Most of the transactions that occur via contacts on this board appear to go off well, but once in awhile people get ripped off, to varying degrees. I banned a user who commercially exploiting the board awhile back by posting almost exclusively to sell high end whistles. I now am 99% sure he reemerged with a new log-in and is up to the old tricks, appearing to leave at least one user without a whistle and with little hope of a refund.
If you’re considering a major purchase through the board, check the person’s post history. Ask around if you can. Avoid buying from, or selling to, someone who hasn’t posted much and, when he or she has posted, he or she has mostly posted about instruments for sale.
I be glad to buy your whistle, mon, but the money order
you receive will be too big. This because my girlfriend
Tootsie not have change for a thousand rand. Tootsie
lend me money for whistle, because
Uncle Ray, he be too cheap by far to pay up. Please
in advance return surplus dollars, the sum of 100 dollars,
then I send money order for 175. Oh god I want that
whistle of yours!
Many thanks for your kind help, you and me
blood bros forever, and Happy Hannukah,
Jungle Jimmy’s Whistle Warehouse
‘Have I got a Whistle for you!’
Another message board I was a member of had a forum section devoted exclusively to buying/selling reviews of other board members. Every board member who had bought or sold something had a sticky thread on that board, and everyone who bought something from him, or sold something to him posted in his thread, writing how the deal had gone down. It was easy to see who was honest if you could just go in there, look up his thread, and see what other people had posted about him in the past. Most people turned out to be very honest.
In Dales thread:
"Bought a Copeland D from Dale on 30 july 2007. He was very informative, and answered all questions I had. The whistle arrived, well packaged three days later. I’m very happy.
5/5"
In my thread:
"Sold a Copeland D to Henke on 30/7 07. Good guy to deal with. Bank transfer arrived without delay, no problem at all.
So who is this evil perpetrator? What userids is he going by? If you’ve gone this far to note that there’s a real scam artist out there using these forums it seems only reasonable to ask that you post the name/userid.
Uncle Ray has coughed up the money, finally.
However I gave it to Tootsie to keep for me and she
run off with him. Big floosie she is!
Cousin Oscar,
he come through this morning. Owe me big time. The cheque for
your whistle is in rands. Please reimburse in
dollars, as exchange favors dollars, unlike
the Euro. I try to find meaning in this floating world.
Whistle is truth! Please enclose
ketchup packets with whistle.
Not so available. Tootsie big fan of
ketchup.
This is something which I’ve obviously considered. I’ve locked out three usernames which I believe belong to this single person. Rarely can we know with anything close to certainty that a person is using multiple log-ins or running a scam. I’m confident that I’ve done all I can do at this juncture, thank you.
I’ve had a number of requests to designate a commerce area. It doesn’t feel right to me and I’m waiting for someone to explain to me why it doesn’t feel right to me.
Because this place is homey and friendly. Even if it has “rooms” each room is still a gathering of friends as if in a pub or a house party. We may swap, buy, sell, or admire each others instruments, but still, essentially, we’re here to socialize.
A commerce area would make it feel more like a flea market or swap meet, and it’d lose some of that homey feel.
It works that way for me too–
People here will come up with half a dozen ways of looking at some issue and I find myself thinking “Yes, that’s exactly it!” or “Well, maybe between view A and B” or even “None of the above”.
It helps me get some clarity.
Which I sorely need
BTW, I would prefer for the sale of instrument info to be hidden away as much as possible, so that I don’t get led into temptation.
I’ve had a number of requests to designate a commerce area. It doesn’t feel right to me and I’m waiting for someone to explain to me why it doesn’t feel right to me.
[/quote]Don’t think I’ve bought anything off this board that I was looking for so I’d probably never go to a commerce area. Even if I can’t buy, I read the FS posts because they often spawn interesting discussions & give me insight about folks on the board.
