For decades, I've been wanting to add one more arcade game to my collection. It's the last one I've really wanted to make my collection complete. It's a crane game, made either by Chicago Coin (Steam Shovel) in the 1950's or the very similar one made by Williams (Crane). I found this one on ebay:
Ok, it's been bastardized a little... it has push buttons meaning it's the Williams Crane but the marquee says "Chicago Coin Steam Shovel". It's also been repainted but was said in the description to be in "excellent condition" and complete working order. I can fix that--this one is close enough.
There were some bright red flags however. The listing was from a new member with zero feedback. They listed 3 other items too. The shipping for the crane was shown at $15. I messaged them and got an immediate reply "So sorry, I meant $150.00." Ok... I was going to pick it up in person anyway. I can live with that.
I watched the bidding carefully--15 minutes from the end, the highest bid was $510.00. I put in a bid in the last 5 seconds and won the machine at $1,009.99. YAY! I WON IT!!! But when I asked about picking it up and gave my contact information, no reply. Then this seller pulled all their items off ebay.
What I learned from an ebay rep is that you can, as the winner of an item, obtain the name and phone number of the seller. I called. She answered. She said "I'm selling it for someone else and I didn't understand how ebay works. I thought you could look at all the bids and reject them if you want." I said "not if you don't put a reserve price on it." She said "the owner of that machine wants $2800.00 for it." Good thing I hadn't already paid. The real owner of that machine won't let it go for anything near that price.
So there you go. I won, but I didn't win. Body slam. When something seems too good to be true it usually is.
Ok, it's been bastardized a little... it has push buttons meaning it's the Williams Crane but the marquee says "Chicago Coin Steam Shovel". It's also been repainted but was said in the description to be in "excellent condition" and complete working order. I can fix that--this one is close enough.
There were some bright red flags however. The listing was from a new member with zero feedback. They listed 3 other items too. The shipping for the crane was shown at $15. I messaged them and got an immediate reply "So sorry, I meant $150.00." Ok... I was going to pick it up in person anyway. I can live with that.
I watched the bidding carefully--15 minutes from the end, the highest bid was $510.00. I put in a bid in the last 5 seconds and won the machine at $1,009.99. YAY! I WON IT!!! But when I asked about picking it up and gave my contact information, no reply. Then this seller pulled all their items off ebay.
What I learned from an ebay rep is that you can, as the winner of an item, obtain the name and phone number of the seller. I called. She answered. She said "I'm selling it for someone else and I didn't understand how ebay works. I thought you could look at all the bids and reject them if you want." I said "not if you don't put a reserve price on it." She said "the owner of that machine wants $2800.00 for it." Good thing I hadn't already paid. The real owner of that machine won't let it go for anything near that price.
So there you go. I won, but I didn't win. Body slam. When something seems too good to be true it usually is.
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