EBAY and FRAUD

[Paint Your Wagon]

I did not escape my first ebay scam where a legal alien greek in the US defrauded me for 60 silver eagles and the police probably just laughed at me because this guy at done it before and inspector Coco ( real name ) just asked me I had been recompensated and then presumably filed the report
Only a guy from Texas going to small claims court got double awarded but the thief only paid him once though
A foreigner like me was fair game the way the US legal system is set up
I never ever bought in the US again and I have the intention NEVER to buy in the US again

But I did escape my attempted second ebay fraud from germany by chance because there were precious little alarm bells

1 German seller with 48 sales at 100% and a plausible tale of selling a coin inherited from his father with accompaning bad pic
( all clear sofar ) Missed alarm the details of the coin where straight out of Friedberg catalogue which costs 250 $ and the normal
inheritor should not have had them

2 Normal bidding pattern in progress

3 I ended third bidder and second was a 6 feedbacker with 4 retractions ALARM ( but too late )
First bidder was a 600 feedbacker with 100% feedback ( probably the defrauded bagholder )

4) I received a second chance offer because the first bidder had not asked whether the vendor shipped to the location (but the vendor shipped worldwide ) and I was still third bidder at 1366 euro

5) Now I smelled a rat and junked the offer of second chance

6) I just received an email from ebay saying the offer was pulled cause the account was irregular ( How convenient to pull it one day after the finish of the auction )

So I presume mister first bidder paid his 1400 euro and the scammer second bidder got his cut and then they tried to scam the third bidder me
to double the scam money

My new conclusion is that very high end coins do not come from dead family on ebay because the new owners are to stupid and sell it at a fraction of the price to a shop . Second conclusion is that they should not know details about coins if they really are ignorent
Third conclusion is that I will only bid on frequent sellers and professional dealers from now on since this world has become a much much more dangerous place

This was a very close call and I was not greedy cause the coin is listed at 1500

[scottishmoney]

As a rule, unless I know the seller from other venues, I don't purchase anything on fleaBay over $C as I am a skinflint when it comes to this stuff.

[Paint Your Wagon]

Ebay is way cheaper then anybody else on collector items
If you analyse the feedback and make a few inquiries the danger should be down to one in a hundred

Since real sellers are within driving distance I do not worry since I never buy from anybody out of driving distance anymore
Ebay name theft is a problem I encounter for the first time

[Paint Your Wagon]

I succesfully sued my last full time employer who thought he was above the law
I just finished succesfully   sueing my own insurance compay who thought they could settle for 600 euro for a totalled BMW and whiplash because thru a mistake of the intermediary I had no lawyer coverage
Well I took the lawyer of the first case and paid him and am well ahead of those insurance vultures

[Twoshadows]

If there is ever something you absolutely must have on U.S. Ebay I would assume there are members here who would handle the transaction for you. The real winner would be PayPal who would be taking money twice as the transfer to your collecting friend and to the auction seller would double their fees, so to speak. But, none the less, a U.S. collector would have more a chance of recourse, not to mention PayPals guarantee program. Just a thought out of all that space in my head!!!

[Paint Your Wagon]

In the US you can go to small claims court which is free and if you bought on the net you can go to your local towncourt and fill out the complaint and the defendant most likely from another state will be indicted in absense and will have to pay if he can be found and has anything of value

The thief that took me really lived at the given adress and had done it before
He was a greek legal alien . I even wrote his boss at work who did not care and all US govenrment agencies including the governor and fair trade etc cause I hate to be ripped off . I even tried to denounce him to the IRS for taxevasion but again you have to be american to do so
I wrote to the attorney general of conecticut and got no answer not even from the fifth secretaries aid . Nor could the conecticut chambre of commerce be bothered
I wrote to the greek church at Pawcatuck - not home -
There was an whole nest of Malavasos around Pawcatuck and he used the name of Spiros Malavasos whether it was his real name or not
Detective Coco found him and knew about him
http://www.pawcatuck.com/thetown.htm
All I got was a polite email from detective Coco saying my complaint together with a dozen others that complained had reached him and was I recompensated or was my complaint open  and this was not the perps first time Spiros defrauded ebay buyers
I concluded the fuzz does not give a damn
At the time I was posting on a survivalist forum and there was some tought redneck who said he would have a talk with my Spiros since I had name and address . The greek and his family probably told the survivalist to piss off which he did . I left the forum because they had recommended the thief .
On his site he said that ethics were very important to him : his wife; and their two daughters .
Well comes judgement day I declare a big thumb down on the lier

How is that about a 600 dollar rant 

[Paint Your Wagon]

If there is ever something you absolutely must have on U.S. Ebay I would assume there are members here who would handle the transaction for you. The real winner would be PayPal who would be taking money twice as the transfer to your collecting friend and to the auction seller would double their fees, so to speak. But, none the less, a U.S. collector would have more a chance of recourse, not to mention PayPals guarantee program. Just a thought out of all that space in my head!!!

Problem is twofold
First customs will want import duty and taxes good for like 29% and they do not understand their own book that gold is untaxable under certain forms . I lost my discussion with them over a St Gaudens from Switzerland
Second problem is that a second coin fully insured disappeared en route to tax or from tax and that is the only fully insured coin ever to disappear in five years
Now I do swaps . I know a jeweller in the US that would love to swap a cleaned coin in bezel for a few bottles of perfume again .
After new year when real sales are on I will need a few bottles of perfume again

[Twoshadows]

Well it is important to me that all of you know there are friends over here willing to help if we can.