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I have noticed a strange phenomenon on eBay, and I am posting this topic because I want to warn other FPN members about it. I will be searching for a particular model of pen, and I will find multiple listings, from 'different' sellers, all of which appear to list the same particular individual pen. To be clear, I don't mean just e.g. 'a Lamy Safari in Red' (of which there are always going to be many available, because many are manufactured), but I might see e.g. a pen that happens to have a specific name engraved on it, and yet that same pen will appear in multiple listings, all of which are apparently 'different' sellers. These strange listings will typically use the same photographs as each other (or sub-sets of the same photos), and will often all make the same mistake(s) in their listing as each other. A really good example of the phenomenon that I am describing can be found if you click on the following links, all of which appear to be the same individual pen: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/405339169900 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296839452842 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226455222546 As a member of FPN, you will notice straight away that all of these listings repeat the same two glaring errors in their description of the item in question. You may also notice that all three listings are asking for much, much more than the item is actually worth. To me, it is not credible to suggest that three separate individuals would all make the same two glaring errors in their listings of this class of object. It is also clear that three different sellers cannot all be in possession of the same pen - so at least two of these sellers must be violating the eBay rule against offering for sale anything that is not currently in one's own possession. Or else these three 'separate' sellers are in fact the same individual/gang, posting items in multiple accounts. So, what is going with these listings (and the several others that I have seen that are like them)? Is one seller perhaps posting multiple listings under different aliases, at different vastly-inflated prices, in order to make people think that his lowest listed price is a 'bargain'? Are all three 'different' sellers offering an item for sale that that they don't have, but have seen listed on a domestic-only market, and are offering it for sale internationally on eBay at their own different vastly-inflated prices (with the intention of only buying it IF some foreign fool pays their rip-off price first)? It seems to me that one, or perhaps both, of these guesses must be correct. Both practices violate eBay's terms and conditions for selling items. I once reported to eBay a set of four such listings (for a pen that was engraved with a name, in a distinctive Latin script), and in each of my reports I included the links to the other three listings, and explained why at least three of the four listings must be dodgy. What did eBay do about it? Apart from sending me four emails to say that they had received my reports, they did NOTHING AT ALL - all four listings remained up, and live. As eBay appears to be content for this practice to continue, I have been tempted to compile a list of all of the sellers that engage in this practice, so that I know to avoid their listings in future. For now though, I am just making sure that I don't ever attempt to buy any item that appears in multiple listings of this type! So, I urge you all to watch out for - and avoid - such listings, and the sellers who list them! And I would also be grateful if anyone could explain what is actually going on in them, and why eBay refuses to take them down. Slàinte, M.