They are as good as a very good epiphone but obviously look better as they carry the gibson name on head stock.
the main differences visually are the binding, where head stock meets the neck binding which is not the same as a gibson and the wiring when you open the cover plates at the back is inferior to gibson wiring, also you may find the the side of the routed hole are painted as opposed to a gibson which is mahogany finished wood. sometimes the truss rod cover has three screws instead of two.

And when the ‘Sellers’ e-mail you, they do so directly and bypass ebay cos they have already been unregistered.
And then the resulting e-mails are very funny, the empty threats of neg feedback, but then you start talking about sending them extra cash if they can throw in a Vintage chinese vase with it, and when you get bored with them just filter out and block their e-mails.

Yep, fvjbngugn99 never complains, never posts a -ve or NPB notice to Fleeb, they just disappear and become rtunvrlgv99.

The great thing about “buying” something from these scamming gits is that Fleeb sends the seller a bill for the % of the $500 they owe. Of course, they can’t say I was an NPB (because I can show they don’t own the guitar) so they do a runner, rather than end up coughing $25 to Fleeb in seller’s fees.

they always disapear a week after the auction.

[quote=”lee_UK”]I once bought 8 vintage amps in 5 minutes, all at the BIN price, it was quite fun asking for ‘extra’ pictures of the amps from the Chinese scammers before i sent payment, thier eyes lit up when i mentioned sending cash through the post. Well worth a giggle.
They were then ‘Unregistered’ from ebay so they couldnt leave me bad feedback.[/quote]

How were you able to rely on them being subsequently unregistered?

Winner gets a 27$ ’60 Les Paul.

We could run a competition, who has bought the most Chinese sellers vintage amps and guitars.
A league table… 😆

We do run the risk of IP banning. Which is unfortunate because a team of fake buyers would combat the problem to some extent. Would make a great 20 second ‘oddball’ piece at the end of the news too.

You see, if we all did this we could wipe out ebay scamsters overnight!
1bassleft can be our leader, our Baden Powell.
Anyone joining up brothers?

The highjacking ones, once eBay refused to pull them (quote) “the original seller may have given permission to the other seller to borrow text and pictures for a similar item for sale” I started having a battle with.

I created “Sinoscamtosser” and bid left, right centre on £600 Gibsons, Fenders, etc. As soon as I got their bank details I posted them up on this site, sent it to eBay’s fraudwatch etc. Do you know what happened? Fleeb sent me a “congratulations on your successful purchases” email. I replied back that I had no intention of paying for the items and I was deliberately being a NPB because they weren’t doing the job properly. Surprisingly, they still haven’t cancelled my Sinoscamtosser s/n 😯

You havent seen the size of the codpeice !

Now you’re just being modest.

I do have a Mask and Cape somewhere in the house, im thinking of a name like Captain Fookoffchinesescammingbustardsanddie, but i just cant fit the letters on the codpeice.

I wish I had your nerve. When I see anything slightly dodgy on ebay, I run away like a little girl.

I once bought 8 vintage amps in 5 minutes, all at the BIN price, it was quite fun asking for ‘extra’ pictures of the amps from the Chinese scammers before i sent payment, thier eyes lit up when i mentioned sending cash through the post. Well worth a giggle.
They were then ‘Unregistered’ from ebay so they couldnt leave me bad feedback.

Both types of scam happen. Long-timers will know of my uphill struggle to get eBay to do something about these frauds.

One type is a genuine auction (usually in the US or UK) for a genuine, valuable Les Paul or Fender. After, or sometimes during, the auction, the whole thing is “highjacked”. Text and pictures are lifted, but the “seller” is now “fmslbn99” with a zero rating. The guitar is offered at RMB2000 (Yuan, say about £300 or $550) and payment must be by bank transfer. Only an idiot would fall for this scam that is still common.

The second type is the “new exquisite fanciful omniscient Les Paul” auction. As mentioned, the guitar may be listed at £1 but has a shipping rate of £200 or so. You may well get a guitar (unlike the above scam, where the “seller” has never seen the thing in the flesh) but it won’t be a Les Paul. They are vastly inferior even to an Epiphone or Squier and not worth the total cost paid.

Somebody (not me) has written this up on eBay. If you look up the guitars section you will see a “related guide” called “China Guitar Scam”. Please, everyone, click on it and click on that you found the guide useful. It is the best way of keeping the scam flagged up for the newbs.

I just read an article about Chinese “les pauls”. usually, all you have to do is pay for the shipping, they’re so cheap. Anyways, they are not “les pauls”, they are junk.

[quote=”lee_UK”]They steal other peoples auctions and then relist them.
Very common scam, they always have (0) sales, they dont actualy have the item, neve buy anything from ebayers in China, unless you know they are legit.[/quote]

Actually, probably not in this case. If you bid, and pay the extemely high shipping, you will probably get two guitars. And they may even look like the guitars in the photo. But they’ll be cheap Chinese copies.

This has gotten to be an extreme problem with Ibanez, lately. One expert says there are more “Ibanez” guitars made in China than Hoshino makes around the world, including in THEIR Chinese factory. Most of the copies are really bad, often hundreds having the same serial number, etc. If there is an accurate picture of the item, it’s usually not hard to tell that it’s a fake.

Here’s an example. This guy has been around, been booted off e-bay, and just keeps coming back under new ID’s. Take a look at the photos. You’ll see a number of problems, if you know what to look for.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-white-ibanez-electric-guitar_W0QQitemZ300018060951QQihZ020QQcategoryZ113476QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They steal other peoples auctions and then relist them.
Very common scam, they always have (0) sales, they dont actualy have the item, neve buy anything from ebayers in China, unless you know they are legit.

Here are two for less than $400 for the pair! (Yeah, sure.)

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-and-fine-pair-Gibson-Les-Paul-Supreme-guitar_W0QQitemZ200017727668QQihZ010QQcategoryZ33040QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

glw is right, there are korean made Epiphone les pauls, which are pretty close the the Gibson Les Paul sound, and worth every penny, but there are differences between the 2 guitars. Gibsons arent made in China… At least not yet.

Chinese-made Gibson Les Paul?

No such thing, surely, other than illegal copies.