As a generalization, if the same pictures of a bass are used for two different listings by different sellers, then the later listing is probably fraudulent. Some sellers of preamps however have been known to just use pictures from the Alembic site, perhaps figuring that all preamps look alike. So in that case, it would be harder to say, based on just the pictures, whether a listing is fraudulent. There are however a number of things to look for when trying to determine the authenticity of a listing, a few of which are:
- A seller with zero or very little feedback and a new account. There are of course legitimate sellers with new accounts, so it's not a hard and fast rule. And occassionally a fraudulent listing may show a seller with lots of good feedback. In those cases, the seller is using a hijacked account.
- A listing of only one or two days.
- A listing where the email addresses of the bidders are hidden. The ulterior motive here is so that the bidder can't be warned by others.
- A listing where the text says to email the seller at a specific email address. This is useful to the seller when the listing account is hijacked. These requests sometimes stipulate that the bidders must email the seller at a specific address to be pre-approved.
- A listing for what obviously is a very expensive instrument with a very low opening bid amount and no reserve.
There are others that I can't remember at the moment.
There are of course exceptions. For instance there may be a one day listing where the instrument was just previouly listed but the reserve was not met. In this case the seller may have emailed the high bidders and told them the instrument was being relisted with a lower reserve for one day only.
But the more of these signs you see in the same listing, the more likely it is that the listing should be avoided.
