Hope Springs Eternal.

On 5/7/2009 12:54 PM Twibil spake thus:

A starting bid of $119? WTF?!?!?

I would have started it at $1.19 (I love to start eBay auctions at odd amounts and place odd-amount bids--most people don't even realize you can do this and just bid in even dollar amounts). Too bad; the cars, incomplete though they may be, actually look pretty nice. I'd top your high bid there.

Actually, at the time I posted here the bidding was listed as starting at $319.00, and the seller seems to have half-way sobered up in the interim.

Only one more half to go.

~Pete

On 5/7/2009 4:38 PM Twibil spake thus:

Heh; check out the auction now. I sent the seller a message, and they not only replied but posted my message on the auction, so maybe they're not all bad.

I just did. And *you* had better also!

There's a claim posted there that you're about to be suspended from eBay for manufacturing fraudulent feedback, and that "these Trains are RARE!"

We've had our differences, Dave, but I sort of doubt that you've been faking your own eBay feedback ratings.

I suspect the seller is sending himself faked questions and answering them as well, so if you *aren't* about to be suspended from eBay I'd get in touch with them muy pronto and get that auction pulled.

~Pete

On 5/7/2009 5:24 PM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

Boy, this has turned into something truly bizarre:

o I sent the seller a message, which they replied to and then posted on their auction. o I sent the seller another message giving him credit for posting the message. o I get another message from the seller, this time telling me "Your feedback is BOGUS. I am contacting Ebay to suspend you and Hal." o Puzzled, I shoot the seller another message telling them that I'm totally puzzled about this comment. o I check the auction again to see another comment posted there, apparently referring to me:

I wanted to warn you against the Ebayer who just asked a question: his feedback is manufactured and he is about get suspended for fraud. These trains are rare!

So this raises several questions:

1. Who posted that second message above? Was it perhaps the seller themself?
2. Why did the seller post my (negative) comment in the first place?
3. How does the person who posted that comment figure that my feedback is "manufactured"? (The last time I got feedback on *any* eBay transaction was way back in April of '07, and I can assure that all of my feedback was genuine: I have a 100% rating.)
4. Who the hell is Hal?

We'll see where this goes, and what comes of this attempt to have me "suspended for fraud". (?!?!?)

Ah, I see you found it on your own...

My best guess is that you're dealing with an unbalanced person: possibly an alcoholic or drug abuser.

(A) The very strange original opening bid of $300+ -that suddenly changed to a less horrific but still irrational $100+, (B) the seemingly out-of-sequence and out-of-context Q&A replies, and (C) the fraudulent claims of your feedback ratings and your imminent defenistration from eBay all speak of someone who isn't tracking reality very well.

I'd contact eBay and point out their fraudulent claims if I were you. (BTW: I just posted them to back your claim that the cars are neither rare nor valuable. We'll see if they try something similar on me or just ignore the post completely...)

~Pete

On 5/7/2009 7:08 PM Twibil spake thus:

Thanks for the heads-up. I saw that new message on the auction just before I saw your post.

At this point, I'm going by the assumption that the seller posted that message, and that they're just bluffing about trying to have me suspended, as a way of refuting what I said in the comment of mine that they posted. I'm not too worried about actually being suspended, but I fired off a message to eBay customer support just in case.

All of which begs the question: why the hell did they post my comment in the first place?

On May 7, 7:30=A0pm, David Nebenzahl wrote: >

See "unbalanced person", in my post above ^.

~Pete

The saga continues....

Just called eBay customer support and informed them that the seller is manufacturing his own fictional questions and answers.

They took a look at the auction and agreed that the 2nd question was indeed manufactured to suit the seller, and demonstrated that it

*must* be the case because the seller replies "I've just heard back from eBay about his imminent suspension", and that's an outright lie: according to eBay they *never* share any such information, and would be legally liable for damages if they did.

The guy I spoke to said he was forwarding the information on to their fraud division for action -possibly tomorrow. He also said that this was the first time he'd seen anyone try this particular scam, and he agreed that the seller wasn't too tightly wrapped.

I guess we'll see what -if anything- happens.

~Pete

So how much would you normally expect to pay for hope springs? Are the springs available in N as well as HO?

-- Ray

Don't quit your day job: comedy writing is a cruel mistress.

My cliends and audiences would disagree.

-- Ray

Sheesh! That would be clients. I wonder why that passed my spell checker. Must be gremlins.

-- Ray

If the above is typical of your best efforts, they must be very good friends and cliends indeed.

Because they're politely lying to you so as to spare your feelings.

No, rather, they pay me. I'm an entertainer. I do that for a living. You're a critic but apparently an amateur.

-- Ray

Never mind, Pete. Mus be the sheep factor . . .

Auction ended early.

This is really odd as the seller had 100% positive feedback and those feedbacks are current (27 last month). Either the seller really flipped their lid, aliens invaded their body or someone hijacked their account.

Brass my a$$ - photos clearly show that the coach is made of wood!

Even more bizarre is the fact that they have several other active listings. Some of the starting bids also seem to high to me. I also saw questions and replies posted in another listing and everything looked normal.

We live in a strange world full of strange people and I can say that even looking in the mirror. :-)

Peteski

BUAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA(GASP-WHEEZE)HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! "AMATEUR"! I LOVE IT!

I'm 65 now and I've been a successful professional entertainer/ musician/writer/etcetera since I was 23.

That's 42 years so far.

Started out hosting live music radio shows in the San Francisco Bay area and then later on in southern California, worked on the road as a single, worked clubs all over the western US, did quite a bit of studio work, won a number of guitar/banjo/fiddle contests, fronted Country, Bluegrass, Old-Timey, and Classic Rock bands, taught music for 12 years at the University of California, have appeared multiple times on various network radio and TV shows, have worked with some of the best in the business, and have published technical and humor articles plus original music in Frets, Pickin', Banjo Newsletter, Bluegrass Soundboard, American Modeler, Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette, Reader's Digest (Gawd help me), and various other national publications ever since the early '70s.

Still work two or three times a month fronting an acoustic Jazz band, still do occasional studio work, still teach, and still write -and sell- humor. (See example below.)

Free hint: if you're going to try to insult someone it generally helps if the insult you're planning to use has at least some minimal, distant, connection with reality.

~Pete

~Pete

Baaa humbug.

~Pete