Offered to me: i180 / Li-Ion new at only $2500?

[womo]

I've been following an autction on ebay for a segway on a 7-day listing. It was simply declared as "Segway HT", a picture of an i180 was attached. When I (thru ebay) asked the seller about the model / battery types I didn't get an answer. The auction started Aug. 5th and ended August 12th at a bid of only $ 2200 approx., but the reserve was not met.

Now, a good day later I was contacted by the seller (no feedback score, ebay member since Aug. 5th) with an offer of selling this segway HT i180 / Li-Ion / brand new / incl. shipment to Germany / for only $ 2500. Might it be a stolen one ?

What is wrong / what would you suggest? THANKS !


Salve di WOMO

6'6" is a good hight . . .

[ZoliHonig]

probably a scam- ask if you could have a look at it in person or come pick it up.

---
[8]-Zoli[8]

[W9GFO]

Sounds like a good deal. Tell them that you'll send them a cashier's check for $4,000 (make up a good story as to why you can't cash it yourself). All they have to do is cash it and send you back $1,000 plus the Segway. They can keep $500 for their troubles. A good deal all around!

Rich H

[Stewbonz]

Zero feedback, new ebay account, Segway at half price.
...and the shipping is FREE.

I would avoid this transaction but I do have another opportunity.
Though we might not have a personal relationship or have met each other, we could work together on
this project.
First, I would like to
introduce myself. My name is Michael Finucane(Barrister). Certain funds have
been left behind by my late client, below are the details.

Being that she was my client, I was her confidant as she shared with me
virtually everything about her business and family. I was her attorney for
13years and during that period I wrote her WILL and was also named as the
executor.I am also aware due to our cordial relationship that she deposited
Twelve Million Pounds with a bank in England that was not mentioned in her
WILL. She told me about it and asked me to prepare a codicil to reflect the
money.However before this could be completed, she had died.

After her death, funeral and subsequent execution of her WILL, I went into
action to establish the information passed unto me by my client. My findings
agreed with the information. At that point, I knew I had to do something to
move the funds out of the bank. Bearing at the back of my mind that I cannot
do this alone, I have decided to contact you and seek your assistance and
acceptance to be the next of kin to the estate.

Aside my humble self and you, the relationship manager (Account Officer) of
my client knows about this. He was very helpful during my investigation.
Through him I was able to see the deposit paper work of the money that
confirmed that there is no next of kin to the funds. It is necessary for us
to move the money out of the bank on time before it will be regarded as
sundry funds, which would give the bank the right to claim the money.

I cannot move the money in my name because she was my client and it could
create suspicion. Her account officer also cannot do the same, hence the
importance of your assistance. Have my assurance that there is nothing to
fear about, as we also need your assurance that you would work with me with
a high degree of honesty and sincererity to achieve our desired objective.
The legal procedure is no problem for i would be responsible. Since the
codicil was not ready before her death, a letter of administration without
WILL would be secured from the probate office.With this letter I would
personally apply on your behalf to the bank for the release of the funds to
you.

Below is required from you to enable us achieve the above;
Names
Address
Date of Birth
Telephone and Fax numbers

Upon receipt of a confirmation of acceptance from you, a sharing ratio would
be worked out between the three of us and communicated to you along with my
telephone number.

Thanking you in anticipation for your co-operation.

Sincerely,
Michael Finucane.











JEFF JARVIS
http://www.thailandsegwaytours.com/

[Zorba9]

Oh Boy! How much do you need and where can I send it? Zaire? Cool, the check is in the mail!!

Sincerely,
Oneborneveryminute

:)

KOG

Zorba9.....

[Raving Glide]

WOW!

Just think, all that cash, that you want.... and all you have to do is give the basic information for a full blown ID scam, that allows some one to use your name and address to just kill a couple hundred people. BAD DEAL :-(



GW

[macgeek]

hahahahahahahahaha


YOU GUYS!!!!

[womo]

I believe most answers go into wrong directions.

My intention was to find out what I could do to identify a stolen good / segway.

The answer from member ZoliHonig is probably the only "hint" which is likely to match the situation, THANKs for this warning . . .

The answer from Stewbonz / Jeff Jarvis (with his background as a senior member and well known at the scene by many postings / business relations) can only be valued as a contribution / his indirect hint / parody to a likely scam-attack by the person who offered the i180 at half price . . . who has not seen already x spam mails from Zaire, Sudan, Tanzania, etc. . . regions with similar contents in Stewbonz's public "secret offer" to me ?
But obvious some others feel attracted to jump into this ambiguous point. And by that reactions it is not serving my serious question about avoiding buying possibly stolen goods . . .

If you have got a contribution to my intended question (how to proof the legality of an offer) feel free to give me your hints - as this won't be the last deal on ebay / other locations . . .

Otherwise I would prefer to end this posting !

Sorry for those who mis-understood !



Salve di WOMO

6'6" is a good hight . . .

[JaredHT]

Salve,

As my father says....a few times throughout your life you'll be able to buy a $100 bill for $95. But, if someone offers a $100 bill for $50 something is wrong.

Hmmm...half-off a brand new machine, with Li-Ion batteries. Don't walk away from this deal....run!

Peace,

JaredHT
Jared M. Cavalier
[/:)][/:)][/:)][/:)][/:)]
Segway of Ohio
330.535.2200
888.6SEGWAY(673.4929)
[/:)][/:)][/:)][/:)][/:)]

[austin@SOH]

Salve,

Ask the seller what the model and serial number is. Call 800-4Segway and ask them to check and see if it is stolen or not. If it is not stolen, ask the seller maybe to take a couple pictures, or where there are located and see if one of the members on here would be able to stop by and take a look. That way, you will know the quality of the machine and checked to make sure that it is a legit sale.

Austin Colby (Austin@SOH)
Segway of Hagerstown
339 West Antietam Street
Hagerstown, MD 21740
Phone: (301) 766-0488 Mon-Fri 10am-6pm EST
Fax: (301) 766-0215

[womo]

Hello,

thanks for your replies.

I have a serious question: Is anything wrong with my posting ? Bad English? Poor description of the case / issue ? Hard to understand ?

WHAT I AM TRYING to SAY / ASK regarding this offer IS:

There IS something wrong, WHAT would YOU guess / suggest?
HOW can I get confidence, IF such offers appear / emerge again ?
WHAT could I do to avoid to buy stolen goods (eg. is there a register of Serial Numbers for stolen Segways) ?

THIS intention is not TOO hard to be understood, am I right ?

THE OBVIOUS is also OBVIOUS to me, of course, but the US market for segways is about 30 months ahead compared to Germany, would it not be possible for me to learn about your real life experiences / troubles ?

Pls., don't bother me with one-second thaughts, such I can collect on my own . . . but any serious thaughts are very welcome !!!



Salve di WOMO

6'6" is a good hight . . .

[pam]

Salve, your English is quite good.

However, we are a broad spectrum of posters here, all members of our Segway "family" so's to speak, so you will get a broad spectrum of response - and some will be joking, some will be serious, some will be teasing, etc. Particularly for a question that has been discussed quite thoroughly in the past before you joined the group (although you wouldn't know that). Some will even "act out" their answers - like Stewbonz did. If you only have patience with strictly sober, straight answers, you will miss the "family/friendship" side of the communication. For only straight, sober answers, you might find it easier to communicate directly with Segway on their website. Otherwise, you may need to come back and ask (as you did) for specifics.

As I see, your initial question was "might it be stolen, what is wrong/ what would you suggest" - and all the posts that followed indicated that the posters thought it was a fraud - even those who were being funny in the way they posted their assessment. So that question was answered. In fact, it appeared to answer all 3 of your questions, might it be stolen, (yes), what is wrong (it's a scam or stolen), what would you suggest (avoid it because it appears to be a scam)

"What would you suggest" was a question that didn't clarify what kind of answer you were looking for.. So it was confusing. What would we suggest? Probably the answer would have been, "suggest about what?" As it was, it looked like the question "what would you suggest" was "would you suggest about whether it was stolen or not or what was wrong?"

So the question might have garnered more of the answers you wished if you had said, "if it's stolen, what would you suggest I do to check that out."

And you clarified that in your later emails, and were answered by Austin of SOH.

Pam

[womo]

Hello Pam,

Thank you very much for this personal reply, and also for trying to keep me calm!

Be sure, I'm capable to handle different moods and answering styles of different persons, but possibly I'm not able to adopt to all these different styles at once in a partly foreign language and culture related environment . . .

What I feared, was that my originally inteded theme was getting lost completely.

Pam, you are an excellent moderator and you are also an excellent observer on my answering attitudes . . . I think, partly I've been to rigid in my answering assessments . . . sorry, I'll try to do this better, next time.

Even if you say that 'my English is quite good' - I assume that in 'common understanding' / cultural behaviour and other things there still are some differences between US-people's and European people's approaches.

Best Regards
WOMO

PS: "Salve di ..." (Latin) means "Live well / Greetings (from) ..."




Salve di WOMO

6'6" is a good hight . . .

[pam]

Oops, I guess I should have called you Womo! Sorry! You're welcome. Is Womo a personal name or a family name? Or goodness, it could even be a town name, (like on some lists I'm Pam in Niceville, because I live in a little town called Niceville)I guess.

I personally think there are some pretty great people on this forum - and a good number of us have been around for quite a while, so we've developed some short cuts in communication, and our own "lingo," and some definite forum personalities.

Hang out, and if your question doesn't get answered the way you're anticipating, ask again. No harm in that, and I think the forum members will not take it amiss if you ask a second time.

Pam

[austin@SOH]

quote:Salve,

Ask the seller what the model and serial number is and then call 800-4Segway and ask them to check and see if it is stolen or not. If it is not stolen, ask the seller maybe to take a couple pictures, or where there are located and see if one of the members on here would be able to stop by and take a look. That way, you will know the quality of the machine and checked to make sure that it is a legit sale.


I thought my reply was pretty much to the point... Just for a little more info though, I sell the Li-Ion for $4995.00 and highly doubt that it is a legitimate sale at that price.

Austin Colby (Austin@SOH)
Segway of Hagerstown
339 West Antietam Street
Hagerstown, MD 21740
Phone: (301) 766-0488 Mon-Fri 10am-6pm EST
Fax: (301) 766-0215

[Stewbonz]

WOMO,
It's great to have you around.

There are quite a few scams on ebay. It's good you came here to check it out.
This deal is way too good to be true.
I bought 3 Segways on ebay and it worked out great. 2 were brand new and had been won in a contest. Saved about $1000 on each machine.
If you see a deal that interests you, I suggest contacting a Segway Chat member in that area to do a personal inspection on the machine.
There are a few dealers that could also help you locate a second hand unit.
Hope you get your SegwayHT soon and be a regular contributer here.
Your English is super.


JEFF JARVIS
http://www.thailandsegwaytours.com/

[KennyG]

Run Forest RUN....

KennyG
http://home.earthlink.net/~kenng/images/Warpaint1.jpg

[KSagal]

Womo,

I will share my thoughts, and you can assign what value you wish to them...

I too believe it is likely it is too good to be true. But a problem with this thread is that you are asking a wide group of people that are here voluntarily, for an official type answer...

Lots of people have made suggestions and jokes, based on the common knowledge of those that have been on this forum for a while and may be new to others...

Segway LLC (the manufacturer) is very helpful in these matters. If you got the serial number, I believe the manufacturer would be able to tell you if it was stolen. In any case, they would be able to give you good and official information.

You can link to them from the column on the left on this forum...


I believe it is too good to be true. I would get the serial number and check it out with the manufacturer. I would not pay any money in advance, but put the money into a returnable status, like an escrow account like is used for real estate, or use a credit card with purchase protections, or Paypal, which I think has protections. (I would check them out)

One way to determine a scam, is that most scammers will not allow this research or the use of common market (Credit cards, Paypal) devices, and instead will try to keep the money transfer private...

Good luck


Karl Ian Sagal

Each road you travel should be just a bit better for having had you pass.

[womo]

Hello World out there . . .

Thanks to all of you for your thaughts and hints.

I've checked directly with ebay security and they told me that this case is very likely to be a scam and they already took action against this seller by their prosecution department.

Ofcourse, this offer looked too good to be true, and that was why I addressed it in this Forum: to profit from the experience of the ones who are longer in the scene than I am.

I seriously value any helpful contribution (not only in this forum, as in the segwaychat.com pages in generall I learned pretty much) and I really don't mind some jokes, too.

Thanks and See You here again . . .



Salve di WOMO

6'6" is a good hight . . .