If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you might remember an article I wrote last August, in which I expressed my frustration about eBay seemingly doing nothing about what were clearly fake bass saxophone listings. At the time I had contacted the auction company at least 3 times already about a seller who went by the name of goodmanner010.
Eventually in August, goodmanner010’s bass listings were pulled. But you know what? They reappeared again and again since that time. I must admit that I had stopped reporting the seller, since I didn’t see the point anymore.
eBay always sends these bullshit auto reply emails that in part say:
Thanks for letting us know about a listing or seller you’d like us to investigate for potential fraudulent activity. eBay is very concerned about this type of activity. We’ll review your report as soon as possible, usually within 72 hours….
Even though you’ll receive only this acknowledgement of your report, please be assured that we’ll thoroughly investigate the situation. [emphasis added]
eBay wants to ensure that its members enjoy a safe place to buy and sell. We don’t allow members to engage in any type of unlawful activity on the eBay website, and we’re committed to investigating reports of suspicious activity.
You would figure if eBay was seriously going to investigate these auctions for fraud, the same listings, with the same photos, would stop appearing, right? Wrong.
Mr. goodmanner010—although as you will see in Part 2, there is nothing good about his manners at all—was allowed to continue listing fraudulent bass saxophones. Not only that, his eBay store listed all kinds of other über expensive instruments for much less than what a person would normally pay.
goodmanner010’s eBay store had things like contrabassoons, contrabass clarinets, tubas, and IIRC, even a Heckelphone for sale—all for under $2,000 each. Does anyone notice that there’s a potential problem here?
As recently as 2 weeks ago I noticed that goodmanner010 had not 1, not 2, but approximately 5 or 6 fake bass saxophone listings on eBay. Sure the vintage Buescher bass I wrote about in August was back again—as was another vintage Buescher bass he had previously not yet falsely listed—but so were about 3 or 4 different, new, Asian-made bass saxophones. Some were Jinyin bass saxes, while others were Jinbao horns.
Vintage or new; American or Asian, these bass saxophone listings all had 1 thing in common: They were all fake. No one was going to sell you a bass saxophone for under $2,000.
In Part 2 we’ll explore what happened to a man from South America—for whom English is not the first language—who got caught in the trap laid by goodmanner010. His story is a sobering one for sure, and one that should serve as a lesson for all of us.
