Unscrupulous Ebay Sellers/Buyers

He's shill bidding for another scammer?

 

Thanks Chuck, those are the same scales I’m sure. Those have been broken or chipped and re-formed on the pivot end, the old hard rubber and Ebonite were bad about being very brittle with age - imagine a 100 year old tire! If you want to give Alfredo a good scare, ask him to re-pin a 19-teens hard rubber razor scale!

This is the same stuff that many vintage fountain pens were made of, so you probably know the material well. It’s beautiful, classic, and not durable.

 

I suspect you are correct on all counts except the scales being broken. I do think somehow mine was NOS and a virgin to touching a stone. I consider myself fortunate to have seen the poorly written auction. Donahue Hardware is another layer of its ancestry.

 

He bids items up, in small increments until he hits the top-end, then he withdraws his high bid. "He" is according to items for sale, from Concord, California, United States. over the last 6 months days his bid retraction number is 93. He's bid on 76 items over the last 30 days too, winning very, very few.

 

These people need to be reported.

.

 

I have. Nothing happens. I choose not to buy or sell to them. I also draw attention to those practices here. That’s the extent of what I can do.

 

Sounds like a shill...bidding up listings for his buddies in hopes some sucker tries to match him, then backs out, leaving the sucker holding the bag at a higher price than he (probably) would have originally paid.

True, nobody forces the sucker into a bid war but shills and their sellers are still scum.

 

I use a sniping service. I bid what I think is reasonable and if I get it OK, and if not, also OK. Sniping eliminates some unsavory variables.

 

Snipe is the way to go. Don't get caught up in a bidding war. Don't support the shills.

 

Alex, I wish that philosophy was true of stones for me...

 

@Steve56

@Chuck Naill

 

Hey @John Beeman love those undamaged scales! Especially the extra material above the pivot. /H

Cheers, Steve

 

You can’t see it in the photo but there’s a small chip on one of them. They were completely black when I got the razor and I was pleasantly surprised at what was underneath.

 

Yep, they’re far more fragile than you might think.

 

I had a run in with a seller, trying to pull a fast one. At least not doing what is right. I bid on a T.Hessen-Bruch straight razor, with a broken scale. I was after the blade anyway. So, my top bid was $12.76 plus aroumd $4 shipping. Kind of the top I would pay. I was beat out at the last second, which I didnt care, by someone putting two bids in, and he shows only 17 past sales/feedbacks. That sends up a few flags.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-T-...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Now, three days later, the same original seller, lists the exact same razor on the Buy It Now section, for $15, and over $29 for shipping, from New York. I sent him a message, about this incident, saying that if the original buyer(who was probably him, on another account) had backed out, that I would be happy if he would sell it to me, at my $12.76 offer. I also sent him a message stating that the $29 shippjng fee couldnt possibly be correct, because it shouldnt cost more than around $4, from New York.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-T-...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

He promptly took it down, without a reply, all day. Just not Kosher.
Here is the seller:
https://www.ebay.com/usr/extra_97?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

...

 

Ebay doesn't like that crap. Report him and they will keep an eye out on his activities. A while back I asked a seller to change his shipping method. I didn't need a high priority mail rate just a couple of states away. I suspected he didn't send it that way and just wanted to pocket extra cash. Needless to say, he refunded my payment, and when I contacted Ebay, they did say he was going to be watched. I didn't see any more items of his up for sale for a long time.

 

Funny thing is, Ebay charges the seller a percentage for what they collect in shipping costs. I sell comics on Ebay. I charge $7.75 for a cardboard, priority mail flat rate envelope. I don't pocket a nickel after my costs. And I always combine shipping for multiple purchases. I have had sellers ask me to send their purchases Media Mail. I will, but it's a pain, because I have to wrap the exact same envelope in brown paper, so it actually costs me more in materials. Quite a paradox.

 

I can't remember what I wanted, probably a razor. I know when I ship a razor it doesn't weigh more than 4 ounces. He wanted $12.00 priority mail.

 

You can ship a razor 1st Class for half that price.

 

I will never condone gouging with shipping costs, but the cost of selling on Ebay/Paypal/USPS has risen exponentially over that past two years. So much so, that I told my selling partner, I am not interested in selling comics for less than $15.00. It simply isn't worth the effort.
You will definitely find that the lesser-expensive items on Ebay have comparatively higher shipping costs.