WARNING eBay Photo's

[grobkörnig]

I agree on the issue of language but the photos themselves were created with the intention to deceive.

Absolutely. Now the question is if the seller is the deceiver or has himself been deceived. Hard to say from our point of view, I think...

gk

[MLW]

If you don't think that the seller knew what he was doing; then you are naive. Look at his ebay record. He is a professional seller on ebay, not just a part-timer. As such, he has a responsibility to know his product. This is standard business-world practice. Ebay is no different. Mistakes, intentional or not, should be on him and he should be held accountable. Unfortunately, ebay exists in its own universe. As a minimum, the "buyers beware" and "I didn't know" claims by many ebayers are indicators of a dishonest seller. If you want to know who is dishonest, then look to see who profited in the transaction.

[grobkörnig]

If you don't think that the seller knew what he was doing; then you are naive. Look at his ebay record. He is a professional seller on ebay, not just a part-timer. As such, he has a responsibility to know his product.

He is a professional seller of what? I have looked at his ebay record and only saw that he has recently sold the photos we are talking about and sold 42 items in the last 12 months. Now what exactly does that tell us about his knowledge of period or fake WW2 phtographs and why do you think I am naive?

gk

[Simon O.]

The point is, it was brought to his attention and any honourable seller would have pulled the auction.

[MLW]

Naive of not holding the seller responsible. No one forced the seller to 1) buy the photos in the first place, or to re-sell them on ebay. It is a shame that we are unlikely to learn the backstory on the sale.

[grobkörnig]

Still, the only naive thing is to buy on ebay without reading the description. The seller could have stopped the auction but he did not because he wanted to get rid of the stuff and so included the questions he was asked, added the fact that they were not period (in bold) and offered to cancel bids already made. It's just not his fault if people don't read what they buy.

I agree that he could have canceled the auctions but it was obvious and explicitly mentioned in the text that the photos were not period.

Concerning the question whether the seller had known if the photos were fakes or not I do not think that we are in the position to judge.

So the only conclusion we can draw is: read before you buy and do not buy if you are not sure...

gk

[MLW]

I am not sure how clear anything on ebay is described when you consider the variety of languages involved between sellers and buyers. I am not a native german speaker. What I saw was "Größe 9,7 cm x 6,8 cm, Rückseitig Klebereste, 100% Original !" That does not sound like a description for a fake photo me. Or is the seller writing that the glue is 100% original?

BTW, it is up to me, and you, and everyone else to judge the seller's intent. That is how most retail business is conducted. I find it hard to believe that the seller did not know that the photos were fake when he was certainly educated enough to describe the exact unit and the equipment in the photo.