Sellers Beware: old-gum-man

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

It appears there is a bidder on ebay who has been suspended several times under various ebay IDs but is back at it again.

His latest incarnation is "old-gum-man". The e-mail address is "glawrie@comcast.net" although I don't know if that's even a real address as there has been no resonse to my e-mail. Of course, the contact info he has is false, so don't bother requesting it from ebay.

The biggest tip-off is the fact that he has bid on about 125 items in the 2 weeks since opening this account and I doubt he's paid for any of them. I know he hasn't paid for the one he won from me.

He has won auctions from other board members, so perhaps they could let us know if their experience has been the same as mine.


-Ryan

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Posted By: dan mckee

I know this guy, he is a nice guy but seems to be having some problems. His name is Tom Lawrie. He loves vintage stuff and wrote the article in VCBC on the 1894 alpha cards that I own. dan.

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Posted By: runscott

I posted earlier about this situation and Tom said he would send payment - that was a week ago and he sounded like he intends to. Tom is personable and knowledgeable, so I'm sure we would all love to see him honor all transactions and start posting on the board again, sharing his expertise, but the ebay situation makes this difficult.

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Posted By: TBob

and I have never have a bit of trouble with him paying for cards. He recently bought and paid for four beautiful E92 Nadjas. I can recommend him highly and even sent him two more nice Nadjas on his promise to pay. Tom has had different ebay user names but he has had to because of a problem he once had with ebay and their unwillingness to allow him to participate on ebay because of it.

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Posted By: Andy Baran

I have spoken to him on the phone in the past, and once sold him a card. I sent him the card because he promised to pay, and it took many e-mails, phone calls, and several weeks before I finally received payment. Tom is a nice guy, and I hope he is able to work through whatever problems he is having. However, the fact remains that on numberous occassions, Tom has set up new ebay ID's, won literally hundreds of auctions, and not paid for the cards. I'm not sure that this type of activity is going to help anyone with a problem.

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Posted By: Wesley

Tom posted here less than two weeks ago in an attempt to sell a lot of six Buck Weaver cards. Those cards are absolutely awesome and should go a long way in helping him pay for his recent purchases.

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Posted By: petecld

I don't know Tom's full history regarding who he has paid and who he may have not paid but he has paid for the auctions he has won of mine.

Granted, maybe he doesn't pay as timely as I'd like but hey, there are a lot of eBay users I can say that about.

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Posted By: T206Monsta

He won a card from me as "Pacific10fan" (now a non-registered ebay user ID) and has'nt paid in three weeks-weeks. I've already sold it to someone else. He may be a nice guy and people run into problems but I'm not giving my endorsement to him regardless of how "nice" he seems. It's a pain in the ace to deal with people like this especially when they lead you on with e-mails about how "payment is coming" or they "think they may have alread sent it, let me check" BS. Integrity and character (two very popular topics on the chat board) are at the top of the list and he "ain't" getting good marks on them. The fact that he's bidding under a new alias on hundreds of items is bad news.

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Posted By: petecld

3 weeks. I wish he paid me within 3 weeks. Like I said he is slow to pay.

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Posted By: Scott M

As someone who buys cards and often bids in auctions, I view non payers as hurting other buyers as much as the sellers. If you cannot pay then your bids aren't truely bids and they only cost other potential buyers additional money. If the gentleman is repeatedly unable or unwilling to honor his bids then I hope that ebay and any other auction site would do everything they could to keep that individual from participating. In effect his bids are no different than phantom bids by sellers on their own material - and the fact that the gentleman may be an otherwise nice person to talk with doesn't change things.

I do appreciate the heads up to this type of activity and obviously as a buyer can simply not bid on material that this person bids on.

Regards

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Posted By: runscott

As a seller, I've been burned in the past because legitimate bidders stay away from items that are bid on by "questionable" bidders: zero-feedback, possible shills, collectors known to have deep pockets, and ebay handles with bad reputations.

If you are interested in an item, please give the seller a chance if their "stats" look reasonable. When I see questionable bidders, I will often cancel their bids. I contact zero-feedback bidders on high-dollar items to make sure they are legit, and I block ebayers with bad reps.

I had a bidder hit reserve a few weeks ago on my Wagner premium - I was elated until I noticed they had bad feedback. So I emailed the bidder, cancelled their bid, it didn't hit reserve, and I sold it off-line for a loss. Most people on this board will do whatever it takes to maintain their reputations - you lose access to a lot of vintage card communication if other collectors don't trust you and that's what we're in this for.

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Posted By: T206Monsta

The person in question (Tom Lawrie) has contacted me and explained his situation. While he gets an A for coming forward and taking responsibility, it doesn't change the fact that he has created the mess he is in and it is NOT merely somone elses fault.

Three weeks may be kind to Tom. I think it was 6 weeks. What angered me was the lack of communication during that time. If he had written me and apprised me of such issues as he has now, I'd have understood as I have my life issues also. However, as Tom stated he was unable to e-mail because of the actions of ebay (i.e. he was unable to even see who he even bought items from). Without dragging him through the mud, the case is closed for me. I'm moving on.

Thank you.

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Posted By: runscott

In the following auction, the bidder has killed a very reasonable $250 BIN by putting in a bid, but very well may decide not to pay if he wins. This isn't fair to the seller, or to people like me who might have used the BIN.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1977317662

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Posted By: petecld

Scott,

I'm sorry but with all due respect you're out of line on this one. You have no right to imply this bidder, or any low fedback bidder won't pay in a public forum. Why? Because his feedback is "2"? His feedback is all positive - give him credit. When you joined ebay did you start off with a feedback of "200"? No - you, me, and everyone else started off with a zero. How does a new ebay user prove they are trustworthy if sellers like you keep cancelling their bids. Maybe your bidder WAS going to pay and you blew a sale? How do you know? Low feedback doesn't immediately mean you're a mooch, it means you're new. Nothing more. Until a person PROVES they aren't trustworthy.

I will admit, I get a little nervous when a new ebay user wins one of my auctions but I've never cancelled a bid. When someone doesn't pay for an auction of mine I do ban them. But I give people the benefit of the doubt and allow them to PROVE they aren't worth my time and trust.

Your complaint about the BIN is an ebay issue, not the bidders problem. I agree with you though that the BIN should stay in effect after just one person bids. If the seller wants the BIN to stay up they can keep it there by using a reserve or suggest a new policy to ebay.

Something to think about:
The 2 scams on ebay I know about where many people were ripped off were done so by sellers with HIGH feedback.

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Posted By: TBob

Some of the best buyers I have ever had were those with "0" feedback who were just getting started.
I wish the BIN would stay up(without using a reserve) until the BIN price was met, but I understand the other side of the coin, too. Although I often get chided for having too low of BINs on cards, what's funny to me is that often I have had buyers buy cards for much more than they could have had it for by using the BIN. Except for the rare occasion when someone posts a card and doesn't have a clue and posts a way too low BIN, the only time I use BINs is when it is a card I HAVE to have, and so usually pay too much but it was my choice.

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Posted By: runscott

The bidder in question is yours truly. The bidding characteristics I described are very characteristic of the bidder in question.

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Posted By: runscott

oldcardsonly = old-gum-man = etc,etc,etc.

Pete and Bob - surely you have been following this thread? He changes his ebay handle constantly. I didn't think I would have to telegraph this one.

But I will issue the disclaimer anyway - NO, I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH BIDDERS WHO HAVE LOW FEEDBACK, ONLY WITH BIDDERS WHO DO NOT HONOR THEIR BIDS.

There - everyone happy now?

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Posted By: runscott

...I will be specific - the last "low feedback" bid I cancelled was (-2). He had two positives, four negatives, was bidding on a $1,400 item, and the four negatives were all for not paying.

Do I need to be a brain surgeon to predict the results?

..and, please - don't attribute characteristics to me that don't exist. I have plenty of things wrong with me without Pete or someone else adding to the list.

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Posted By: runscott

I got this handle mixed up with one of Tom's - after going through my old emails, I have no idea who oldcardsonly is.

...and I have absolutely no problem with bidders killing a BIN - if the seller wants the BIN to stay up, all he has to do is include a reasonable reserve as well - the BIN is active until the reserve is hit. My only problem is with bidders who are "playing ebay" because they have an addiction, but have no money to pay when they win.

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Posted By: Todd (nolemmings)

The bidder about whom you complain was the third one in on the bidding. Doesn't the BIN go away when the first bid is entered, at least in a non-reserve auction? If so, this guy did not kill the BIN- that was done already by someone with high feedback.

Second, if you saw the BIN at $250.00, which supposedly disappears once a bid is placed, didn't you have an opportuntity to Buy It Now yourself? Maybe you found it through a search query, where results are not always up to speed and the BIN amount displays even after a bid has been received, but if not, can you really complain?

Finally, isn't the seller at least somewhat protected, for if the bidder reneges, he can relist it at and use the BIN option, blocking/banning the offending non-payer from a repeat performance? Maybe he sells it higher the second time, or if the next highest bidder from auction #1 is willing to perform, seller gets almost the same price? Not a perfect system, but how flawed is it?

I don't sell much of anything on Ebay, so I appreciate a sellers' perspective.
Regards...........Todd

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Posted By: leon

First of all for the folks in this thread, whom most of I know personally, chill out. This is cardboard guys...we are all friends and enjoy this too much to rag on each other...friendly debate is cool....let's keep it going that way. A solution to the low feedback is as I do. I put a rule in for folks with low feedback (maybe 5 or less) to email me first. I have cancelled 2 bidders before because after the stipulation and at least 2 emails they did not respond. regards all

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Posted By: runscott

...I don't plan on re-opening this thread - the original subject just continues to piss me off - so if anyone has further thoughts that require my response, send me an email.

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Posted By: Jay Miller

Tom---If you can afford to bid why are you unable to pay me what you owe?

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Posted By: petecld

Scott,

Let's me see if I'm understanding you correctly. First you make the apology: "I got this handle mixed up with one of Tom's - after going through my old emails, I have no idea who oldcardsonly is."

Now you say the bidder in question, or was in question when you made the original "Here is an example" post (oldcardsonly) is you??? And I need to do homework? Or are you now referring to "jerry_mussari" as being you?

For the record - I'm not mad, upset, heated, pissed, etc. about this. Believe me, I didn't loose any sleep and I don't hate you or anything. My post was made, not in a heated rage, just matter-of-factly, and I thought it was unfair to imply that any bidder on ebay - who may or may not be you - is a mooch simply because of low feedback and that they probably won't pay for an auction.

If I understood you correctly in your original post I guess you were essentially criticizing yourself and that sounds like a whole separate therapy session. Just kidding.


Peace

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Posted By: petecld

OK, so maybe I'm not so little . . .

Scott,

A bidder with the track record you just described I can easily see cancelling the bid. It's the new ones who HAVEN'T proved they don't deserve some faith that I'm questioning why you would cancel a bid.