Dodgy Bristol Bongo seller - several aliases?

[Mcrdave]

Hi All,

Long time bongo owner here, but just spotted these too good to be true Bongo's on eBay, is this the same guy?

What scam is he pulling?

We were guessing he's taking £250 deposits then disappearing, or is he just selling dodgy bongos?

Interested to know, i knew it must be too good to be true, This is the one i'm currently watching

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321709413079? ... EBIDX%3AIT

[BigPanzer]

Hi,

Same seller or ring of sellers. That is an alias I haven't seen for some time.

Peter

[mellon man]

Hi All,

Long time bongo owner here, but just spotted these too good to be true Bongo's on eBay, is this the same guy?

What scam is he pulling?

We were guessing he's taking £250 deposits then disappearing, or is he just selling dodgy bongos?

Interested to know, i knew must be too good to be true, This is the one i'm currently watching

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321709413079? ... EBIDX%3AIT

I am with you what is the scam and how come he still getting away with it
Has any one worked out what the scam is ?
Sold for about it's worth if description is genuine (not sure where the fixed bed is though)! hope the buyer managed to inspect it properly first (as would you pay over 5 1/2 Grand for a nearly 20 year old grey import with out one)? and does not get stung .

[Simon Jones]

I don't believe there is a scam as such although it has been noted that some of his multiple IDs seen bidding on other listings from his other IDs (shill bidding). There has been evidence documented on the forum of receipts for at least one cambelt change being fabricated and in the case of a recent auction, we can see evidence of van being bought by him with 137,000 miles which was subsequently listed as 137,000 km (which equates to 60% of the previous mileage).

If you a look through the numerous posts about 'Bristol seller' you will see a lot of vehicles have various bits of trim stuck over the rear wheelarches and as well as various well know rust spots. The listings are also typically one day auctions where it is to not practical to view the vehicle first and you have to pay a non-refundable deposit of £250 so if you get there and it's not what you expect then you've lost your deposit. Again, it you look through previous posts, you will see he has been reported to numerous authorities including the Police and Trading Standards although to date he is still going.

As with all secondhand vehicles the golden rule is 'buyer beware' and that applies just as much to buying off a forecourt, from eBay or from a private seller.

[mellon man]

Thanks Simon you for clarifying what this trader has been up to.
So just another dodgy second hand vehicle dealer getting away with it who seems to favour Bongos
(probably because they can sell for good money) and with the one day Auction he prefers does not give bidders much time to check it out and either way he's £250 quid better off "Thank you very much"

[g8dhe]

A lass fell for it last night and appeared on FB this morning all happy with herself, until she realised she should have asked first rather than afterwards! Fortunately she hadn't paid the deposit, so is now much wiser!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2529055 ... 043260733/

[brummiebongo]

i have clocked him with at least 4 accounts....sell and re list within a few hours

[Busyeatingteacakes]

That lass was me, doh! The seller keeps emailing me wanting to clear his name after I called him out over his multiple accounts. When I spoke to the guy from EBay, his words were 'this seller has been reported a number of times for shill bidding but we can't seem to find any evidence. I don't know how he gets away with it.'

I'm just glad that I had decided on getting an AA inspection before parting with any cash... and that I posted on FB about my 'purchase'......

[Bob]

Welcome aboard, you'll find lots of help here.

Just ask anything you like and someone will help out.

[BigPanzer]

Hi,

Hello and welcome. In case you haven't found it there is a for sale section on here. There is a good chance that a Bongo belonging to a club member will be a good, well maintained vehicle.

Trouble is, this guy taints any genuine Bongo sellers in the area.

Could you tell us the registration number of the one you nearly bought, and what, if anything the AA man found wrong with it. It all helps us warn others if the opportunity arises.

Peter

[Simon Jones]

That lass was me, doh! The seller keeps emailing me wanting to clear his name after I called him out over his multiple accounts. When I spoke to the guy from EBay, his words were 'this seller has been reported a number of times for shill bidding but we can't seem to find any evidence. I don't know how he gets away with it.'

The following 4 sellers all share the same taste in Bongo interior design, photographic style and use of locations to take the pictures. Look at their current listings and then make your own minds up as to whether this is one individual or not. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/qure_uk2014?_ ... 7675.l2559
http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/15122002?_trk ... 7675.l2559
http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/khkuk1?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/a.tarafdar

The third one of those changed from being called mtcdirect:

User ID / Effective Date / End Date
khkuk1 / 28-Jan-15 / Present 
mctdirect / 16-Sep-13 / 28-Jan-15

There is evidence that there is some trading between these different accounts and I'm surprised that all the might and technical wizardry of eBay can't join the dots together. Here is one example of khkuk1 buying from a.tarafdar: 

http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI ... ackAsBuyer

[philpdr]

Good work again Simon.

[novocaine]

Problem is that most of his auctions are hidden bids so it is very hard to trace who bought what when.
If the van goes to the shill bid he will either offer to the second chance bidder (although he doesn't do this very often as it is an obvious sign of shill bidding) or let the transaction be marked as cash paid then sell it under the winning bidders user name, something he can do up to 4 times, no change of pictures or text needed, granted he will lose out on ebay fees but this is covered by the profit he makes on a bus he paid 3k for and sells at 7 by bidding up the auction.

obviously this is all hearsay and we can't prove it.

[Simon Jones]

The other 'advantage' of trading between accounts is that it builds up feedback score twice as quick without any actual selling to real customer. When you see the same vehicles being sold & then relisted several times it has to raise concerns about the nature of the vehicle and / or the purchase process. As you say all speculation and hearsay. People will just have to do their own research & draw their own conclusions on this one.

[Busyeatingteacakes]

Apologies, I've only just seen the replies. Peter, I didn't go ahead with the aa inspection as was very strongly advised not to go ahead with the purchase by a number of people. The original listing is here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/R-reg-MAZDA-B ... true&rt=nc