Shonky Salesman Alert

[Stegel]

I posted this alert over at the Warrelics forum and thought i'd post it here aswell, in the hope that any new guys to the hobby or anyone not to familiar with the type95 NCO sword would take notice and be aware of this guy.

 

Here's what i posted:

 

Shonk Alert!!!

I was just looking on ebay recently and noticed some extremely "shonky" behaviour by one of the most well known "sword" sellers... so "diabolical" in fact, that i felt the need to share it here with you guys. I mostly look at Type 95 Swords, so this is what caught my attention and made me look into it a bit further.
This is one of the guys whose auctions are sometimes questionable, that is, high sale prices and some re-auctions occuring.
We all know that the prices of NCO swords has been rising over the years, IMO, i feel he is a major player in this inflation.

Some of the bad behaviour i found:

1 Re-stamping of scabbards to make matching sets.
2 Rebuilding swords from other donor swords.
3 Adding parts to replace missing parts, and how conveniently, they now have matching numbers...
4 and the usual dealer activity, buy now and re-sell later at higher sale prices of course!

All this with a proud 100% Positive feedback!!!

Do a search on completed listings, with his name in the search by 'user' option, and see for yourselves.
    showa22


Examples:

Serial # 24244
Originally sold with NO Throat on the scabbard, then sold by him 4wks later with a "new and matching" throat on the scabbard


Serial # 19410
Aluminium handled NCO with a Copper scabbard sold on Aug 03 2018. Then re-sold by him on Aug 14 2018 with, you guessed it, 'matching scabbard' The mistake is you now have a Tokyo sword and Nagoya scabbard, DOHH!! The quick turn around could mean the original seller lives very close to him/ is VERY 'close' to him / or is him.
( HOT TIP----> Get ready for a future 'matching' Copper Handled sale soon...)


Serial # 7241
Item relisted after being sold. on re-sale, had more bids with $175 increase. Looks like he 'bought' his own sword then sold it 3wks later at a better price, with a little help from his friend Mr.Schill perhaps?

Serial # 27602
Sold with 'matching scabbard', however, the scabbard is re-stamped, again you now have a Tokyo sword and Nagoya scabbard.


Serial # 123609
Also sold with 'matching scabbard', however, the scabbard is re-stamped, again you now have a Tokyo sword and Nagoya scabbard.

And the best of ALL!!!!

Serial # 41823
Originally sold with a steel tsuba and fuchi, non matching scabbard... and you guessed it, resold with brass tsuba, copper fuchi and matching 're-stamped' scabbard. Again you now have a Tokyo sword and Nagoya scabbard. It is now essentially a completely different sword....nice profit margin too!!


These all occured in the last 6mths, but in fairness to this guy he did sell others which were IMO genuine and honest examples, however, i'm amazed at his seemingly never ending supply of swords???

How does this impact on our hobby?? well speaking for myself, i'm feeling a bit sick just quietly.

 

today i noticed he is active again and posted this:

 

 

Logged on again last night as i usually weekly, and couldn't help but notice that he's at it again!

This time the sale is still active and after just 18hrs into a 5 day auction, he has got it up to US$890 !! WTF????

The sword for sale sold as an unmatching unit on the 1st of sept, now 3wks later, he has cleaned it up a bit but it is now MATCHING serial # 34360

He obviously isn't a member here or any of the bidders, but i would be pretty upset at being taken for a fool with a Tokyo sword and Nagoya scabbard which are now matching....and at IMO is too high a price already.

I guess the moral is to KNOW your product and do your homework before parting with any hard earned cash.

For any of you interested, here is the item number of the first sale -> eBay item number: 163231325497
the current item number is -> Item number: 362437385627

 

I believe that he is know to some of the members here, but anyway, good luck and be aware guys.

[lonely panet]

well know fleabay seller, and to be very suspect on high value gendai mei's.

 

i avoid using certain terms, as sometimes the sellers might  get aggressive, but i post topics with questions i know the answer too, to highlight these items to other people.

 

ebay feedback has been discussed here aswell.

 

buyer beware as always.

 

to avoid this issue, shop here.

 

if your not sure ask members. I have never had a bad deal yet

[Bencld]

Doesn’t always work. After all the advice on buying off NMB to be safe, I still got caught with a Chinese fake from NMB.

[lonely panet]

Please post this asap. Im sure Brain would like to hear this aswell

[Brian]

I know about it. The sword was posted as doubtful and priced mainly for the koshirae. There was much debate about the sword, and whether it was shinsakuto or otherwise. The blade was priced as a tsunagi. It was a difficult one to call, and there was no definitive conclusion. It can hardly be called "caught with a Chinese fake"
 

[Stegel]

Update

 

Auction has been withdrawn due to 'error in the listing'

 

Maybe he trawls this forum and has noticed this thread........

 

I can't comment on the sale chris mentioned, but i agree that here, i would think, is safer than ebay, or at least run it by the guys here, before buying from ebay.