Guess I should be flattered???

[Robert McGowen]

I have an Etsy shop and have sold quite a few items over the years. I have a segmented mesquite vase listed that placed first in an art show. I priced it very, very, high because I really don't want to sell it, it is just listed basically as advertising. I received the following message yesterday: (copied and pasted)

Hello,

I just come across your ads listed for sale and i will like to know if you to know if you still have iit available for sale and also want to know the conditions of it at presently, please do let me know your final asking price for it, and i hope to read from you urgently. Email Me private : usatemps78@yahoo.com

Regards..

The poster account on Etsy had been opened that day. The account was deleted by Etsy within 30 minutes of me reporting it to them. I am flattered that someone likes it enough to try and steal it, but seriously? With galleries not paying you, crooks trying to steal your stuff, and everything in between, it seems that it is getting harder and harder to make a profit turning.

[Baxter Smith]

Congrats on the potential sale Robert! Hope everything works out!

[Jay Maiers]

I think that's the same guy that wants to buy the stove I posted on Craigslist. Don't worry, he's assured me that he's an honest, God fearing man and will have his shipper pick up the item as soon as the check clears



You forgot to give us a picture of the vase
I'm not a turner, but I love looking at the photos in this part of the forum.

Jay M

[Jim Underwood]

You have to be careful of some folks. They'll get your information and not only take your product, but everything out of your bank account.

[David DeCristoforo]

The first tipoff is bad English. "I come across your site and will want to know if you can ship overseas...I hope to read from you urgently..."

Here's how it works. You contact them and they tell you that they want to "deposit the funds" directly into your account. You give them your account number and whatever other information they need to access your account. The next day, your account has a zero balance.

These scams are worked under the assumption that people are going to be so excited about selling their work that they will never even think about what is really going on. All they need is the one in a million people that are that gullible.

People want to believe this stuff. They want the "pie in the sky". It's like "the cloud". Everyone has this image in their minds of "the cloud" being some mystical, mysterious data vault, floating around in the heavens. Like heaven itself. They don't want to think of "the cloud" as being what it really is... a huge server farm probably somewhere in Pakistan.

Better to play the lottery. The odds are hugely against you but people actually do win the lottery so there is at least a chance however small. With these online scams, the only thing you have a chance of is getting ripped off. And the odds are much better that you will get ripped off if you are foolish enough to go for one.

[Robert McGowen]

Better to play the lottery. The odds are hugely against you but people actually do win the lottery so there is at least a chance however small.

The odds of winning a large lottery are actually pretty good. I remember being notified quite a few times that I have won several European Lotteries, many E-Mail drawing lotteries, and even had several princes die and leave me large sums of money (which would be kind of like winning a lottery.) If I could only save enough money to send them to cover the fees to process my winnings and cover my taxes, I would buy every one here a Robust when I receive the winnings.

[Tim Leiter]

And I thought I was the only one to win lotteries I didn't enter, taxes from Norway that are to be refunded to me, a distant so-called relative who left me millions in their will, etc. etc. Ah Rats. Like you, I didn't have the cash on hand to be able to collect my winnings, shucks. ROTFLMAO.