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Return of the Bellet Book Scam 
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Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:41 am
Posts: 180
Car(s): Hillman (Bellett ancestor), Rallied a Bellett in the 1970s, Owned a Gemini, Bellett GTR 1:43
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Hi all,

Some of you will remember this. A while back (not long after I joined) there was a scam going on with the sale of books that were supposed to be about Isuzu Bellett history. Compiled by Frederic P Miller and selling for about $80. When you opened the book it turned out to be stuff downloaded from Wikipedia, not at all organised, not well printed and full of factual errors.

Well guess what, the scam has resurfaced :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Isuzu-Bellet ... 1e6df678e9

So this is a warning for those who may be new to the forum. Don't buy this book or anything else by "Miller" - you can download the content free. And of course there are thousands of other listings for book on all subjects, all compiled the same way

Last time after many complaints they disappeared. I suggest you all do your civic duty and fire off an email to ebay. And tell your friends.

Cheers, Vic

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Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:34 pm
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Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 12:17 pm
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Location: Rye Park, N.S.W.
Car(s): Doris, AuntyMary, Shrek, Jimmy; GT, Wasp, Flo & Sed unrestos; 65 Elf; 82 Rodeo, 60 TX550, 72 Sport, & a Sigma.
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Thanks for catching-up the newbies, Vic.
It is rubbish, don't fall in the trap. :x

Cheers, Matt.

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Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:07 pm
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Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:50 am
Posts: 774
Car(s): Peugeot 206 GTi 180, Ford Fiesta, Bond Equipe 2-Litre GT, Mazda R360 Coupe, Nissan CSP-311 Silvia. PAST: Bellett 1600GT
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Unfortunately, I don't ever remember these books disappearing...eBay loves a good scam, as long as the crooks are paying their fees. :x


Thu Jun 28, 2012 1:09 am
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Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:05 am
Posts: 543
Location: 12,450 miles away from the Big Warehouse in Melbourne
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The seller doesn't look like a scammer, just a really big bookstore that has fed their entire wholesaler's catalog into the website to offer every single book they can get, through ebay.

The problem is that their wholesaler doesn't care enough to sort out the cut-and-paste-wikipedia-books, and the seller has four-hundred-thousand book listings on ebay, so they probably don't care enough to take the listing down if you point out that the book is a complete fraud.

If the English language wikipedia content weren't completely and totally screwed up by fan-boys, bored teenagers looking for trouble to cause, and nut-cases posting conspiracy theories for every dang topic available, it might actually be worth printing, but never worth eighty something dollars or rubles or pesos.

If you want to find a real problem on ebay, look at the ebay-motors category and all the sellers listing entire manufacturer out-of-date catalogs, full of discontinued and obsolete parts that they think they can have drop-shipped from the manufacturer to the customer. There is some rule that the seller is supposed to have actual, physical possession of the item that they are putting up for sale, but that rule is never enforced. Buyers (and the seller) don't find out the item can't be supplied until after the buyer issues a paypal payment. If it's an expensive item that everyone wants to click to watch, but never buy, then they might never find out the item is discontinued. But those of us who actually have one of these items, new, in the box, and want to sell it at a price that reflects that it is in fact impossible to get, and the one being offered is the last one in existence, buyers look at all the drop-ship-seller doesn't-know-it's-discontinued-listings, and accuse the seller of being delusional.
That's a situation to get angry about.


Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:08 am
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Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:15 am
Posts: 1991
Car(s): 1965 Wasp, 1966 Bellett, 1967 Bellett, 1969 Florian, 1973 Bellett GTR, 1976 Buick Opel by Isuzu, 1978 Gemini van
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Yeah the problem is with the Frederic P Miller books is that I've told a couple of sellers about them and they have duly removed their listings, however then another book seller gets them in, then another, then another.

Thanks to LemansVK for pointing it out again for any newies.

I bought one right when they came out and posted it back and got a full refund. It was a hundred bucks!!! I even told the seller that if it had been $20.00 I might have considered just keeping it for a laugh, but not at $100.00.

It was pretty stupid. Actually mine was the Florian version. Had a chapter of Florians, then a chapter on the Chevy Luv (appropriately enough), then a generic section on 'sedans'... as in the entire BODY SHAPE of sedan - the history, etc, then a generic section on automatic transmissions, Isuzu and some other random links, all printed from Wikipedia. And bound in softcover for a hundred bucks.

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Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:19 am
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Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:05 am
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Location: 12,450 miles away from the Big Warehouse in Melbourne
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This thread should be stickied.


Sat Mar 23, 2013 6:41 pm
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