manix said:
Tell me how anyone would think they are Montior Audio 300 gold? Nowhere does it say on anything Monitor Audio. They don't look like the speakers. No one is going to spend £500 on them thinking they are the £3000 speakers.
You say it's a scam please explain how it's a scam? The name isn't the same, they don't look the same and most importantly they aren't pretending to be anything other than they are.
Ok, I don't mean this as a turtorial for potential scammers though. I'm only describing my findings and theories. To an audio enthusiast that's been interested in audio gear for a while perhaps not. To someone just starting or simply who wants some decent speakers it most certainly may. I believe this ad is just a begining and many are to follow. Let me start by explaining the background and the warning signs.
I believe the earlier mentioned white van speaker scam had to evolve. People are not as trustworthy as they used to, to buy speakers off the back of the van. If it's a trusted site such as eBay (Gumtree, who are owned by eBay) that have been known to offer great bargains at times, it's a different matter.
For scammers it would be important to preserve plausible deniability so vagueness would be important. The perception of what is legal and not also change with time. People were also educated by many well publicised law suits and cop/court tv series.
Warning signs would be the coincidental (in your opinion) names AE Reference Series - 3 or AER Series 3 or like this instance MA Audio 300. On this very forum as in our everyday lives we abreviate many things. I'm not from a generation LOL or LMAO but these are more than common nowadays. Many members will abreviate Monitor Audio as MA, Acoustic Energy as AE, etc. To unwitting person such abreviation is normal and not suspicious.
Coincidental physical likeness. Position of tweeter, number/colur of drivers, size of drivers. What sonic purpose/advantage do you think that tweeter shaped like a cheese grater has? It's blatant design to make it look like a ribbon. Likeness of logos AER in a oval as opposed to ((AE))
What's more most of these seller would have said they've pretty much don't know the actual origin of items they sell. Actual examples"My brother is a DJ and he gave me these speakers as a gift but i am a student and need the money." or "I'm a sound engineer and this was given to me as a gift and they're too big for my space."
Claiming ignorance here is dual purpose, I guess. In case they're caught they deny any wrong doing. But most importantly for the person who's about to get conned to think they've "outsmarted" the seller. For me it's basic rules of trade. Any trade is when, a selling person values the item they sell as less in value than the cash they're receiving and the buying person values the item they're buying as more in value than the cash they're parting with.
If you think you're getting a bargain of the century you will pay first and ask questions later or it may be gone. Or at least that what happens too many times.
Of course what you're buying will be in new condition "They are studio quality brand new in the box. We only took them out of the box to take the pictures."
Next signs are they will not want to meet at their house. Offer courier for "your" convenience. "Courier is very easy, I will use DPD or another big company. What's your top price mate, these are top quality big speakers?"
Offer excuses as to why these can't be demoed "I do get that but my brother played them for me using his equipment but he had the wire needed to use them. I don't have the wire."
Finally they won't put you off that much by haggling just to get the sale. Will gladly lower their ridiculous asking price. "Okay, I am very flexible with my price but I just want to try and get as much as I can."
Yes there will be more arogant attempts like AE had to face and they're sadly still to come (I believe). Blatant use of stock photos. Copy and paste of specs and references to high RRP. I won't post links here but you can check completed listing for Acoustic Energy Reference 3 on eBay. Out of all[/b] completed listings only one pair is genuine.
Wouldn't we all want to buy/get a vintage Mark Levinson amp sold by someone who think it's worthless. Not just that a pain to move as it's so heavy...
If this thread helps even one person from getting conned it was worth it.