By RockinOut
From NY, NY
Jan 5, 2011
| You should contact ebay about the fraud...they have people that look deeper into these kinds of things. | 
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By Ryan Kelly
From work.
Jan 5, 2011
| Sorry, not near as good as the Draw Thief video.
By the looks of it he "strung you along" for a day and a half? Seems fairly standard due diligence when purchasing something over the internet IMHO. Is he a douchebag for taking your exact pictures and description and posting them on eBay before actually buying the jacket, sure. But I didn't see any sign that you had other offers that you turned down because of this guy, or that he strung you along for a week. You offered a price and found a potential buyer at that price. If he wants to put the time and energy into reselling it for a profit that's his deal. Welcome to capitalism. |
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By Buff Johnson
Jan 5, 2011
| I don't really see a problem. People buy and sell all kinds of property based on not having the funds in expectation of a future transaction all the time.
They aren't marketing stolen goods.
If they sent you funds which weren't good, then I'd be pissed.
If you agreed to hold the jacket for them, then you made your decision.
If they sell the jacket, get you the funds, what's the problem? |
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By Robert Buswold
From Longmont, CO
Jan 5, 2011
| Ryan Kelly wrote: Sorry, not near as good as the Draw Thief video. By the looks of it he "strung you along" for a day and a half? Seems fairly standard due diligence when purchasing something over the internet IMHO. Is he a douchebag for taking your exact pictures and description and posting them on eBay before actually buying the jacket, sure. But I didn't see any sign that you had other offers that you turned down because of this guy, or that he strung you along for a week. You offered a price and found a potential buyer at that price. If he wants to put the time and energy into reselling it for a profit that's his deal. Welcome to capitalism.
I think your missing the point here... the problem is that he tried to resell the item without even having the item in hand in the first place. For one, what if something happened and the sale fell through the in first place? Then the person that bought the jacket from the fraud is out his money, or at the very least has to go through the hassle of filing a complaint with eBay/Paypal. Bottom line is you don't sell something that's not yours... even if it *might* be yours in the near future. |
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By Erik W
From Bay Area, CA
Jan 5, 2011
| Pretty common arbitrage tactic for ebay pros. There are actually people who make a good living off this form of 'sell first buy later'. Many will look for an item with BuyItNow of $X here, and relist it in the EU with the same pics.... then have the domestic seller actually ship it directly to the buyer in the EU, instructing them not to include a price receipt because it is a "present" for a family member. Boom, money made.
It's a risk, because sometimes between the time the EU person has bought the item and the go-between gets a chance to buy the item in the US the item has already sold. But then they just say item got damaged while preparing to ship, or something, and refund... no negative feedback, and nobody is the wiser.
Specialized classified forums like ours here at MP, or cycling sites, make it that much easier because someone can string a seller along without the risk of someone else swooping in and hitting a BuyItNow button. |
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By kevin murphy
Jan 5, 2011
| Many people do business that way. I don't really see a problem He is seeing if there is a market for an item he sees as a good value, to make a PROFIT. Just my point of view. |
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By Ryan Kelly
From work.
Jan 5, 2011
| Robert Buswold wrote: I think your missing the point here... the problem is that he tried to resell the item without even having the item in hand in the first place. For one, what if something happened and the sale fell through the in first place? Then the person that bought the jacket from the fraud is out his money, or at the very least has to go through the hassle of filing a complaint with eBay/Paypal. Bottom line is you don't sell something that's not yours... even if it *might* be yours in the near future.
No Robert, I didn't miss that point at all. I agree that it's kinda lame, and as a seller I'd want to know if a potential buyer had a history of this - as I'd prefer to sell my gear at a good price to someone who will actually use it and appreciate the deal, then someone who is just out to make a buck. However, and as Mark also pointed out, this kind of thing happens all the damn time. It happens in the business world with multi-million dollar deals and big promises.
Sure the guy misrepresented what he had - or in this case, didn't. And I dunno, maybe eBay has some sort of clause in the fine print against this. But basically he was feeling out the market. I find it more offensive that he reused the pics and description verbatim than he offered up something he doesn't have. I disagree with your 'bottom line'. I do think that it's 'lame', for lack of a better word, but not fraud. |
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By Ryan Kelly
From work.
Jan 5, 2011
| jeep1212 wrote: So, yes, I was hoping that I could sell it if I didn’t fit me -- makes sense, right? -- selling things that don’t fit. I was going to buy the parka, try it on, and if it didn’t fit, it would already be listed on ebay, so I wouldn’t have to wait a week to sell it. Of course I would have taken a new picture and updated the description with my thoughts on the condition. If it fit, I would have just ended the auction.
It probably would have been best if you just stayed silent instead of posting up this bullshit. As a lot of us agreed, you're not a thief, just a douchebag. Your rationale for setting up the auction is just crap.
jeep1212 wrote: And stay classy Evan!
There's a saying for this... something about a glass house and stones. |
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By Cindy Mitchell
Jan 5, 2011
| jeep1212 wrote: a girl (me). (not to many 300lb climbers out there).
You're a 300 pound female climber? Riiiiiiiight. |
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By Steve Pulver
From Tucson, AZ
Jan 5, 2011
| EDIT: (Sorry I should have read all the posts before entering the following)
I guess I don't see the problem. Did he tell you that he is definitely going to buy it, but then not sending a payment because he hasn't sold it on Ebay? Can't you just tell him that you are continuing to look for buyers until you receive payment from someone? |
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By Erik W
From Bay Area, CA
Jan 5, 2011
| Ryan Kelly wrote: [regarding jeep1212's reply] It probably would have been best if you just stayed silent instead of posting up this bullshit. As a lot of us agreed, you're not a thief, just a douchebag. Your rationale for setting up the auction is just crap.
+1, absolute crap. And I mean ABSOLUTE crap.
Plus your "possible $20" profit is BS; you know damn well your margin starts at $38 based on your opening price and Evan's quoted $268 for Priority.
Lastly, Evan's built social equity on this site by contributing over the years, we certainly trust and consider him one of our own long before someone who just joined 3 days ago... so if you're going to try and call him out and drop backhanded insults you better come with some better shit than the above. |
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By kachoong
From The Outback, Texas
Jan 5, 2011
| Cindy Mitchell wrote: You're a 300 pound female climber? Riiiiiiiight.
This is what I was thinking. |
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By Buff Johnson
Jan 5, 2011
| At 300, Those have got to be some seriously large tits |
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By Brian in SLC
From Salt Lake City, UT
Jan 5, 2011
| Erik W wrote: Plus your "possible $20" profit is BS; you know damn well your margin starts at $38 based on your opening price and Evan's quoted $268 for Priority.
Geez, my math is poor or did I see the eBay listing at 350, with 20 bucks for shipping? That's 268 v 370.
That ain't a $38 buck profit.
This stuff is pretty amazing. I can't imagine its legal to list something for sale that you don't have possession of. Businesses get shut down on doing that. Maybe individuals get away with it because they're smaller fish?
Pretty shady at the least. Talk about hedging bets. Something to keep an eye out for, to be sure.
Doesn't seem fair to the folks trying to legitimately buy and sell stuff. Bait and switch for at least one of the parties. Crazy. |
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By Erik W
From Bay Area, CA
Jan 5, 2011
| Brian in SLC wrote: Geez, my math is poor or did I see the eBay listing at 350, with 20 bucks for shipping? That's 268 v 370. That ain't a $38 buck profit.
Kept shipping out of it. But at $350 (opening & sold price), ebay+paypal fees amount to $44... so net revenue is $306..... $306 less COGS from Evan of $268 equals $38 profit.
She also had margin built into her shipping, but like I said I kept that out of it [EDIT TO ADD: kept it out because I don't know her shipping situation, there could be a real cost of $20 (Priority +insurance, +deliveryconfirmation, +packaging, etc), so better to leave it out. But that charge ($20) should not enter in a profit calculation unless one knows with reasonable certainty her shipping costs.] |
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By Ryan Kelly
From work.
Jan 5, 2011
| jeep1212 wrote: ...I am very sorry for those that have taken it personally (i.e., Ryan Kelly, Eric W., Mark Nelson), and...
Interesting stance, as Mark and I were the first two people to jump in and say that what you're doing is a common practice. Perhaps you should put "work on reading comprehension" on your list of 2011 resolutions, right after "go on a diet". |
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By kachoong
From The Outback, Texas
Jan 5, 2011
| jeep1212 wrote: We were just looking for a couple of nice parkas for some winter activities...if it would fit...if I didn’t fit me...I was going to buy the parka, try it on, and if it didn’t fit...If it fit...if it didn’t fit me
So you lied then about trying it on to see if it would fit. You obviously knew it wouldn't. |
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By Buff Johnson
Jan 5, 2011
| I believe Cin was selling some bitch-slap by the liter a while back. Don't know if it ever made it to ebay, but surely a mint to be made....here. |
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