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I got a phone call from an investigator from the Texas Dental Board today. A dentist complained that we were selling prescription dentures on ebay. What a joke! Here's the story - Hubby is the buyer and I put what he buys on ebay. He came home from an Illinois auction a couple of months ago with a boxlot of very old dental items (from the 30s and 40s). Mostly it was tooth shades but there were 2 sample dentures still in the box. I laughed when I saw what he brought home but went ahead and looked out there and saw that there were lots of vintage dental items on ebay and so I listed the tooth shade things and the sample dentures and it all sold. This was back in February. The investigator told hubby that we could be charged with a 3rd degree Felony for selling the dentures, but that she agreed with us that the complaint was ridiculous so she would not do that. I just thought I would make everyone aware that this could happen to anyone that bought vintage dentures (even if they were dental samples) at estate sales or auctions and then listed them on ebay. There is a dentist out there in ebayland ratting on everyone selling dentures or sample dentures - even from the 30s!
Susan
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Does that mean that I probably won't be able to find an upper plate on eBay? I got bad news from my dentist this week and thought I'd do some comparison shopping on eBay. That's OK, though, because a friend who owns a funeral home said I could come over and go through his stash to see if I could find something I like. He has a drawer full of them that belonged to former customers.
Joan
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Originally Posted by Joan
Does that mean that I probably won't be able to find an upper plate on eBay? I got bad news from my dentist this week and thought I'd do some comparison shopping on eBay. That's OK, though, because a friend who owns a funeral home said I could come over and go through his stash to see if I could find something I like. He has a drawer full of them that belonged to former customers.
Joan
I haven't laughed so hard out loud in ages.
Thanks Joan!
Elaine
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a friend who owns a funeral home said I could come over and go through his stash to see if I could find something I like. He has a drawer full of them that belonged to former customers
eeeeuuuuwwww!!!!!!!!!!
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Hmmmmm, wonder if he has any penile prothesis?
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parklane
I think I got the same quack on my old dentist tools back a month or so ago.
I reported them to eBay for harrassment, and eBay said the warned them off.....as long as it isn't against eBay rules, they can't do this, according to the person I was emailing back and forth with. ...but that doesn't mean the one you email back and forth with will say the same thing, mind you.
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Had an undertaker friend give me a glass eye many years ago. I lost it in the front yard and it scared the heck out of my sweetie when she found it while mowing a few days later. I had to finish the mowing!
Had the most fun with it when I stuck it to the "Man In the Golden Helmet" picture in the den. She didn't notice it for a few weeks but when she did I thought I was going to have to move out.
Was kinda mean I guess.
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There are lots of items that are a really good idea not to try to resell, and thus are better off not being bought for resale.
Here are just a few (and I really mean, just the tip of the iceberg):
Bird feathers. If you get lucky and sell some that are from an eagle or other protected species and cannot prove they predate the protective laws, that is a criminal offense. That is explicitly a problem when buying an "Indian" headdress with eagle feathers in it unless there is a provenance proving it is very much an antique.
Ivory or anything made from Ivory. Again, the item must be proveable as antique and dating prior to the Laws. Another crime.
Animal parts of any protected species. Another crime.
VeRO bull's eyes like: Gucci, Chanel, Disney, NASCAR, etc. Many of these have been reproduced and fakes run rampant in flea markets etc. and when bought and attempted for online resale bring the wraith of VeRO down upon the seller. Same might be true of likenesses of Hollywood Stars, even dead Stars like The Three Stooges. The families of the deceased still exist and may tag errant sellers. I even know of an artist locally who produces and even publicly shows caricatures of The Three Stooges, Betty Boop, The Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, etc. I'd bet he hasn't bothered to find out or pay copyright license fees to the familes, etc., presuming they would even permit his art.
And for international sales: Be very careful here. There are import restrictions for every country. As a seller, we must abide by their Laws and not send items into their country when the item requires an import license or is prohibited or requires additional proof of acceptability. An example: Japan prohibits genetically altered foods and any foods that don't have explicit labeling that shows there is no genetic content. In the U.S., a very large portion of our foods are genetically altered or have some content that is and the Congress did not require the companies to label that it is genetically altered.
Even in our own country: California restricts import of certain plants, seeds, fruits, and insects as they might interfere with their agricultural economy if they are released and become pests.
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Prescriptions, any age. I mean the script not the drugs.
Car titles, any age. Pity; the 1920s ones are quite sought after by restorers.
Anything with a photo of Hitler.
Newspapers with "Japs" in the headline, but you can argue this one successfully
if you are persistent.
UPS uniforms. Not that any ever were sold on ebay of course.
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Ebay gave the Dental Board investigator our contact information. I thought that was a little bit odd. Could anyone call ebay and say they were an investigator and get a member's contact info?
Susan