TubeNet

Yes, this is a common scam. The messages usually come from overseas. I even had one person offer to sell me a brand new item just like the one that was being offered. What was the original item? A double bell euphonium!

I always report these messages to ebay security. They have found that in a number of cases ebay member's IDs had been hijacked.

Several months ago I received a call from a fellow who claimed he received a '2nd chance' offer from ME. I traced the perpentrator to Romania! This clown even copied the pictures of my horns from Ebay. It's very easy to access the bidder information and send them bogus messages. Don't EVER send money to ANYONE until you know who you are dealing with.

eBay is scam city.

My tuba was discovered there by a TubeNet reader when the pawn shop put it up about a month after it was stolen.

There's a Japanese-spec Honda Civic engine there right now with a $1000 reserve, which seems great because this particular motor goes for about $5000.

There are tons of genuine sellers & bidders, but the bad ones make me VERY wary.