I was checking out ebay a few weeks ago and won a 2012 Kookaburra from a seller with perfect feedback with a few hundred sales. Seemed like a no brainer. It came in the mail a few days later and I never thought anything of it as I put it with my others.
Last week I received an email from another buyer from this seller that they had received a fake and that I should check mine. I happened to have another 2012, so I held them side-by-side, and the differences were instantly obvious. By itself, the fake looked fine. However, when compared to the real deal, there was no question.
Just a word of caution to those who buy from ebay. I'm not sure if the seller knew they were shipping out fakes or not at the time of sale, but they certainly knew by the time I figured it out. They tried to cover their tracks after the sales and minimize losses as they made their feedback private. I found a youtube video showing one of these fakes. I'm fairly certain the author of the video bought it from the same seller as I did. If you're interested:
@sdcrow---Great post! Thank you very much. I particularly liked the part about how the seller "...tried to cover their tracks after the sales and minimize losses as they made their feedback private."
I won't rail as I admittedly have in past threads about the way some ebay sellers push the envelope and play it cutesie with the way they do business, but in closing, I will say just one thing...
For the most part, I think ebay is a great resource. This was the first transaction I've had that left a bad taste in my mouth. When it comes to ebay, I don't spend more on an item (shipped) than I could get from a reputable dealer. After hundreds of purchases and sales, this is the first one that didn't work out. . . and I got a full refund after filing a claim.
I think I'll keep the fake out on my desk as a reminder to be careful.
The weight and diameter were correct. It is just a little bit thicker than it should be. However, it was sent in a foam ring airtite, so you wouldn't know unless you pulled it out.
Sorry, it wasn't an email, he sent a message to my ebay account. But now that you say that, I'm not sure how he found me if the buyers feedback and auction bidders are private. I hadn't thought about it. Interesting. . .
Wow. But the super thing is with ebay's buyer protection. I bought a few fake Mexican coins a while back. They were so obviously fake - weight, color, etc. The seller even told me he bought them by the hundreds. But his auction stated "silver" and ebay refunded every penny, even providing return postage. I'm curious too how the other buyer was able to contact you. We had that ability available years ago, but not for quite a while now.
If you left feedback, that's how he got your name. I've done this before with a guy selling fakes that I couldn't get ebay to respond about. I looked at his feedback, looked at the items, and emailed everyone else that had left feedback that he had sold a fake to, so they could check their's and complain. Then he changed his feedback to private so no one could do that.
MAN,maakes me wanna keep buying from ebay from non-dealers.
Thing is tho, some of this stuff is hard to find, like a proof Rwanda Cheetah coin. Sure several dealers have the BU Cheetah but its even harder to find the proof coin!
This does turn me off tho from wanting to expand my collection.
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Posted 01/02/2013 9:14 pm
