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A funny thing happened on my way to PayPal

...or rather my PayPal account. I just thought I'd share yet another learning experience. A couple of weeks ago, I was excited to make a deal with an eBay seller to buy the item below for $2000. It was an original Star Wars soundtrack album from 1977 entitled, "The Story of Star Wars", signed by 9 cast and crew members including George Lucas, John Wiliams, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and David Prowse. This was on January 2nd.

Looking through past sales, I saw that the same piece had sold (from a different seller) for $3250 on December 28th. Even the pictures were the exact same. So I questioned my seller about this, and he said he was the person who bought the piece on Dec. 28, but he had to sell it right away because he could no longer afford to keep it since his car broke down, and he needed the money for repairs. He therefore was willing to sell it at a loss to get the money quickly.

Even though the story didn't quite add up, I wanted to believe it, because I thought the item looked incredible. I mean why not just explain your situation to your seller and try to get ALL of your money back?

So I told my seller (the crook) that I was waiting on funds from a sale to clear PayPal in a few days and then I would get him the money. What a nice guy...he agreed! In the meantime, I asked the original seller for his phone number so we could talk. So he gave me his number, and I called him. He told me that he sold his item to a buyer in Germany for $3250. Well, the crook lives in Minnesota, so my suspicions were confirmed. And I messaged the crooked seller and told him I knew what was going on and that he would not be getting my $2000, and I recommended he cancel the sale, which he still has not done. However, eBay said it will eventually just drop off if he doesn't open a case. I've noticed that in just the last week, the seller has received 18 new negatives from buyers who said he took their money but sent nothing. Fortunately, I avoided that hassle. So, as has been noted before, what sounds too good to be true, probably is.

In the meantime, I have found another Star Wars signed soundtrack, "The Return of the Jedi", that I like a lot.

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on January 17, 2017 at 7:09am

Disgraceful, Ebay should have taken this over and had the police set this criminal up. No guts,no integrity. Corporations are not people

Agree. eBay needs to act much more quickly in situations like this.

how can they when they have mindless minions minding the store in the Philippines who are powerless to make a decision. Their entire system is based on anonymity to keep their customers at BAY....Hence E-Bay. You will never speak to anyone from the United States who "may" be able to make a judgement call. In the Philippines, there is ZERO chance. Their service is horse****

This is why I hate them: Happened to be browsing for "sold" Mickey Mantle's a few weeks ago & I was horrified to see the results. Minimum 90% are fakes and that's over pages and pages of recent sales...and that's being conservative. E-bay has totally jumped the shark.

Nice job scoping out yet another scammer!

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Permalink Reply by James on January 17, 2017 at 2:07pm

Thanks. Yesterday I checked their other items for sale. Fortunately, they are finally showing nothing for sale now. When I first posted this discussion five days ago, they had amassed 18 negatives in about a week. Their negatives are now up to 28.

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Permalink Reply by marc e on January 16, 2017 at 11:15am

with all due respect , hes selling stuff way below market value. flags should be going up.

as i said nothing good comes free or cheap.

and ebay doesnt give a crap ,never wil

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Permalink Reply by James on January 16, 2017 at 3:44pm

I agree. I have found really good deals before and was hoping this was one...but there were way too many red flags...you're right.

One of the best deals I ever got was when I got an unauthenticated JFK on eBay for $350 because everyone was afraid to bid on it, but I knew it was real. Normally, I'm just a collector, but I ended up selling it for $800, and the guy I sold it to got it authenticated by PSA. A couple of months later he sold it on eBay for $2000. So deals are out there.

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Permalink Reply by marc e on January 16, 2017 at 5:33pm

i sell every uncertified but in happy to talk to any one about the who how or whens and let them pay to certify it, but a chuck berry for 20$ when if ur lucky u might only get one autograph once in a while from him.or the joan jett litho wich was worth more as a unsigned litho than what he sold it for signed.

just glaring problems

if i told u what i takes to collect on the est coast in the winter i suxs , and the nos u get all day long .

the cost has to reflect that. so many people just or rarely sign any more

im laughing at all the signed eagles or stevie nicks. how many people have actualy spent time trying to glen and don or steve.

they are not fun.