Sometimes you want to DO something about these scammers!

[RichardSimon]

Ebay used to have an EMR Team, Enhanced Member Reporting.
I was on the team as were other members of Net54.
We worked hard simply to keep the autograph hobby a little cleaner.
John Gonzalez was our ebay contact and John also worked very hard to keep ebay clean.
Unfortunately ebay decided one day to disband the team and John eventually was forced to leave ebay.
The reason was obvious. Our work was costing ebay money in the short run by removing a large number of auctions. Their shortsightedness was so stupid. In the long run if the autograph hobby is hurt by the scum who knowingly sell fakes then ebay too will be hurt. But in their shortsighted thinking, quarterly profits mean more than long term profits, they have damaged the hobby severely.
The crooks are laughing all the way to the bank.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

Ebay used to have an EMR Team, Enhanced Member Reporting.
I was on the team as were other members of Net54.
We worked hard simply to keep the autograph hobby a little cleaner.
John Gonzalez was our ebay contact and John also worked very hard to keep ebay clean.
Unfortunately ebay decided one day to disband the team and John eventually was forced to leave ebay.
The reason was obvious. Our work was costing ebay money in the short run by removing a large number of auctions. Their shortsightedness was so stupid. In the long run if the autograph hobby is hurt by the scum who knowingly sell fakes then ebay too will be hurt. But in their shortsighted thinking, quarterly profits mean more than long term profits, they have damaged the hobby severely.
The crooks are laughing all the way to the bank.

+1

Ebay is an enabler. Period.

Look at the thousands upon thousands of GFA (Stephen Rocchi) certed forgeries that have sold on Ebay during the past five years.

[nat]

Man someone who bids on that thing missed a lot of warning signs.

It's a good question, whether it's in ebay's long term interest to stop this nonsense. If the supply of suckers is large enough, then even in the long run maybe they'll make more money off of the scammers than they would from legitimate sales (which, I assume, get pushed, to some extent at least, to other platforms).

Definitely don't send scammers harassing messages. But you could send them helpful ones: "Hi, I'm interested in Babe Ruth autographs and noticed your listing. It would be a nice piece, but I'm afraid that somebody ripped you off, as I'm pretty sure that the one that you're selling isn't original. In an abundance of caution, I'll pass word along to eBay. They're probably best equipped to ensure that it's authentic." Something like that.

[sandmountainslim]

Originally Posted by nat

Definitely don't send scammers harassing messages. But you could send them helpful ones: "Hi, I'm interested in Babe Ruth autographs and noticed your listing. It would be a nice piece, but I'm afraid that somebody ripped you off, as I'm pretty sure that the one that you're selling isn't original. In an abundance of caution, I'll pass word along to eBay. They're probably best equipped to ensure that it's authentic." Something like that.

I love that idea!