Fraudulent sale of aircraft on ebay

Nigel Hitchman · Post by **Nigel Hitchman** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:45 pm

If you look at this link

http://cgi.ebay.com/1928-BIRD-2-seat-Sp ... m332.l1262

you will see an OX-5 powered Bird for sale on ebay, the same seller “F1.Goodwood” also has a Hisso powered Waco 10 listed as for sale.

Very nice machines, Ive flown in both of them when they were owned by Denny Trone at Brodhead Wisconsin.

The only problem with this sale is that the people advertising them on ebay don’t own them!!!!

They successfully bid for them at the estate auction after Denny’s death, but never paid for them! They are still owned by Elizabeth Trone.

Maybe these people are ex bankers who think its ok to sell things they don’t own and make money from other people’s property.

So far no bids, and ebay have been informed about the fraud, but the items are still listed.

So just incase you know anyone who was interested in these historic aircraft, please pass it on.

It seems this company is based at Goodwood, Sussex and sells mostly vintage racing car parts

Cheers

Nigel

Nigel Ramsay · Post by **Nigel Ramsay** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:20 am

Could they be acting as agents for the estate (possibly even legitimately)? Or do you think they are speculating on being able to act as agents if there's a bid? If they are a UK company and basically legit, I'd be surprised if it was actually a scam.

Nigel Ramsay · Post by **Nigel Ramsay** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:44 am

Nigel,
I contacted these folks - They have a legal contract to sell them. Best to check before posting this kind of accusation I would respectfully suggest!

If anyone is interested, contact them direct and save the Ebay fees!

Steve Brown · Post by **Steve Brown** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:19 am

I agree with your comments ref checking first Nigel but similarly, while I have no desire to further ebay's business & commercial interests, openly encouraging the circumvention of ebays fees may be a bit iffy too

Nigel Ramsay · Post by **Nigel Ramsay** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:32 am

Point Taken - BUT they are classified ads in this case, does that mean there's commission on top or has the advertiser already paid their fees?

Nigel Ramsay · Post by **Nigel Ramsay** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:34 am

In which case my earlier comments were irreleveant anyway

Steve Brown · Post by **Steve Brown** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:41 am

I was only going on 'save the eBay fees' reference but good point - not sure on the Classified Ads charging structure as I have never used the Classified Ad method of sale.

Might investigate that further for my future use - particularly for higher value items since I have found ebay fees often end up higher than I anticipated.

Cheers

Nigel Ramsay · Post by **Nigel Ramsay** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:55 am

I once advertised my Taylorcraft on Ebay, £12500 related to a one off fee of £125.00, so on that basis it's good value IF there are no further fees. I got messed about by a guy in Portugal - ah well.

Another idea, which actually brings in some funds, is to advertise a CD/DVD containing a load of pics and a/c history for say £4.99, refundable to a purchaser. That way fees are minimal and all sorts buy the CD. I think I sold around 10 cd's of the T'Craft!

Steve Brown · Post by **Steve Brown** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:24 am

Now that is smart! Probably eliminates timewasters too.