Ebay Scam, Para helmet

[Ty Smith]

Does anyone know this seller? or bidders?

Looks like a scam to me. I asked for close ups and the guy sent me the exact pictures on The Collector's Guild website at www.germanmilitara.com . Check the links below !!

This is the exact helmet that was sold by Bill Shea a few months ago. The ebay seller and the owner of www.germanmilitara.com isn't the same guy, right?? Looks like he is using pictures of a good one to sell a worthless one.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2165464132

http://www.germanmilitaria.com/Luftw...os/L03248.html

[Willi Z.]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Ty. The ebay seller is not the same guy who owns and operates Collector's Guild. Peter W. is a highly respected dealer...in fact I rate him about in the top 5.

I wonder if ebay should be contacted about this. This is a very clear example of fraud.

Willi

[Peter_Suciu]

Hi Willi--I have some contacts at eBay. I'll point this out to them. They know I've been watching some of the military stuff and they said to let them know if I see anything they should be notified about...and I think this falls into that category.

PS

[Ben]

Same thing happened to me when I was selling a scope on eBay. The guy used my pictures and write up and even had the b*lls to list it when my scope was still on auction. I reported him to eBay as a fraud and he was suspended from eBay.

Cheers,

Ben

[Matt M]

Ty

Believe it or not its pretty common.

I have had guys use photos of helmets I have posted and start there own auction with a helmet they did not own.

Matt

[John Hodgin]

Hello Peter S,

Please do report this asap, crooks like this should be stopped. And yes, Peter W of the Guild is very honest and honorable!

regards,
John

[Peter_Suciu]

My contact at eBay replied to me and said he is passing it on to the customer support team. I wrote an article for The New York Daily News about online auctions and collectibles so I have a good contact at eBay. He is more than happy to hear about items that may be of concern.

Obviously there is only so much eBay can do at times, but stuff like this is clear cut fraud. So just let me know and I'm more than happy to contact eBay about it. I hate to see someone waste their money and get something crappy...or worse nothing at all.

As a side point I did some research on an antique samurai sword forum and I'll say we helmet collectors have it easy when it comes to online auctions! Yeah, we worry about fake decals, Czech made copies, etc. But the sword stuff has really gotten bad. A lot of stuff is coming directly out of Hong Kong and China and the buyers end up getting a modern copy that has been aged. Swords have sold for $7000-$20,000 and what you get is a blade that was made a week ago and is worth $100 tops! I read about one scam where the sellers offered a 10 day evaluation period but wanted a wire transfer instead of credit cards. Sounds good until the swords arrived to the buyers and were obvious fakes. The Chinese sellers packed up and were gone!

[Ty Smith]

Ebay

That's scary, I think I'll stick to helmets.

Thanks for reporting this to your contact. I'm surprised this is so common. I did see it happen one other time. I couldn't imagine opening your package and getting some piece of junk when you think you are getting something genuine.

[Ty Smith]

Ebay

Just thought everyone should know. I emailed the seller to ask him if the auction was for the Actual helmet he sent me pictures of.

He said,

" Yes! exact helmet! Regards Gregorio"
----- Original Message -----

I hope this guy gets busted.

[Peter_Suciu]

I saw the auction ended because of an "error with the listing." The seller must have been told you actually have to OWN the item you are selling I guess!

[Willi Z.]

For every one who gets caught, 1000 don't. For us, that was a clear and easy case. Imagine all the other times this occurs, when it is not so obvious.

Willi