Should we maintain a list of suspicious buyers and sellers?

[RobertGT]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

Lou, I understand your thoughts, as well as those expressed by Leon and other members. And I respect your position. But I don't think it would create any additional liability, or rancor. Remember, the list would be comprised of people that are already being discussed on the forum. If a forum member starts a topic on an Ebay buyer named John Q. Public because they backed out of a buy it now commitment, the specifics of what happened should be presented within the thread. Say Mr. Public bought a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth, and the next day our forum member a message that he has changed his mind, and doesn't want the card. The forum member would document this here, and open an unpaid item case. A message would then be sent to Leon, or another forum admin or moderator with the link to the discussion. If approved for inclusion on the list, Mr. Public's name and Ebay user ID would be added to the list. Since everything has been presented factually, there can be no libel accusation. No further comment would be made as the the Ebay buyer on the list. Just the facts. They would simply be listed for reference as a non payer on one auction. With their name and user id now in the searchable database, anybody on Net54 could check and see this user has at least this one time been problematic. If they choose to block the buyer, all future problems with said buyer have been averted.

Of course it is not a perfect solution, but the list would serve as a preemptive strike of sorts.

Uh...seriously? I have been an eBay seller for about 14 years now. People back out of transactions, never pay and send rude and even threatening messages. A couple of times people have claimed to have never received cards when I knew for a fact they had. Ask anyone who runs even a small operation - it's all part of the cost of doing business. You open your unpaid item case, block bidder, recoup your fees, relist and move on.

Is it frustrating and annoying? Absolutely. Is it worth making a federal case out of it and creating a public thread to malign someone over $50? No. The truth is you don't know what the other person's situation is or what is going on in their life. I think the Adrian threads were a pretty good example of this, even though some of his dealings were definitely questionable.

Plus I am sure Leon and other mods have better things to do than babysit hundreds of he-said/she-said discussions all day long over minor spoiled ebay transactions.

Now if it's a big scam, at an institutional level (i.e. auction house/grading companies) or affecting hundreds of buyers, by all means out the scam. That's where this board really rocks.

[Buythatcard]

Originally Posted by RobertGT

Uh...seriously? I have been an eBay seller for about 14 years now. People back out of transactions, never pay and send rude and even threatening messages. A couple of times people have claimed to have never received cards when I knew for a fact they had. Ask anyone who runs even a small operation - it's all part of the cost of doing business. You open your unpaid item case, block bidder, recoup your fees, relist and move on.

Is it frustrating and annoying? Absolutely. Is it worth making a federal case out of it and creating a public thread to malign someone over $50? No. The truth is you don't know what the other person's situation is or what is going on in their life. I think the Adrian threads were a pretty good example of this, even though some of his dealings were definitely questionable.

Plus I am sure Leon and other mods have better things to do than babysit hundreds of he-said/she-said discussions all day long over minor spoiled ebay transactions.

Now if it's a big scam, at an institutional level (i.e. auction house/grading companies) or affecting hundreds of buyers, by all means out the scam. That's where this board really rocks.

I agree with Rob 100%

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Buythatcard

I agree with Rob 100%

\

Me too.

[cyseymour]

I think we need fewer witch-hunts and more focus on collecting. I know it is kind of a slow period of time where not many cards are up for auction, plus the playoffs haven't started yet. So there isn't much focus on cards or on baseball right now, it seems. Most of the popular threads have been on potential scammers and people who have already been thrown off the message board for bad behavior. Some of the recent accusations don't have much substance to them and seem to be a considerable amount of conjecture. But even if proven true, eventually, it gets tiresome. There's no reason to be involved in a hobby if your main focus is simply the greed and dishonesty displayed by some. But 95% of the folks out there are straight dealers. They deserve as much of our attention, if not moreso. Not to say that the big scams like Mastro don't deserve attention, or if people are getting ripped off really badly. But otherwise, let's try to stay positive and not obsess about it. Just my perspective.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Stuff trumps all. The tiny percentage of people who will take a stand and not buy from people whose fraud has been outed won't make a difference, in my humble opinion. The problem can only be solved -- if at all -- by law enforcement. If the most sophisticated financial crimes can be successfully prosecuted one would think a bunch of clowns trimming and sanding baseball cards wouldn't be that hard. Here's hoping that is true anyhow.

[ullmandds]

These "witch-hunts" have been warranted and justified. They're not being done out of boredom from what I have seen. I believe the cheaters...liars...crooks...and thieves need to be kept on the run...whether anything gets done to solve the problem or not...they just can't keep getting away with this!

[cyseymour]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

These "witch-hunts" have been warranted and justified. They're not being done out of boredom from what I have seen. I believe the cheaters...liars...crooks...and thieves need to be kept on the run...whether anything gets done to solve the problem or not...they just can't keep getting away with this!

Yeah but we can't just forever be police officers... we need to enjoy the hobby as well, or what is the point? The last few threads I have seen... we had the thread on Adrian, who has already been banned from the boards. The thread on Joseph P. may have been warranted, but other than buying cards and cracking them out and having them regraded, what else was there... I didn't see any evidence of doctoring and all that they really had on him were some low bids on his own card. That's not a good thing, really, but other than that, there was the thread on Bubble Bath Girl that seemed unwarranted as everyone rushed to his defense. Just saying that lately we've had a lot of threads with people reaming each other out with little evidence of wrongdoing. Not saying that it is bad to expose liars and cheaters, just making the point that it can get tiresome and they will always be there. You can think you've gotten everybody but then the next ebay scam will just appear with some re-sealed wax pack or something. Yawn.

[Prof_Plum]

I voted "yes" in the poll but only because I wouldn't be the one having to deal with any issues that arise out of it. Of which, there would probably be plenty.

As I'm sure others do, I have a "saved sellers" list on ebay and add any names that come up from discussions here. It's up to 19 questionable sellers right now.