[CR]Re: eBay and fraud

(Example: Production Builders:Frejus)

In-Reply-To: <MONKEYFOODaukyCKDkb000003d3@monkeyfood.nt.phred.org>
References:
From: "Professore di Pimpissimo" <bici_pimp@mac.com>
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 19:49:49 +1000
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Re: eBay and fraud

Ricardo Bulis-imo wrote:


> and speaking of fraud, check this one out:
> http://ebay.com/<blah>
> It's for a smattering of Euro decals we're all familiar with with at
> least a
> 20 year span in the usage of the styles.
>
> But they are all printed on ONE PAGE & even the seller's photograph
> shows
> the legend on the bottom: "collector's collection, 500 YEN! Yet he
> lists
> them as "new old stock", and in a response to an email I sent asking
> him to
> change his listing to make clear they are reproductions, claimed they
> are
> indeed old stock from his shop and probably older than (I) am.
>
> Sadly, as some of you know, when I tried to alert EBay, I get their
> stock
> email firewall system, with no provision for me to supply the
> particulars.
> This bothers me, since as a lot of you know, I have been selling the
> same
> decals which are indeed NOS.
>
> What's a fella to do?
>

I wouldn't be jumping up and down. To the seller they may well be "new old stock". Granted, our trained eyes can pick off something is amiss & dubious about the provenance of these decal sheets but most general punters, including those selling them, wouldn't know they were Pepsi, Coke or RC cola. I was scouring for old stuff in a LBS and it's owner proudly pulled out these same decal sheets and expected me to oooh and aaah as he wondered how much "these will go for to them fat cat collectors on eBay". I laughed and pointed out they weren't the real thing, you could clearly see the "2nd head" on the Columbus dove and that these were probably made so not to land him in as much hot water from copyright lawyers & patent attorneys. Some of the decals aren't as disfigured and a bit iffy. His face went a little slack and frowned like when a kid finds out there is no Santa or they still have to go to school even though it's clearly snowing.

I proceeded to explain that I thought these sheets worthless but then offered him $5 for 2 whole sheets. "But these are fake" he protested, "yeah, I know. But they are really cool" I replied to his chagrin. I can't wait to get wild with them on a no-name frame so beware of any bike you may see with Detto Pietro decals on the down tube, a Campagnolo "prodotti speciali" world logo decal on the headtube and a 2 headed columbus dove frame tubing decal. Heck, I'll put the Yen 500 decal on the fork steerer inside the frame and make my best attempt to stamp punch beside it "F. Cappi" as well. I just wonder at how much bandwidth space, unfounded conjecture and myth my artistic brilliance will accrue somewhere in the future. Buyer beware ;-)

Not everything fake is ghastly and a sign of impending doom. Anyone on a little hustle whether or not they may be aware of it gets my respect. It's only human and if your duped by something so small and obvious then I think it better this way so you can learn a lesson than on something worth a helluva lot more moolah. Maybe the bidders of these fake decal sheets know what they are and are happy.

Some cats just swing like that - Nelson Algren

Ciao,

Ben Kamenjas
Sydney, Australia