[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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