Is this odd, or is it me?

[whitedk57]

I was looking at Sterlings on eBay and I ran across one from a pawn shop. In the description they list the serial # as F014XX. You can clearly see from one of the pics that the guy was trying to cover up part of the serial #.

Is this because they don't want to deal with the hassle if it was stolen?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140045551451&indexURL=8&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting

 

[Dr Stankface]

That is pretty iffy.

Also, what in the world is that gunk on there???

 

[MickeyMouse]

Yeah that is a bit shady for my taste... the number/letter he is half covering doesn't look like an X to me and that goo isn't very appealing either

 

[Figjam]

Well the next number is a 3. But it could be stolen, who knows. That or some people dont like giving away the entire serial number for some reason, as if bass identity theft existed or something.

 

[Caca de Kick]

There's nothing new about 1/2 covered serials when putting pics up in a public area.
Many people do this as scammers can take your serial and fake some pictures and claim was theirs and that was stolen long ago, and you can be screwed if you have no document proof you're the rightful owner. It's been done before, but I haven't heard of any in a while.

-Mike

 

[Eggman]

Looks like metal pitting on the plate. Like a corrosive material got on the plate - or some big*ss belt buckle was bouncing into it. Fretboard looks abused as well.

 

[silverburst]

It kind of looks like sticker goo on the plate to me. Musician's usually don't let decent items fall out of pawn, from what I have seen. The shops in my area mostly have kurrappp...

 

[whitedk57]

There's nothing new about 1/2 covered serials when putting pics up in a public area.
Many people do this as scammers can take your serial and fake some pictures and claim was theirs and that was stolen long ago, and you can be screwed if you have no document proof you're the rightful owner. It's been done before, but I haven't heard of any in a while.

-Mike

I never thought of that angle. I was just assuming the pawn shop was being shady.

 

[mrpackerguy]

There's nothing new about 1/2 covered serials when putting pics up in a public area.
Many people do this as scammers can take your serial and fake some pictures and claim was theirs and that was stolen long ago, and you can be screwed if you have no document proof you're the rightful owner. It's been done before, but I haven't heard of any in a while.

-Mike

Yup: no reason to publicly disclose a serial number in most instances.

 

[bdgotoh]

There's nothing new about 1/2 covered serials when putting pics up in a public area.
Many people do this as scammers can take your serial and fake some pictures and claim was theirs and that was stolen long ago, and you can be screwed if you have no document proof you're the rightful owner. It's been done before, but I haven't heard of any in a while.

-Mike

+1, that's why I do it. Just makes it a little tougher for the jerks to hassle you.

 

[Dr Stankface]

Looks like metal pitting on the plate. Like a corrosive material got on the plate

Or someone blew their nose on it.