China Ebay guitars

Has anyone seen these fantastic prices on Chinese Ebay guitars. Gibsons for $25.00 + $200.00 shipping. Fender strats for $18.00 + $175.00 shipping. Can they possibly be legit. Doesn't ebay/paypal come with a certian moneyback guarantee. Let me know because it's awfully tempting. Here's just one link.
http://cgi.ebay.com/The-popular-music-tool-electricity-guitar_W0QQitemZ280004784237QQihZ018QQcategoryZ2384QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

if the shipping price costs more than the guitar, its most likely not legit. anybody can cut wood and slap a gibson sticker on it.

I didn't click on your link, because it's fairly widely known that they are fakes or scams in some way. Really advise very strongly against buying one.

yea i mean seriously come on. $25?? if the seller really wanted $25 for his gibson, he doesn't have to use ebay. somebody in that guy's neighborhood would buy it for his price and save him the effort of packing and mailing it.

I'm well aware that they have to be fakes but one thing i will say for the Chinese. They are master copiers. If you can get a "Gihson" that looks and plays like a Gibson for $200.00 is it worth it? Just a thought. Right now i have an Epiphone that sorta kinda plays like a Gibson. I payed twice that much for it.

Originally Posted by: kennyp46I'm well aware that they have to be fakes but one thing i will say for the Chinese. .

That is by no means a slam of the Chinese. Their culture is a whole lot older than mine.

Originally Posted by: AkiraChances you are you probably wont even recieve the guitar.
Any claim you'd make afterwards would be pretty much ruled out as the sale price would be too small to make any claim back.

That could possibly be the scam part. They send you nothing but keep your shipping $175.00. Even if they refunded the $25.00 price for the guitar. You are still out the shipping fee. One thing...doesn't paypal protect you from fraud and wouldn't Ebay recognize a fraud and stop it. Admittedly i am quite naive when it comes to ebay as i never did any ebay business.

Originally Posted by: kennyp46I'm well aware that they have to be fakes but one thing i will say for the Chinese. They are master copiers. If you can get a "Gihson" that looks and plays like a Gibson for $200.00 is it worth it? Just a thought. Right now i have an Epiphone that sorta kinda plays like a Gibson. I payed twice that much for it.

there are other guitars that look and play like gibsons also for $200. why not just buy an agile (they have a good reputation, and people love their lp copies) that is 100% guaranteed you'll get your guitar, plus they'll give you your money back if you don't like it, instead of making a gamble on an ebay store that you don't even know if its legit gibson.

I've heard of a few guys who bought these guitars, knowing there were fakes, but hoping they'd get a playable guitar from the deal. They didn't.

Ya. Definately fake. Or the guy's mentally retarded. Probably fake.

Definatly a scam. Paypal is OWNED by ebay so I know thier policies on returns or fraud are probably word for word. The high shipping is so they can keep the shipping costs because even if you win a dispute and get a refund they won't pay the shipping cost back. It's almost too obvious.

Why don't ebay bounce the auctions? They stopped me from selling a guitar I'd built that had a fender logo on the headstock, and wasn't 100% fender - body was a mex strat and electrics were all just bits, but I stuck a USA logo on the head to make it look the part for me, I didn't build it to pass it off as real. I was totally honest in the description, and they still killed the auction and sent me a grumpy sounding email telling me I'd get banned.

Why do they allow it here? It's irritating to have to plough through pages of fake ads from dudes in China who keep auctions and feedback private and scream out - 'FAKE SCAM CON' from miles away. A fool and his money are easily parted, although I'm now seeing UK based people selling cheap replica guitars (as in totally look the part with believable serial numbers etc) - only catch out is that a JEM 7VWH I saw for sale as 'real' had a Korean factory serial, and the 7V is made in Japan... but anyway, surely that must mean some of the guitars still exist (?)

I wish they'd just stop them doing it... Especially when you see fake guitars described as 'desirable pieces of highly collectible chinese art'. It's like they don't even match the items they are pretending to sell with the descriptions. The only thing worse than a criminal is a lazy, uninventive and unconvincing criminal.... :mad:

Here's an interesting page for people looking at the Chinese guitars:

eBay Auction

Honesty is good.

Paypal fraud protection is a load of bull. I got ripped off before for about $400US, I contacted my bank and they eventually clawed the money back from Paypal after I notified them of the scam and nothing happened. Then a while later I tried to use my Paypal account only to discover it was frozen, I emailed them and wrote to them in hardcopy and never got a reply. Then I rang them and they said that they would only reinstate my account if I paid the $400 back to them - even though they were supposed to protect their clients in the event of fraud... so I told them to f%*k themselves. To this day I havent been able to set up another account because they have my name and address on their system so even if I use a different credit card I can't get an account, which is a real pisser when it comes to E-Bay. Anyway, long story short, I got my wife to set an account in her name based at her folks address.
Moral of the story, if it looks to good to be true then it is - and don't ever count on Paypal protection against fraud. If you must buy something on Ebay, get it from a powerseller or someone with a high level of feedback from buyers (read any and all negative feedback).

Originally Posted by: Mark PavHere's an interesting page for people looking at the Chinese guitars:

eBay Auction

Man, that guy should get an award for the most honest and entertaining listing! Classic!!!

ever since this nightmare, I only buy off ebay if I can go and pick whatever it is up.

The bugger I bought the guitar off claimed on the postage insurance, and then kept the money they gave him and vanished off the face of the earth! still can't get hold of him. Seems like alot of effort for a couple of hundred quid - email changed, no answer on land line or mobile....

Ebay is full of shady types sadly....

Kenny, I think, no, I can assure you this is fake. No one would sell a Gibson or Fender for 20 dollars, 18 or 25 or what ever. Like someone else said, anyone can cut a piece of wood, paint it, and put a Fender or Gibson sticker on it.

And seriously! Just look at the guitar, and look at the Gibson sign, it looks super-fake.