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Ebay seller Showa22

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Surfson Grand Master

Surfson

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The glory days of ebay were in the late 90s shortly after it started up.   Lots of great swords, and many came up fresh to market as the last of the GIs met their maker.  Nowadays, it's hardly worth the searching, sadly, and most blades have been passed around by collectors or dealers. 

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  • 4 months later...
Utopianarian Experienced

Utopianarian

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This seller blocked me when I asked too many questions in the past about a sword if it was retempered or any hagaire etc. He did me a favor. I wouldn’t touch any of the guys stuff. Prob discarded faulty swords he dressed up in gunto fittings after a Bubba buffing job on the blade. Definitely stay away

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Blazeaglory Mentor

Blazeaglory

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I've been following him for a while now and from what I've seen, his listings are real but I've noticed a few things.

 

For starters, it looks like he does some kind of home polishing to bring out the hamon and make every Nihonto look bright as heck. Some people like that look, personally I don't.

 

Second, he might piece koshirae together from random parts. Once again, some look better than others.

 

Some of his sales are good, some aren't. Buyer beware. But no, I don't think he's out to scam anyone. I did bid on one of his auctions a couple years ago. It was a really interesting O suriage wakizashi with a really detailed horimono that flowed down into the "new" Nakago/Tsuka area. It was really old as the horimono on the "new" Nakago had allot of patina/non active rust. Other than the bright arsed hamon, it was a really nice wakizashi that sold for a couple thousand.

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Utopianarian Experienced

Utopianarian

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By far the Award has got to go to the Samurai Monkey for the all time worst EBay seller. I once saw a WW2 Gunto that somebody spray painted with gold paint selling on eBay. I saw the same gunto show up again on eBay. The monkey whom I assume won the auction and trying to flip it again on eBay somewhat restored and buffed. I messaged him just curious asking if it was the gold painted gunto that sold before on eBay and he lied saying no. I know for certain it was the same blade due to unmistakable openings or ware on the blade in the exact same spots. He of course had a 300% markup on the price after a turpentine wash and a quick spin on the buffing wheel. Just a quick look at his items for sale tells the whole story of what this guys about.

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brocksamson7 Rookie

brocksamson7

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I’ve purchased only one thing from him and never will again. He definitely uses some kind of eBay snipping software to drive his price up. I know cuz I tried to snipe the auction the old fashioned way. I put in a higher then appropriate bid with 10 seconds left. If someone else had pre bid high eBay would’ve told me or the winning bid amount would’ve rose but it didn’t. It declared me high bidder a penny over the current bid with 3 seconds remaining. With 1 second left the bid jumped and matched my stupid high bid but still declared me the winner anyways. Impossible without a program. Nobody could’ve executed a competing bid that fast. Not unless they were gonna over bid me and win.

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  • 3 months later...
quoshy Explorer

quoshy

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I've had mixed experiences with Showa22. The first time was I won the auction and it was for a great price, but then he pulled out after the auction closed so the transaction didn't go through. (Clearly it was a good price). Second time I purchased a wakizashi and it was pretty much fine. The pictures were fairly representative, but there were some small scratches that didn't show. The third time was an issue. Bought a wakizashi that was clearly a put-together. Habaki didn't fit, tsuka was loose, saya rattled. The polish was worse than what was in the pictures. No fatal flaws and it was pretty cheap so I didn't return but I won't be buying from him again. 

 

Scott

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Ontario_Archaeology Experienced

Ontario_Archaeology

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I have purchased two items from him. I didn't have any problems and I'm happy with what I got. There are some items that have had problems, and I have also noticed that he will change descriptions on returned items to make them appear different. Best thing out there is education and knowing what to look for when buying from anyone on ebay.

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  • 9 months later...
NewB Mentor

NewB

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He goes to Japan and buys blades from an old old man for chump change, then he polishes them from the rust and the whole geometry of the blade goes to hell and then resells them..

 

I am surprised of the huge money his items bring so 'schill bidding' is probably a reasonable suggestion (as what someone here mentioned already). The baby powder he uses for the signatures is ok as his photographer skills are not up to par (not that taking pictures of steel is easy). 

 

He has been reliable when it comes to prompt shipping and accepting returns. Knowledgeable but not very thorough. My friend purchased some high end blades from him that were mint and as described but lately all I see are either tired or in 'showa22 proprietary polish' 😂

 

I have not purchased anything from him yet and based on this discussion I most likely will pass in the future.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

John

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