The FUNNIEST eBay description I've ever seen!!!

[deathlok]

After re-reading the auction description again. It appears that the F's were on their when the sailor had them in his possession. It also says that she decided to keep 5 of the "fakes". There is no way to tell if these are indeed fakes. The blue elephant could have been a real one that she says is fake. Those beanie baby people are some sneaky bunch, good thing they don't collect comics.

 

I agree with Darth although his example sucked.

[Smokinghawk]

Suggesting that the seller might not have known they were fake because--hey, he SAID he didn't know anything about them makes as much sense as getting duped by a seller who write, "I don't know anything about comics, but this copy of Action #1 was found in my grandfather's attic..."

 

I can't believe anyone on this forum would actually sigh that the seller has reasonably covered himself with that disclaimer.

 

[Darthdiesel]

I can't believe anyone on this forum would actually sigh that the seller has reasonably covered himself with that disclaimer.

 

i dont subscribe to that but the lady should have knoen it was a scam right off the bat

[Aces]

eBay made the auction invalid.

I was gonna check the bid history for evidence of shilling.

That would tell a lot about whether the seller was a crook or not.

[deathlok]

Does anyone else get that password screen when the access this thread? Hello? Anyone there?

[goldust40]

My impression from reading the story was that the authenticating service she used after purchasing the beanies was the one that put the black F's on the bottom of the beanies they found to be fakes.

 

What kind of foreign knock-off outfit would tip unsuspecting buyers by putting a F for fake on their own items?

 

The bottom line, however, is that the buyer is a insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

 

 

And that the seller is a scheming little turd. The fact that he's happily married means that the entire auction was an elaborate sham and that he fooled everybody. Including me. I guess if you're going to tell a lie, make it a big one.

 

If this silly fiasco continues, it won't be long before someone from the BBC decides that it'd make a great documentary.

[Phantom-migration]

This is a general response to nobody in particular. First of all, just by reading her auction and the news story, there is NO way of telling if the black "F's" were on the beanies when he sold them. They could just as easily been placed on them by her or by the authentication expert. The news story simply says she thought they were foreign knock-offs based on the label affixed to the bottom of them.

 

Also, he clearly stated in his auction:

 

"I DO NOT KNOW [!@#%^&^] about these things. I know nothing about these stuffed Beanie Babies. I offer no proof of anything. It is a stuffed animal, get over it!"

 

If you bid a large amount on something with a description like that, then you accept whatever the hell you get in the mail. PERIOD ! ! !

 

This whole new culture of "transfer the blame and sue everyone else for your own stupidity" makes me want to puke.

 

She admits to emailing him and saying that it was unlikely the five hard-to-find Beanies would turn out to be genuine. His response to that email was to add the following to his auction, "I don't CARE! I told everyone in the beginning everything I know and don't know about these STUPID animals! I have an idea for all people that are so worried about this.....DON'T BID! I don't care!" Then he blocked her from bidding on his auction.

 

So, what did she do then? She used a shill account to bid on the Beanie Babies anyway. (She knew better...she got greedy...get over it).

 

She also admitted in the news story that four or five of the Beanies in the auction might have real value, if they were not knock-offs. She was especially interested in a rare elephant Beanie called the Royal Blue Peanut. She'd seen authenticated Royal Blues advertised at $3,000 or more in the past, and even though Beanie prices were down considerably from a few years ago, a real Royal Blue Peanut might still be worth far more than $1,000 to collectors. (She knew better...she got greedy...get over it).

 

So the guy said his wife forgot a box when she left him. I've seen tons of auctions for comics that say "from my childhood collection", or "father gave it to me"...when you can do a simple search and find that they purchased it off eBay themselves last week. Big deal. And this can't even be compared to the real scammers who steal scans of AF #15 and then try to sell it. Not even close.

 

I'd like someone to find me a scam AF #15 auction where the seller says, "I DO NOT KNOW [!@#%^&^] about these things. I know nothing about Comics. I offer no proof of anything. It is a comic book, get over it! I don't CARE! I told everyone in the beginning everything I know and don't know about this STUPID comic! I have an idea for all people that are so worried about this.....DON'T BID! I don't care!"

 

This lady was not some rookie collector that didn't have a clue. She has 1500 of these things. What would she have done if she'd received them and they'd all been real? Would she have sent him another couple of thousand dollars in the interest of fairness? She knew better...she got greedy...she took a chance...GET OVER IT.

[Zanarkand]

This lady was not some rookie collector that didn't have a clue. She has 1500 of these things. What would she have done if she'd received them and they'd all been real? Would she have sent him another couple of thousand dollars in the interest of fairness? She knew better...she got greedy...she took a chance...GET OVER IT.

 

Absolutely correct. This was not some novice innocent little old lady tricked into switching her long distance phone carrier. This was a seasoned collector who, acording to the article, claims to have spent $300 a month for the past several years on Ebay. She knew what she was doing. Her greed got the best of her.

 

I've been there once or twice, bidding on an auction that looks just a little too good to be true. Not being an insufficiently_thoughtful_person, I don't spend $860 on such things, but I bet I've wasted at least $75.

 

When that happens you EAT it. Don't whine about it, learn from it! I am much more careful these days.

 

The seller may have fibbed about the marriage thing, but he did not misrepresent the items in any way. He made no claims regarding authenticity at all. Think about it - we've all seen comic auctions like this. The seller claims no knowledge of comics and has a photo of a pile of books with edges of ASM 129 or Iron Fist 14 or something visible. Bid is $10.

 

Anyone who would bid on that even after initially voicing your skepticism, being blocked, using a stealth ID to bid anyway, winning, finding out the gems are reprints, and then claim it's all the seller's fault, raise your hand.

[garthgantu]

The real loser in this situation will still turn out to be the 'drunken sailor' seller... when his wife gets back from vacation and finds out he's sold the Beanie Babies, he'll spend much more on the divorce proceedings than he made on the sale...

[deathlok]

The real loser in this situation will still turn out to be the 'drunken sailor' seller... when his wife gets back from vacation and finds out he's sold the Beanie Babies, he'll spend much more on the divorce proceedings than he made on the sale...

 

He's already divorced. The article said it was a mutual divorce, the wife did not cheat on him.

[cmixer]

In my best opinion, the dolls did NOT have a big "F" on the butt till the old lady sent them in to be graded/appraised. Then the grading company put the "F". The dude might not have known about the fakes. (At least that's what I want to believe).

[deathlok]

Since I had to know, I contacted the old lady. Here is her response:

 

As I have done in the past when I have received counterfeits, I mark them to be sure they don't become mixed among my genuine beanies. In addition to selling counterfeits, it is also illegal to send counterfeits through the U.S. mails and the marking has been suggested on a web site or two on the topic of counterfeits. If the seller pays up and wants them returned, this would ensure them not being on the market again. The article appearing in The Missoulian newspaper also had a picture of two fakes I had received about four years ago, a Bubbles and a Tabasco, when I was relatively new to eBay. The seller of the Tabasco, along with a second Tabasco I had purchased from him, immediately refunded the auction price and all other costs connected therewith.

 

As to thedrunkensailor's counterfeits, the three sent for authentication are still in the box unopened as returned from Peggy Gallagher, the authenticator. This is so the chain of custody is not broken when needed for evidence. The other two have been appropriately marked. I did not send all three to PG because they are such poor fakes and I recognized them as such by the quality even though I had never held a genuine Humphrey in my hand. I do have a couple of genuine Britannia. No, Peggy G. would never do the marking, nor would I suspect any other recognized authenticator. She notified me by eMail that the beanies are fakes and the reasons therefor. A copy of that explanation will be included in the priority mail box in which she returned them.

 

 

[Shield]

Since I had to know, I contacted the old lady. Here is her response:

 

As I have done in the past when I have received counterfeits, I mark them to be sure they don't become mixed among my genuine beanies. In addition to selling counterfeits, it is also illegal to send counterfeits through the U.S. mails and the marking has been suggested on a web site or two on the topic of counterfeits. If the seller pays up and wants them returned, this would ensure them not being on the market again. The article appearing in The Missoulian newspaper also had a picture of two fakes I had received about four years ago, a Bubbles and a Tabasco, when I was relatively new to eBay. The seller of the Tabasco, along with a second Tabasco I had purchased from him, immediately refunded the auction price and all other costs connected therewith.

 

As to thedrunkensailor's counterfeits, the three sent for authentication are still in the box unopened as returned from Peggy Gallagher, the authenticator. This is so the chain of custody is not broken when needed for evidence. The other two have been appropriately marked. I did not send all three to PG because they are such poor fakes and I recognized them as such by the quality even though I had never held a genuine Humphrey in my hand. I do have a couple of genuine Britannia. No, Peggy G. would never do the marking, nor would I suspect any other recognized authenticator. She notified me by eMail that the beanies are fakes and the reasons therefor. A copy of that explanation will be included in the priority mail box in which she returned them.

 

 

"I had never held a genuine Humphrey in my hand." Of course, that doesn't include her ex husband, Humphrey...

 

This woman needs to get over it; the buyer clearly stated he didn't know if they were real or not!

[deathlok]

Ohhh!! The buyer says he didn't know they were fake? So that makes it allright. Comic-keys didn't know the books were restored. That's allright, it happens. We understand. I'm not taking her side, but there are two sides to this. The drunk sailor guy also shill bids his auctions too, or did you not know that?

[Shield]

Ohhh!! The buyer says he didn't know they were fake? So that makes it allright. Comic-keys didn't know the books were restored. That's allright, it happens. We understand. I'm not taking her side, but there are two sides to this. The drunk sailor guy also shill bids his auctions too, or did you not know that?

 

Look. Not only did he block bidding from her regular EBAY ID, but she created a shill just to bid on the books. Also, he wasn't there holding a gun to her head to make her bid even if he was shilling. She rolled the dice hoping for a big score, and lost. Them's the breaks; I have no compassion for her whatsoever. Now, had he advertised them as "guaranteed to be authentic" then I'd totally take her side. But she knew the risk before placing her bids.