I RECENTLY BID ON AN EMPEG PACKAGE ON EBAY AFTERWARDS I WAS SENT AN EMAIL FROM ITALY BY [email protected] AND WAS TOLD THAT HE HAD SEVERAL EMPEG UNITS FOR SALE BUT HE WOULD ONLY ACCEPT MONEY GRAMS FROM WESTERN UNION.AFTER WHICH I TOLD HIM I DIDNT BELIEVE HE WAS FOR REAL AND HOW COULD I PROTECT MYSELF FROM A SCAM ARTIST...IN WHICH HE REPLIED THAT HE WOULD SEND ME THE UPS TRACKING #'s BEFORE I SENT PAYMENT....ANY OPINIONS ON WHAT I SHOULD DO?

WHY ARE WE SHOUTING?

I can put a Brick in a box and say its an Empeg and give you a tracking number, ask for serial number(s) on the empeg.

(as for money gram you know you can't get a refund from them if he stiffs you with out jumping through a ton of hops ask him if he will use an escroe company.)

He should not be offering / spamming outside of ebay like that. Strike 1.

He only accepts money orders, no escrow or any way to protect yourself. Strike 2.

He says he will give you a UPS tracking number before shipping. If he is sending this from Italy, would he send it via UPS? If so, how do you know there is anything actually in the box? Strike 3.

I would thank him for his offer and report him to ebay.

If you really want to try it, make sure he sends you a photo of the player, powered on and showing the serial number on the VFD, set with a newspaper with today's date in the background to prove it is a recent photograph. I do not recommend it, though. Find a different seller.

ANY OPINIONS ON WHAT I SHOULD DO?

Press the "caps lock" button?

ok ok...no caps I get it...My gut told me he was full of it...I just needed to hear it from someone else...thanks....any spare units out there for sale?

I am looking for a new deck if anyone has one for sale....

See my post in buysell I have one for sale,

Even if you do manage to get him to use an escrow service, it's likely the escrow service is some sort of scam. Like this thread.

Sounds very fishy that he's willing to ship the item before payment. Any legit seller wouldn't ship something this expensive before payment! He wouldn't know if the buyer would just disappear.

I received a similar offer from another no-good italian scam artist on a g4 powerbook. Definately did not send him a thing! Generally if someone is offering a brand new item for less than the going price on ebay and they then ask you to complete the transaction outside of ebay. It is definately a scam.

WORD

Let me get this straight

You Bid, but didn't win. Then got an email offering one of several additional units.

In my opinion you were the victim of a failed attempt at shill bidding. That's not any one I'd want to do business with.

didn't even bid just asked a question

No I bid on a different empeg player and I got a random email from a guy who looked like he had an ebay store or something...it had a lot of ebay graphics and what not in I talian so I couldnt read them but I copy/pasted them into a language translator and they were all warnings to report and avoid people like him!!! what a maroon,what a H-MO....damned Italians and all their pasta and peppers and sausage and stuff. not to mention trying to rip me off....KILL 'EM ALL!!!!! along with the baby seals and unborn feotuses and dolphins and white people and camels and dogs and cats and and....

KILL 'EM ALL!!!!! along with the baby seals and unborn feotuses and dolphins and white people and camels and dogs and cats and and....


Reminds me of the best bumper sticker I ever saw...

NUKE THE UNBORN CHRISTIAN GAY WHALES

tanstaafl.

got one even better "you say tomato,I say f*uck you"

Not all Italians all all alike, folks.
I am a fellow empeg owner, I bought indeed an empeg via this board, I paid it in full and I don't think that it's right to use stereotypes to describe Italians. There's more than "the sopranos" on TV, and there's also more than just Pizza, Mafia and Mandolino in Italy.

I think he was just joking.

This guy emailed me, too. I just wrote back and said, "Thanks but no thanks." I don't think there's any way he's a straight shooter

Being Italian (meaning born and raised in Italy, living in Italy) I'll take that as a joke. Poor one, but a joke.
However, I'd recommend how come this guy has an America On Line email address, which you cannot get in Italy being AOL a ISP which does not operate in Italy.

Ah hah!! Italians rock...my favorite guitar player was Italian....*Fuckin Johnny Thunders...if it wasnt for him we wouldnt have the New York Dolls,Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers...dont be so sensitive....thats a big problem in the world today...nobody can take a joke...everybody's too f*uckin PC....F*UCK EM

Edit:

I meant "I'd recomment that you ask yourself how come [...]" Sorry for the mistake.



Anyway, don't worry, no offense. A post like that could not actually offend anybody sice, if serious, would simply prove your absoute ignorance about what "Italian" means. I am anyway glad it is a joke. I'm happy your favorite guitar players had Italian origins, which is I guess what you mean since here in Italy we have no clue about who Johnny Thunder is. As a matter of fact, "Johnny Thunder" sounds a pretty English name to me, so I guss this guy must be somebody living in the US, right?

Johnny Thunders was his stage name...his real name was John Anthony Genzale...he was even an alter boy before turning to drugs and rock n roll!!! thank god for the change!!