Scams in Buy/Sell forums

[reefwars]

When I first started with concept had a young guy come in and needed a tank in an emergency well were custom so I didn't have anything available not in that kind of rush

I had just had my display built but was still buying equipment so I says take my new tank hasn't even seen water I even gave it at glass cost and said just pay me when you can after all he was a young kid in a bad jam about to lose livestock and was dealing with a cracked filled tank

The following week gave him liverock free and some other odds and ends I wasn't using

I got 1 payment out of three which was right on time , none of the other payments came , made arrangements to have it paid on jan1 of last year that never happened

Small world though and I turn around one day at big Al's and boom were race to face and I say dude why?

Sure enough his grandma died and I felt bad said its ok a text would have been nice but I understood

Next day seen him joining a frag alot group buy on canreef for $300 he posts so now I'm mad and tell him as much

Here we are over a year later and I've never seen any more oayments I've had to buy the tank twice and looked liked an idiot to the boss as he warmed me it was a bad idea , well he was right

He posts on here from time to time and turns out he's burned 2 other reefers I deal with in the city

Now it's pay upfront for everything or move on friend or not

[reefwars]

Was shipping a box to Yellowknife was a shared package with me and one of the vendors at the time , I get a message from a guy in whitecourt up past Edmonton saying he wants coral well it's late in the day but I say I can prob get it out with my other package

He orders $200 of corals from me and $200 from the vendor I slap covered his corals from the vendor and paid for shipping so was alot if money , I figure hes on here lots brand new big " theme " build on canreef

I go through with it all on my pocket and time

Corals shop and next day I send a pm saying did you get it , he says he got called back up north suddenly and his wife received it and from what she can tell looks good and says he will have her emt shortly

No emt comes so after several days I send another pm saying I never received a emt, he says that outvofcthe order the zoas were great but sps from vendor showed up bleached so he's not paying for those

I explain that unpaid for his sps , full retail , if there was an issue he should have called me right away I can't argue the fact a week later with the vendor . Also no pics available so just going on word

I know where this is going so I say ok well then send me mine and the shipping and ill jet shrug it off as a loss he says he will emt it right away and goes on to say he loves his zoos and will order again from me right away

Payment never did come and he stopped posting literally that moment , tqlked to a guy who knows him and he's still hanging around here

Another lesson learned

[HaZRaTTy]

Originally Posted by reefwars

When I first started with concept had a young guy come in and needed a tank in an emergency well were custom so I didn't have anything available not in that kind of rush

I had just had my display built but was still buying equipment so I says take my new tank hasn't even seen water I even gave it at glass cost and said just pay me when you can after all he was a young kid in a bad jam about to lose livestock and was dealing with a cracked filled tank

The following week gave him liverock free and some other odds and ends I wasn't using

I got 1 payment out of three which was right on time , none of the other payments came , made arrangements to have it paid on jan1 of last year that never happened

Small world though and I turn around one day at big Al's and boom were race to face and I say dude why?

Sure enough his grandma died and I felt bad said its ok a text would have been nice but I understood

Next day seen him joining a frag alot group buy on canreef for $300 he posts so now I'm mad and tell him as much

Here we are over a year later and I've never seen any more oayments I've had to buy the tank twice and looked liked an idiot to the boss as he warmed me it was a bad idea , well he was right

He posts on here from time to time and turns out he's burned 2 other reefers I deal with in the city

Now it's pay upfront for everything or move on friend or not

Well If this story is true, which I'm sure it is.. I see no reason to allow this person to remain on this site. These are the kinds of people that need to be gone and not return.

I remember an "all" out war about a skimmer that was loaned and never returned and then the guy tried to sell it on Buy/Sell.

[mark]

Originally Posted by reefwars

He posts on here from time to time and turns out he's burned 2 other reefers I deal with in the city

be nice to get a user name so others are aware to stay away from this a$$hole

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by mark

be nice to get a user name so others are aware to stay away from this a$$hole

Well, if any of this activity happens on the board, we will take "corrective" measures.
Please do report anything like this to us, and if they're scamming people here, we will show them the door.

[sirruckus]

I've been thinking we can respond to a for sale thread in public about our dealings, since canreef has no other solution right now.

I trust how I conduct myself is above and beyond what normal people will do. What I want to know is who is wasting my time, who doesn't deserve this treatment.

I've shipped out live rock and hardware
received shipped items

because all those dealings went o.k. - I'd want other people to know I'm a good seller and that I've dealt with other good sellers. It doesn't eliminate anything, but it definitely reduces it

[Aquattro]

The problem with any type of review is getting all the facts, all the time. What about the shipment that went to the wrong house? What if it hadn't been recovered? Then it's a he said/she said argument, with someone getting labelled as bad to deal with when they did nothing wrong.
We just can't have that even once. Get paid before you ship and insure the shipment. Then everyone is protected.
The only way to deal with problems is contact us for direction, and then if a warning is warranted, we can post it.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by mark

be nice to get a user name so others are aware to stay away from this a$$hole

Originally Posted by HaZRaTTy

Well If this story is true, which I'm sure it is.. I see no reason to allow this person to remain on this site. These are the kinds of people that need to be gone and not return.

I remember an "all" out war about a skimmer that was loaned and never returned and then the guy tried to sell it on Buy/Sell.

Originally Posted by mark

be nice to get a user name so others are aware to stay away from this a$$hole

Originally Posted by HaZRaTTy

Well If this story is true, which I'm sure it is.. I see no reason to allow this person to remain on this site. These are the kinds of people that need to be gone and not return.

I remember an "all" out war about a skimmer that was loaned and never returned and then the guy tried to sell it on Buy/Sell.

benefit of the doubt , for all i know in situation one is he could of had some sort of life changing problem that left him short changed that i was never told, ive been in those boats before and it isnt alot of money( $100) so i just cut my losses


second scenario i blame myself for rushing and i knew better to send stuff out without some sort of payment , this was the risk i took and figured it would turn out good , im sure i could have hounded for some time after or kicked up a fuss but same thing i cut my losses and for me its a youll need me before i need you scene for both.

its sad that guy number one doesnt come to the store and its sad that both members stopped posting the day this happened when they were very active members before , journals etc.

its a buyer beware and a seller bewars world , and when it comes to livestock it gets even worse

example:

a while ago i ordered some coral from ontario, first box showed up fried from the heatpaks and such a small box , replacement order was sent out and this one also didnt do well , after sending some frags out to the guy for a trade plus replacements that didnt make it the second time, i got my third box..... i did get the replacements but no trades for the coral i sent the previous week.

now this situation actually turned out great cause i now know theres not much to gain on either side , hes out three times the coral and im out some pieces and extra shipping charges plus some frags i sent.

we chatted and actually laughed a bit we boith didnt really think it through and no matter how we did it we were both going to be out , so we just laughed and said it happens , this was acvtually a great buy and im doing another when ever i can....itsd alot to do with how both soides handle it.

my new policy is i replace a full DOA order and cover all costs which ive never had to do yet including a package that was lost to bc for 6 days , and if theres any single doas i replace and shipping is split.

as far as saying peples names and such i dont think thats fair , or the right thing to do , its a world where every purchase and financial decision has to be taken with caution and at the same time allow for some risk , not all will turn out great but ive sent maybe 300 boxes out in my past and ive been burned by less then a few and i always try to fix any problems that may be caused on my side as the shipper , its what i would expect if iwas the customer and what i do as the seller


with shipping livestock if thers any hold ups theres a loss .

cost me about $80 to send a box to ontario , so if a guy orders $300 worth of coiral and shipping is free theres only one attemt to make a profit thats small , if theres replacement then the loss is larger then the profit was to begin with , as a seller we learn to minimize loss to cover our own ass and to make sure customers are happy.

to this day the best corals i ever got have been shipped , prob from poeple i dont know and even right now dropping a couple thousand on a us company for goods that may never even get sent lol.....risk

cheers

denny

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

The problem with any type of review is getting all the facts, all the time. What about the shipment that went to the wrong house? What if it hadn't been recovered? Then it's a he said/she said argument, with someone getting labelled as bad to deal with when they did nothing wrong.
We just can't have that even once. Get paid before you ship and insure the shipment. Then everyone is protected.
The only way to deal with problems is contact us for direction, and then if a warning is warranted, we can post it.

i agree it would never happen as then someone has to play judge and gather facts which is tough when two poeple live across the country from each other , sometimes people blow the handle before the other guy has a chance to reply( happened to me , sorry guy!!!!)

best thing we can do as a community is buy with caution , business or not things may work out or not work out as i said its often that it does work out or theres a reason for things that arnt known.

i honestly dont think anyone comes here to scam or take advantage , its more of a bad decision scenarios that lead to dead ends.

[Kait]

I participate in another forum that has an extensive b/s/t portion - it's actually the reason that most of us had joined the community. We use a v-trader system, that after each transaction you can leave a rating and a comment. I know others have mentioned this, so I just wanted to chime in that it works pretty well. If everyone leaves a comment ("transaction was good, but was shipped to wrong address" or whatever the case may be), then it's buyer beware and everyone can make an informed decision.