strange Ebay MK whistle listing

[pancelticpiper]

This listing struck me as odd at first glance

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Low-D-Whistle- ... 6016.l4276

and the further I read the more odd it seemed.

Stranger still when I looked at the seller's other items.

What do you think?

[kkrell]

Looks legit & has a largely accurate description. Top-rated eBay seller with a variety of items, many over-priced (like this Kelpie, when you consider non-VAT pricing, if whistle is already in the U.S.) & according to some feedback the seller often drop-ships, such as from Amazon. That could explain the variety of products, and they shop around for pricing (just as I do for my home purchases). The Kelpie Ds are not currently in stock at MKWhistles.com. This seller may or may not actually have it in their possession in the U.S. Certainly possible that they managed to come up with one.

[pancelticpiper]

An Ebay seller listing items they can't deliver isn't going to last long. Their feedback rating would rapidly drop and scare off future purchases.

I just had that happen to me, I purchased something then a couple weeks later got a refund from the seller saying the item wasn't in stock.

How can I leave them positive feedback? They wasted my time with a false listing.

[kkrell]

That particular seller has been an eBay member with few negatives (in the last 12 months), since 2013. On that MK listing, they claim to ship in 1 business day, suggesting it is on hand. But who wants to pay that much for a non-tunable Kelpie, if not direct from Misha?

[PB+J]

Seller has a bizarre assortment of stuff for sale, a lot of it overpriced. Seems to have little idea of the market value of the things for sale, like it was all bought at some kind of auction lot

[trill]

Yes. It's a Kelpie. I have one.

My guess is that the seller is a marketer - a middle-man. All of their listings say "new". From all the other listings, I see no evidence that the seller is a musician.

3 comments on the whistle listing:

1. The seller claims to have 2, new.

2. The seller claims that the it's a "beginner" whistle. Honestly, making such a judgement would seem to imply some knowledge of what makes a whistle a "beginner" item.

3. The price seems quite high.

The internet is great. Especially during covid19 lockdown. But, for purchases, especially used items, its not all smiles+happiness. It's very easy to get burned with bad merchandise. I've gotten burned.

Yes. Odd. Makes me wonder how they got access to 2 (if in fact, they do have 2).

trill

[bigsciota]

I was thinking the same thing when I saw a listing from (presumably) the same seller on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Low-Whistle-begi ... 084HG3Q6Z/

Probably a middleman, although why you'd pick MK whistles of all items to be the middleman for I have no idea. Not like there's a massive market for them, good as they may be!

[trill]

Honestly,

I just read the Amazon ad.

The text has a bunch of grammatical bumps.

I also just read a bunch of text on Misha's site.

I don't think Misha wrote the Amazon ad. The writing is too different. I may be wrong, but that's my impression.

What bugs me is that the seller is listed as "Mk Whistles".

I suppose Misha may have contracted with a "marketing" company.

Something else: I just looked at the images on the ebay + Amazon ads. They look the same.

But . . . something doesn't feel right. I'm going to contact Misha.

[trill]

I got a reply from MK.

Here's a portion of that reply:

" Thanks very much for pointing out. It is actually legit, although as you say the text was added by the person who lists it for us. You’ve drawn my attention to it so we’ll look to rectifying it. "

So, false alarm.

A little case-study in how the internet is used for marketing.

trill

[Blower]

What struck me as odd, if it's an MK whistle, why doesn't he say it's an MK whistle? If you were buying a camera, you'd expect the seller to say it's a Canon or whatever. Or did I miss that in the description?

[kkrell]

What struck me as odd, if it's an MK whistle, why doesn't he say it's an MK whistle? If you were buying a camera, you'd expect the seller to say it's a Canon or whatever. Or did I miss that in the description?

It does list MK Whistle in the brand section. Certainly, it would be helpful for searching if in the title or other parts of the description as well.