Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Disaffected readers can blame my inspiration for this summary topic (or at least the first part of the title) on Ewan D. Back in August 2019, he started this long-running sticky thread on SCWF, which has now received over 23,000 views.


His title is not the 'catch all' that it might be. From what I've read of it, the thread is overly preoccupied with discussing frankened 6138 and 6139 automatic chrono's, particularly their precious 'Pogues', containing aftermarket parts, being misrepresented by dishonest eBay sellers. Dodgy frankened watches apart, there's little actual talk about the insidious practices of profiteering re-selling or shill bidding which eBay is rife with and are blighting this hobby for enthusiasts.

I've never been afraid to speak my mind and have been railing against dishonest and unethical eBay sellers for over 10 years now. From memory, one of my earliest exposées even pre-dates the old forum. I first outed profiteering UK eBay re-seller timely_classic (previously time_classics, then still trading as firefly_watches) on both SCWF and the RLT UK watch forum as far back as 2011. My continued campaigning on the old forum, notably in this long since dormant thread may even have led to the involvement of the Fraud Squad and their ultimate untimely demise.

There are literally dozens of other threads in the eBay section the old forum exposing other dishonest / unethical eBay sellers / frankened or misrepresented watches - at least 9 of them (because I started numbering them after a while) are concerned with profiteering and shill bidding. The problem is, that once the old forum disappears into the ether, along with our Webs host at the end of this month, those results won't show up as 'red flags' in Google searches any more.

I recently revisited the SCWF thread and made a mental note of two sentences Ewan had written in his third paragraph:
Well, I try to keep a list of dodgy eBayers so that if I see anything from them in future I'll know to be extra wary or to avoid at all costs. Some seem to disappear and then spidey sense detects similar photography styles or description practices in other sellers who show up.

I'm fortunate that I still have a very good (and long) memory and a pretty much infallible 'second sense' of Déjà Vu.
So I don't need to 'keep a list' personally. When my memory very occasionally lets me down, I usually know what search criteria to use on the old forum to find the information. However, based on what Ewan's done over on SCWF, I thought it might be an idea to create a similar sh!t list for 7Axx sellers. So in the last month or so, since I last posted on the old forum, I've been trawling through dozens of threads, making a list of candidates, I rightfully believe deserve inclusion. For ease of maintenance, I've built it into a simple Excel spreadsheet. The column headers should be self-explanatory:


The annoying practice of 'Ending and Re-listing' (usually because an item is allegedly no longer available) is common practice on eBay. Nobody has been cited for that alone (hence the asterisk). The way it stands at the moment, other potential categories like 'Flagrantly mis-represents' and 'Purveyor of Frankens' are lumped together under Comments.

The spreadsheet currently runs to over 70 rows !! That includes aliases and some dormant (and since banned) eBay ID's. Yes all the obvious ones like Giuseppe ('728' and his multiple other ID's), Simone (00), flobaca and quartzwerk are naturally included, but there are a good many others besides, who you may never have heard of, or forgotten. Thing is, if and when I choose to publish the spreadsheet, it's probably going to upset a few people.

Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:47 amFor ease of maintenance, I've built it into a simple Excel spreadsheet. The column headers should be self-explanatory:

eBay-Sellers-ToAvoid-Excel-Headers.png (4.74 KiB) Viewed 28004 times

The annoying practice of 'Ending and Re-listing' (usually because an item is allegedly no longer available) is common practice on eBay. Nobody has been cited for that alone (hence the asterisk). The way it stands at the moment, other potential categories like 'Flagrantly mis-represents' and 'Purveyor of Frankens' are lumped together under Comments.

I'm still working on 'Ze List' - not only adding more sellers, but I've also re-vamped and expanded the column headings:

Hello, Ryan (a.k.a. US eBay seller rtm127).


You may (or not) be pleased to learn, that in recognition of your recent forays into re-selling distinctly dodgy-looking Seiko 7A38's - and not forgetting that ridiculously over-priced ex-Yahoo Japan 7A28-7090 Yacht Timer, you have been duly appointed to the dishonorable League of Profiteering Scum.

Hello. I’m new to the forum. Any updates on the spreadsheet?

Welcome aboard.

I've continued to add updates to the spreadsheet and it now runs to over 100 rows. Though that figure includes a few eBay sellers with multiple ID's, some who are currently 'dormant' or no longer registered. I'm still in two minds as to whether to publish it or not. Doing so will probably cause me more grief (like the post I had to to delete yesterday morning, from another thread in this forum section).