eBay, Selling, Buying and Issues.

[Auke]

Recently I bought four award groups from an eBay seller. I don't have much experience with document entries, but I knew the booklets themselves were original and that the awards were original. I simply wasn't sure about the entries, but I decided to trust the seller's "top rated seller" status and his 100% positive feedback that he received from hundreds of people. Furthermore, one group also had a Capture of Berlin Medal with document, that was definitely original, so I decided to trust the order booklet.

When I received the groups, all booklet entries (names, award serial numbers, signatures) turned out to be fake.

Looking back, I suspect the seller knew this, since he didn't show pictures of the signature and name pages of the booklets, it didn't take a microscope to come to the conclusion that the entries are fake, and he stated in every auction:
"The award document is in fair condition, but I am not an expert on documents so dont know if this is 100 % original. It is my opinion that the document is original, as I dont see any evident signs of forgery."
and
"if in the description it is specified that the transaction is considered finished from the moment of payment, or is specified that I cannot to guarantee originality of the goods (or its certain part) and the buyer himself decides to make purchase or not - no claims and returns will be accepted."

So, nothing to do about it. It's the first time I've been burned in four years. Lesson learned and one less seller to trust. When I look at his feedback profile, I can see that he has sold more similar groups with fake documents in the past, and he will probably continue to do so. Unfortunately there's no way to warn his future customers.

The seller is xoxol5 (Alexander Tomylo) from Ukraine. I should add that I'm not 100% sure he knew the booklets were fake and that he technically didn't do anything wrong (it's not forbidden to sell fakes and he had a disclaimer); I just want to warn everybody and advise them to take a very good look at the documents he sells. Don't trust feedback, only trust your own experience and that of objective experts (for example those here on the forum).