25c rolator for sale on ebay uk may be a scam?

[mr bandit]

Hi, there is a watling rolator for sale on ebay.co.uk which is being sold by a “new” member. This machine was for sale on ebay.com (in the USA) quite recently. I know this is the same machine which was sold in the USA as I had several pictures emailed to me by the seller. in fact I have the very same picture which is being used right now, saved on my hard drive. I have asked the “new owner” if the machine is theirs to sell and could I take a look at it, but as you may have guessed, no reply to my request!
If this is a genuine sale then so be it. But it looks like a con right from the start. The seller has an account with paypal so their personal details may be traceable??? (if dishonest)
Maybe I am jumping the gun a little bit here, but someone out there may have seen this machine recently and may even be the owner of it? Take a look and see what you think? The link: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Watling-Rolator-2 ... dZViewItem
Regards, mr bandit

[Dave]

If you go to www.AntiqueSlotMachinePriceGuide.com and do a search for Rol-A-Tor you will see that this machine sold on Jan. 28th of this year.

It will also tell you who sold it and who bought it. Neither of which is the person currently selling it.

Definitely looks like a scam. Too bad eBay no longer lists the people who are bidding on it.

Thanks for warning us.

[Dave]

This clown took portions from the original seller's description and used it in his (word for word).

[cpdretired]

Ebay customer support notified. Link to the original auction is below.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0074206359

[cpdretired]

Ebay support responded. They said that the pictures are the same and the auction looks suspicious. They did not take it down. Since there was a bidder list there was no way of notifying any of the bidders. Buyer beware of sellers with zero feedback.

[Dave]

Looks like eBay let the auction run its course.

The final price was 1,021 pounds which I think is about $2,000 US.

Looks like the buyer figured it out that it was a scam. He left the following feedback for the seller slot Machine Did Not exist Total Scam wanted me to pay Money gram Do Not Trust

I tried to contact the buyer but eBay won't allow it because I am not involved in a transaction with him.

[cpdretired]

I made contact with the winning bidder of this phony auction in the UK. Below is his resoponse. He was made aware of the research done thru the Antique Solt Machine Price Guide. Do your reasearch before buying as eBay could care less about the crooks listing phony auctions.

Hi Thanks for that ,But we had a felling it was a scam when i bid , for one
it was too cheap,i only bid as it was only 20miles away from me ,the guy
then sent me a message which looked like it came from ebay but did
not,requesting money gram ,then made up lots of storys why i could not
collect i must have twenty emails . i had one phone call from it sounded
like an asian to say he was the courier but strangly when i asked him what
route he was taking he said he would have to look it up (there only one way
to where i live and any local decent courier would know it and he said his
premises where next door to the guy i bought the machine from and it was
right in front of him ..i then said i would come and get it he then hung up
the phone .anyway i drove to the address on ebay .knocked on door and an old
lady answered .did not know what i was talking about and she has lived there
for 40years plus ..i gave ebay all the emails and what i have told you and
guess what they have done nothing about it, if he wanted he would be still
able to trade ..any way thanks for the web address ..regards Bill

[Dave]

Looks like these clowns are up to it again. This time it is a Cherry Front Rol-A-Top which was listed about 9 months ago. Like this machine, it is advertised as being in the UK.

I started a separate tread which talks about it.

Dave