Ever heard of this?

[Sylvano]

There was a silver plated horn on ebay.
I emailed the person in Beijing.
He sent me some photos a with this message.

thanks for email .
brand is SOLO.
price is 400USD, shipping is 80USD, so total is 480USD for you .
thanks,
your friend ..

[Sylvano]

Some photos

[cjk]

go here: http://www.hornguys.com/hornsinstocktuba.htm" target="_blank

scroll down to PCK.

You'll find the same pictures.

I think the ebay listing would not be legitimate.

[Sylvano]

I know, it's the old rule that if it's too good to be true...

I'm just amazed how many scams are our there. I checked one our on Craigslist. "but the instrument is in Canada..." ok... so am I. I'll go see it now.
Same kind of offers from England: "I have a buyer for your item... will pay your asking price...

I got the same type of email for a bike I have listed on a site Vintage Motorcycle site and a trombone on the online trombone journal.

[jeopardymaster]

I'd think a note to eBay is in order.

To Sylvano's point, if anything the buyer scams are even more insidious. Those guys don't have to overtly go out and post ads that can get them caught. They just lurk and strike.

In case anyone has missed Sylvano's reference to "I have a buyer for your item... will pay your asking price..." - here's one way the scam goes down. "Buyer" tells Seller he loves the item and has to have it. Oh, and he is buying some other stuff as well, so he'll send a money order in excess of the purchase price; Seller is to keep his share of the MO as payment and forward the rest to another "seller" for that other purchase, along with his item, to save freight costs or some other cockamamie reason. Seller is desperate, so he accepts. But he is getting a money order after all, so he feels OK. Of course the money order is bogus, but the bank won't know that right away - if the crook has done his job well, it may take 2 weeks for that little poison pill to make its way through the system. Meanwhile the item is shipped and the balance is forwarded. Then the MO is dishonored, and, following negotiable instrument and banking law, the trail ends at - drumroll - the Seller. Seller is out the item AND even more than he had wanted for it.

Variation on the old "pigeon drop."

Times this bad, with lots of people needing to sell their stuff, are a friggin' gold mine for a crook.

[Lew]

This tuba listed on ebay has been reported several times and for some reason they have not taken the auction down, even though the ad is clearly fraudulent.