Nautiluso: More Feedback, No Response From eBay
Here’s a quick update on the Nautiluso Fraud:
I contacted media relations at eBay on Monday with a bunch of questions. Still no response. I’ll follow up today. Still trying to find out if they are acknowledging a fraud, if they are pressing charges against the perpetrator and if they are consistently reimbursing victims.
There are two new instances of negative feedback on Nautiluso if you check out his profile here. These are from a classical buyer from the same auction. He was ripped off to the tune of about $3,400 and says on his feedback that eBay refunded his money. So far, everyone we’ve heard from directly has
received a refund either from eBay or PayPal. We’re anxious to hear if someone out there hasn’t been reimbursed.
I contacted a friend at The New York Times to see if they’d be interested in following up on this story. They expressed some interest but, in the end, decided to pass on it. I had hoped the threat of a national media spotlight might make eBay and PayPal more forthcoming with information. So it looks like we’re on our own here to try to decipher things and figure out what happened. Eventually, I would expect some other media outlets to get wise to this story, but we’ll keep plugging away regardless.
I notice that Nautiluso is not a registered user anymore. No doubt he hasd cancelled his credit card, so EBay/Paypal have no recourse on him. In Brazil he feels safe from any claims.
My guess is he’s not even in Brazil now, just used it as a base for the scam.
As a long time ebay seller who finds it very difficult to find large numbers of rare Jazz to buy and sell, this case raises a blunt issue. Didn’t the heavy hitter Jazz collectors who fell for Nautiluso’s scheme find it very suspicious that
1.) so many super rare LPs suddenly found their way to a German seller living in Brazil maybe),
2.) this seller had less than 100 sales this year of mostly classical LPs,
3.)the seller decided to sell them all at once with minimal photos and info which is not a strategy that helps bidders bid on multiple items in such a short period?
Also – with Ebay being a forum for sales of cars, homes, jewelry etc. isn’t it quite likely that a $150,000 loss for Ebay/Paypal is just another cost of doing business for them – being only a new incident for the rare Jazz LP collectors world – but the type of thing that probably happens often and gets hushed up very quickly. Last comment – all of us who buy and sell on ebay will end up paying for this kind of rip-off when the inevitable ebay/Paypal rate increases come yet again.