View Full Version : Another Travis scam on eBay
LorenzoL
12-31-2009, 08:27 PM
Discontinued, eh?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Spyderco-C101-Manix-2-Folding-Knife-Rare-No-Res_W0QQitemZ360220444680QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Def aultDomain_0?hash=item53decfc808
Well he has a very high positive feedback rating.
I take it this guy is a bit of a smelly fish on the eBay front.
yablanowitz
12-31-2009, 10:30 PM
Aside from the lies about the four-way clip and being discontinued, the only thing I see wrong with it is that it is coming from Dr. Frankenspyder.
I will say I've bought a couple of knives from him, and aside from a linerless G-10 Police with a flat-grind blade which struck me as a bit odd, I have been satisfied with his service.
Bluntrauma
01-01-2010, 03:04 AM
Now and again I have seen him sell knives that look okay even if the description is less than accurate. That being said, I will not bid on any of his items because I really get a feeling that most of his knives might not be attained through honest means.
I could be wrong and I am not saying this to disparage anyone but his auctions for the most part just don't pass my personal smell test. There are too many sellers on Ebay that I have purchased from that are reputable and have given my good service and I will stick with them.
The Deacon
01-01-2010, 07:45 AM
Now and again I have seen him sell knives that look okay even if the description is less than accurate. That being said, I will not bid on any of his items because I really get a feeling that most of his knives might not be attained through honest means.
I could be wrong and I am not saying this to disparage anyone but his auctions for the most part just don't pass my personal smell test. There are too many sellers on Ebay that I have purchased from that are reputable and have given my good service and I will stick with them.I have to agree. Anyone who sells knives on eBay might inadvertently buy, and later resell, one with questionable parentage. Over the course of a several years, it might even happen to the same seller twice. But when one seller offers an almost constant stream of questionable knives, including many which are obviously thrown together from parts, it becomes reasonable, perhaps even prudent, to assume every knife they sell might have something in common with Johnny Cash's "Once Piece At A Time" Cadillac and elect to shop elsewhere.
araneae
01-01-2010, 10:37 AM
Now and again I have seen him sell knives that look okay even if the description is less than accurate. That being said, I will not bid on any of his items because I really get a feeling that most of his knives might not be attained through honest means.
I could be wrong and I am not saying this to disparage anyone but his auctions for the most part just don't pass my personal smell test. There are too many sellers on Ebay that I have purchased from that are reputable and have given my good service and I will stick with them.
I will third that. I would prefer to support sellers that don't sell questionable items on a very regular basis.
markg
01-02-2010, 10:36 PM
But when one seller offers an almost constant stream of questionable knives, including many which are obviously thrown together from parts, it becomes reasonable, perhaps even prudent, to assume every knife they sell might have something in common with Johnny Cash's "Once Piece At A Time" Cadillac and elect to shop elsewhere.
I so forgot about that song!!!
At the time it was popular, most of my mother's family worked for GM making cars. I kept wanting them to do that... However we would have ended up with a Trans Am and not a Cadillac...
My favorite one was a D4W that was "lightly used but like new." The blade didn't look so, and the clip was all worn out.
chuck_roxas45
03-19-2010, 07:42 PM
How can you tell it's a knockoff? i woulda been taken in.
rycen
03-19-2010, 09:44 PM
That particular knife in the auction link is not a knock off but the seller is well known for selling Spyderco that seem to be put together with a huge bin of parts.That one to me looks okay especially since it is a fairly new knife. The post is just in this section of the forum due to his multiple questionable auctions in the past.
The Deacon
03-20-2010, 04:21 AM
That particular knife in the auction link is not a knock off but the seller is well known for selling Spyderco that seem to be put together with a huge bin of parts.That one to me looks okay especially since it is a fairly new knife. The post is just in this section of the forum due to his multiple questionable auctions in the past.Not to mention that, with travis... there's always the possibility it's a second and the spine was ground down a bit to eliminate the notch. Given some of the other stuff he's sold, I wouldn't put that past him. He is one eBay seller to avoid like the plague, a snake, plain and simple.
The Deacon
03-20-2010, 07:47 AM
This jigged bone Micro Dyad (http://cgi.ebay.com/Spyderco-Micro-Dyad-C112-Knife-w-Bone-No-Res_W0QQitemZ360239829187) is an example of how Travis operates. Take a really close look at the first photo. Pay particular attention to the spine of the PE blade. Note the small dark spot on it, above and sightly to the left of the Seki City lettering on the tang. Take a close look at the fifth photo as well. The blade closest to the bottom is the PE blade. Note the small dark spot on the side of its spine closest to the SE blade. The listing does not mention it being a second, but I'd bet good money that's exactly what it is.
tonydahose
03-20-2010, 05:12 PM
lol..he is watching this thread. the 5th picture is no longer available..if you are reading this, karma is going to bite you in the a$$ one day in a big way:).
HistoricalMan
03-20-2010, 06:43 PM
People like this disgust me.
What is so difficult about being an honest and kind person I do not know.
Thank you guys--I was watching, with personal interest, a knife he has listed. Now I'll still watch, but not with intent to own.
araneae
03-21-2010, 08:10 AM
If he is watching this thread and a member of the forum, shame on him. Boycott his auctions.
Integrity is being good even if no one is watching.
npueppke
03-21-2010, 03:40 PM
On the other hand he has 13,776 feedback, most of which is positive, and most of his items aren't knives and especially aren't Spydies. He also says in his auction terms "please do not assume that we know anything about the item just because we are selling it". I'm not necessarily supporting him and even if they don't know anything about Spyderco you would think that they'd mention the notch in the description, but he does have a lot of satisfied customers....
araneae
03-21-2010, 10:41 PM
The problem is many people are not that knowledgeable and would have no idea what the tiny notch meant. For that matter they would not realize that they bought a cobbled together knife made from parts of other knives that would never be covered by a warranty. He may have many "happy" customers, but ignorance is bliss and he's still a turd.
The sheer volume of spydies he sells, and the highly questionable nature of many of them, I don't see how he could not know there was something fishy with them. He sells more used spydies than any seller I've seen.
LorenzoL
03-24-2010, 07:12 AM
When he says he does not necessarily know what he is selling he is just being disingenuous and covering his ass. Someone who has sold that many knives and is still in business must know what he is doing. And there is no way he can't tell a factory second.
So, yes, he is a turd, and I hope he reads this.
HotSoup
03-26-2010, 12:28 AM
He knows.
Hes reading this.
Hes a dishonest bastard then.
The Deacon
03-26-2010, 08:08 AM
Even casting him in the best possible light, as an "knife ignorant" but honest merchant who has had the incredible bad fortune over the past couple years to purchase and resell:
-- A number of "never was" Spydercos which someone assembled from parts. The one which paired a Rescue blade with an Endura handle was a classic.
-- A number of others which appeared to be pieced together.
-- Several Spydercos which could only have "walked" out of the factory as they were never offered for sale.
-- A number of Spydercos with visible seconds notches, with no mention that they were seconds
While there's always some risk buying used knives, those things alone should be enough to make any sensible Spyderco buyer steer clear of his stuff.
I just got scammed on ebay--despite reading all the warnings (not by Travis unless he has another business). At any rate, I bought the recently listed Centofante II, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=260570291713&view=all&tid=0.
I couldn't tell from photos on my small screen, but the top edge of the knife--and perhaps on whole blade side, was ground down and polished presumably to obscure the factory second grind. Oh well. Cost me a few emails, a trip to the post office, and some dashed excitement. What doesn't kill me makes me wiser. The seller was very polite and apologetic about the whole thing--he really doesn't deal much in knives based on his other listings. Plus, if it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't have known what to watch for, thanks.
bohica1998
03-30-2010, 01:06 AM
Don't feel bad, you aren't the only one it's happened to when buying on Ebay. I got a Merlin that had no mention of a notch or being a factory second. But it did have and is a factory second. Still a good knife though, but the anal side of me now says that I have to get another one that is "right". :D:eek::D
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