Help stop this scamer on ebay!

THIS GUY IS SELLING ALTERED GLASS SAYING IT WOULD TURN DEEP PURPLE IF IT WAS LEFT OUT IN THE SUN LONG ENOUGH!

LOOK AT THE BELOW SITE:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-BLACK-PURPLE-AMETHYST-fruit-jar-SEAL-FAST_W0QQitemZ6258791267QQcategoryZ892QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This clown is at it again saying that the dark purple jars and bottles listed would naturally turn this color if they were left out in the sun. Note he says in his listing "heat source" and it is known that heat will turn SCA glass back to clear. He or someone else are altering these jars and bottles because no way will the turn that purple with sun light. He currently is listing at least 6 altered jars or bottles on ebay. His ebay screen name is: letsgo2libby.

I think if a bunch of us should email him through ebay telling him we do not stand for his attemps to try to pull the wool over the eyes of the public. That he is not selling a collectibles because the glass has been altered. Natural sun would never in 100 years turn manganes glass that deep of a purple. There is very little value in these bottles and jars all he is selling is "eye candy". Furthermore we should all tell him, we will not bid on any items he has listed either pure or altered as long as he continues to lists alter glass. If he gets enough emails from people like us maybe he will change his ways. Another idea is to start email the bidders. Help to educate them. I the idea is to hit him where it hurts, "in the wallet".

It is just an idea. What do you think?


Lee

Lee,

Your displeasure with a seller on ebay, and getting his name out to folks that are interested in glass is commendable. But what you are suggesting that we email his bidders is not allowed by ebay rules. You can be NARU'ed for auction interference. Even emailing him could be construed as spam.

I know you want to take sellers like him down, but there are other ways of doing it. I can give you some sites where this is being done, even an email of one of the managers in the collectible category.

You can email me or I can post the info here. Let me check with the Admin to see if it's OK with them.

Believe it or not, Lee, I did find a blob top soda bottle on a pile of rocks that was that color purple/amethyst. Although the bottle was broken.

At least the seller is honest enough to let people know that the color has been altered by artificial means.[&o]

Hi,

I have some other ideas to handle this guy:

1. Ask the seller a question like "Why are you posting artificially coloured jars as being natural? Who do you want to foul?" Hopefully the less experienced guys will see it and will step back.
2. Make a bogus Ebay account, bid a million and don't pay.
3. Buy the damn thing, put it in your oven untill the glass become clear again and give the guy a negative feedback.

But at the end if somebody want to buy a bottle with premium for being dark amethist it's their problem. And if you ask me I can't see how the honest dealers are affected, in the best case scenario the prices of the similar, but natural, items will go up. If somebody knows some geneticaly modified glass sold for more then normal, then they will pay more for a regular thing aswell. I think.

At least the seller is honest enough to let people know that the color has been altered by artificial means.

(quote fom Woody)

Click to expand...

Woody, he does not tell people it is been altered by artifical means. He says it is Not an altered jar. This is a direct qoute from his listing:

"It is NOT an altered jar, as this purple color would naturally occur over many years exposure to the sun. "

I don't think it would turn that purple even if it had been expossed to direct sun light for 500 years. A friend of my had a box with two 25 watt gemicidal lamps, the box was lined with foil to reflect light. He placed a jar in the box for 2 years just to see if it would turn a deeper purple. 2 years in a box w/ 2 - 25 watt bulbs would probablly be like 40-50 years of ultra-violet sun exposser. The results were the SCA was no different than the jars he placed in the box for 2 weeks. There is only so much manganes to turn purple. Sure you might get the rare 1 in ten thousand that has a lot of manganes, like the broken blob top you found on a pile of rocks, but this guy has 6 or more of deep purple jars and bottles listed. Did he go through 60,000 bottles and jars to find these? Or did he just happened to run across all of these unusual 1 in ten thousand high manganes bottles and jars? Niether the glass in these items were altered and he totally denies it telling people it is natural. Why? So he can make more money.

The monecules in this glass have been tampered with. THE JAR IS ALTERED!! Yet people are buying this as natural when all it is is eye candy. Furthermore most collectors would agree it is worth less than before the item was altered. This is $2.00 to $4.00 Jar in the Red Book. And it is only listed as Clear not SCA. Curently it is bid up to $37.33 with 5 days and 6 hours left till it closes. I have two or three of them in my garage right now, I probably paid less than a dollar for each of them. One I know is lightly SCA. Now if play around with my jar, as this person or someone else had with this jar before it listed, make it deep purple, does this mean I can get $35.00, $45.00 or more for $4.00 jar, that has been altered and I state in my listing as this person did:

"It is NOT an altered jar, as this purple color would naturally occur over many years exposure to the sun. "

I DON'T THINK SO! IT WOULD BE WRONG FALSE ADVERTISING. I would be no better than a con man.

If I list it saying It has been altered by some means to make it this nice deep purple, or state this is not fully natural and someone wants it and is willing to pay $40.00 for that is their progative. I have been honest and have made no false statments in my listing. The old saying "Buyer Beware", runs true on ebay. Most of us have bought something either for our collection or resale that we thought it was in great condition ans it ended up being a repro, altered repaired, damaged or fake. I doesn't feel good when this happened. Because of this we now always double and triple check the items. Well this happens to a new or unseasoned collector, it turns then off to the hobby. Back in the 1980's I collected Old Coca Cola serving and tip trays. Than in the mid to late 80's the repro started comming out. It was sometimes hard to tell the difference because the repro lokked so good. Repros were selling as old trays. When a newer collector bought a repro tray as an old tray and found out it was a repro, worth less than a 10th of what they paid, they may decide not to purchase any item like it again. This made the demand for the old items fall bring the values down. It wasn't for almost 7 years until values started going up again. I am afraid today the same thing might be happening. With repro bottles and jars being made in Tiawan, Korea and India. And yo yo's out there altering the colors by staining, heating and nuking the glass. People who pay $40.00 for $5.00 altered item will get turned off to collecting. They will be affaid to buy a perfectly good bottle or jar from a honest dealer, because they were scamed before. And those of us that look forward to sales of bottles and jars as an addtional to our income will be effected. And those with collection may need to wait years until the value of the items go back up to what they once were.

Guys like this need to be stopped before they screw it up for all of us. I don't know what the answer is, I put up an idea, maybe someome out there has a better idea. But some how some way it needs to stop, because I do see the writting on the wall.


Lee

The seller also said:

"To enhance this color it was exposed to an intense light or heat source that hastened this process and turned it a deeper purple color."

As long as people know this it should be left up to them to bid on this item.
Some people just like the color of amethyst/purple glass.

Yes some people like items the color purple. The deeper purple the better. I like tomatos and I like them red. But if the are geneticly produced using the genes from lobsters to make them look more red and ricer, (which by they currently growers are doing), I should know that when I go to buy tomatos at the market. This genetic process enhances the color tomato just like the process this guy uses enhances the color of glass. Both the tomato and the jar not natural. And to say that either HAS NOT BEEN ALTERED which this ebay seller states in his listing is a lie.

Maybe in 2 million years, tomatos will be able breed with lobsters (we don't know it may happen) than at that time this genitic produced tomato will be natural. Maybe after a jar sits out in the sun for 1,000, 3,000 or 5,000 years it will turn the deep purple the jar, (again we don't know that either maybe it would). But both items have been altered either physically and/or biologiclly from their original state.

The grower may not state his tomato is has been altered or geneticly produced for fear the public will not accept his item and it will not sell. (Note most state government now require that the consumer be notified that a food is geneticly altered). The ebay seller does not want to tell you the whole truth because he wants to get big bucks for a cheap item. This guy says in his listing and I am parphracing, "the jar has been enhanced but not altered". Sounds like double talk to me.

Well let unsepecting buyers on ebay buy $4.00 enhanced, deep purple, but never altered jars for $35.00 because they look so nice on their window seals with the sun shining through them. And soon when everyone knows how to enhance glass, but not alter it, they way this guy does, the value of many colored jars and bottles will be worth only a few dollars.

Lee

. His ebay screen name is: letsgo2libby.

I have bought a couple of things from him, though not colored. Sure hope I didn't get screwed!

OK, So if you leave actual old colored bottles in your window, they will be ok?

Some idiot was turning clear Dr Pepper bottles from the late 30's and 40's to a amber color and selling on Ebay also. Dr Pepper never ever had an amber bottle, period.