weirdest eBay experience

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:28 pm

I guess this goes in gear talk, since it involves gear. Over the weekend I saw a guy in TX was selling 2 brand new SM57s for $100 BIN on eBay. I thought, "That sounds too good to be true." I checked the guy's feedback and he seemed legit, emailed to make sure the auction was for 2 mics (the syntax of the listing was a little odd). He responded 'yes' (with equally odd synactical problems) so I went for it. An hour later I got an email from eBay saying the account I had bought the stuff from had been 'compromised by a third party' and the listing had been deleted. Problem: I had already paid for the mics. So I filed a claim w/paypal to get the $$ back (as instructed by eBay) and went on with my day, annoyed and a little nervous about the whole thing.

The next day I get a message from paypal saying the mics had been shipped, offering a tracking number from a shipping service I had never heard of and couldn't find on the interweb: EMS. Now I'm a little more nervous because the email address and company name for the deal has changed completely from when I did the transaction on eBay. I scratch my head and figure I'll never see these mics and worry that i'll have trouble getting the money back since there's this phantom shipment from this strange new company.

Fastforward to today. I'm in the basement working when the doorbell rings and it's the mailperson. She has the package, containing 2 brand new SM57s, shipped via EMS from...Shanghai, China. Remember now, the original transaction was with a guy in TX. Just weird, but I ain't complaining...I guess. Pretty good deal, but sometimes this online stuff freaks me out.

kojdogg · Post by **kojdogg** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:56 pm

continue your paypal dispute-- those are probably fakes. counterfeit chinese 57's are rampant on the bay. i bought some myself about a year ago when it was still a new scam.
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MARIJUANA VAPORIZER

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:12 pm

kojdogg wrote:continue your paypal dispute-- those are probably fakes. counterfeit chinese 57's are rampant on the bay. i bought some myself about a year ago when it was still a new scam.

huh, and I was worried about anthrax. don't have any real 57s to compare to. how could i tell if they are fakes?

kojdogg · Post by **kojdogg** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:35 pm

if you search here and on other mb's there are some telltale signs apparently, also they don't sound quite like sm-57's if you have any around. i read a bunch of times that there's a flaw in how they copied the "R" in shure. there are some "guides" on ebay about the fakes if you search for them.
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Weed

RodC · Post by **RodC** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:54 pm

Yep, and they usualy use some poor guys account they have hacked so it don't seem like they are new.

I wonder why they would even go to the bother of shipping the mics if they went to all this trouble to defraud someone??

Im sure they will skip that step soon.

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:16 pm

yeah, i have done a quick google and have found some info, but it seems like there are so many variations of these mics out there, that it's hard to tell. I mean, these mics came with a box, a reg card, all the other printed material I would have expected. the mail-in reg card has a contest ad for a contest that ended in 2003. I have to say, not having a guaranteed non-fake here to compare to and having working print production for a long time this is a pretty decent fake job, if it is a fake. Seems like a lot of trouble to go through. Makin and printing all that material aint cheap. The mics I got haves all the earmarks of a fake job, but I have plugged the mics in and tested a little ac gtr on them and they sound pretty good. THey sound like what I expected them to sound like. The only cosmetic problem I have found is that both wind screens are mashed in a little, but I have seen enough 57s in my day to know that's not uncommon...

Again, not having a baseline to compare to I don't know that I would have suspected anything if not for finding out from y'all.

darkhorseporter · Post by **darkhorseporter** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 8:30 pm

Maybe they're B-stock? Or stolen? Neither would surprise me one bit.

Mane1234 · Post by **Mane1234** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:55 pm

They are cheap copies...I bought 5 of them this summer from probably the same person. The same exact thing you describe happened to me. If you use 57's a lot you'll notice the difference in about 2 seconds. These knock-offs are much brighter and thin sounding and their output is lower.
So here's the good news...Dispute the sale with Ebay because you were sent something other than the listed item and you'll get your money back and won't have to return the mics. You can always call Shure just to verify that you do indeed have fake mics but I'm pretty sure you do.

darjama · Post by **darjama** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 4:54 am

MY weirdest ebay experience was when a 60's harmony electric guitar I bought came with a pair of pink panties wrapped around the lower bought. These were, um, not new panties. I flipped the guitar shortly after that because No amount of alcohol could clean away the heebie-jeebies.

Off topic? Maybe, but I saw the subject and couldn't resist sharing.

amishsixstringer · Post by **amishsixstringer** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:29 am

That is really fucked up man...

One time, I bought something on eBay and it came and wasn't broken...now that was a true weird thing.

Neil

emrr · Post by **emrr** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 9:42 am

EMS = US Postal Express Mail Service. It's listed also as Global Express Mail.

oyrgawd · Post by **oyrgawd** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:29 pm

I once won an auction for a Beyer M500. In the day or so it took me to get around to buying a money order, the seller emailed saying he'd changed his mind and didn't want to sell anymore, and that he'd give me $50 for my trouble. Awesome. Then a week went by and he emailed again, apologizing for the wait, and offering me $60 instead. His $60 money order showed up a little later. So I got paid $60 for doing nothing. The end.

Kevin Kitchel · Post by **Kevin Kitchel** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:30 pm

oyrgawd wrote:I once won an auction for a Beyer M500. In the day or so it took me to get around to buying a money order, the seller emailed saying he'd changed his mind and didn't want to sell anymore, and that he'd give me $50 for my trouble. Awesome. Then a week went by and he emailed again, apologizing for the wait, and offering me $60 instead. His $60 money order showed up a little later. So I got paid $60 for doing nothing. The end.

I'm a little short on dough, can you post his user name?

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:56 am

amishsixstringer wrote:That is really fucked up man...

One time, I bought something on eBay and it came and wasn't broken...now that was a true weird thing.

Neil

I am with you on that. I have all but sworn off ebay...unless i am looking for something broken, I mean "as is."

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:13 am

joel hamilton wrote:
amishsixstringer wrote:That is really fucked up man...

One time, I bought something on eBay and it came and wasn't broken...now that was a true weird thing.

Neil
I am with you on that. I have all but sworn off ebay...unless i am looking for something broken, I mean "as is."

yeah, I took an ebay hiatus after I bought a turntable from a guy and it turned up packed shittily and therefore, was destroyed. now the fake mic thing...

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