Shady Lane

A Detective Story: Scam or No Scam? (Long Story)

71.193.128.107

This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

I am posting this little detective story as food for thought in our quest for determining the veracity of an Ebay auction. The auction noted at the very bottom of this page, in the AudioAsylum link section, is the one I bid on recently. There were a number of problems I found in the ad prior to bidding:
1) Pictures and text in the ad were lifted verbatim from a previous auction which you can see here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=004&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=140131374967&rd=1&rd=1
2) Initially, I could not find any previous sales by the seller. But after trying a convoluted search routine I did find 3 previous sales and one other item for sale.
3) A general search of the item for worldwide sales did not show this item for sale. Only a search on Germany revealed it - even though it was offered to North America. (I happened upon the sale as a result of a Google search for something else.)
4) There was no Reserve set for this very expense item.
Please bear with me. I have been searching for 6 years for a deal on this tonearm. It generally always sells between $550 and $900. I cannot afford it at that price range but I have always hoped for a deal. I know, I know that makes me a prime sucker candidate!
Now there is an important clue in the last two photos of the ad. These appear to be original photos and not lifted from a previous ad by another seller. How do I know - the ad mentions WBT RCA connectors that are also found in these photos. In addition, the leather footstool seen in the photos appears to be the same footstool used in this ad
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=96271&item=300127081165
So what happened? I bought the tonearm! It arrived today in excellent condition....

JRags
"Always Searching for Perfection"

Ebay Auction at Issue (now ended) (Open in New Window)

Edits: 07/23/07

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