Hi all, Kim here from www.playerpianos.com.  Well, I never thought it
would happen to me.  Guess what?  Wow!  That's pretty much not true now.

I am currently selling the Lula Mae Rodgers collection of music boxes
on eBay.  She was one of the founding members of M.B.S.I.  The
consignment was over 17 music boxes and other musical instruments.
Anyway, to make a long story short, some of the boxes were being sold
above the $1,000.00 price and the reserves were not met.

Then many of the under-bidders received phony emails from somebody
traveling in Europe, saying they were me and offering the music box
at a reduced rate because the reserve was not met, but they only could
accept Western Union (Bidpay) moneygrams instead of PayPal (which
I don't even offer above $300.00 anyway).

So I spoke to some of my friends and everyone agreed with me to move
any of the higher-end auctions to eBay's "private auction", protecting
anyone who bids against this type of fraud.  I think for the moment
this is the best solution.

In eBay's private auctions the only real thing that changes is that
the bidder's name and email address is replaced with just a number.
I'm going to try this out and hope for the best.  I'll let you all
know what happens.

Sincerely yours
Kim Bunker
www.playerpianos.com

 [ At http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/private.html :
 [ "Would you like your buyers' identities to remain anonymous?
 [ When you create a private listing, a buyer's User ID will not appear
 [ in the listing or in the listing's bid history.  As the seller, you
 [ are the only person authorized to view the buyer User IDs associated
 [ with your listing."
 [
 [ At http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buyerguide/bidding-type.html
 [ "Private Auctions
 [ "A seller may specify that an auction will be a private auction.
 [ This means bidders' email addresses will not be disclosed on the
 [ item screen or bidding history screen.  Only the seller and the
 [ high-bidder will be notified via email when the auction is over.
 [ This option is useful when the seller realises that potential
 [ bidders may not want their identities disclosed to the general
 [ public.  This option is not available for Dutch auctions."
 [
 [ -- Robbie