Stolen Gibson ES-335 on trade deal gone bad

[stratocastermojo]

Got burned on a trade deal and found out my guitar was sold on e-bay before the trade transaction was completed. The party involved has now pulled down his website and phone goes straight to voicemail. Negative contact for a few months now.

Here are the details of the guitar.

1985 Gibson Custom shop ES-335 Dot reissue with stock and sought after Shaw PAF pickups blonde in color.

serial # 81995539

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/32092_392671531905_617681905_4487516_297431_n.jpg

Additional photos avail. through PM if needed.

[stratocastermojo]

Here is the guitar sold on e-bay. Private listing and winning bidder not listed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130503153781?ru=http://shop.ebay.com:80/i.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp3984.m570.l1313% 26_nkw%3D130503153781%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1#payId (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?campid=5336713463&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2F13050315378 1%3Fru%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2Fi.html% 253F_from%253DR40%2526_trksid%253Dp3984.m570.l1313 %2526_nkw%253D130503153781%2526_sacat%253DSee-All-Categories%2526_fvi%253D1%26_rdc%3D1%23payId)

[vortexxxx]

Tell ebay that the guitar was stolen from you. They may not do much but they might remove him from ebay.

Also mention that you have a lawyer and have spoken to him about suing ebay for allowing stolen goods to be sold on there.

[stratocastermojo]

vortexxxx -

I am waiting for both police departments to finish their followup before I contact e-bay.

Keep your eyes open in the meantime.

Thanks!

[MCK]

Sorry to hear about your experience. It is scary to see a person with 475 feedback all 100% positive doing this on eBay... goes to show how little the feedback concept means really. I sure hope you recover your guitar.

[Bcduke2]

That sucks. I'll keep my eyes open.

[Dipintoplayer]

Have you contacted your shipping agent on the guitar and made a report? The price of the guitar is above $1,500 so it falls into felony status of theft by deceit.On top of that if it crossed state lines it may fall into federal jurisdiction...

That is to beautiful of a guitar to give up on..I wish you the best....

[Jahn]

There's a small chance that the new buyer might do what I do, which is for a few days after a purchase, I look at ebay to see if a similar guitar goes for less - buyer's remorse. in that case i'd put up a ebay thread and say "if you just bought this guitar, contact me. it was stolen, and you better get your cash back before the police take your new guitar away and you're left with nothing." post pics with angles not used in the other sale, including some of the serial number so folks know it's the same guitar - then see if you get a response. yeah it'll get taken down by ebay, but hopefully not before the other buyer steps up.

[Doug's Tubes]

That ebay auction is from April 2011.....am i missing something here? From almost 10 months ago I would say you're sol.

[stratocastermojo]

That ebay auction is from April 2011.....am i missing something here? From almost 10 months ago I would say you're sol.

It was not long ago I found out the guitar was sold on e-bay after demanding it back because I wasn't receiving my my finished product from the trade worked out. With law enforcement involved recovery of the instrument will not be a problem....finding/locating it on the other hand may be another story.

P.S. I have bought tubes from you in the past ;-)

[mattz]

This guy might be the buyer
acoustat (http://myworld.ebay.com/acoustat)

The reason I think is that he left feedback on April 26 and in his comment it's listed as a private auction.

Here's a link to the feedback page.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=banie85&ftab=AllFeedback&seeallfeedback=See%20All%20Feedback&myworld=true

[camdenlp]

Ebay is the biggest bunch of theives out there. I got ripped off by THEM

[stratocastermojo]

Thanks for the links and help guys. I have reports filed with 2 different law enforcement agencies along with a claim with e-bay bringing it to their attention.

[FlyingDutchman]

Jeez, this is still unresolved? I thought eBay worked quicker on things like this.

[stratocastermojo]

FlyingDutchman - When I spoke to e-bay and made the claim I am pretty sure I was speaking to someone in a call center in India. I don't feel very confident in the case I filed with them unfortunately.