Do not purchase SM58 microphones from mannysclearance on Ebay!

[gonebye]

His mics are fake. I purchased 4 of them for my church and I got suspicious after reading the detailed fake SM58 post earlier that these are fakes. Now it is confirmed by Shure customer service department that these are fakes. If you purchased from him make sure to get your money back ASAP before he disappears. He seems to be willing to work with me but you never know with weirdos like that.

I have attached detailed pictures of the mics he sold me. These are pretty good knock-offs. The only major difference I could identify was the Caution label and the extra hole near the XLR connections. Everything else is pretty close but, like I said, Shure has confirmed that these are fakes.

[gonebye]

Wow! You never know what to expect from weirdos like this. I opened up separate PayPal disputes for each purchase I made to make sure that I covered my butt in case this guy decided to not send my refund back to me. Well, he calls me this morning as I am getting ready for praise and worship practice and leaves me a 1 minute long curse filled voice message telling me how terrible, much worse words were used, I am for opening the disputes and to never fu@&ing call him again or he will come after me! So, naturally, I called him back and told him I will be contacting the Texas Attorney Generals office, I know wont do much, and that I will be pressing charges with my local police department :cop: for harassment and threat against my life, once again probably won't do much, but hey you never know. He acted like he never made a phone call to me this morning and that he did not know what I was talking about. I could tell from his voice it was the same guy and I know it was the same number that he called me from since it was in my iphone voice messages. This guy is crazy! Be careful and never buy without visual inspection. Learned my lesson.

[Jon Hiller]

It's entirely possible the guy got them from a wholesaler and he didn't even know they were fakes, although even if that is the case, that's no excuse for how you say he acted.... Back when I used to sell a lot of small goods on eBay (back when it was still profitable to do so and you didn't get eaten alive in fees), it was not uncommon for me to sell 8 or 10 of something in a day, and on days like that it was not uncommon for me to just grab the item and pack it without opening it up and checking it, especially if it was a new item that came boxed or packaged. I got a negative feedback one time from a lady over a quick tune tuner because they forgot to pack the batteries in the package and they were supposed to be included. I even offered to send her a replacement set of batteries or a different tuner, but nothing would make her happy except leaving me a negative. If I had simply checked the tuner I sent before I packed it, I would have discovered there were no batteries in it. Anyway, not to take the seller's side, but yours could be a case where the guy did the same as I did with the tuner. He owes you an apology for the phone message, regardless, even if he had no knowledge of the mics. Sounds like the guy has a temper and isn't willing to give a customer the benefit of the doubt....

[gonebye]

It's entirely possible the guy got them from a wholesaler and he didn't even know they were fakes, although even if that is the case, that's no excuse for how you say he acted.... Back when I used to sell a lot of small goods on eBay (back when it was still profitable to do so and you didn't get eaten alive in fees), it was not uncommon for me to sell 8 or 10 of something in a day, and on days like that it was not uncommon for me to just grab the item and pack it without opening it up and checking it, especially if it was a new item that came boxed or packaged. I got a negative feedback one time from a lady over a quick tune tuner because they forgot to pack the batteries in the package and they were supposed to be included. I even offered to send her a replacement set of batteries or a different tuner, but nothing would make her happy except leaving me a negative. If I had simply checked the tuner I sent before I packed it, I would have discovered there were no batteries in it. Anyway, not to take the seller's side, but yours could be a case where the guy did the same as I did with the tuner. He owes you an apology for the phone message, regardless, even if he had no knowledge of the mics. Sounds like the guy has a temper and isn't willing to give a customer the benefit of the doubt....

He claims that he personally checks every mic before he ships it out. However, I don't know if he new that these were fakes or not. He very well may not have known originally. But, once I checked into his feedback a little more I noticed that he has been selling these for a long time and anytime someone gives a complaint about them being possible fakes he always says that they are made in Mexico which is why they are different. I saw all the positive feedback and just went with. Once again, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. There are some great deals out there, but I will only be purchasing in person with plenty of knowledge before hand about the product I am buying. These mics don't sound all that bad either.

Honestly, the only reason I started giving this guy a hard time was because even after our conversation he still kept listing SM58 microphones. I even sent him the email I received from Shure customer service. This guy was all happy until I started the dispute which I would not have done until I saw that he was still selling the knock-off microphones.

He just called me from a blocked number, and tried to say that he was a lawyer and that he was giving me a verbal warning to leave his client alone or they would be filling a harassment suite against me. I'm going to work on getting the voice-mails recorded and I might even post them online for everyone's listening displeasure. The guy is really a whacko. I give people the benefit of the doubt until they call me and leave crazy messages on my phone.

[gonebye]

Here is a link to a YouTube recording of the voice mail he left me this morning. His language is explicit and if moderators feel this needs to be removed then please do so.
Thanks,
William

[link removed]

[ermghoti II]

This thread just lurched towards legendary status.

[gonebye]

I just wish I would have been able to avoid this from the beginning. I still don't have any mics and he could care less I am sure.

[chadd]

Everyone should drop him an email once a day telling him that we've heard his microphones were fakes and we'd just like to confirm their authenticity before plunking down the cash.

[danbomb]

hilarious!

[gonebye]

I have been trying to contact his other buyers that left positive feedback to let them know what is going on but eBay only let me get through about 7 of them before eBay shut me off. I guess that is eBay's spam filter protection. I need enough people to file counterfeit claims on him to get my money back for the one microphone I did not purchase through eBay. Although, I might just keep it as a souvenir. The guy is a real winner.

I posted his "lawyer" phone call as well but the audio is pretty bad since he wasn't yelling into the phone this time. If anyone knows how to boost the volume up I will reload the youtube recording.

[Link removed by gonebye to avoid any future trouble on this board]

I also just got off the phone with Shure Customer Support and I confirmed that the microphones are indeed counterfeits. I now have a email response as well as a verbal confirmation from Rick who heads that division. He also said that if I decide to take this guy to court Shure's lawyers will be happy to help and draw up an necessary documentation for the trial as to whether the microphones are counterfeits.

I have already been able to help at least one member get his money back and I am hoping to be able to contact more if possible. He sold over $10,000 worth of counterfeit microphones, assuming that they were all counterfeit. I would like to see the guy get punished for his crimes but I don't know if I have the time or money to pursue it anymore.

In all of my responses I keep reminding [name deleted - Ed] that he brought this on himself by leaving that nasty voice mail on my phone. If he would have just refunded my money this would have all been over with.

[WoodyTone com]

That really sucks. Whatever route you take, good luck with it. There are a few verses in the good book about people like that...

[Jon Hiller]

He says in the first voice message that you posted that he offered to refund your money... is that true? If so, have you sent the microphones back to him? That should be your first order of business, if he offered, to give him the opportunity to make it right. Not to take sides, I'm just saying.

[pinchegordo]

He says in the first voice message that you posted that he offered to refund your money... is that true? If so, have you sent the microphones back to him? That should be your first order of business, if he offered, to give him the opportunity to make it right. Not to take sides, I'm just saying.

i agree if he offered you a full refund you should have sent them back and got your money then took action and alerted eBay to the fake mics.if you opened a dispute with paypal against me after i offered a refund(obv i dont sell fake shit,but for any item),i would have called you a piece of shit too :wave:

[gonebye]

Yes, he offered to allow a return but he did not want me to ship them to his PayPal address but a different address. I also asked him to stop listing the counterfeit microphones and he never did. He sold 3 last week and had 3 more listed when eBay shut him down. He knew that they were fake but kept right on doing what he was doing. I only opened the dispute to make sure that everything was taken care of on my end to get my money back and to also let eBay and PayPal know what was going on. It was only after I had opened the PayPal dispute that he left the first voice mail.

I will be shipping the microphones back and finishing the PayPal dispute. He doesn't have an option but to either give me a refund since PayPal has sided the dispute in my favor.

[gonebye]

i agree if he offered you a full refund you should have sent them back and got your money then took action and alerted eBay to the fake mics.if you opened a dispute with paypal against me after i offered a refund(obv i dont sell fake shit,but for any item),i would have called you a piece of shit too :wave:

The guy is a scam artist. I would never do this with any other person if I had a problem with a legitimate item. I have had to return stuff before that was damaged or not as advertised and never had any problems. I am not some jerk out to destroy others because I did not like an item. These were fakes and he kept selling them.

If he had not listed counterfeit items I would have definitely just returned the items without any questions asked. But, since he obviously did not care about ripping other people off, by the fact that he was still selling and listing his fake mics, why should I just trust him at his word that he will refund me my money?

The facts are that he got caught doing something illegal and he is upset at me for calling him on it. I would never do this to anyone with a legitimate item. But yeah, you sell me something fake and continue to rip others off after I have informed you that they are fakes and I will do this every time.

Besides, what does it matter when I let eBay or PayPal know that something is a fake. The sellers that list counterfeit products will all be incredibly nice, usually they just refund the money without even asking for the item back. This keeps people from opening disputes and shutting down their illegitimate business.

[dooshbag]

Nice! He also sounds like an angry anus. Kudos.

[Barry Wuthrich]

I just bought my first SM58 last month on Ebay and thankfully, it doesn't look like yours.

I hope this isn't off topic, but I bought from unique_squared_inc. They listed for $99 or best offer. They accepted my $89 offer and PayPal gave me a 10% off coupon, so I got it for $81. shipped.

I saw a few on Craigs list for 65-75 used but it didn't seem worth while to take a chance to save such a small amount.

I didn't see what you paid for the knock off, but if the guy offered me a refund, I'd insist he pay the return shipping. If you file a SNAD, pay pal will refund your money.

Good luck.

[gonebye]

I just bought my first SM58 last month on Ebay and thankfully, it doesn't look like yours.

I hope this isn't off topic, but I bought from unique_squared_inc. They listed for $99 or best offer. They accepted my $89 offer and PayPal gave me a 10% off coupon, so I got it for $81. shipped.

I saw a few on Craigs list for 65-75 used but it didn't seem worth while to take a chance to save such a small amount.

I didn't see what you paid for the knock off, but if the guy offered me a refund, I'd insist he pay the return shipping. If you file a SNAD, pay pal will refund your money.

Good luck.

He was not willing to pay for my return shipping. He said that he was confident his microphones were not fake because he sent one in to Shure and had them confirm that his SM58's were legitimate. I bought each microphone for about $55 including shipping. They are not bad microphones for the price but he tried to pass them off for real SM58 microphones which is BS in my book.

[Jon Hiller]

He was not willing to pay for my return shipping. He said that he was confident his microphones were not fake because he sent one in to Shure and had them confirm that his SM58's were legitimate. I bought each microphone for about $55 including shipping. They are not bad microphones for the price but he tried to pass them off for real SM58 microphones which is BS in my book.

That price is your dead giveaway that they're fakes... dealer cost on am SM58 is a LOT more than that. You did fine, just send him the mics and force the refund. At that price, if he's really someone who deals with music equipment at all, he HAD to know they were fake. Had to.

[Anderton]

Please note - naming names, giving phone numbers, or giving addresses is not recommended in an internet forum. This is not a court of law and disputes need to be resolved through other means. We appreciate the heads-up that people need to be cautious buyers, but actions need to be taken at the source, as was apparently done with PayPal and eBay. Good luck getting your refund, and for everyone else, note that things aren't always as they seem in Internet auction sites.

[samkokajko]

Barry:
I've bought a ton of stuff from Unique Squared and they are great guys. Always a killer price usually with free items thrown in (MAP pricing), free shipping and I get stuff usually the second day after I buy.

[gonebye]

Please note - naming names, giving phone numbers, or giving addresses is not recommended in an internet forum. This is not a court of law and disputes need to be resolved through other means. We appreciate the heads-up that people need to be cautious buyers, but actions need to be taken at the source, as was apparently done with PayPal and eBay. Good luck getting your refund, and for everyone else, note that things aren't always as they seem in Internet auction sites.

Like I said in the original post, please have a moderator make sure the link was OK. I appreciate you removing it since you thought is was inappropriate. I figured that letting others know his name was the only way someone was going to be able to recognize if this guy was still selling these mics after he sets up another eBay account. Sorry if I crossed the line.
Thanks

[Barry Wuthrich]

He was not willing to pay for my return shipping. He said that he was confident his microphones were not fake because he sent one in to Shure and had them confirm that his SM58's were legitimate. I bought each microphone for about $55 including shipping. They are not bad microphones for the price but he tried to pass them off for real SM58 microphones which is BS in my book.

Then file a SNAD (significantly not as described) report to Pay-Pal. Remember, Pay Pal is buyer protection, not seller protection. You are under no obligation to mail him back anything. Keep the paypal refund and the mics, or, give him an option of paying for return postage plus a $25 handling charge for your time.(Postage and Handling) This guy wasted more of your time than your money, and time is valuable. There needs to be some negative consequences to his actions, or else we are inviting more of the same from him and others. If you mail him back the mics and he mails you back your money, that is called 'getting away with it'.

Be aware, there is a time limit on filing a snad. Don't delay.

[gonebye]

Then file a SNAD (significantly not as described) report to Pay-Pal. Remember, Pay Pal is buyer protection, not seller protection. You are under no obligation to mail him back anything. Keep the paypal refund and the mics, or, give him an option of paying for return postage plus a $25 handling charge for your time.(Postage and Handling) This guy wasted more of your time than your money, and time is valuable. There needs to be some negative consequences to his actions, or else we are inviting more of the same from him and others. If you mail him back the mics and he mails you back your money, that is called 'getting away with it'.

Be aware, there is a time limit on filing a snad. Don't delay.

I filed a SNAD on Saturday night which is how this whole thing got started.

The deal is done. He had a lot more people file SNAD disputes with him over the past couple of days and his PayPal account has been frozen and we are all getting our refunds. Except for the one mic I bought that wasn't an eBay auction, I got all of my money refunded just a few minutes ago. The other transaction will be refunded after they get the funds from his bank account.

Once again, I would never open a SNAD dispute with anyone unless they are selling counterfeit items or continue to sell counterfeit items after the have been informed of what they were selling. If this guy would have removed his listings for the counterfeit microphones I would have never opened the SNAD dispute with PayPal. :cop:

We are not talking about me not being satisfied with an item. We are talking about a con-artist who has been ripping people off since at least last November. Assuming that all of his mics have been fakes, I figured that he had sold over $10,000 worth of counterfeit microphones! This guy got what was coming to him.

[ermghoti II]

Nice. You still have the mics? Win-win!