Truth in advertising ?

[srtiwari]

Saw this listing which starts with " 1966..." ,selling a Leica M3 with a serial # 834xxxx. Assuming an honest mistake, I "ask(ed) seller a question" and pointed out that it was 1956 that it was built, but received a reply - " It was bought in 1966", and the conversation never appeared on the listing.
No, I have no questions- just wanted to share what looks like a deliberate "mistake"...

http://cgi.ebay.com/1966-Leica-M3-c...ryZ30030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

:bang:
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[remrf]

Look at the seller's feedback. There is none. Either he/she is a complete newbie or its a scam artist who has just set up in a new ebay account after being shut down in another. Personally I would be curious why the seller thinks it is important to know when it was purchased as compared to the camera's real age.

 

[plexi]

Reminds me of one guy trying to sell me a 66` Fender Telecaster and it was clearly a 70`s(a lot of telltale signs) He swore he bought it in 66`, and was 100% sure. I ended up unscrewing the neck from the body and showed him the AUG 71` production date.
He then admitted that most of the 60`s was blur for him 😀

 

[srtiwari]

Look at the seller's feedback. There is none. Either he/she is a complete newbie or its a scam artist who has just set up in a new ebay account after being shut down in another. Personally I would be curious why the seller thinks it is important to know when it was purchased as compared to the camera's real age.

What the seller does not seem to want to know (or be reminded) that the camera is 10 years older than he claims it is. Regardless, if I were in his place (and if honest) I would edit the listing to correct the misinformation- of course "my father bought it new" and " My father bought it in 1966" cannot both be true unless it sat on a shelf at a retailer's for 10 years.
Also, at this point " complete newbie" also seems unlikely...
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[Fedzilla_Bob]

Reminds me of one guy trying to sell me a 66` Fender Telecaster and it was clearly a 70`s(a lot of telltale signs) He swore he bought it in 66`, and was 100% sure. I ended up unscrewing the neck from the body and showed him the AUG 71` production date.
He then admitted that most of the 60`s was blur for him 😀

To that I say - Booyah!

It's grand when you have the evidence right at hand, isn't it?

Does the Plexi refer to your amp?

 

[ch1]

Frankly, it's getting real tiresome reading all of these supposed eBay scam threads that get posted here. We now see at least one a day!

I've been buying (and selling) on eBay for years. Most folks are honest. If you don't like eBay, don't use it but these threads sound more and more like a bunch of crankly old guys constantly complaining about the same thing! :bang:

Can't folks here give this topic a rest and go out and take some pictures? 😕

 

[srtiwari]

Frankly, it's getting real tiresome reading all of these supposed eBay scam threads that get posted here. We now see at least one a day!

I've been buying (and selling) on eBay for years. Most folks are honest. If you don't like eBay, don't use it but these threads sound more and more like a bunch of crankly old guys constantly complaining about the same thing! :bang:

Can't folks here give this topic a rest and go out and take some pictures? 😕

I too have been buying and selling on eBay for years, and still do. But it seems the scams are becoming more widespread, and more sophisticated. I merely posted this as an example, hoping that it would make people less complacent about oBoy listings.
Oh, and, of course, you really don't have to read the entire thread , and take the time to participate- if you don't want to. 🙄 🙄

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[Matthew Runkel]

Why would someone dishonest take the trouble to "misrepresent" the production date when the serial number is plainly visible in any event? If the seller is a scam artist, why would he or she throw up a deliberate red flag? In order to portray an old camera as 40 years old instead of 50 years old? That makes no sense to me at all.

A more interesting question is whether the camera comes with a 50 summicron, per description, or a 50 summilux as pictured.

Despite the zero feedback, the seller has been registered for 11 months. Do we really suppose he/she is running a devious "long con" of some sort? My guess is that this is an inexperienced, uninformed and idiosyncratic ("I'm not a fan of photos") seller, but not a scam artist. Someone with a little appetite for risk may get a very nice deal here if the price is depressed from what you would expect to pay for a properly-described M3/lux combo from a seasoned seller. I'm not discounting the risk involved, though. There may be no camera. Some of the best cons depend on the mark thinking he is putting one over on the swindler, and the cron/lux ambiguity could be a red flag for that.

 

[srtiwari]

Why would someone dishonest take the trouble to "misrepresent" the production date when the serial number is plainly visible in any event? If the seller is a scam artist, why would he or she throw up a deliberate red flag? In order to portray an old camera as 40 years old instead of 50 years old? That makes no sense to me at all.

A more interesting question is whether the camera comes with a 50 summicron, per description, or a 50 summilux as pictured.

Despite the zero feedback, the seller has been registered for 11 months. Do we really suppose he/she is running a devious "long con" of some sort? My guess is that this is an inexperienced, uninformed and idiosyncratic ("I'm not a fan of photos") seller, but not a scam artist. Someone with a little appetite for risk may get a very nice deal here if the price is depressed from what you would expect to pay for a properly-described M3/lux combo from a seasoned seller. I'm not discounting the risk involved, though. There may be no camera. Some of the best cons depend on the mark thinking he is putting one over on the swindler, and the cron/lux ambiguity could be a red flag for that.

I agree with you. BUT, if I were to run a scam, I hope it would have this very touch- the ability to give even seasoned "eBayers" some anxiety about whether or not this is worth rolling the dice...
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