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Why do people hide the serial ##s?

xjeremiahx

xjeremiahx

Apr 19, 2009
1,112
7
Chicago, IL
www.encrustmusic.com
Disclosures
No longer a slave to GC.
#1
I've seen this a lot, on this board, on ebay, craigslist, etc...
People will sell vintage instruments, but block out the serials? Or type something like 1XXXXX or part of the serial.

Why? What purpose does this serve in hiding a serial? Is this to hide a fake? Fear of it being stolen?

Never quite understood this, maybe somebody can shed some light for me.
 
#2
I believe its to prevent someone from claiming the bass was stolen from them. If you can't tell police the serial # of a missing item, they can't do much. But if someone claims the bass was stolen, and they have the serial number, they have a case.
 
#3
brendanbassist said:
I believe its to prevent someone from claiming the bass was stolen from them. If you can't tell police the serial # of a missing item, they can't do much. But if someone claims the bass was stolen, and they have the serial number, they have a case.
Click to expand...


This is a mistaken belief.

While someone could claim that a bass they saw on the 'Net was theirs and was stolen; how would they explain the failure to report the theft after the fact? No police agency is going to take a claim like that seriously. How would they explain the sales receipt from a store or a private seller?

If one has a bass, a car, a firearm, or anything with a serial number on it stolen and it is reported to the local cops, that serial number goes into a nationwide data base and it lists the date of report/theft and the report number for verification.

People black 'em or X 'em out, but it means nothing.
 
#6
It is seen a lot on gun boards. Lots of people there don't want the gov't. knowing what they have, so they hide the serial number... not realizing that the gov't has the pics. :ninja:

If I am considering buying anything like a bass, a firearm, or anything that costs a significant amount of money; I want to know that I am not buying a MIM anything when I am paying MIA prices.
 
#7
The numbers can be sent to a solid buyer. I have had it done to me on eBay. My photos with #'s were in a listing in a foreign country. This happens with vintage , collector things that are worth a lot. I wouldn't worrie about my '04 Jazz bass, that is worth what any other Jazz is.
 
#9
Yes (well, no.. as in I wouldn't say it out loud), as a matter of fact anyone who can walk over to an automobile could easily read your VIN#. It's on the drivers side, bottom of windshield, mounted at the very front of your dash.
 
#10
seismic said:
It is seen a lot on gun boards. Lots of people there don't want the gov't. knowing what they have, so they hide the serial number... not realizing that the gov't has the pics. :ninja:

If I am considering buying anything like a bass, a firearm, or anything that costs a significant amount of money; I want to know that I am not buying a MIM anything when I am paying MIA prices.
Click to expand...

Hm. Can't buy a firearm up here without registering it with the mounties as part of the transaction, so for us it's likely even less useful to block a gun's serial.

That being said, I'm leery as hell of posting anything uniquely mine on the Interwebz, so I always block the serial, no matter what I'm posting.
 
#13
I think it has to do with people snagging the pics, then attempting to sell a non-existing instrument on eBay. But I'm not 100% sure how blurring out the SN prevents that, since they could just fabricate a SN that's the correct vintage.

But I've done it in the past (blurred out the SN on CL) just because I've seen other do it. Peer pressure?
 
#15
I can think of a few reasons why people might.

1) Stops people taking their photos and using them in scam sales
2) Makes it less likely that someone will counterfeit a bass using their serial number
3) If you don't know the history of your bass 100%, it stops someone who may have had the bass stolen from them in the past making a claim for it
4) Just a habit from hiding the number plates on cars in photos etc

All fairly unlikely scenarios.... You can disclose them to someone in a sale, but I guess it doesn't hurt to not publish them all over the net as well.
 
#16
Put your house number, your license plate, a bass serial number and a bunch of other things out there for anyone to view? Just because YOU might not have (yet) been affected, negatively, by such disclosures doesn't mean someone else hasn't. Come on people, be smart.
 
#17
i don't see how a bass serial number is all that important - definately not to be compared to an address, SS#, etc - it's a serial number. I can go in wal-mart and get serial numbers for routers and printers and phones and laptops all day.

Maybe i'm missing something, but is there something to be found from a serial number other than information about a bass somewhere in a place that isn't my house? Did i miss the sign-up sheet to register my bass, with my address and phone number for contact?
 

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