Got burnt today

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by clutch

Give me a little bit of credit. I always inspect the items first. I was out of town that week and couldn't. There were a lot of items there that looked interesting and I only bid on this one because it had a PSA sticker and the auto looked good. I matched the number up to the database and it matched.

Like I said. The photocopy was a new one and it caught me off guard.

No, I will take away credit based on that answer You clearly don't "always" inspect the item first because you did not inspect this item. You "usually" do so. This time you didn't and it happened to be a bad item. Whoops, that'll 'learn ya' for the next time you are tempted to dance with the devil in the fluorescent auction light.

I don't think anyone is really casting unfounded aspersions your way, it is just that: (1) some people have a difficult time finding the middle ground between nice and total flaming a-hole when it comes to responding to something disagreeable to them, and (2) you are repeatedly justifying and defending a fundamentally flawed position. Had you posted the story as a "caution, don't do this and don't deal with these crooks" story, you'd have gotten a polite response or two and it would be done. What you really wanted was for the folks here to respond with a sympathetic cluck of "yes, you poor thing, you were cheated and abused by the thieving auctioneer." You won't get that from most posters here because you participated in a known scamsters' auction absent even the most rudimentary precautions. It is like buying a $200 Mathewson from Roaches' Corner and being surprised that it is a fake. Shades of Claude Rains...



Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.

Now, as to whether an item ever falls so far from the mark that it would overcome a disclaimer, certainly that is possible but it is a straw man argument in this context. Let's say you bought an [allegedly] autographed photo and the guy handed you a basketball. Obviously, no disclaimer is going to prevent you from handing it back and asking for the picture. You don't need a fancy fraud argument for that--it is plainly not the item that you bid on. That is not the case with the scenario you presented. You did not receive a completely different item than what you bid on; you received exactly what you bid on but it turned out to be counterfeit, and you were told up front to assume that the item was not genuine.