the seller or his mates, and if that doesn't bother you, go for it. NB: This usually only occurs with the low-end pipes from what I've obvserved, the ones that look like they're pretty much carved by beginners and learners, certainly not the super high end artist signed pipes.
If you ever have any doubts and want an eBay seller checked out just drop me a line and I'll see what I can do if there's a web that needs untangling
