Iffy eBay goods draw ire of Internet posse: Cyber-vigilantes track down sellers of questionable items—often with blessing of overworked authorities

I was going to comment on a similar story yesterday, but didn't quite find the time. Today I just couldn't miss the opportunity again.

I encourage you all to read it. It reminds us of that age-old saying: If it's too good to be true, it probably is. That's not saying you can't get taken to the cleaners with a phony item if the price is in the ballpark of where it should be... but you want to stick with reputable dealers to minimize your chance of being swindled.

Buyer beware.

From the latest "Kyle on Antiques" column:

Q  This print was removed from an office of a closed-down petroleum company. It is 47 1/2 inches by 34 inches. At the top is printed “Bank by Andy Warhol. Pretty as a pigture, huh?” Though it certainly looks like something Warhol would paint, but I have been unable to find anything about it.

­—H.P., Pampa, Texas

A  I did quite a bit of research online to try and determine if this is based on the artwork of Andy Warhol but didn’t have any luck. Of course, he produced hundreds and hundreds of designs and I couldn’t locate a resource that lists them all. The value of this piece will depend greatly on how scarce it is and whether Warhol actually licensed it as an advertising piece. Of course, original Warhol silk-screens are extremely valuable but huge numbers of reproductions of them are available today at modest prices. My guess is that this isn’t a terribly rare item but perhaps some reader may be able to enlighten us further.

If you can help, please post a reply here.

Where can a life-sized clown named Louie wander off to? Or was he clown-napped? When you first read about it, you might think it's some sort of spoof of CSI or some other detective show. But amusement park owners Stanley and Margaret Nelson are serious about getting their clown back.

According to a news story in the Fort Mill Times, the 60-year-old Witchita, Kan., amusement park is missing two important antiques: its life-sized, carved clown named Louie and the automated Wurlitzer organ Louie played.

The Nelsons have sued the former Joyland operators who say they know nothing about the missing clown's whereabouts. In the meantime, the status of the park's reopening remains in flux.

To read more of this detective drama, click here or here. They're not clowning around.

Here's your newest issue of Antique Trader:

You'd think being the publishing home of Antique Trader would be the claim to fame for little Iola, Wisconsin. But, alas, that is not the case.

This weekend, upwards of 150,000 people will converge on this tiny village to drool over chrome, inhale the sweet smell of exhaust and hug newfound hubcaps. Yup. It's time for the 36th annual Iola Old Car Show. As always, our sister publication, Old Cars Weekly, has some exciting (and exclusive) coverage plans for the event, which takes place on the grounds surrounding our publishing house.

This year's theme tent will feature "roadsters, ragtops and rumble seats." For the blue-bloods, of course, there is always the Blue Ribbon display, a showcase of the best unrestored vehicles one can find on this planet. For those with a little rust running through their veins, there's acres and acres of swap meet vendors (heaven for petroliana fans, too!). For people like me who like looking at pretty things, there's Johnny Depp.

No kidding. There will be a special display of cars used in the recent filming of the "Public Enemies" movie, something all of Wisconsin was excited about. I am told by Old Cars editor Angelo Van Bogart that the display will feature such screen stars as a 1933 Nash sedan, 1935 Plymouth coupe and Model A truck. What? The cars are the screen stars? No Johnny Depp?! Sigh...

If you want to see what you're missing -- who knows, maybe Johnny will drop by -- you just have to check out the LIVE streaming video web cams. Just click on the camera links found here. It's a great way to kill time in the comfort of your air-conditioning this weekend.

I can tell you, though, it is definitely worth the trip if you can make it. Click on the Old Cars Weekly Web site for a schedule of events and continuous coverage -- which hopefully includes an interview with a dark-haired celebrity. (Yes, OK, I have to get over it. Where's the funnel cake stand?)

EBay. At the mere mention of the site, strong feelings tend to surface, and whether you love it, hate it or couldn’t care less, it is a powerful force in the cyber-marketplace for buyers and sellers. The changes made earlier this year haven’t seemed to cause much of a ripple in the number of listings, though it did “inspire” a few eBay sellers to venture out and start their own auction sites. (OnlineAuction.com is just one of these sites, and is picking up steam; when I last checked, they were up to 14.8 million items listed.)

I admit it: I am an eBay fan. I’ve been a registered user since 2000 and the great majority of my experiences have been positive. But, I’m only a buyer – I’ve never sold anything on eBay or any other online auction site. I’ve participated in enough eBay auctions to recognize certain “adversaries” who collect the same treasures as I do, and I’m fine with getting involved in an auction with these opponents because I bid what I’m willing to pay and no more (which, I believe, is one of the secrets of always being satisfied with any auction purchase, but I’ll save that for another time) and may the highest bidder win.

Recently, I’ve been reading discussions about one of the eBay changes that I believe affects buyers more than sellers: bidder anonymity. Keep in mind, though, I don’t have a seller’s perspective. (Perhaps some of you can help me out with that.)

In the U.S., eBay bidder IDs are kept “partially anonymous,” that is, you can always see the sellers’ IDs, and if you sign in, you can see your own ID. Everyone else’s is kept somewhat anonymous (“to enhance bidder privacy” and protect bidders from fake second chance offers) by asterisks filling in between two random characters from bidders’ User IDs. Only after an auction ends does the winning bidder’s full User ID show up in the bidding history.

There has been quite a bit of discussion on the “absolute anonymity” that eBay has implemented in Australia and the U.K., where bidder IDs are now kept completely anonymous. Think about that from a bidder’s perspective. The largest ramification that I can think of: What will keep a seller from logging in and shill bidding, that is, making phony bids to drive up the final sale price?

EBay has discouraged its sellers with its recent restructuring of seller fees and taking away the seller’s ability to leave negative feedback for buyers.

This week Antique Trader wants to know: If eBay implements absolute bidder anonymity in the U.S. – which some people think is imminent – what effect will it have on bidder, and thus, buyer, participation? How important is it to you that you know who you are bidding against?

What do you think? E-mail robyn.austin@fwpubs.com and tell her what you think, or post a reply here.