I saw some recent auctions for Pelikan M800s go for 30 dollars.... at the Buy It Now price. Is this possible? I would love a steal like that, but with my college budget, I can't afford to get shtooked
Regards,
Michael
Full Version: Cheap Pelikans??
Doesn't seem possible, and there are warnings on the net about fogeries. The cheapest I've seen in the US is from richardspens.com, and I've no idea how he manages to undercut other American suppliers! Great chap though, I'd recommend him to anyone, and so would many people here.
Ok, thanks. That was a fast reply, BTW... thanks a bunch! Do you know what the forgeries look like? Distinguishing features?
As a long time ebay seller and buyer, let me list for you a variety of bright red warning flags. There are two sellers. First off, one has a rating of 94.5%. The negative feed back he has seem innocuous though. Thats not the big issue.
The big issue is that one has been registered since 2002, the other since 2003. In both cases they have sold very little, and what you can see bought and sold is mostly garbage of one form or another. No apparent interest in pens in either case. All but one auction use factory stock photos. All of them have the same format. All of them are from the UK, yet are set up in US dollars with american shipping prices. These two people are one and the same person.
Second, as I stated earlier, they are all stock photos. Why? Is it because he, in fact, has no pens? I'd bet on it. I don't think he is selling fake pelikans. Fake demonstrators of a piston filler are so hard to do they aren't worth doing. I think he is selling merchandise that, in fact, does not exist. If it does exist, it is stolen.
In the past number of years, neither have had much activity, especially not sales activity. Suddenly, both of these people are listing what I suspect to be 30-40 pens, all of which are priced at numbers so low as to be ridiculous. If there are two IDs I have found, you can bet there are more. Lets say he sells 100 pens at $45 + 20 shipping ($65) each. He has spent maybe 300 in the past 4 years "nurturing" these IDs while buying what he wants using them. His long history and positive feedback makes you buy. So over the next 2 to 3 weeks, he makes $6500 to $10,000, lets say, ok? Then he takes these IDs, disappears with them, and the fake addressing they exist on. Or they could be hacked-into IDs. Even more money, less output. Regardless of how you look at it, this person stands to make a packet.
The big issue is that one has been registered since 2002, the other since 2003. In both cases they have sold very little, and what you can see bought and sold is mostly garbage of one form or another. No apparent interest in pens in either case. All but one auction use factory stock photos. All of them have the same format. All of them are from the UK, yet are set up in US dollars with american shipping prices. These two people are one and the same person.
Second, as I stated earlier, they are all stock photos. Why? Is it because he, in fact, has no pens? I'd bet on it. I don't think he is selling fake pelikans. Fake demonstrators of a piston filler are so hard to do they aren't worth doing. I think he is selling merchandise that, in fact, does not exist. If it does exist, it is stolen.
In the past number of years, neither have had much activity, especially not sales activity. Suddenly, both of these people are listing what I suspect to be 30-40 pens, all of which are priced at numbers so low as to be ridiculous. If there are two IDs I have found, you can bet there are more. Lets say he sells 100 pens at $45 + 20 shipping ($65) each. He has spent maybe 300 in the past 4 years "nurturing" these IDs while buying what he wants using them. His long history and positive feedback makes you buy. So over the next 2 to 3 weeks, he makes $6500 to $10,000, lets say, ok? Then he takes these IDs, disappears with them, and the fake addressing they exist on. Or they could be hacked-into IDs. Even more money, less output. Regardless of how you look at it, this person stands to make a packet.
Lion is right. Anyone selling $30 M800s is a crook. If you do business with a crook, you will probably have money stolen from you. Avoid.
QUOTE(npcole @ Nov 14 2006, 10:31 AM)
Doesn't seem possible, and there are warnings on the net about fogeries. The cheapest I've seen in the US is from richardspens.com, and I've no idea how he manages to undercut other American suppliers! Great chap though, I'd recommend him to anyone, and so would many people here.
Ah, unless your in the business you don't know how much markup a dealer has to play with. For the Official American distribution channel you have what Chartpak marks up and then what the dealer tacks on. I assume, like most other imports, there are other distribution channels that have fewer costs that the final unit of merchandise has to absorb.
I saw these auctions also.... and I sent the seller a message because one of the pens advertised as a 805 was a gold trim 800... I wanted clarification...
The pens are supposed to be shipping from England... his pictures are all on a Oriental Yahoo site....
I just checked to see the auctions and there is another batch going off in 21 hours claiming to be 800s and the pictures are 100s and 200s.... that alone should keep us all away from this seller...
Here is one of them Pelikan 800 disguised as a white 100
Oh, BTW, never did get an answer from the seller....
I just noticed that there are two sellers with English shipping selling these. It might be a case of their eBay names being highjacked... I had that happen to me once from an Oriental scammer.... of course notifying eBay will do nothing because they will only listen to the account owner.
The pens are supposed to be shipping from England... his pictures are all on a Oriental Yahoo site....
I just checked to see the auctions and there is another batch going off in 21 hours claiming to be 800s and the pictures are 100s and 200s.... that alone should keep us all away from this seller...
Here is one of them Pelikan 800 disguised as a white 100
Oh, BTW, never did get an answer from the seller....
I just noticed that there are two sellers with English shipping selling these. It might be a case of their eBay names being highjacked... I had that happen to me once from an Oriental scammer.... of course notifying eBay will do nothing because they will only listen to the account owner.
As someone who accidentally bought a fake Parker Sonnet I would urge you to be careful. If it looks too good to be true then it probably is too good to be true.
My scammer had real (not stock) photos of a Sonnet but shipped an entirely different pen and disappeared off ebay at the same time. :doh:
How did I manage to do such a clutzy thing? Well it was about my first or second ebay bid ever and I didn't expect to win because I offered a ridiculously low price and thought it was a real Sonnet. I carried through with the deal even after suspecting it was fishy because the computer was signed on with my wife's id and didn't want her to get any bad feedback. Either way I spent a small amount of money on an average sort of Chinese pen with a bent clip... which I later left in a stairwell at Uni for a student to find. Much more likely that its new owner will enjoy it as a freebie.
My scammer had real (not stock) photos of a Sonnet but shipped an entirely different pen and disappeared off ebay at the same time. :doh:
How did I manage to do such a clutzy thing? Well it was about my first or second ebay bid ever and I didn't expect to win because I offered a ridiculously low price and thought it was a real Sonnet. I carried through with the deal even after suspecting it was fishy because the computer was signed on with my wife's id and didn't want her to get any bad feedback. Either way I spent a small amount of money on an average sort of Chinese pen with a bent clip... which I later left in a stairwell at Uni for a student to find. Much more likely that its new owner will enjoy it as a freebie.
I saw those this morning too. Luckily I noticed several red flags:
- relatively low amount of seller feedback, and none related to pens
- claiming to have some unlikely pens (1941 pens in mint condition?)
- stock photos and very few details
- all 24-hour Buy it Now auctions to minimize exposure
- seller claiming to be in UK, but photos hosted in China
I reported them to eBay as suspected fraud, but I doubt they can do much about it... and I'll bet someone bid on every one of those auctions.
That's a shame, I really wanted that $33 m805. If anyone out there has one I'm willing to pay TWICE that price...
- relatively low amount of seller feedback, and none related to pens
- claiming to have some unlikely pens (1941 pens in mint condition?)
- stock photos and very few details
- all 24-hour Buy it Now auctions to minimize exposure
- seller claiming to be in UK, but photos hosted in China
I reported them to eBay as suspected fraud, but I doubt they can do much about it... and I'll bet someone bid on every one of those auctions.
That's a shame, I really wanted that $33 m805. If anyone out there has one I'm willing to pay TWICE that price...
Can't find the the one Griz pointed out now, maybe ebay DID do something about it.
Andy
Andy
it's really impossible to get those pens at that price 
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