Too Good To Be True...
 

I don't know if this topic needs its own thread or if the Wacky thread can handle it, but outing stuff that's too good to be true might be useful. Here's a set of NOS Modolo Speedy brakes for $48 BIN, free shipping... wait for it ... from China ... feeback zero. Several red flags. Edit: reported...

Modolo Speedy brake set complete silver w Gum Bike 919 anatomic hood | eBay

Here's the real deal, from pb*bikes, expensive, but a more realistic $300 BIN:

Modolo Speedy brake set complete silver w Gum Bike 919 anatomic hoods NIB NOS | eBay

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/-fgAAO...LP/s-l1600.jpg

Next listing, also a ripoff of pb*bikes, also reported:

Edco Competition Headset 1" Threaded Silver Alloy italain t

Last one today, exact same M.O. I'll wait for feedback from someone else on whether or not this might be useful. (I'm guessing that since these three were so easy to spot that maybe not...)

Omas Bottom Bracket Titanium Big Sliding 70mm Italian 109mm Alloy Cu | eBay

If its too good to be true, ....... you know the rest

Bill

There was a thread earlier about this. The Chinese guys aren't being very smart about their prices, or the way they steal legitimate sellers' pics. I saw one scam listing that featured a "You might also be interested in..." listing from the original, legitimate seller with the exact picture they were using to scam people with. It's pretty rampant right now. Perhaps they just feel PayPal will take the $35 hit and they can move on and do it again. Anybody with zero feedback and crazy low prices is indeed too good to be true.

As always you are true to the point!
Ben

Giant red flag. I would not trust the seller and the brakes are not all that good for braking(my opinion).

I appreciate the irony of using pb*bike's pics with his crazy inflated prices to sell non-existent parts for cheap.

True! :lol: But real Modolo Speedy brakes are still better than imaginary ones.

Particularly while Barry has active listings! You go to the fake listing, scroll down, and there's the real thing in the "similar items" section.

Skip, I think this is definitely useful, just to help the rest of us navigate the new and nasty 'Bay.

Nlerner, I know you've been around here perhaps even longer than me, and I agree about PBbikes, the irony IS rather good. But I think that's a separate topic.

Used to be, CR had some practical sense of good "group pricing" or prices for sharing with respected and known honest collectors. Implicitly, there is a too low and a too high.

Never heard of a CR (or anyone else's) Blue Book.

Amen, that was the first thing that I thought of when I realized which listing I had seen the picture used in originally. I kind of doubt these scammers have any idea about what they are using as bait, just something that caught their eye, or has been an obvious listing previously.

Bill

I've seen many of these types of auctions for a while now and from the start knew they were of course BS. The obvious questions are, why so cheap - and where did some seller in China end up with rare NOS components made somewhwre else? What I dont get is what's to be gained for the sellers, obviously Paypal's guarantee would protect the buyer in the end, so how does the seller make money?

One reason I can think of to out such crap here is that it seems eBay isn't all that instantaneous with their fraudulent auction removals. All three I reported here last night, I also reported to eBay. They are all still up. Posting them here might prompt others to report, which might make the red flag on a particular auction a bit more visible.

As for what it gets the fake sellers, I don't know. It must cost eBay and/or PayPal something to have to cancel the auctions and refund the money. Not much, but it probably adds up. I suppose they just write it off as part of the cost of doing business.

Here's another (reported):

Modolo Brake Set Speedy All Black 919 Anatomic Hoods Vintage road Bi | eBay

NOS Speedy brakes,.......Heck I wouldn't pay more than a hundred and a quarter, max. for those....and only because they are nice looking.... especially the levers. Never figured out where pb gets their pricing for most of their stuff....

Looks like I gave up on the 'Bay just in time :)

DD

These scams are always pretty easy to spot, if you have brain-one in your head. But I suppose lots of people don't.

I nearly always check the "only sellers in North America" box; it eliminates the vast majority of these immediately.

So far, I haven't had to isolate my purchases just from US sellers. There's still a lot of trustworthy sellers in the EC and UK. Found lots of bargains from some smaller countries like Greece and Poland. Been lucky so far and had only one item from eBay that I bought that was never delivered. Yes, it was from China, but the tracking ended somewhere within the USPS SF system. So no fault from the Chinese seller on that one. Called USPS to try and track it down in their system. Guy said I will be informed on the status of the package. That was almost a year ago. They never got back to me.....:mad:
It was only a 15 buck item, not much loss, but still makes me mad thinking it made it all the way from some who-knows-where place in communist China, only to get lost just a few miles from my home?!:mad:

In all fairness, I have bought several things from China. A nos 105 eight speed hub set(took eight days to reach me and shipping was free), handlebar tape, several times, and not a long wait to get from there to here and something else...

Oh yes, glasses, the kind you see with. Shipping time, seven days.

But when I see what looks to be too good to be true, I look again and pretty darn carefully.

The point of this thread isn't to try and figure out pb*bikes pricing. We've hashed that out before. I'm more concerned that

• There are people obviously scamming stuff.
• It doesn't seem eBay is terribly responsive to take down requests.
• While the few items I've posted have been glaringly obvious, there may well be some that aren't as obvious.

As a hypothetical example of the last point, what if an item was priced at $100 and the fake was priced at $60? Might that not be so good to be true (though still a great deal) that you'd miss the zero feedback and seller-in-China?

I assume this sort of crap happens in other categories, not just vintage bikes and parts. Maybe we can get bloggers with some following interested in the topic? Sort of shame eBay into doing something more proactive? (Probably not going to work, but nice to think about...)

Maybe just not buy so much stuff and go for a ride on a bike you already own? If you want to play, you have to pay.


Sometimes when you focus primarily on price, you get ripped off. If you can't handle the potential loss, go to a bike shop or swap.

I think they gain if a buyer forgets about the auction, or doesn't submit a complaint early enough. Those scams are interesting though. In the past, Chinese sellers were very dependable to get at least something into the maill.

Some zero feedback Chinese sellers are just fine. But, I'd start with small items like carbon fiber stem spacers.

I'm not sure who your response was directed to, but I'm not focused on price. I'm focused on the fact that the auction listings I outed are scams.

They depend on high desire, it is available, For A Price…

Actually surprised PB has not tried to squash the fakes and or added a "watermark".