I can't hardly believe it, Harbour Lights has just began shipping this piece, but sure enough someone already has it for sale on EBAY.( and already has three bids on it)Who would buy this at issue price and sell it so soon ? Could this be a dealer selling on EBAY ? A dealer is the only one who could make a profit at this point. No one else would buy this piece at retail to resell it the next day. How do you figure this out???
http://cgi-new.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=119871501
Puzzled !!!

"the lightkeeper"

My guess is that this is a dealer. This might be the way this dealer moves quite a bit of his merchandise that might otherwise languish on the shelf for any number of reasons. However, I do agree with you "thelgtkpr" in that its hard to believe that he is already posting a piece that has barely begun shipping.


Lighthouse Ghost

Judging by the number of other auctions and the range of collectibles offered by this seller, I'd say they are a dealer.

Searching Rhode Island dealers, I don't see any with email listings or where the "tlcXXX" might be an abbreviation. However, the listing does not necessarily include all email -- only those where the dealer wanted one listed.

I'd say individuals who offer these new releases or non-retired items are not really expecting to sell them to Harbour Lights collectors, but rather to someone with an interest in the area or city.

Maybe we need a 'truth squad' of collectors who will email bidders on ebay when the item they are bidding on are either non-retired or still available at retail.

It wouldn't be too hard to capture HL bidder & seller emails, create a mailing list and do a weekly email summary and overview of pieces, no-bids, bids and etc.

(I'm NOT volunteering!)

I thought the "Truth Squad was already in place. I have been warned on two ocassions when bidding on HL's and I know of other folks who have been given a heads-up as well by some of our concerned HL collectors. I don't know if they do them all, but I know there is at least somewhat of a "Truth Squad" out there and active.

Don't know if this helps, but I went through the feedback on this seller and one of his customers called him by name - Tony Lopez. He certainly has a good feedback rating.


I would concur with your comments as to his probably reasons for putting the Hudson-Athens up. If he is infact a dealer, he may also be using this as a lost leader, especially if you look at his sales record, as he has sold a number of LE's below retail.

Karen

For all interested parties, the final selling price for this lighthouse was $69. That is $9 less than issue price on a piece that hasn't even arrived in some stores yet. Something wrong here !!!

"the lightkeeper"