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USN blue stripes on ebay


max0073
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Hi,

 

well it looks that someone was not playing the game on this helmet

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271934315847?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

There was less than 1 day left when the auction ended, certainly because the seller was afraid not to have as much as a shadow BIN proposal (highest bid cancelled was USD 650 fyi)

 

Though I can understand that, I hope I will not see this helmet on the table/site of a merchant for a higher price it would have ended as it has happened in the past.

 

I don't have anything against merchants in general because I've bought a lot from them and they are a benefit when they manage to source items out of the open market for our pleasure. However when they are just here to take a commission on already high priced items, I found that they are more acting like parasites (I think this word is a bit strong but I did not find the equivalent in English of what I wanted to say).

 

Sorry for the long post but I am a bit disappointed today.

 

Max

 

Photos for reference :

 

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I really do not understand the point of what you are saying or why you started this post?

 

Are you saying that you are peed off because he ended the auction early???

 

I do not mean to be negative but I just do not get what you are saying here.

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Hi,

 

The seller ended the auction early because he accepted an offer off ebay, while the auction was already running for 8 or 9 days.

 

It already happened to me in the past to have such situation where the buyer finally ends up being a seller who will sell this helmet at a higher price. This leads to a pure speculation with no added value to the market and I am a bit disappointed of that. That's all.

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I really do not understand the point of what you are saying or why you started this post?

 

Are you saying that you are peed off because he ended the auction early???

 

I do not mean to be negative but I just do not get what you are saying here.

That is definitely part of it. The seller let the auction run up to the absolute limit of when he could end it, then it is assumed he took an offer because the helmet had not reached this unknown amount which made him nervous.

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I had been watching this one as well, kinda bummed he ended it, was going to bid on it but I'm sure he got spooked and took an off eBay offer. Sad but happens all the time.

 

Fritz

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I feel you pain, a few times my high bid on a helmet has been canceled only to see the same helmet in the for sale section with a higher price tag a week or so later, LoL, oh wellz. I do understand your frustration.

 

J

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USMC-RECON0321

Yes this was a nice set with research potential. Actually I had my bid cancelled on this one, so I would be very interested to see if it shows up here!

 

The highest bid cancelled was $1,502.00 (But the seller doesn't know the amounts until he/she cancels the bids and ends the auction, then the amounts are visible).

 

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=271934315847&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2565

 

 

I'm glad to see others feel this same way. I have posted on these dirty deals many times and some of these items have even been recently posted here to show off. Which I think is kind of ironic, knowing they made a back door deal to get the item, which included having the bids cancelled of fellow forum members.

 

As I've said before, no bids placed - fair game.

 

Bids placed - Leave it alone and bid to win it if you want it that bad.

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Dirt Detective

I dont blame the seller for ending the auction. The high cost of Ebay fees and then the high cost of the Pay Pal fees. I say if your are a potential buyer contact the seller and give him your best price before the auction ends. The high fees associated with selling on Ebay will cause this to happen time after time.

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USMC-RECON0321

I dont blame the seller for ending the auction. The high cost of Ebay fees and then the high cost of the Pay Pal fees. I say if your are a potential buyer contact the seller and give him your best price before the auction ends. The high fees associated with selling on Ebay will cause this to happen time after time.

 

Yes fees are rough, but that's the cost of getting your item in front of a world audience of potential buyers and once you have bids you should honor your listing to the end. eBay allows many options, like reserves or buy it now with best offer options etc. If it doesn't sell or meet reserve you will most likely have the offers after it ends to consider. Not to mention any reputable large auction house will charge you a higher percentage than those connected to eBay and Paypal. Many are now charging the buyer and seller 15% on the final value (so 30%). A seller can always refuse to use paypal also and save on those fees.

 

That being said, the seller is the seller and as with this one, not even a military dealer if you look at all his other listings. I do however put blame on the one making the backdoor offer once bids have been placed. Lack of character that I have no use for. He may end up with a very quality collection, but not many fellow collectors left who care to see it.

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I agree.. with no bids, fine.. make an offer.

 

but when they cancel the bids to make a deal its pretty dirty.

 

I know a lot of people on the forum attempt to get sellers to do this.

-Brian

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I hear what you guys are saying about wanting the auction to run its course after bidding starts, and yes that is the FAIR thing to do, but unfortunately that is not the world we collect in.

Many buyers will make offers before and after bidding starts to secure an item.

Sometimes it works and sometimes not.

In some ways it is dog eat dog. These people you are bidding against are not your friends.

Also, frankly it is the seller's item to do with it what he pleases.

The high costs of eBay/PayPal are enough to make someone rather sell an item off of eBay after listing it.

And here, the seller gets his product out to the public and gets an idea of value without having to pay those fees.

Also maybe he would rather sell the helmet to a forum member or someone he knows instead of selling it on eBay and having to sweat whether he is going to get his money and be able to keep it.

On eBay a buyer can screw a seller by simply claiming an Item "not as described" and then return it.

The buyer can do that for up to 30 days.

Doesn't matter if there is a NO RETURN policy or not, eBay will make the seller take back the item.

Who wants to deal with that as a seller.

 

MAX0073 Did you make an offer in this case?

If not, why not?

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USMC-RECON0321

Well, possibly the back door deal was thwarted on this one. Or he could be spinning me, but here is a back and forth conversation between me and the seller today after contacting him about my bid getting canceled.

 

Tom,
What happened to the helmet set? Did you take an offer? Very serious bids were placed and much better to come in at the end of the auction. There were some very serious helmet collectors bidding or going to bid in the end on your helmet.

 

-----------------------------------------------------

Troy

 

I was inundated with offers and am still accepting them. I felt it in my best interest to end it. The highest offer currently stands at $3000 if you are interested in countering. thanks for your patience and your time through the listing. best, Tom

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Tom,

Sorry, I would really love to own this helmet, but now it is tainted because we are all talking about it on our helmet collector forum. Collectors are getting upset about being serious bidders on items only to get notified their bids are cancelled because of another collector or dealer backdoor dealing everyone. We try to call these out on the forum as fast as possible and hopefully who ever did buy it can't show it publicly for a very long time. They have to sit on it and can't sell it. I would suggest re-listing it with a buy it now or best offer for $4000 and save this helmet. If you could confirm your D-day connection it could be worth twice that.

Troy

---------------------------------------------------

 

I'm overwhelmed with the responses and emails and have decided not to sell it to anyone until I can give it the proper forum. I apologize profusely to all serious bidders involved and if i have wasted anyones time.

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

I think that is a good decision. It is a great and historic helmet that has a good chance of being connected to the ETO and possibly D-Day. I would help you ID him if you can get me any further information to go on. If the research is a dead end than I would do as I said earlier and have fun with it by putting it back up for auction with a high buy it now price and best offer option for you to accept if you want. Then, there is no bad vibes on the helmet and who gets it knowing it was all done on the up and up. If a buyer is serious about his $3000 offer (or more) he will place his bid or official best offer like the rest of us.

Thanks
Troy

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

Thanks Troy. I feel much better about it now. Just relisted.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

So, fight fire with fire I guess if people continue to get an auction ended on your active bids, maybe this is how we can stop the deals from going through.

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Good job troy...these back door dealings are getting out of hand and it is dirty pool....theres no teason not to let an auction run if there are already bids, most of the time the back door guys are trying to get it cheaper than if the auction runs its course therefor they are in a sense screwing the seller and alienating other helmet collectors that were bidding too...not cool no matter how you look at it...its an auction format selling site...if you want it bid to win or if its an auction for best offer make your offer...nobody could pull these shinanigans at a live auction....mike

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$3,000 huh?

 

Dang. Seems the helmet collecting world is turning into one of deep-pocketed Richard-heads.

 

-Brian

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$3,000 huh?

 

Dang. Seems the helmet collecting world is turning into one of deep-pocketed Richard-heads.

 

-Brian

 

 

The WWII helmet collecting world, perhaps.

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Buy it now US $4,800.00

 

looks like he got greedy after all the offers, it gets so annoying when sellers dont let the auction finish and relist it with a higher price

 

takes away all the fun of winning an auction fair and square without interference or jumping through hoops.

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The WWII helmet collecting world, perhaps.

indeed. I should have been more clear. ;)

 

I honestly think there is a big crowd out there with more money than sense just tossing dollars to the wind...

which hurts the collecting world in the long run.

-Brian

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USMC-RECON0321

The key to this one will be making an ID and history connection, without that it will only be guesses and nothing more. A blue or gray stripe is not enough to confirm the D-day connection. I think that is where the offers are coming from. I did find a matching Navy service number to what he thinks it is, but it comes back to a Navy Muster Roll on the USS Phoenix in 1945 with the name of M3C "Darby H. Carroll", which doesn't match the initials painted on the back.

 

Troy.

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Troy, you are like a super hero patrolling ebay and thwarting those back door deals!!!
These back door ebay deals really do not bother me as much as they do you all.
I completely understand your point of view, however I also see the other side of it.

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USMC-RECON0321

Anton, I didn't patrol eBay, my bid got cancelled on this item. So yes, I try my best every time this happens to me and I still don't like it when it happens to someone else playing by the rules. Fair is fair and what it all comes down to for me , is having a stand up reputation with my fellow collectors (because many are actually my friends) and the most enjoyable part of collecting for me is sharing my finds with the other collectors. That would be kind of hard to do if you're known for backdooring them with underhanded dealings. I don't make a living doing this and don't need to do "What ever it takes" to get my hands on an item, but I'm not the type to lay down and let someone step all over me either. If this upsets whoever had a deal going, well good, now its a 2 way street.

 

Troy

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Hello,

 

I was following this very nice helmet, without hope to win the bid ... but I did some research and for your information, Donald S.Hardy, SN 646 99 73, is listed as a CM3c on USS Ariel (AF-22) in september 1943.

 

I'm pretty sure he was in a construction battalion or something like that at that time ... no connection with D-Day however.

 

Regards, E

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