Cooke Taylor & Hobson Achromatic Portrait f/7.5 15 Inch Whats it worth?

[goamules]

He's definitely acting like the type of person I wouldn't buy from.

[8x10 user]

Well at least it appears that noone else purchased the lens... I became worried when I saw his box was full.

I will give it a few more days before contacting AZ police... I know that most likely the person is just busy.

Postal money orders are a fairly safe way to purchase items like this. Its very traceable and if the seller does not come through with the lens then the action constitutes mail fraud which is obviously a very serious crime.

[8x10 user]

I'm giving the seller until Monday before contacting law enforcement.

The pictures and the fact that the seller had it available for local pick up is still giving me hope that it is not a scam.

The seller had me send him two postal money orders instead of one because he was worried that the post office might not have enough cash on hand? Does anyone find that suspicious?

Is anyone located near Glendale AZ and willing to check on the seller for me?

[Steven Tribe]

The seller had me send him two postal money orders instead of one because he was worried that the post office might not have enough cash on hand? Does anyone find that suspicious?

It does - if USPS has a different security procedure for checking recipients above a fixed amount - and your purchase price is above this cut-off.

[goamules]

Do you have his full name, address, and phone number? I hope so. Have you done a reverse lookup to see if it all checks out?

[8x10 user]

I should have but did not get his phone number. I went to the post office on Saturday but apparently the system that allows them to track the money orders isn't open until Tuesday. I spoke with the Glendale Police and I am suppose to call them after checking with the post office.

I'm still hoping that there is a good reason why I can't reach the seller and that things will somehow workout. The seller also offered the item for local pick up as I thought about maybe finding someone to pick it up for me if the seller wouldn't ship it. If it was a scammer what would he have done in the event of a local pick up?

Also the pictures and story is rather believable and pretty sophisticated for a scammer. I would consider the amount to be pretty low for a sophisticated scam and the consequences (mail fraud?) and chances get busted for this type of crime would be pretty high. It doesn't quite fit to me but we will see.

The worse thing that can happen is that I wont recover the funds or the lens which is pretty bad. The second worse thing is that I contact law enforcement and they show up and arrest someone during a family members funeral and the person turns out to be innocent and there is good reason for me not receiving the lens or contact. I would hate for that to happen.

[dap]

How long has it been since you sent the money?

Personally I would send a certified letter stating that "if I don't receive the lens or a refund by - insert date here -I will contact law enforcement". At least, if the seller is not a criminal, it gives him a chance to make it right before Johnny law gets involved (and it proves that you tried to reach him regarding the transaction in case it ends up in court).

I'm sure that by now you searched the dudes name on the internet. Are the name and address legit? - if not you might be out of luck.

[Steven Tribe]

I hope this thing works out for you.

The photos are realistically poor.

But the story about "clearing out a relatives house after a death" has been heard before. "Money for the funeral" is not the sort of personal information I would expect a relative to present in a sales ad.
If he/she found his/her way, I would have expected to see a new response here by now.

[goamules]

Yeah, hate to say it but there were several red flags on the original post.
1. Newbie with no history anywhere but this post. (you must do some background checking on these)
2. "Whats is it worth?" question posed to an esoteric, expert LF forum. (he had to research to find the forum, but couldn't research the lens?)
3. "I've had offers but don't want to get ripped off" (means - I'm selling this, even though I haven't been a member long enough)
4. "...need funeral expenses for my grandmother..." (means - don't lowball me, I am going through a rough period)
5. Poster didn't answer my questions and request for his phone number (I was doing No. 1 above - before making any offers). Poster didn't answer several people I know DID make offers (they probably wanted more proof than he couldn't give).
6. Poster never returned with a followup post (thanks -sold, etc.)

This was before we heard that 8x10user is missing his lens, and no contact, and the poster asked the payment be split into two money orders. Huge blazing red flags. He wanted to get them cashed with no questions, in lower amounts at two different places.

Still, my hope is it's a young person with poor selling skills, that probably did have the lens. I have not seen these pictures before (but we need to intensively search the web) and these are rare lenses. A pinkham or 4B would have been too obvious. But either way, I'd be talking to the PO tomorrow, and do whatever it takes to get your money back immediately. Skippy with the rare lens needs to learn how to sell better, or get jacked up by the police if he doesn't really have it.

[imagedowser]

Guys, The FIRST red flag is the sticky at the head of the buy/sell section. "All questionable sellers, we are easy pickin's we take all the risk..." is another way to read it...We've had more than the usual requests for estimates and info by new members since the sticky went up and the one listed today even stated he wanted to sell on the auction site... I know it was meant to remind US of the risk but it's (IMO) done nothing but attract those who want free info, at best and a risk free (to them) opportunity to score. I think the sticky should come down, it doesn't seem to be helping. Bill "Running His Mouth" imagedowser.