[meteorite-list] eBay and bogus meteorites

[Don Merchant]

Hey Chris I am now interested in a seashell can you forward this EBay 
sellers auctions!! LoL
Don Merchant
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Monrad" <cmonrad at earthlink.net>
To: "'Michael Gilmer'" <michael_w_gilmer at yahoo.com>
Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 12:17 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] eBay and bogus meteorites



>I pitched a fit last week about a seller that poorly packed  a seashell 

>that

> broke in transit. The seller told me to send it back and he'd see about 

> the

> USPS claim.

>

> I told him to send a refund and he could pursue the claim. He declined, so 

> I

> filed a dispute and left appropriate negative feedback. This seller has 

> had

> three poor packing/broken item complaints in the last month.

>

> Today I received a $200, yes two hundred dollar, Paypal credit / coupon 

> good

> for any Ebay purchase through March.

>

> Knock me over with a feather.

>

> Cheers,

> Chris

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com

> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Michael

> Gilmer

> Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 12:03 PM

> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

> Subject: [meteorite-list] eBay and bogus meteorites

>

> Hi Bob and All!

>

> I am going to speculate a bit here about why eBay does

> not crack down on sellers like this.

>

> Over the past year, I have run across several auctions

> on eBay that had obvious problems.  This was before

> I started collecting meteorites, and the auctions in

> question were for telescopes and eyepieces.  Either

> the telescope was a reproduction being passed off as

> a genuine antique, or it was other issues such as

> the seller misrepresenting the location of the item.

>

> When I filed a complaints with eBay, I

> received a typical "form letter" type of response and

> no action was taken against the sellers.  In some

> cases, an obvious fraud auction was pulled, but the

> sellers were not punished in any noticeable way.

>

> One seller of green laser pointers was claiming to

> have the pointers in stock here in the US, but they

> were actually shipped directly from the overseas

> manufacturer.  Numerous other buyers had complained

> about this seller and left neutral or negative

> feedbacks saying as much.  But yet this seller was

> not banned or suspended and continues to sell

> misrepresented laser pointers.  And to top it off,

> this particular seller is an eBay Power Seller.

>

> Here is what I think is going on :

>

> eBay is struggling with it's slowing growth and there

> has been a drop in new listings and overall revenue

> for the site.  eBay's stock has also dropped and

> their earning reports are not great either.  I think

> eBay is getting a little greedy or desperate for

> revenue, so they are letting a lot of stuff like this

> slide by - especially from Power Sellers which are

> eBay's bread and butter.  By banning these sellers,

> eBay will be losing a lot money in the way of fees.

>

> Unless a seller is doing something that is blatantly

> illegal and could get eBay into hot water, the powers

> that be are going to look the other way with

> this stuff.

>

> That's just my pet theory anyway.

>

> Until eBay gets serious with enforcing it's own rules,

> then I am only going to purchase specimens from IMCA

> members, members of this list, or sellers that I am

> personally acquainted with.

>

> Regards,

>

> Mike in Louisiana

>

>

>

> ---------------------------------------

> Message: 2

> Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 00:14:42 -0700

> From: "Bob Loeffler" <bobl at peaktopeak.com>

> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite-list Digest,

> Vol 52, Issue 9

> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>

> Message-ID:

> <20080206071320.48AA010617 at mailwash5.pair.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>

> And notice that he spells "meteorite", "origin" and

> "weight" wrong on

> the

> certificate!  And what does the "specimen weight"

> mean?  Is that the

> specimen that is being sold?  Obviously not 1655

> grams!  Or is that the

> TKW?

> Or is that the size of the specimen that was tested

> before they sliced

> off

> this specimen?  It's amazing that fraud can

> proliferate like this

> without

> someone throwing them in jail.  I wish eBay could

> crack down on people

> like

> this (no jail time, but boot them off of eBay).  Even

> if this guy was

> innocent and was sold the specimen and COA by someone

> else, he should

> still

> be reprimanded because he obviously doesn't have a

> reputable source and

> doesn't care.

>

> Regards,

>

> Bob

>

>

>

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