Here's a warning for members. Yesterday I was looking at Craig's List for Philadelphia. I found an ad for a 2002 Gibson Fern for $1899! Smelling a rat, I wrote to the address given. Here's the reply I received from <name and address removed by moderator>:
"Thank you for your email. I still have it for sale.Right now i am in Canada at my parents ranch with my son but i hope that`s not going to be a problem because i can still handle the transaction. When i left for Canada, i left the item along with several other items in the custody of The Online Outpost because i wanted to sell them on eBay when i return, but something came up back home and i decided to sell this one before i get back but not on ebay because i need to sell it faster. So if you are still interested let me know because i can make the transaction immediately.There will also be a 10 days return policy on the unit.
Just let me know and i will explain all the details of the transaction...
Best Regard."
So I wrote back, saying I wanted to pick it up in person from The Online Outpost (which is a real company, not a scam). I got this answer:
"Hello again,
As i said in my first email i will explain how The Online Outpost works because i want you to be clear on every aspect of this transaction.They are one of the best eBay selling services. You simply drop an item to one of their stores or they pick it up from your home ,you find a buyer and they will take care of the rest. When i left in Canada i left 4 items for sale in their custody, they picked them up from my home so don`t ask at what store, or where the item is exactly because i don`t know...as long as they are handling the shipping and handling i don`t care where they are. I forgot to mention that the shipping is included in the price of sale. They offered me a discount on shipping because i am selling a large number of items and i can afford that.So basically they have the item insured and ready for shipping. As soon as i will have your shipping details i will send it to them and they will start the transaction. They will email you with an invoice and payment instructions. You will have to send the payment to one of their agents by following the payment instructions. Then you will send the payment details to them, they will validate the transaction and will start the shipping ASAP. If you will have questions you can ask them directly.
Unfortunately the pick up is not possible because this is an urgent sale (like i said before i intended to sell this on eBay when i should have returned from Canada but due to some recent problems back home i am forced to sell it now). The Online Outpost suggested to offer a return policy because my offers would substantially increase so i am offering a 10 day guarantee. This eliminates the pick up option but you will have the time to inspect it and decide if you want it or not. If for any reason you decide not to keep it, they will give you a full refund and will return the item on my expense.
So if you agree with this terms and decide to proceed, then i will need your full name and shipping address in order to start the transaction.As soon as i receive this details from you i will forward them to The Online Outpost exactly as you sent them.
Thank you"
Well, you may think that's honest enough. However, I had also searched Craig's List for other cities. In Atlanta, I found, for $2,000, "Antique Gibson Mandolin model F4. You are looking at a classical Gibson F4 which dates to circa 1936-1937 ( I did a short research on the web based on its serial # 93313)."
Wow! Too good to be true! So, using my work e-mail, I wrote to the person. Here is the message I got back from <different name and address removed by moderator>:
"Thank you for your email. I still have it for sale.Right now i am in Canada at my parents ranch with my son but i hope that`s not going to be a problem because i can still handle the transaction. When i left for Canada, i left the item along with several other items in the custody of The Online Outpost because i wanted to sell them on eBay when i return, but something came up back home and i decided to sell this one before i get back but not on ebay because i need to sell it faster. So if you are still interested let me know because i can make the transaction immediately.There will also be a 10 days return policy on the unit.
Just let me know and i will explain all the details of the transaction...
Best Regard."
Look familiar? Caveat Emptor! There are good deals to be had, but not all that glitters is gold. Some people could be losing serious money this way, and they think they're getting a great buy. I'm sure that if I sent them money, I wouldn't get anything back.
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