Not such a Dodgy Lathe on Ebay

Hi Was checking lathes on ebay and come across an 8mm Friedrich Schubert watchmakers lathe number 333653784161. But the photos used were from the site Lathes.co.uk/ Schubert/ reported it to ebay but no reply. The sale went ahead (20/07/2020) and closed at 28 bids £430. Today (21/07/2020) it was relisted under a new number 333661050108 same photos. Sent another report to ebay. It all seems very dodgy to me what do you think!

[This posting has been removed]

Although it does appear to be the same lathe as on Lathes.co.uk they are not the same photos, eg none on the site show the complete double socket outlet so could not even have been cropped. Possibly the seller provided the photos to Tony's site or there is also the dodgy practice of putting people off an item by various means to keep the price low.

Looks like a nice little machine.

Steve.

Ha ha ,

Some fishy shenanigans going on here, methinks.

Pity, as I agree; It does look like a nice machine for someone.

Going to "watch" it anyway, just out of interest.

Daniel

Edited By Daniel on 22/07/2020 09:53:25

Yes, a strange "first post".

Looks a nice laal machine as you'd say in Cumbria.

Agreed, the photo wasn't copied.

Perhaps the first sale was cancelled when it was reported to ebay.

Neil

Hi

Thanks for the reply’s, Barrie I think you are right about the bidding as the winning bid had zero feedback and the item was relisted 53 seconds later. Regarding the photos it looks as if the seller may have supplied them to the website, if that was the case the seller should have mentioned that in the description, how old are the photos one year, five years, ten years, what does the lathe look like today, if the seller has the lathe why not supply new photos it’s not very difficult. With all of the above points the seller is not giving any potential bidders much confidants in the sale. I am over sixty-five years old with a fully equipped workshop and worked in engineering all my life, I have been looking at small lathes this last two years probably never buy one. So having been caught twice myself on eBay decided to highlight this issue. So I took the plunge, my first-time post in any forum anywhere and I wish I hadn’t bothered you are a suspicious lot, do you ever thing that there might be people out there that just want to do the right thing and highlight things like this when they are full of red flags you should have a bit more faith in humanity. It is a lot of money but I do hope there is nothing untoward about the sale and somebody can pickup a nice little lathe and get as much pleasure out of it as I do with mine. Will be watching the sale.

Thanks Joe

If you are interested in the lathe then why not contact the seller and ask for a photo with something to date it like a newspaper in the shot and also enquire if he supplied Tony with the photos for his Website.

It is quite possible that the seller is a collector and may not have even used the machine since the photos were taken.

It also works both ways, you are suspicious about the seller which could be totally unfounded too.

I would agree with the OP that the lathe shown on ebay is the same lathe shown on lathes.co.uk, looking carefully at the pictures, it would appear that the images on lathes.co.uk have been cropped from the originals which leads me to the assumption that the ebay seller provided Tony with the images and not that they have been 'lifted' from his site for the purposes of deception.

As Jason quite rightly says, contacting the seller for clarification would be the best way to go rather than raising suspicion needlessly. It one thing to be cautious and there have been too many ebay scams to warrant taking things at face value however, one should not cast aspersions without first validating ones suspicion.

Gray

[This posting has been removed]

Barrie would that make a publishable article, sounds a good idea to me if you have the inclination to write it. I watch prices on ebay, but wary about bidding without viewing.

[This posting has been removed]

I don't get any say in those matters but expect it will be a worthwhile read.

There is also the other possibility that does happen a lot on ebay. People create an account & put a silly bid in. I guess it's mainly kids mucking about. Although you would have thought the seller would have explained if that was the case.

Steve.

It is not difficult to find items on Ebay which have been "sold" but are offered again by the same seller. How they do it without paying sellers fee (Ebay & Paypal is around 15% together) is a question for me. Niko.

Edited By speelwerk on 22/07/2020 21:54:28

I assume, and hope, that your article will be about making eBay work in your/our favour?

Edited By ega on 23/07/2020 14:24:26

I think we will need to show a little care, but a well-rounded guide to what to look for in secondhand machines and how to buy as safely (as possible) on line might be a good idea.

Perhaps not make it too specific to eBay as much of the advice will apply to other sites (e.g. Gumtree) and even our classifieds - many years ago I bought a motor from a very nice old chap out of the classifieds. In the end it sat on the shelf for a few years before I needed it - and then it turned out to have a blown winding.

Neil

This thread reminds be of a case a few years back regarding the sale of an expensive piece of hi-fi kit (no comments on hi-buffs please). A user had legitimately bought said piece of kit via a well known auction site. A few months later he saw the same kit up for sale, complete with photos of the serial number. Instead of just reporting it, he decided to bid on it and won. There then started a conversation about payment and delivery. The seller got very shirty when the owner said that no way was he going to pay for an item that he already owned and was in his possession.

Similar thing happend recently . My restored Drummond Admiralty B Type is Featured on Tonys site with a photo album including one of a letter to the original purchaser on Drummond Headed note paper. This photo lifted from Tonys site was in the ebay ad and he claimed that he had some interesting original documentation. I messaged him and told him to take it down and why. I posted the incident on the Drummond FB group and a guy who had sold the lathe to the ebayer a while ago messaged me and asked for more info. He then contacted the ebayer and had a few words with him.

To say I was hopping mad is an understatement.