Klarinet Archive - Posting 000122.txt from 2000/11

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Bass Clarinet back on ebay
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 16:00:08 -0500

Jay Webler wrote,
>If I have had something stolen and found out later that someone has the
>item, then the first thing I would do is go to the proper authorities.
[snip]
>I would make sue I would cover every legal base first before I tried to
>fire up a group of people on a list to start a writing campaign. So far, I
>have not seen what the response is from the Police, or the Insurance
>company is. It may be that I just didn't catch it.
>
>As far as the seller on ebay goes, if he did buy the instrument
>legitimately from the Police department, than he has every right to do with
>it as he pleases, even if that may upset us. The problem here is not the
>seller on ebay, if what he says is true. It is over worked or incompetent
>Police and Insurance employees.

That all sounds reasonable, except that "if what he says is true" is a *very
big* "if" -- and the other factor is *time*. David Hattner *did* go to the
authorities, but so far, they've been responding sluggishly. He doesn't have
the luxury of sitting around and waiting for them. If someone actually buys
the bass at the auction, scheduled to end on November 8, he may not be able
to trace what becomes of the clarinet next.

It may take longer than that to definitely settle the question about whether
there really was any police auction and, if so, whether the eBay seller
legally purchased the stolen instrument. A reputable seller who finds out
there's a question about ownership of an item *would wait* until the facts
are sorted out -- not immediately start trying to get rid of the goods to the
highest bidder! The fact that this seller rushed right into another auction,
where the bidders can be anonymous, no less, smells to high heaven.

Or is an auction sale really what the dealer wants? Notice that there's no
photo and that Doubledge@-----.com is demanding a very high minimum first bid
of $2000. Does he expect someone to bid that high on a used instrument,
without even seeing a picture of it? Well, maybe he's that optimistic. It's
possible he didn't post the photo because he was hoping nobody would notice
that this is the same clarinet he tried to sell earlier. In that case, he
might send the picture and more information to anyone who expresses interest.
But remember that he told David Hattner that he'd paid $450 at the cop
auction and then threatened to destroy the clarinet rather than fail to make
a profit on it. It looks likely to me that the dealer is using this aeBay
auction, not to sell the clarinet to a legitimate bidder, but simply to
pressure David into offering him more money, in return for withdrawing the
auction.

But there's a more unsavory possibility, too. There are several ways a
dealer *might* plan to invest only a small amount of money to manipulate the
auction process. It would be fairly easy to make this clarinet disappear,
either for a profit right now or to hide the property until the fuss blows
over. One centuries-old trick, easy to adapt to online auctions, begins with
either a passed (no-bid) auction or a stooge bidder who places a bid below an
unrealistically high reserve (and that's all I'll say about it -- I'm not
leaving instructions for crooks in the archives), and is difficult for an
auction house to detect, prove and stop. I'm not accusing this dealer of
running a fencer's laundry. I have no way of knowing whether that's what
he's doing. For all I know, he might be just a jerk, not a dishonest jerk.
But *if* anything like that is going on, then eBay needs to pull that auction
*before* it ends on November 8, because after it ends, whether or not the
clarinet officially sells, its whereabouts may become nearly impossible to
trace.

We're all speculating. We don't know who this seller really is or what he
wants. If this guy is legit, why is he in such a great big rush? It would
be a shame if the clarinet disappears before the police can sort out the
facts. Is anyone filing for an emergency injunction to stop the dealer from
selling?

Lelia

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