Policing the BST a little more

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Posted By: leon

Hey folks,
I am getting a little tired of some of the antics on the BST threads. I just deleted someone's (a friends) offer that was higher than the asking price. Two posts before that had said they would both take the card at the offered price. DO NOT get into offering more money for the card if someone has said they will take it already. I am not (can not) totally police those area's, and don't want to, but if I or another moderator sees obvious issues then we will take care of them. Also, if you have a card up there at a certain price, and someone says that they will take it, then the deal really should be done...period. No other offers should be accepted..No bartering no BS..the thing is sold. best regards....moderator dude...

ps...I really need to add a BIG THANKS to Jim, in the T216 sale thread, for doing the right thing.....before this post....big KUDO's to you !!!!!!!

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Posted By: Jimi

I couldn't agree with you more. Also, is there any way to delete the ones that are marked, "SOLD"? I see a lot on there that the deals have already been made. Not sure if you were keeping them on there so that people who want to track sales can do so.

Jimi

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Posted By: leon

I do go on there a fair amount and clean up the "sold" posts. I leave them a little while so folks can see the area works well....Actually I think it works great. AND unlike ebay I can (hopefully) do the right thing and keep it civil and somewhat ethical. I don't think ebay gives a rat's patoot. I do....best.....moderator dude....

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Posted By: bigfish

Leon,
I could not agree more. Three times I have e-mailed the post stating I would buy the card only to find out it had been sold or others are waiting.

The gentlemen Jim with the Wagner card is a class act and all should follow his example.

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Posted By: Josh K.

Bigfish,

I have found that people often email the sellers directly (rather than respond in the thread) that they will take a card. It is not uncommon for cards to sell very quickly and for several emails to be rec'd before your own (even if you responded close to the time of the postng). I think most sellers who actually list a sell price on this board will and do sell to the first person who responds with an acceptable offer and do not wait for the better offers (obviously some sellers who ask for offers will do that, but at least they are up front about it).

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Posted By: scott ingold

Leon,

Glad the right thing was done in regards to the " i'll top your offer post". I was waiting to see what would happen with that.

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Posted By: bigfish

Makes sense Josh. I will try that angle in the future

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Posted By: BlackSoxFan

Leon -
Thanks for doing a great job. I have a couple of thoughts that maybe you guys could comment on.

A) I'm pretty annoyed with people posting the same cards in multiple forums. At the very least they should point everyone to one thread or just keep everything in the proper forum. If you have some N cards and some T cards.... post two seperate threads.
B) What do you think about standardizing the process. What i mean is, I know of at least a couple of incidents where I'd be shocked if I wasn't the first person to attempt contact with the seller only to find out that i did not get the cards. I think what happens is people get inundated with emails and posts to the threads that sometimes people get lost in the mix. Perhaps requiring people to go on order of posts would alleviate some of the pressure.

Just a couple of thoughts and in any event GREAT JOB! Thanks for watching out for us!
Kudos Jimi btw!

Regards,

Black Sox Fan

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Posted By: leon

I started a thread a week or two ago looking for feedback on the BST. The outcome was to pretty much let it go the way it is. Folks will hopefully do the right thing....This is not my full time job and completely trying to police that area would be impossible. It will continue in the fashion it's been going and if I, or other moderators (there's 3 others), see something going awry, we will take action. It's caveat emptor in those areas and you are on your own in the deals that are made. It still upsets me when I see folks not doing the right thing...and if I see it I will take action..Making higher offers AFTER someone says they will take a card at a fixed price really pisses me off...The person making the offer should make it to the person that said they will take the card at the offered price. I have no issue with that, of course......regards

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Posted By: Josh K.

Ted,

Let me start by saying that I in no way think its a good practice to list a price and then sell to someone other than the first person to offer that price (or a lower price that you find acceptable). However, that being said, I dont think you can place any rules on folks regarding who they ultimately choose to sell to. Bottom line, its their card and they can sell to the first, second, third or tenth person to email them. If they get an offer from one board member they have never done business with offering full price and then another offer shortly thereafter (and b/f accepting the first offer) from s/o they have had numerous successful deals with, I dont think anyone can prevent them from choosing who to sell to.

Now again, I think this is poor business and shouldnt be condoned. Just not sure we can do anything about it.

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Posted By: Rob

It's rather easy for someone to post on a board that they will pay the stated price for a card. What is needed is for the seller to accept the offer for a deal to be made.If I had something posted for sale and a potential buyer posts he will buy, then I would want an immediate contact to finalize payment. Which does happen most of the time, but is hardly a certainity.

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Posted By: leon

That's my point, sort of. If I put something up there for $100 and someone says I will take it for that price. I then should not say, well, now someone offered me $110....so your price is now $115.00. Afterall, these are cards folks are looking to sell....if they didn't want to sell them then I could understand a bidding war. When folks put a fixed price sale on the BST I think it should be just that...otherwise, they should put $100 or best offer...then you could go up or down, technically....I think this discussion does need to take place, as there are an awful lot of transactions going on in our little forum, and there have been some squirrely deals that I am aware of. regards

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Posted By: barrysloate

If you put a card up for sale on BST, that's the price. If you are looking for the highest possible offer, that's called an auction. Put it on ebay in that case. I will add however in my neighborhood, where real estate is as hot as vintage baseball cards, a buyer will agree to a seller's price on a brownstone or co-op only to find the next day that somebody offered more, and the original buyer has to up his offer or drop out. It's a miserable practice, and people hate it, but it goes on seven days a week. It's a function of having a commodity that is in very high demand. If this were instead a site selling cat litter, none of these issues would arise.

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Posted By: BlackSoxFan

No worries guys. Maybe i should have emailed those thoughts to you Leon... i hope you understand that wasn't a comment about the job you do. As i try and make it clear, i like to just throw ideas out there and see what sticks. It is what it is and overall it's a great thing. Thanks for your response.

Regards,

Black Sox Fan

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

I had a guy post a CObb t-205 PSA 3 for 1100.00 and after
it sat a day, I offered him 990.00 and he emailed me back
and said fine. SO 3 emails later still asking for this guys address, NOTHING !!!

I get an email back , oh I'd say 3weeks later and asked if I was still interested, i said yes cause I have a bunch
of them and I have a goal for 25. DIdnt tell him the latter part.ANyhow, I said send your address , NOTHING AGAIN !!!!

THis (SHOULD BE BANNED) person comes to me a couple weeks later and says ,ELkins sold you a SGC 60 Mello Mint Lajoie
how about we trade straight up for that. I NEVER RESPONDED back....what a bone-head. Bet he doesnt reply to THIS !!!!

Talk about unethical CRAP !!!

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Posted By: identify7

First all of the acorn bashing by Hal and others, now Leon chiming in with anti-squirrel sentiment:

"there have been some squirrely deals"

Since when do squirrels deal? They collect acorns, store them for future use and bury some.

Is there a segment of our population who feels that the behavior of squirrels is somehow unethical?

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Posted By: Ed McCollum

They have their good points, and their bad points. Long personal story here.

Our first home in Lincoln was overrun by squirrels. Seems the previous owners had not done a good job of keeping the moulding and gutters secured to the roof, and a family of squirrels had moved in. A female squirrel will give birth where she was born. She will give birth twice a year (early spring, late fall). A normal birth is two. Twins is actully four. Each female in that group will go back to where she was born to give birth. They mate for live. When accidents happen, if possible, they will carry the corpse of their dead mate, and place it where they were born. They become protective of where their dead are placed, and will actually attack when that area is threatened.

We live trapped 56 squirrels in a 16-month period to get rid of the problem. Sometimes you would trap as many as three in a day. Our retired neighbor also took great delight in sitting in his attic with a couple of beers and a pellet gun, and shooting them off our house. He got an additional 23.

Some of these points are good. Others not so good. Let's remember ... squirrels are close relatives of rats.

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Posted By: identify7

It is interesting that appearance plays such a part in persons feelings toward living things. Although a member of the rodent family, squirrels possess a bushy tail which they often seem to flaunt. In any case, I would not want to be viewed by the neighborhood children as the squirrel killer.

Actually, several years ago (since you offered a story) the neighborhood oaks were particularly productive of acorns. That fall I offered two young girls four shiney quarters a piece if they would pick up the acorns which fell in my driveway and fill a 5 gal bucket. They accepted.

That winter we got snowstorms back to back of 24 + 17". I went into the garage and retrieved the bucket of acorns and placed it on the back deck; tilted it so that a lot of the contents spilled out. It took a full day until the squirrel party started. They were quite entertaining for days. Needless to say, the two young girls were invited to watch the festivities, which delighted them for hours at a time.

Edited to add: I have often wondered about the coorelation between the number of legs a creature has and its attractiveness. It seems to me that those with more than 4 or less than 2 are not typically viewed favorably.

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Posted By: BlackSoxFan

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051107/squirrelspeak_ani.html



Regards,

Black Sox Fan

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Posted By: jay behrens

this is my favorite squirell

http://www.scarysquirrel.org/special/movies/foamy/

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

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Posted By: Scott Gross

Talk about hijacking a thread:

On the Princeton University campus there are a colony of Black squirrels (not just dark brown, but pure black). The story is that they escaped from a Genetics Lab, multiplied, and over took the normal type.

Disclosure: Didn't go to PU, but own two season seats four rows behind bench (although now living down South, others use them) ...

Oh, and, we all should be policing (escpecially ourselves).

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Posted By: identify7

As undesireable as disagreements in these threads are, certainly everyone realizes that the B/S/T threads are not the place for a dispute. Please take your quarreling private. The squirrels are watching.


And they will tell the boss man who is already "little tired of some of the antics on the BST threads".

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Not only are there sellers who decide not to sell at the asking price, don't respond, etc., but there are buyers who take an item then renege. I don't see how you can really police any of it except by barring people from transacting, which is probably more work and headache than a "for fun" moderator wants to take on. Besides, can you imagine the mess it would create if you were to bar someone from trading and they would then complain you were wrongfully doing it, slandering them, etc. Just a colossal headache borne of good intentions.

My view is leave it as a very clear caveat emptor forum and tell people to handle their differences themselves. The bad eggs will be sorted out of the mix by reputation as word gets around.

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Posted By: identify7

I have had both experiences, with variations, on the B/S/T. I attribute it to sellers not making a firm commitment to themselves to part with their material before listing it, and buyers making offers without actually doing the research to find out exactly what they are committing to purchase.

Both are stupid mistakes.

And I think that most board members will not repeatedly make this type of error. Therefore, this "problem" is likely to be self-policing. And if not, as you say "The bad eggs will be sorted out of the mix by reputation as word gets around".

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

What's annoying me is the bumps. We all want our stuff at the top when posted, if you have nothing new to offer leave the thread alone. To me add "Sold" does not consitute a bump. Edit your original message. Let's all use a little courtesy.

Lee

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Posted By: Bob S

I hesitated before posting this.....but, I think most Americans (almost all of us here are), have the ethics of rats. Just do the best to protect ypurself, and hope for the best.

I posted some time ago about why anyone would sell on eBay when they could simply use the B/S? T forum here

I never received a single reply, but I guess the answer is obvious.

Best regards to the ethical folks here.

Bob S