I am posting the following warning at the request of a collector who’s not a member of this forum. —Richard  I would like to warn fellow typewriter enthusiasts about a possible eBay scammer offering a gold plated Royal QDL from California. I nearly became his victim not once, but twice.  Last winter he listed the typewriter with a Buy It Now price of $1,400 or Best Offer. I made an offer and he wrote me that for that price we would have to do it off-eBay and gave me his personal Paypal account and to send the money as a relative. He seemed genuine and I trusted him and wired him the money. I did not hear from him for 2 weeks during which time I wrote daily emails that crescendoed in language, culminating in legal threat. Of course, Paypal could not help me since I sent the money as a relative.  When he finally wrote back he said he'd been busy and still had not shipped the typewriter. However, he did not appreciate my tone so was canceling the deal and would refund me. His refund was pending for a week, then was canceled. When I contacted him again, he finally sent it and I did receive it but minus the Paypal fee. Last month, another gold plated Royal QDL came up offered by a seller with a different name (with 30 positive feedbacks but only dating to last winter). The photographs were different and this time it was up for bidding, not Buy It Now. I won the bid and made payment immediately. Two days later the seller wrote to me that he had not received the money and sent me another invoice. I immediately checked my Paypal account, and to my horror, saw that the payment that I had made was to the same man who I dealt with last winter!  I wrote back reminding him who I was and said that my Paypal records show that payment went through. He replied that it was 'pending' at his end, and “stuck in limbo” so he cannot access it and will not ship out the item. He said if I wanted the typewriter I should cancel the transaction and pay him directly via his other Paypal account. I called eBay and it was confirmed that he did receive the money and was told to wait 2 weeks before opening a Case against him if the item was not received. The words “probable scam” were mentioned by the eBay representative. The seller wrote again that if I did not do as he instructed, he will simply cancel the transaction and re-list the typewriter for bidding again.  He canceled the transaction before I could open a Case against him and the money he supposedly did not receive was refunded to me. I sometimes wonder if he actually has the typewriter at all, but merely using the knowledge that this is a much sought after typewriter to scam people.