eBay auction mystery metal...

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NobleMetalWorks

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Joined
Feb 29, 2012
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Location
East Bay Area, California
Anyone have any ideas on what this might be?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-GRAMS-OF...308?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d0188544

I was going to ask him some questions about it, but I'm not even sure what questions to ask.

I'm more curious than anything, if the price stayed .99 cents, then I think I would get it, if for no other reason than to try and discover what type of metal it is, and the off chance it might be precious metal.

Scott
 
Zinc, gallium, indium, tin. Take your pick. Whenever there is an "unknown" metal they usually know exactly what it is. They are just looking for a sucker.
 
goldenchild said:
Zinc, gallium, indium, tin. Take your pick. Whenever there is an "unknown" metal they usually know exactly what it is. They are just looking for a sucker.

I agree, And I think he may have found one, you can clearly see the metal is tarnished which automatically puts it out of the precious metals class.

Larger auction image of white mystery metal, origianl image hosted here.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-GRAMS-OF...308?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d0188544
 

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rusty said:
goldenchild said:
Zinc, gallium, indium, tin. Take your pick. Whenever there is an "unknown" metal they usually know exactly what it is. They are just looking for a sucker.

I agreee, And I think he may have found one, you can clearly see the metal is tarnished which automatically puts it out of the precious metals class.

Great point, At best, it's not a Nobel Metal...
 
This guy has been trying to sell that stuff for a while. I know, because when I first saw it more than a month ago, I checked the location and its my home town, so I remember well the auction. If you check the other items he's selling, I'm sure he knows how to test for PM's.

He has another similar auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-GRAMS-OF-UNKOWN-GRANULATED-YELLOW-METAL-SCRAP-FOR-RECOVERY-/120898435085?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c261bb80d

Yuuup, I think he's looking for a sucker...

Phil
 
I've enlarged his pictures of the sprue and mystery yellow metal.

To have a better look at any ebay hosted picture, go to firefox drop down menu, click on save page as. There will be a file folder that has the pictures. Once you have the picture open it up in you favorit photo editor to expand the veiw.

These imgaes are now twice the size as they were previously shown on ebay.
 

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Well he has a test kit, this is what he says in one of his auctions..

ABNER CASTING

YOU ARE A BIDDING ON 41 GRAMS OF AN UNKOWN DENTAL CASTING SPRUE SCRAP WHITE METAL FOR RECOVERY, I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WHITE IS,IT WAS TESTED ON A GOLD TESTING STONE WITH 18K GOLD ACID SOLUTION AND PLATINUM ACID TESTING SOLUTION AND IT DID NOT ERASE AND EVEN WAS TESTED WITH A MAGNET AND DID NOT STICK TO IT,I REALLY DO NOT KNOW WHAT METAL IS,IT WAS OBTAINED ON THE PAWNSHOP FROM A DENTAL MANUFACTORY THAT CLOSE MANY YEARS AGO.THIS ITEMS SALES ARE FINAL,THEY ARE SOLD AS IT AND WE DO NOT ACCEPT RETURNS.

So you are right, he knows exactly what he is doing.

I wonder if eBay will do anything if I make a complaint
 
SBrown said:
Well he has a test kit, this is what he says in one of his auctions..

ABNER CASTING

YOU ARE A BIDDING ON 41 GRAMS OF AN UNKOWN DENTAL CASTING SPRUE SCRAP WHITE METAL FOR RECOVERY, I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WHITE IS,IT WAS TESTED ON A GOLD TESTING STONE WITH 18K GOLD ACID SOLUTION AND PLATINUM ACID TESTING SOLUTION AND IT DID NOT ERASE AND EVEN WAS TESTED WITH A MAGNET AND DID NOT STICK TO IT,I REALLY DO NOT KNOW WHAT METAL IS,IT WAS OBTAINED ON THE PAWNSHOP FROM A DENTAL MANUFACTORY THAT CLOSE MANY YEARS AGO.THIS ITEMS SALES ARE FINAL,THEY ARE SOLD AS IT AND WE DO NOT ACCEPT RETURNS.

So you are right, he knows exactly what he is doing.

I wonder if eBay will do anything if I make a complaint

Yea ebay will send you an automated message saying that they're looking into it. This ebay thead is good in that our membes are showing new members how to be a cautious buyer.

It really does not help when your fist up to the plate stating that your willing to take the gamble if it stayed at $0.99, something you may not have noticed Intenational Shipping is just under $30.00 for a couple of grams of lead or yellow brass.

Obviously he's making up on shipping. These days I'm getting a much better deal both on goods and shipping from the Chinese, the UK is a close 2nd. Its all about making $$$ on the shipping.

I might add that goods purchased from ebay US and from China I'm constantly reeiving my goods from China about 1 week before the US parcel arrives. This guy selling mystery metals is a prime excample.

The yellow metal 20 grams $3.99 to the US, $26.99 to Canada
 
Before you click the button to complete the transaction, you always have to check shipping. Raising the shipping prices could be done for several reasons, but most common I believe are that they want to circumvent eBay's charges, even though eBay now takes a percentage of the shipping price, or they are trying to get that one person who clicks without reading, and then blammo, they get hit with shipping costs that are outrageous.
 
I sent him a message to the person auctioning off this scrap. We went back and forth a few times, he was very polite and thanked me, go figure, I think he is going to change his posts, or at least I hope so. I figure it's better to call him out and maybe he would change his posts rather than complain to eBay, which probably wouldn't get around to checking his auctions before it was over.

Anyway

We should post these auctions and all complain in tandem.

At the very least they will realize they pissed off a lot of people...
 

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