Saturday, February 18, 2012

So Check This Craigslist Ad Out. Eames Lounge - $1400. Scam? Status: I Want It I Want It I Want It!

Sorry, no pic.  I don't generally use other peoples pictures here and I don't have a picture of an Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman to present here as a tease.  But there is a genuine Eames / Miller Lounge Chair and Ottoman on the Springfield Il. (about a hundred mile drive from here). craigslist.  It took me a while but I caved and shot them an e-mail.

Vintage 70's Herman Miller Eames LOUNGE CHAIR & OTTOMAN Rosewood - $1400

 

So I sent them an e-mail expressing my interest in buying the chair and ottoman. Check it out

an tell me what YOU think!


From me:

Hi.  If the lounge chair & ottoman are still available could I possibly make arrangements to see

them this weekend?

Thanks, XXX


From me: (second e-mail - day later)


Hi, I e-mailed yesterday asking if the Eames / Miller chair and ottoman were still available.  I

can come look at them today or tomorrow if they are. Could you let me know if the set is still

available or if they are gone?

Thanks, XXX


From seller:

Hi,
Thanks for being interested in buying my Vintage 70's Herman Miller Eames LOUNGE

CHAIR & OTTOMAN Rosewood , I will start my email by telling you that I'm currently

out of country so pick up isn't an option. The item is as described, in perfect condition and

will be delivered at your home address. Total price will be $1400 and the transaction will

be made only through eBay because because they will handle with all that it has to be done,

the shipping, payment and passing the item in to your property. Right now I'm in Italy, just

arrived here 3 days ago. Before I left I found a buyer and I had everything arranged. I paid

for the shipping and almost sent it to him. But yesterday the buyer that I had asked me to

wait another 4 weeks because he suddenly had other priorities and he is out of money for

the moment. I can't wait this long as I'm in Italy for 3 days now and i really need the money,

I am in the moving process, changing the work place and everything. A major issue is that

if you want to buy my item you really need to have the money ready for it.


This purchase protection guarantees that the item is exactly as I described; basically, once

delivered, you'll have 10 working days to inspect it at your home and if you decide not to

keep it you will get refunded in no time and they will charge me with the return costs. If the

item meets your expectations and you want to keep it you will have to tell them to release

the payment to me. If you are interested in this purchase please reply me with your full name

and shipping address. After that i will pass your details to eBay and you will receive an

invoice and further instructions as how will you be able to get possession of the item .


Let me know your thoughts .

Warmest regards


From me:

Whoa....sorry....I ONLY buy cash in hand and ONLY after I have a chance to inspect the

chair.  If you can find a way to have a trusted friend or relative show me the chair I'd be

super happy to come by and check it out and pay them in Cash.  I'd be happy to document

the transaction in photos that I can e-mail you during the sale.

Thanks, XXX





So yeah, it sounds pretty scammy, right?  Too Bad.  Grrrrrr....

29 comments:

  1. I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole! I've had more than one potential "buyer" trying to scam items but never a seller and this one stinks!!

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    Replies
    1. Hi A Mod. I gave up about 90% hope when I failed to get any response to my last e-mail.

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  2. Probably the biggest line of bull I've ever seen. Definitely a scam. Report his account and spam him mercilessly.

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    1. Hi Dean. Even if legit. this has got to be the sketchiest request I've ever heard of.

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  3. Too bad. It's a lovely Eames lounge. Perhaps it's legit, but I'd never do a non-cash transaction on Craigslist, especially with the amount involved in this one.

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    1. I just reread the first couple paragraphs of his response. Yeah, there's pretty much no chance this is legit. Hit that "report" link.

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    2. Hi Nick. Ohhh...but I so want it to be legit!

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  4. Wow! that would be a killer deal but this just smells like a bad scam!

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    1. Hi Brian. So why would the seller post it on an obscure site like the Springfield Illinois craigslist? And shouldn't it be found on other sites too? I tried to find it by searching for those same images on other sites (using Google image search) and came up with nothing. $1400 dollars just seems right to me. If it's a scam they are loosing many potential "buyers" by not pricing it at like $900 or even lower (THAT would be a little bit of a red flag to me) but it does seem like the right price if they are just trying to get some much needed money out of it quickly.

      But then there is all that "only through eBay" (it's not for sale on eBay, that I can find anyway) and "pass your details to eBay and you will receive an invoice and further instructions" stuff. Scammy. Real Scammy.

      ::sigh:: I want it.

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    2. Uggh...TOTALLY scammy. I think this same scam ran here in Nashville.

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    3. Well, If I'm honest, a while ago, I bought a Yakima roof rack for my car off of craigslist north of Chicago and I took a risk on that. It was $160 but I sent him a Paypal eCheck and when it was verified he sent it down to me and it all worked out ok. I would be really nervous to send out $1400 though. It is especially iffy since he said he was in Italy right now. Who posts a craigslist ad and then goes abroad? It really does seem like a scam to me. You could always take a shot with it since he wants to sell it through eBay and they should insure it for you. And if it really is a scam then eBay should be able to get you money back. It does seem like a scam though and that is such a good price I wouldn't be too sure on going for it. There are too many red flags on this one. Maybe you can convince him to wait and sell it when and if he comes back from Italy.

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    4. Hi Eartha K. Well, that sucks. I was holding on to a thin little thread of hope!

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    5. Hi Brian. You, sir, are a braver man than I! Like I said in my last e-mail to the "seller", I am a cash in hand buyer and seller. It really is the best way to avoid any scamminess!

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    6. Haha I'll tell you my nerves were all tangled up for a week until the package arrived at my doorstep. I was pretty ambitious but I needed a roof rack so I took the risk. This risk is a bit too hot for my blood though...

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  5. I can't believe this! I responded to the same or similar ad on the Nashville Craigslist about a month ago. I got same response word-for-word that you did! This is surely a scam! Like you, I replied that I would not purchase without seeing the chair in person first and suggesting they arrange a friend to show it to me if they were out of the country. I got no response. It looks like they are trying different cities with the same ad.

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    1. Hi B2R. I have to say, they are playing it smart. I'm a super weary buyer and it took all of these comments to convince me of the scam. Yes, there were blaring red flags but there's lots of stuff in there that wasn't stereotypical "scam stuff", like bad translation.

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  6. I am not sure if this is the genuine thing..the moment a seller sends in a long story...i snap out of the deal...scares me!...this one did too :(

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    1. Hi Sudha. I bet I've scared off some potential buyers myself since sometimes I reply with lengthy e-mails to craigslist inquiries. Sometimes, like when we go to New Orleans, I'll put an ad on their c-list and "Pre-sell" some stuff to bring with me. I try real hard to ensure the buyers that I'm not scamming them and that there really is no way I could be! Cash In Hand in a public place! How could I scam them? It generally works out fine...for those brave enough to answer the ad to begin with!

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  7. Replies
    1. Hi Pam. You're a poet and didn't know it! I kinda feel a little like a sucker for wanting it NOT to be a scam so much! But Mr. Modtomic will not be taken so easily!

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  8. If you made transaction through ebay wouldn't that provide you with enough protection?

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    1. Hi Anony. I think that it's part of the scam. If the set isn't listed on eBay how can the transaction go through eBay?

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  9. It definitely is a scam. We had the same kind of email come to us when we were selling something on craigslist - almost word for word except that they were out of the country and couldn't come look at our item but they would arrange for pick up, blah, blah, blah. Sorry you didn't get your Hermann Miller stuff though!

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  10. SCAM! I was selling an unused wedding dress (I had bought two) and got an email almost exactly like this, only instead of "Herman Miller Eames LOUNGE CHAIR & OTTOMAN Rosewood" the email said "unused WEDDING DRESS". I also wanted it to be true, because I really didn't need the extra dress anymore! The buyer and I went back and forth via email and "she" even sent me a check, but really there were soooo many red flags surrounding the buyers emails and the check that I did some sleuthing and long story short never cashed the check, still have the dress and now recognize a scam immediately when I see one!

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  11. Hi Hunting T. and Diana.

    The buyer scam is something that I used to have to sift through a lot when I first started selling on craigslist years ago. I can offer some advice to anyone selling on craigslist to avoid those scammy buyer emails. I ALWAYS have a couple ads on craigslist and NEVER get those e-mails anymore.

    It's actually really simple. DON'T put your price in the little price box when creating your ad. Put the price in the text of the body of the ad or in the tagline that will be shown in the search results. I've never gotten an scam e-mail since I stopped using the little price box. I'm 95% sure there is a connection.

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    1. Good to know, Mr. M! Thanks for the advice! (The dress I was selling was actually through a different website, but the wording of the emails you received were the same. Scammers suck.)

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  12. Yep a scam, I googled this and found this page because I had the same thing happen to me this weekend. Wasn't word for word but pretty darn close. The weird thing is that the site looked just like eBay and the URL was almost the same, but instead of ebay.com/itm (itm stands for item number) it was ebay.com.itm

    Since there was a . after the com I realized that eBay.com was not the root URL and com.itm was the root URL or something like that.

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