garonemartin on Ebay
Trader Jim
Posted 2006-11-14 1:51 PM (#231713)
Subject: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307

Location: South of most, North of few
Many of you may remember the mystery man with 0 feedback, garonemartin, who seems to keep poping up and driving bids up on Ovations. You may also remember that I was bidding on an Adamas II 12 string when this guy showed up and started bidding. I bid one more time before the close, and then retracted my bid, leaving him as the high bidder when the auction closed. This was on Nov 4th, so I kept the auction in my "not won" section. Yesterday, I sent an email to the seller asking if he still had the guitar, as I still see no feedback for this guy. Just got an email back, stating that he (the seller) still had it and couldn't seem to contact the buyer, who still hasn't paid. Now he says he will sell it to me, no mention of price. Now my question is, don't you think this guy (garonemartin) should have gathered some neg feedback by now, or is this some kind of scam? Whats your take on it?
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Northcountry
Posted 2006-11-14 2:13 PM (#231714 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay
Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 2487

You do not have as much protection if it is not an Ebay auction. Paypal has some options for you. It seems to me the bidder you mention is the same person as the seller. In my mind this guy can't run a fair auction so that means he must not be a fair or honest person. I do not deal with people like this if there is the slightest doubt.
Perhaps there is an OFC member who can pick this guitar up for you and mail it off?? Of course you'd have to trust an Ovation Fan to not just buy it for themselves! ???

Randy
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Jason_S
Posted 2006-11-14 2:18 PM (#231715 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
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Posts: 2804

Location: ranson,wva
i got a second chance offer of a adamas II last night for $750.00....i had the high bid over gonemartin but the reserve wasnt met...seems kinds fishy..jason
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gh1
Posted 2006-11-14 2:22 PM (#231716 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 972

Location: PDX
on second chance offers: the number one scam.

Be sure you have the offer in your ebay messages, and reply from there.

_____
gh1
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Jason_S
Posted 2006-11-14 2:46 PM (#231717 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


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Posts: 2804

Location: ranson,wva
this one was legit,,but the bowl looks like it was set on fire !!!!! lol..im gonna leave it alone..jason
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Mark in Boise
Posted 2006-11-14 4:11 PM (#231718 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12755

Location: Boise, Idaho
I'd watch out for that guy. I didn't think he was a sham bidder because he bid on a lot of different guitars, but if he was getting the high bids and not paying, there is something fishy.
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Steve
Posted 2006-11-14 4:26 PM (#231719 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 1900

..report garonemartin to ebay, maybe they will dump him..
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Trader Jim
Posted 2006-11-14 5:44 PM (#231720 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
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Posts: 7307

Location: South of most, North of few
Supposedly thats what the seller of the 12 Adamas is doing now. We'll see what happens.
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Northcountry
Posted 2006-11-14 6:12 PM (#231721 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay
Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 2487

It happens to be very helpful if more than one person who was bothered by a bidder or a seller emails Ebay at the asme time. You'll see this user name eliminated for godd.

Randy
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stephent28
Posted 2006-11-14 10:31 PM (#231722 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay



Joined:
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Posts: 13303

Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066
Unfortunately we all know to be on the lookout for garonemartin. Once he is deleted he will probably come back as another new nuisance but we won't recognize him for a few months or so.
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CrimsonLake
Posted 2006-11-14 11:45 PM (#231723 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
August 2006
Posts: 3145

Location: Marlton, NJ
Another garonemartin bid:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=019&sspagename=STR...
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Steve
Posted 2006-12-02 3:18 PM (#231724 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 1900

..and another garonemartin bid: Vintage Adamas II
ebayitem# 110062918383
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FlySig
Posted 2006-12-02 4:50 PM (#231725 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay



Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4044

Location: Utah
I came across a similar kind of bidder a few weeks ago trying to buy an audio recording card for the computer. This guy showed up in numerous auctions and seemed to run up the bid and then bail out as it got close to the historical selling price for those items.

For example, if the usual selling price were about $180, he'd bid up to about $160. I put in a max bid on several items that was a bit shy of the typical selling price. He came along and put in multiple bids under my max, driving it up. Then he'd bail before becoming high bidder.

It's like it was a game to him to see how much he could bid up an item without actually winning it. He was definitely not the seller trying to shill, but it had the same effect.
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Waskel
Posted 2006-12-02 5:56 PM (#231726 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay



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Posts: 11840

Location: closely held secret
No, but he might be a seller trying to drive up the market price overall.
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Jeff W.
Posted 2006-12-02 6:05 PM (#231727 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub
...or purchase an item he knows he could resell at a profit, if he won at his high bid....
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Waskel
Posted 2006-12-02 6:51 PM (#231728 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay



Joined:
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Posts: 11840

Location: closely held secret
...except that to date, he hasn't actually bought anything...
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Jeff W.
Posted 2006-12-02 7:17 PM (#231729 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
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Posts: 11039

Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub
well.... maybe he just really sucks at it. :rolleyes:
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Old Man Arthur
Posted 2006-12-02 8:40 PM (#231730 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay



Joined:
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Posts: 10777

Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR
Originally posted by stephent28:
Unfortunately we all know to be on the lookout for garonemartin. Once he is deleted he will probably come back as another new nuisance but we won't recognize him for a few months or so.
Better the Devil we know, than the Devil we don't.
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Trader Jim
Posted 2006-12-02 11:01 PM (#231731 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
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Posts: 7307

Location: South of most, North of few
I'm thanking God he didn't start bidding at the end of the auction for the UTE and make me pay hundreds more. He did bid on it at the early stages but seemed to drop off after about 3-400$'s. This guy needs to go away, maybe to overstock.com where the rest of the crooks are.
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lanaki
Posted 2006-12-24 2:39 AM (#231732 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
October 2006
Posts: 5575

Location: big island
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230044325706

here's a foreign eBay page showing garonemartin winning the adamas II 12 string back in early november. (that guitar was recently re-sold on eBay). notice that garonemartin has 1 feedback

curious, huh?
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lanaki
Posted 2006-12-24 2:41 AM (#231733 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
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Posts: 5575

Location: big island
http://cgi.ebay.com/ovation-adamas-2-12-string_W0QQitemZ23005580211...
here's the more recent sale of the same guitar.
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Waskel
Posted 2006-12-24 8:16 AM (#231734 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay



Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840

Location: closely held secret
Interesting that the guitar was sold twice by the same seller, after giving garonemartin a "fast payer" feedback on the first sale.
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Beal
Posted 2006-12-24 8:47 AM (#231735 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay



Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127

Location: 6 String Ranch
smells like old fish
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Tupperware
Posted 2006-12-24 9:26 AM (#231736 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
January 2005
Posts: 4903

Location: Phoenix AZ
Why's the guitar selling so cheap? Looks like a nice one to me.

Dave
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Weaser P
Posted 2006-12-24 9:32 AM (#231737 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 5330

Location: Cicero, NY
Nothing about that entire scenario looks nice to me.
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Trader Jim
Posted 2006-12-25 8:03 PM (#231738 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307

Location: South of most, North of few
Yup, cod.....
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Jason_S
Posted 2006-12-25 8:57 PM (#231739 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
August 2006
Posts: 2804

Location: ranson,wva
i was out bid on this one 2 months ago and recived a legit second chance offer from the seller for $750.00....jason
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Trader Jim
Posted 2006-12-26 7:55 AM (#231740 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307

Location: South of most, North of few
Originally posted by johnny cash 83:
i was out bid on this one 2 months ago and recived a legit second chance offer from the seller for $750.00....jason
That makes two of us, Jason. When I declined, the seller said he was selling it to someone overseas. That guitar probably has more miles on it than my last Hyundai...
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Omaha
Posted 2006-12-26 10:51 AM (#231741 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 1126

Location: Omaha, NE
I don't understand what game geronemartin could be playing. It looks pretty wierd, but is he just goofing or is there some strategy at play here?

Here is the bid history from the auction on my Adamas a few weeks ago:

[list]
[*]e4bip1 US $1,000.00 (BIN price)
[*]bandit_won US $799.99
[*]velvis15yf US $750.01
[*]velvis15yf US $699.01
[*]bandit_won US $699.00
[*]garonemartin US $599.00
[*]bandit_won US $599.00
[*]yardfisch US $525.00
[*]bandit_won US $500.00
[*]garonemartin US $499.00
[*]o-bay-sales US $333.00
[/list]

garonemartin made two bids, and they both seemed "reasonable". My reserve was $800, so both times he knew (after his bid) that he was short.

I don't understand the subtleties of eBay that well. I don't get what is going on here.
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Tupperware
Posted 2006-12-26 10:59 AM (#231742 - in reply to #231713)
Subject: Re: garonemartin on Ebay


Joined:
January 2005
Posts: 4903

Location: Phoenix AZ
Omaha, Why does it look to you like garonemartin did anything strange? He bid 499 and didn't hit the reserve. he saw some more people bid so he upped it to 599. Still didn't hit the reserve. 3 other people bid higher and e4bip1 finally won it. garonemartin did nothing strange. bandit_one and velvis15fy did exactly the same thing as garonemartin. I see no proof that he has ever done anything wrong. Dave
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