NOS transistor scam on eBay

[pedalfiend]

just wanted to give a heads up of a scam on eBay.

A guy who runs a electronics and repair shop in Devon, UK, was selling bags of 400 NOS germaniums on eBay,.. some sold for over £600.
If you bought these, or know who bought these, PLEASE check them with a professional transistor tester that can detect internal shorts and bi-polar leakage (not a cheap tester off eBay), as one buyer has reported 41% were duds.
Anyone who did buy these can still talk to ebay (who are currently investigating) via the chat at https://www.ebay.com/help/contact_us?id=4128&st=10
Lets all help get these scammers shut down.

Please share this info - thanks

BTW - his shop is here
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.5479033,-3.5074153,3a,60y,187.55h,76.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKswXfC7TAmy8FeBXz9CgOA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
MARC NALL (ebay seller name - phildixon003)
149 Bitton Park Road
Teignmouth, Devon, TQ14 9DQ

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Might help to list the seller name or shop name. Might be more than one "component shop in Devon, UK"

[pedalfiend]

yeah, I thought of that, but only a few people bought these, and they will know who they are, if word reaches them.
I feel for ther guy who bought two lots, 400x AC128's @ £675 (inc P&P), then 350x AV176's for £165 (inc P&P).
Someone else bought 350x AC128's @ £535 (inc P&P)
Another bought 400x AC188's @ £230 (inc P&P)
and muggins here got stung the least 400x AC176's @ £108 (inc P&P)

I spent 2 days throughly testing each one, 160 were either dead, or tested as caps, resistors, LED's, regulators, or as having a protection diode across C-E (a sure sign it's going to fail soon). The seller was clearly unreasonable and procrastinated every which way - in precisely the way an honest seller wouldn't !!
FYI - Up until recently (when some joker started using a bidding-bot) these NOS's typically went for around £250 for 10.

So my hope is by spreading the word, those poor folk who paid really stupid money will at least test their goods, realise they've been scammed, and report it - then the seller will have to take the consequences.

[Betty Wont]

Did the seller list them specifically as sorted and tested, or as a bulk lot? Its rare to buy a lot of Ge transistors that large and have them pretested. Any ACXXX lots sold these days are likely culls and any buyer should already be aware that they are buying leftovers.

[pedalfiend]

listed as 'For parts or not working', also No Returns, but scammers do exactly the same so I was taking a risk, and I got ripped off the least of the 5 other similar sales from the same seller.
I've been buying similar items from an honest seller for years with less than 1% failures.
It was just a heads up for anyone who might me tempted, obviously there are a lot of eBay users selling NOS at ridiculous prices - buyer beware !