thecommander

....it probably is!

Caveat emptor!

Will this be just another EBay horror story?


We shall see. I did this via EBay and the most important thing to check before buying is the sellers feedback rating. Make sure it is for sales...not his purchases. Make sure it is recent and MOST importantly... that his feedback is in the RC tank hobby. That way you can buy with confidence. Check that feedback guys. How old is his account and how long had he been selling? Five years or just opened last week? Ask questions from the seller and see if he knows his stuff. Ask for a phone number or send him yours. If he has nothing to hide he will be happy to speak to you and answer questions. You can tell a lot from just a short conversation about who you are dealing with.

I won two NIB Tamiya tank kits on EBay. The seller had 5 RC item listed and ZERO feedback rating. A Tiger I & JS 2 both for $396 (not each...but for the two together). And free shipping to boot. Wonder if it is fake...Hmmmm???

I got so many red flags popping up on this "too good to be true" seller that I have gone color blind.






http://www.ebay.com/itm/321379102897...84.m1439.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321379102063...84.m1439.l2649

Code501

This does seem to good to be true.

The seller has no feedback whatsoever.
The price of $396 for both tanks is far too cheap in my opinion.
Certainly when you know a new JS-2 is around €700,- (around $1000,- I believe).

I would say this is certainly a big red flag and not advisable to continue the deal.

mcm308

Hmmm.. thats interesting. It doesnt say Tamiya anywhere in the listing. I guess you will find out soon enough if you paid for them already. I dont think I would. If it does show up and its not a Tamiya, i dont think you can argue it because its not listed as one. Smart seller...

mcovalsk

The auction is fake and it's been posting since ages. Here the same one with other "ebay user"
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-1-16-JS-...t/281312266799

sevoblast

Sounds like the boys who listed themselves as in British Columbia I dunno, what, 7 or 8 years ago, but the only payment form was wire transfer. To China. Standard International Shipping means by boat, ergo the expected arrival time is beyond your ebay dispute time.

Finish the quote? If it sounds too good to be true, get your cast iron skivvies on real quick.

ausf

Even if it was a case of 'fell off the back of a truck', the shipping would be near the $90 for the Tiger. There's no scenario in my head that would account for this being real, whether it was a promotional giveaway, closing a store, etc.

Even if you walked up to the Phillipines factory door, wholesale on the JS-2 would be double that sale.

cleong

I thought 1/16th tanks are still being produced out of Japan - and that Philippines did the re-issue product lines and Expert Built XB kits that included the tank line?

FreakyDude

i wouldn't buy anything off of flea bay that was more than 50 bucks, don't care what it is. Anything shipping from China should be looked at twice regardless of what it is.

thecommander

There are many red flags that you guys have alluded to. The free shipping is the most laughable one. Who could afford to do that from China....LOL. I Won a Tiger tank very cheap too a few days before and turned it over to EBay. He wouldn't respond to anything before or after he had " a fish on the hook" when the auction ended. EBay shut him down with 4 hours of my reporting him. Incredibly both seller guys were selling the same exact items with the same exact pix. I guess it is one scammer trolling for PayPal money.

LarryE519

As you have all alluded to the Free shipping is a dead give away. Also anyone with a ZERO rating is a big No-No. I do not deal with China, Russian Federation, ect. Too many risks.

Its funny his other two auctions are still up and active, and one car is over $400 USD. It looks like he also has a shill bidder on those, with many bids from another zero feedback bidder.

If it looks like a Duck.....

DJLaPalme

It seems if you are going to buy on Ebay, you should buy some K-Y first.

thecommander

Since it isn't my first rodeo I asked him questions days prior to the auction. He never answered any of them. One of the many red flags was raised then and there. I also told him to send me pix of the two Tamiya kit boxes I won together. And also pix of the inside of the Tamiya box.

Much to my surprise he answered me within the hour when I told he I will not pay without further proof he was legitimate. I told him to send me pix of my two Tamiya tank boxes together.
　
He wrote:

"HI, dear,
Thank you for your letter,
Due to the packing sealing, so we can't open for you, please understand,
But we can provide you with our finished packing is to send the picture of the post office,
thank you "
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is not he first time I have done this and it eliminates the fakes. I told him I will not pay without pix.

Lets see what he does now? Bob

thecommander

This is the third fake Chinese EBay seller I have "busted" recently. He gives the many good sellers in China a bad name.


NO SOUP FOR YOU! Happy Easter too guys.



Except at the White House

thecommander

EBay has done their part and removed him and voided al this auctions. He didn't send me the required pix of my items and I would not pay him otherwise. Caveat Emptor rule in action.

From EBay to me:
"We had to remove this listing from the site and you're not required to complete the transaction. If you've already sent payment, the sale should process as normal and you don't have anything to worry about. If you have any questions about delivery, please check tracking or contact your seller. If you run into any trouble along the way eBay is here to help. Please visit the Resolution Center to help resolve any problems you may encounter."

Good luck men and stay on your toes. It is a jungle out there.

Max-U52

I agree about checking out sellers, and I notice this guy's ebay auctions have been removed. If you do all your homework and find a good seller you'll be able to trust him off ebay (without their buyer protection). One such honest seller is the man that started this thread. I have no problem with sending Bob large money orders just on his word and he's never burned me yet. The man even sent me a replacement battery cover for my Jagdpanther completely free of charge, AND he paid the shipping! So if you need a vendor for R/C tanks that can be trusted, Bob's your guy.

And watch out for phone calls with computerized voices. One of those tried me yesterday. Enter my 16 digit account number? Riiiight. .

thecommander

Thank you for the kind words, Gary. I am enjoying my retirement and providing a quality service to the RC Tank Hobby...after all, it gave so much to me. I needed a load of help in the beginning and these forums didn't even exist them. Your fellow tankers are all you had. I will open a website soon and look forward to meeting even more RC tankers. I really want to head out to AZ & CO to battle this year. I hope some of those guys can come east to Danville or a NEAD event. The good gentleman of this hobby is what makes it so worthwhile. Thank you again Gary, Bob

thecommander

BEWARE....they are trying to steal you money again!

I guess these guys in China haven't learned from the past 3 abortive attempts to pry your hard earned dollars from you.


AVOID this NEW rip-off "tank seller": http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MakeTrack=true


An $11 Tiger or IS/JS...LOL ...at least this guy isn't giving away shipping for the imaginary tank. Caveat Emptor.

Martellus

$11 tamiya IS... I could only dream that up..


I usually go by a sellers age/feedback, he hasn't gotten any. Hope they get removed fast.

ausf

He couldn't even copy the Tamiya stats, he had to post some bad translation.