As most of you know by now or for those who do not know I was cheated out of $350.00 for a Minimoog synthesizer that I never recived. It was from a cancled ebay auction. I was told by the guy that he would sell it to me for $350.00. Well I sent the money and then he calimed he sent the mini. So I waited and waited nothing. Emailed him checked the post office nothing. That was three months ago, and I still have not heard hide nor hare from him or where he is at.

I since found out that he has been suspened from ebay and is no longer a registered user. I have a feeling that this was not right and I set myself up to be burned. As 800dv said to me "if it's too good to be true it isn't" I guess I should have listened and did more research. That will teach me. A word of WARNING do not buy anything off of ebay that come from anywhere in the Middle East.

As for the where abouts of the Minimoog I sincerly belive that it was never sent and this was all just a front to get people to send money to this guy who I don't even know?

800dv I want to thak you for the advice that you gave me I appericate it. What I should have done was too come here and ask for your adivce before I bought the mini.

Oh yes the user ID was brokenflag. I just want to warn you. Also if someone could check this Serial Number 10717? I really do not know if this is a real number or not also I have a pic of what it looks like. So If someone finds this Minimoog with this serial number 10717 let me know where it is? If not don't worry about it.


I have learned my lesson, not too send money too someone I do not know. If I do buy off ebay again. It will only be from sellers here in the United States. And I will find out if they are legitamit sellers or just a con-artist.

Hello Paul........I have been reading your folly since the first post. My condolences..............
You did learn a valuable lesson about eBay...never buy privately after a cancelled or ended Auction. I got burned once last year($100)after sending a PayPal payment to a registered seller. Ebay did an investigation and an Illinois police department took my statement. This guy had burned others. I never heard if he was caught, but he was banned on eBay. eBay's "insurance" got me back $75. Some comfort..............
So even registered sellers with good profiles can burn you..........and after eBay suspends a seller they also make that seller's email and info unavailable to protect the seller's "rights! That still burns me.............So remember:
Write down all the sellers info if you need it later. Contact previous buyers and see how their transaction went, especially if its for a similar/same item. I found all this out, after the facts!! Best wishes. -charley

Thanks charley!

I certainly feel you Paul . I got burned 3 times on EBAY . I really don't like EBAY , it really is an idiots market there . The idea to bid and bid on something until you actually pay more than it's worth is ridiculous .
I don't use EBAY at all anymore . Most musicians are not rich , EBAY is just a place to get ripped off . All of these non musicians who have these synths and drummachines just sitting around and they put it up on EBAY to get as much as they can rather than put it in their local paper for a fair price .

The used music stores are drying up because of EBAY . Now , if I can't see it first , I WILL NOT BUY IT . Ebay is an idiots market , I was an idiot for a short while , no more .

Here in Georgia , the only big used music store left is Galaxy Music . I've known the owner for 15 years , it's comforting to go in there and buy or just to look around .

As far as analog synthesizers , yes I do have 77 of them bought over 20 years . Now I buy VA synthesizers . When I first started out , analog synthesizers were all you could get . That is not so any more .

VA synthesizers are superior to any analog synthesizer ever made . They have more features , they stay in tune , they all have MIDI , and they produce the synthetic sounds I desire .

Well , after all that , my advise is to stay off EBAY . Tell you're friends to stay off EBAY .

So ebay is Not the place to look for synthesizers then? It's interesting that you said that because I had bought my ARP AXXE off of ebay for $250.00. But then again that was the only Professional synthesizer that I ever bought off ebay. The only other keyboard that I ever bought was a cheap Casio keyboard an MT-500 or something like that, for around $30.00. I read in Mark Vail's second edition of Vintage Synthesizers, Wes Taggart of Analogics said: " The internet is not the best place to buy gear at a bargin price but it is a good place to sell gear" I could be mis quoteing him, but don't hold me to that.

I have never had a problem before becuse it was all through ebay. This only happend becuse I went outside of Ebay. I have bought and sold stuff on ebay, but not a lot. The most stuff I have sold was cheap home keyaboards. Well except for a JX-305 and a Mackie Mixer, but thats it. I have never paid more then $250.00 for an item. I usually buy stuff for under a hundred dollars. I have less chance of being burned. See I set a limit on what I buy I only go has high as $250.00 and then stop. If I can't get it for $250.00 then it's not worth it. I still like to go on ebay but I think I will be a lot more careful. I think ebay has grwon so fast and so huge that they have more sellers ripping people off now then when they started 10 years ago.

There are not too many places in Maryland that sell use synthesizers. Well there is one place just outside of Baltimore Maryland called Bill's Music House where I have bought used gear or discounted gear before, or traded in gear. So every so often I go into the store and look around.

What gets me with Ebay is all these items I see with an extremely low starting bid like $1.00 but then have a reserve price of say $800. is really hurting people and I see this happening more and more. If they wanted the $800.00 why not use the BUY IT NOW feature and be done with it. Instead of being idiots and having peolpe bid like crazy.

As P.T. Barnum said: "There's a sucker born every minute"

well I am afriad that since I have been burned by this guy and have been milked out of $350.00 and never got a mini. Has put me off buying anoother synthesizer. Well it will be a very very long time before I buy another one.

I did have a guy at Sweetwater Muic offer to sell me a Minimoog Voyager, but I had too tell him I would have to think it over.

So for now no synthesizer.

Did I metion the guy fled the country during the war with Iraq? My feeling is this, he sold the minimoog to serval buyers includeing myself, got the money and then did not ship the synths. Probably did this enough times to get enough money to leave Israel. That could also explain his suspension from ebay and the close of his email account at HushMail.Com.

Well , I can't blame him for wanting to get out of that third world shithole . But , what he did to you is not right at all . There is also another scam going on from another third world shithole , Nigeria . This guy sends you a bogus cashiers check for what ever you might be selling , he says that some here in the states will pick it up . He pays more than what you are asking , asks for the difference back and you have a check that is worthless .

I do not deal over seas at all , it's not worth the time and effort . Sometimes I may deal with Western Europe . I do not deal with any of the third world shitholes like the Middle East or Africa . That may sound bad to some , but , the truth is the truth . If you get screwed from these places , there is no way to track them down .

Your absolutely right 800dv. My mother tolde me the same thing. She said it seemd odd that it was comming form Israel, also that I was into much of a rush to buy that I did not consider the consequnces of my actions. My father aggreed with her too. What I should have done was have Western Union put a hold on the money until I actually had recvied the Minimoog, or should have used Escrow. Better yet I should never have answered his email in the first place. I should have know something was not right when the original acution the starting bid was a dollar. All I have left of this transaction is a copy of the Auction form ebay after it was cancled, the recpti from Western Union, and the RR number( though that could be a false one).

I have to addmit this was a pretty good scam rith down to the photo of the Mini and the serial number, plus the high feedback rateing. I sure was convinced, but I will never let this happen again. Form now on I only buy in the USA and use an escrow service if the item is over $100.00 and use a credit card if I buy on ebay.

I should have been supecious when I stopped getting emails when I told him I wanted my money back. Must have gotten nervous and fled the country. Too bad I have no way of tracking him down or the where abouts of the minimoog. I should have insisted on useing FEDEX or UPS for shipment. My dad said I might be able to work something out come tax time next year too see if I can get my money back some how. I still have the WU recpit as I said earlier.

Oh well! Love and Learn.

Agreed. It's totally out of hand, no matter what you're buying, there's some tard out there who doesn't know its actual value and will pay more for a used item than it goes for new!!! And people don't seem to get that you only have to bid once for the highest price you're willing to pay. I've only sold one item on ebay, a small 12 channel mixing board. I went to bed disappointed that the highest bid was only $125, then I wake up and it's well over $250 (I paid $230 for it)!!! Two idiots had a bid war while i was asleep!

Also, I only bid on items that are over $100 if the seller is a store somewhere. Got a cheap 7-string guitar from a store in TN and a 24 channel mixing board from a store in NY.

Finally, as for overseas, I personally stick to US and Canadian sellers. UK and Australia are okay if you're feeling trustworthy, but NO WHERE else. And as much as people are bitching in this thread about the Middle East, the worst country for internet transactions by far is Russia.

I couldn't even imagine trying to deal with someone in Russia as far as buying something .

Ouch Paul....My sympathies...
That's why I don't trust ebay. I guess we all learn from these kind of lessons.

This is NOT Ebay's fault, and I am not blameing them. Ebay is a thrid party member, you are not buying directly from them, but from someone who happens to be selling on ebay. I have been buying and selling through ebay since 1999 and have never had a problem. The problem lies with the seller not Ebay. I also want to make this very clear, to everyone here. This was a cancled ebay auction that was canceled by the seller not ebay. The transaction took place outside the confines of ebay. Had it been done inside the confines I could have done something about this by contacting ebay and they would have handled it.

The Fault was entirely mine and not Ebay's, so you can not say you don't trust ebay when they are not even involved. Ebay is working very hard to try and control Fraud as best they can but the buyers and sellers need to put in more effort in helping ebay too fight fruad and keep people from being ripped off.

I never had a problem buying something through ebay until I went out side of ebay's confines. That's how I got ripped off. Ebay had nothing to do with it so they are not at fault and I am not holding them responseable. This was all my own doing and I am the one too blame not ebay. So saying you don't tust ebay is not fair to ebay. There are a lot of worse online auctions out there then ebay. I feel safer working with ebay, becuse if I have a problem they can help me out.

i love ebay. ive bought a keyboard a drum machine and sold a keyboard and a drum machine. i think ebay is alright cause i have heard the horror stories but its been very good to me so far.

My Faux Pax:
When I said I don't trust ebay, what I should have said was there are a lot of unscupulous individuals using ebay. Like you said, the fault was not with ebay, it was with the individual using it for devious purposes.
I stand corrected, but I reitterate, I won't use ebay just because of experiences such as yours.
I wish you luck with whatever compensation you might be lucky to receive.

I don't think I will be getting any compensation. Have not heard from the guy in over three months. So I have a serious doubt that I will see any refund or a minimoog. By know he's already left Israel.

Well I am gonna keep looking for a replacement.

Yes, you all hit it on the nail. Never do anyrthing private off eBay. If something goes unsold due to cancellation or do to not hitting the reserve, wait until the seller puts it back up for sale.

There were quite a few times in which I did do stuff privately off of eBay. Luckily, I didn't get burned. However, stories like yours convinced me to not go that route again.

I disagree with the get as much as you can sentiment. Since musicians in general are poor so to speak, I'd feel a lot better knowing that I can get more or around the same price putting it on the net. I used to deal with used stores and classified mags here in NYC, only to find better deals online, and these sources to sell way above the average price.

On top of this, there's the security issue. Most of the time, you have to go to their house or vice versa. This aint the 50s and 60s. There are some nuts out there. I often felt seriously uncomfortable letting someone into my home of which I didn't know. Additionally, now someone else has your address.

Screw that folks, I play by the rules. I always take pictures of my gear so someone can see it before they buy it (not the old, put up a catalog or stock pic), and will not buy something without seeing an item (via photo) and asking lots of questions.

Furthermore, I'm not the idiot who'd buy anything just because; while not knowing anything about the unit in question, just because they have to have a synth (or whatever).

I've been doing eBay for around two years now. I've only complained about an idiot once, and they were a REGISTERED USER and USED MUSIC STORE who was doing transactions online.

My 50 cents.

Later,
The Infamous Epu.