After putting his six-million-song music collection on eBay and getting burned by a fake bidder, Pittsburgh rare-music collector Paul Mawhinney is once again trying to unburden himself of the 45s, LPs, and other pieces of recorded music he’s amassed over the years via auction. But this time, he’s switched up two key details: First, Mawhinney is letting registered buyers browse through his online database of music, which outlines the market value of each item (only 45s are in it now, but he’s currently adding his long players to the site as well); and second–and perhaps most crucially–he’s given up on the idea of selling the collection to someone who will keep it intact as a museum piece, thus allowing anyone who wants to turn around and open a rare record store of their own into the fray. [Official site; HT Listening Post]

The eBay user who placed the $3 million-and-change bid on Pittsburgh-area record collector Paul Mawhinney’s three-million-record library is now claiming that he was a victim of identity fraud, and that he had no idea that his account on the auction site had been used to make the winning bid. The user–still only identified by his eBay login, jopsoup–is saying that he checked his e-mail at an Internet cafe to find out that someone had used his account for the fateful bid. (Perhaps the fact that he’s checking his e-mail at Internet cafes could serve as a sign that he may not be all that careful with his passwords? Just saying.) The whole incident has caused Mawhinney to give up on eBay, presumably because he’s now going to screen prospective buyers a little more carefully than checking their member feedback pages. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

The eBay user jopsoup–who won the gigantic record collection that was up for auction there with a $3,002,500 bid–has a curious addition to his favorably rated profile: He’s now noted as not being registered with the site. What does that mean? From eBay: “‘Not a registered user’ can refer to members who have cancelled their membership, or whose membership has been suspended by eBay. For example, a member whose correct contact information is no longer on file with us may have their registration suspended until the new contact information is entered. In either case, the member appears as ‘not a registered user’ and is not allowed to buy or sell on eBay.” Could the high bid have flagged eBay’s profile-watchers, or did jopsoup cut and run once he realized that he’d have to cut a big check? The agent for seller Paul Mawhinney is currently “trying to track down” jopsoup, who lives in Ireland, but one wonders if this bid was just an eBay joke that went wrong in a very high-profile way. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; HT Robbie Analog]

The library-sized record collection that went on sale via eBay earlier this week has found a buyer, although the collection, which includes more than three million pieces, didn’t quite fetch the $50 million that owner Paul Mawhinney had been hoping to get. In fact, the final price didn’t inch much further past the $3 million reserve that Mawhinney had set with eBay, although the collection’s final price of $3,002,150 is one of the highest selling prices in eBay’s history. Details on the person who’s claiming to have $3 million on hand are sketchy: He lives in Ireland and goes by the name of jopsoup, and he has 97.1% positive feedback. And it would seem that he’s used eBay to buy music-related items before, although none of his purchases have been this big (not to mention expensive to ship across the Atlantic).

From his eBay feedback profile, we learn that items he’s purchased in the past include:

• A 1-gig memory card for a Fuji camera.
• A Wu-Tang hoodie, the seller of which commented “Thank you for a smooth and pleasant transaction. Excellent buyer! A+”
• A piece of positive feedback from a seller named piercingpros, who commented “Fast payment and very friendly… Great Ebayer!”
• And three positive feedbacks from the_beatgraphter, all of which have the same comment: “Nice one Enjoy da Ardcore :) Pleasure doing business recommended A+”

jopsoup’s sole piece of negative feedback comes from a user named bikerama!!, who wrote:

Item possbily damaged in post but neg’d me with no contact. Your loss no refund

Here’s hoping that Mawhinney and jopsoup work out all of those nasty “postal insurance” details before the collection starts winging its way across the pond.

Record Rama collection sells for $3 million [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
eBay My World: jopsoup [ebay.com]
Earlier: How Much Would You Spend For Six Million Songs? (Hint: $50 Million May Not Be Enough)

In case you were wondering just who owned that six-million-song music collection that’s currently listed on eBay with a starting price of $3 million: Meet Paul Mawhinney, an obsessive music cataloger and record-collectors’-guide publisher who also owned the Pittsburgh-area shop Record-Rama. In a 2003 profile of his business, he was quoted as saying “Almost all the guys out on the front line of the music business are all conniving to get what they can.” And given his past history of deals where he’s almost made some cash from his collection, it’s easy to see why he feels this way!

Mawhinney has had a few prospective buyers for his collection over the years; In 1997, former online-music powerhouse CDNow told Mawhinney they’d buy his collection for $28.5 million, only to wind up in bankruptcy court shortly after; then, a deal to sell his extensive collection of singles to the Library of Congress fell through after Mawhinney’s asking price was too rich for the LoC’s tax-funded budget. Mawhinney–who wants to have a deal in place by March 1–is still working the archivist angle for future buyers, as evidenced by his thoughts on what would make a suitable home for the collection:

The History of American music belongs in a museum or a library; a place where people who love music and have an interest in history and popular American culture can look, listen, touch, read and appreciate this legacy for future generations. It could be part of a stand-alone music museum, a major exhibit in an existing museum, or the basis of a university music library. Cleverly arranged and displayed, and surrounded by additional cultural memorabilia, the collection could even become a tourist attraction.

We’re seeking a buyer who will guarantee to keep the collection intact (other than to sell duplicate copies, if so desired) and to keep the music alive for the enjoyment and music lovers, now and for years to come.

If you represent a museum, library, university, or charitable foundation, or you’re a philanthropist interested in purchasing the collection and donating it, please contact the owner’s representatives for more information, pricing and a personal on-site inspection.

He’s also estimating the value of the collection at $50 million, although if someone can sweet-talk his representatives–one of whom is former sitcom staple Telma Hopkins–perhaps the asking price will be lower. This is the part where I do wish that there was some sort of popular-music museum out there, or at least that the Experience Music Project hadn’t ceded all that space to the science fiction guys over the past few years. Sigh.

The Greatest Music Collection [Official site]
Failed deals for fabled musical archive strike sour note with owner [Pittsburgh Business Times]
The World’s Greatest Music Collection [eBay; HT PTW]