Cheap COMAND on ebay

[Alfie]

At least this guy is in the UK so if there is a problem he could be visited!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5754587592&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

 

[PJH]

At least this guy is in the UK so if there is a problem he could be visited!

How did he get tha then ? Knicked it or removed from a right-off ?
A visit by the cops might be best...........

 

[Will]

How did he get tha then ? Knicked it or removed from a right-off ?
A visit by the cops might be best...........

Cor - what makes you so suspicious!

He has been trading on ebay for over a year and has flawless 100% feedback!

Surely if anyone was in any doubt as to where he got it from a few questions would suffice.

Agreed - there are fraudsters around, but most people are honest.

Will

 

[PJH]

Cor - what makes you so suspicious!

He has been trading on ebay for over a year and has flawless 100% feedback!

Surely if anyone was in any doubt as to where he got it from a few questions would suffice.

Agreed - there are fraudsters around, but most people are honest.

Will

Suspicious ? Fraudsters ?
I think SteveBCS's thread has something to do with it.....

 

[Shude]

Suspicious ? Fraudsters ?
I think SteveBCS's thread has something to do with it.....

fraud is reduced if you turn up in person with a wedge of notes. No unit, no money!

 

[PJH]

fraud is reduced if you turn up in person with a wedge of notes. No unit, no money!

True, I've contacted the seller in Howard's thread Bargain alloys on Ebay... about paying cash-on-collection but no response yet.

 

[Shude]

True, I've contacted the seller in Howard's thread Bargain alloys on Ebay... about paying cash-on-collection but no response yet.

Cash on collection is surely a much safer way of doing business, if someone won't go for it then they're probably dodgy.

 

[Will]

Agreed - but what I was trying to get accross is that not everybody is a crook - in fact 99% of people are honest, and judging by the guy's feedback I can see no reason to doubt him?

After all, if you are really concerned you can do as Shude suggested and turn up paying cash on collection.

Steve was unlucky, and fortunately in the minority. Let's just not tar all sellers with the same brush eh?

Will

 

[prprandall51]

Surely there are two aspects to this. Not referring to this specific Ebay item at all:

There is a person's level of Ebay honesty (lots of recommendations, always ships, great to deal with, etc.) and then there is the issue of whether they obtained the goods for sale honestly. If I were dishonest and nicked loads of stuff from cars and warehouses I would make damn sure I was an honest Ebay trader since it would be my main route for disposing of my ill-gotten gains.

As far as I can see. if you look at some of the stuff that people trade on Ebay, you have to be living in a fantasy land not to suspect that many of them are thieving gits. There are people on Ebay selling their 100th car radio.... but they have 100% feedback.

There are apparenty 10,000 people in the UK now making a "living" by trading on Ebay. I simply cannot believe that many people can find enough goods to sell at a high enough markup to make a living if all of their goods for sale have been obtained honestly. I cleared a huge amount of rubbish from my house and garage and made about £300. It'll take me another 10 years to build up enough crud to have a second clearout so clearly I'm never going to become one of the 10,000!

Seems to me that Ebay is the replacement for the car boot sale - only there is virtually zero chance of being caught. Beautiful.

Philip

 

[Will]

Surely there are two aspects to this. Not referring to this specific Ebay item at all:

There is a person's level of Ebay honesty (lots of recommendations, always ships, great to deal with, etc.) and then there is the issue of whether they obtained the goods for sale honestly. If I were dishonest and nicked loads of stuff from cars and warehouses I would make damn sure I was an honest Ebay trader since it would be my main route for disposing of my ill-gotten gains.

IMHO if you look at some of the stuff that people trade on Ebay, you have to be living in a fantasy land not to suspect they are thieving gits. There are people on Ebay selling their 100th car radio.... but they have 100% feedback.

Ebay is the replacement for the car boot sale - only there is virtually zero chance of being caught. Beautiful.

Philip

Hi Philip,

I have read and understood your post - as you say there is the unfortunate 'possibility' for such action to occur in any selling medium (ebay, car boot sale, local 'free ads' paper etc).

But naive as it may sound, I honestly think that the vast majority of people are honest. Obviously there is a chance that anything could be stolen (Comand units/stereos, alloy wheels, laptops, antiques, tools....) you name it, it could be nicked!

What do you propose that we do to stop any stolen goods from being sold? Ban the sale of all secondhand items, but what about stuff stolen that is new?...

I would be surprised if someone repeatedly sold nothing but stolen goods on ebay, and if they managed to sell 100 stolen car radios I think they would be stupid.

One of the benefits of the ebay system is accountability. Granted, positive feedback does not guarantee that the items are legit, but at least there is some indication of the seller's history. Do you think that a professional serial stereo thief would want hundreds of feedback left for them linking them to the stolen goods, or indeed advertise them openly in the public domain in the first place?

One of the Hospitals that I deal with has just had over £100K worth of brand new Ultrasound equipment stolen - needless to say I won't be looking for it on ebay!

Not trying to have a go, but I just can't see why this particular posting of a link to an ebay auction is treated with such suspicion? Many members (myself included) regularly link to ebay auctions or offer other goods for sale. What makes this one different?!?!?

Will

 

[prprandall51]

Hi Will, I guess I have sort of taken this post off-topic (apologies) but I wanted to repsond.

I expect I am just a suspicious git but I question how anyone would come by a working Comand unit that they want to sell (though they do look impossibly hard to remove in a theft). It is supposed to be the ultimate fitment in an MB so why take one out if it's still working? It's not like you've removed it to upgrade (except where occasionally newer systems offer more functionality, I suppose). So why are there always several units available at any one time? I am not picking on this particular vendor - or even on Comand units specifically, it's just some sections of Ebay in general make me suspicious.

For example, here's another one that puzzles me and illustrates the point probably better than Comand units. Navigation disks. Now where does somebody legally obtain a load of current issue navigation disks that they can then afford to sell on for only £15 - £20? If you use the "View seller's other items" button or read their feedback pages it is soon clear that some people are shifting suspiciously large volumes of stuff.

I recognise that there is a huge amount of legit stuff on Ebay - indeed the vast majority of it is undoubtedly straight, but it only takes a few minutes online to find a vendor whose business practices have to be questioned.

And I am afraid that I don't buy into the idea that you are exposing yourself by selling on Ebay. Yes, if it was child porn on sale the police could have the culprit nicked in five seconds flat, but the police probably can't be bothered to trace the seller of a secondhand radio because they've got whole cars disappearing as fast as they can log the calls! If you decide to make a life of crime by stealing stuff that will need to be passed on to the general public in order to generate sufficient income (i.e. not a jewel thief dealing in uncut diamonds, etc.) then it is an accepted risk that you have to "break cover" to shift the gear. Ebay looks like a great way to do this to me - it is not a "no-risk" route but it must rate as a "low-risk" route - and certainly involves less exposure than a car-boot sale, which the Police acknowledge used to be an accepted clearing route for stolen goods.

Finally - Sorry, I had to do this - there is loads of Utlasound equipment on sale on Ebay (I checked the US site though that's cheating, I know). A lot of it is through a clearly legit companies but there is a fair amount being sold by individuals. How about an Acuson 128 (whatever that is) on sale by a private seller at a starting bid $10,000?

As I said, I am just suspicious, so my apologies to anyone I have offended. I certainly did not mean to pick on this particular vendor, or specifically Comand systems, or even the vast majority of Ebay sellers.

Philip

 

[BenzComander]

Some great points for us all to think about. I have always wondered what you replace a Comand with, as there seems to be alot on Ebay that have been removed to upgrade!!

 

[Will]

Hi Philip - firstly I have to say that I don't have time to answer your post in detail at the moment.

Regarding secondhand Comand units, it is perfectly plausable to sell a unit secondhand for several reasons.

For example, units removed from accident damaged cars (as in the Comand unit I highlighted on ebay a few weeks ago - from a specialist Mercedes-Benz Salvage company)

Another possibilty is that for owners who have upgraded their vehicles to add Comand systems. Due to the cost and value of these systems, it is not unusual for people to remove them before sale.

Again, perhaps I am not as suspicious as some, but I genuinely believe that most people, and most items on ebay are legit.

Will

 

[andy_k]

my experience of eBay is that it's about 50/50 legit sellers and those with some dodgy gear. The crooks seem to populate the "easy" targets like car stereos, software etc and the legit sellers seem to settle for the items that sell for a lower profit.

As to making a living it must be hard work if you are doing it honestly - Annie runs a small "shop" on eBay as a hobby that makes about £200 a month profit but it occupies a lot of her time with placing ads, posting stuff out etc. If she was doing it for a living her wages would be well below minimum wage

To the person who is stuck at home all day though (perhaps with young kids) it's the perfect business opportunity. You can buy your stock in one auction (check out the wholesale lots) and sell in the normal sales just like any other shop. If you put the hours in and have the right contacts it's probably a whole lot more lucrative than a market stall or small high street shop - after all your customer base is potentially huge.

Back onto the topic, I think that command unit looked legit - some ads just look "right"

Andy

 

[Shude]

To the person who is stuck at home all day though (perhaps with young kids) it's the perfect business opportunity. You can buy your stock in one auction (check out the wholesale lots) and sell in the normal sales just like any other shop. If you put the hours in and have the right contacts it's probably a whole lot more lucrative than a market stall or small high street shop - after all your customer base is potentially huge.

I wonder how many declare their income though! I reckon there are a lot of ebay "businesses" that are run without a care for taxes or any of the other usual business costs.

 

[andy_k]

Surprisingly a lot of people working from home could be doing so illegally if they look at the fine print of their mortgage/rent forbids the property being used as the base for a business. I guess a lot of the ebay businesses don't see buying and selling second hand stuff as an income and it's a difficult one to call. Annie declares her income (working for the civil service she can't afford to get caught for tax dodging) but as an example if you buy and sell a couple of cars in a year and make a profit do you declare that as income? If it's not your main income how are they going to clarify what you sell is taxable and what is just stuff you are disposing of?

Huge grey area and one that sooner or later will be the target of legislation which will no doubt ruin everything including boot fairs, jumble sales etc until then we may as well make the most of it

Andy

 

[Shude]

but as an example if you buy and sell a couple of cars in a year and make a profit do you declare that as income? If it's not your main income how are they going to clarify what you sell is taxable and what is just stuff you are disposing of?

Cars are a bad example, 99% of private car owners make a massive loss every time they buy and sell a car so I suppose most people would get a huge tax break from car ownership

I see what you mean though, I'm sure the inland revenue have their own way of deciding what's legit and what's not

 

[prprandall51]

I *believe* (urban myth, probably) that the Inland Revenue allows you to be in possession of 6 cars in a tax year before you are considered to be a trader. Allegedly, the computer at DVLA monitors these things (though that's such a rubbish computer I doubt that bit of the program actually works).

Philip

 

[andy_k]

our local evening paper (Nottingham Evening Post) used to work on that principle supposedly based on the Inland Revenue guidelines - if you sold more than 6 cars they immediately classed you as a trader and charged you the higher trade rates but how are even the DVLA able to monitor this - you may just be very unlucky and have to buy a new car every month in a year

Andy

 

[Shude]

you may just be very unlucky and have to buy a new car every month in a year

You may get bored easily or be insanely rich, still not really a trader

That bloke who sells cars he buys directly from mercedes (from auctions ) on ebay, he is a trader and yet he offers NO WARRANTY of any kind. I'm not sure that's even legal.