Too much coincidence to be true...

[Snicewicz]

I'm sorry Larry, there is still the option of raiding his house with pitchforks and torches..

We could always make a mini-meet of it...

[Wilashort]

X2

Originally Posted by larryminator

Head-Fi is still a great community, but it's becoming more and more, how should I say, open in the variety of people admitted. I think that's the beauty and default of Head-Fi. Anybody can join, but that anybody isn't always good people. However, anybody can discover the beauty of Head-Fi and its generous people.

As for selling restrictions and all, I don't think we should change anything. Newbies are here to learn, try and sell stuff, and getting the posting requirements higher will just slow their course. Personnally, I'm not that guy that does a everyday commentary in everypost, but I READ a lot and I sometime do some constructive commentaries when needed. I don't have multiple thousands posts. I'm also into organising meet. You see, Head-Fi isn't all about posting, it's about being INTERESTED, LEARNING and HAVING FUN more than doing multiple post.

That's my point of view, maybe you think an "active" member should be posting 3 post everyday, but I don't.

There will always be bad people everywhere on the internet. You just have to be cautious, that's all.

Yes, that appears to be the same everywhere. But where i live, umm... This place is a paradise in comparison...

Originally Posted by vcoheda

there's always going to be a few bad apples. the FS forum seems to function reasonably well and much better, imo, then some other used markets.

[dan_can]

AudiogoN ForSale: Grado hp2 with reference or

[dreamwhisper]

hmm
I almost bought a Lavry DA10 from him, but the voice in my head told me no.

Good call.

[Currawong]

Trust the voice in your head.

I run a forum with a 10th the membership of this place, and we had to lock down the For Sale section to people with 100 posts AND two months membership. Also, we require ID for sales over $50. The latter would be entirely impractical here obviously, I just wanted to give an idea what we had to set to prevent issues. 30 posts were just causing people to sign up and make 30 flippant comments before scamming others.

[siddiquehanif]

I almost had a trade deal with him for my ad2000 but fortunatley i drag out myself on time.

[gilency]

Originally Posted by filipelli

Just wondering.. did you put up a WTB or did Punnisher put up a FS? I believe it is against forum policy to sell DIY on the FS threads without becoming a member of the trade.

Despite upping required post counts to post in the FS forums, you still cannot stop buyers with less than 50 posts from PM'ing sellers. You can't prevent them from entering the FS forums anyway so those decent people wouldn't be left in the dust. Might be harder for you to sell your stuff, but if everyone goes through the same procedure, who has any right to complain? Upping the post counts for possible sellers would be a great way of weeding out people who try to scam by selling things they do not have, or flipping items for profit, or scammers. The number of posts does not measure honesty, but gives buyers more peace of mind to continue on with a transaction, and develop the sense of community in head-fi.

I pm'd Punnisher. He did not have a for sale post. I would buy again from him anytime.
I do see your point though.

[stuartr]

Yeah, I am sorry that I did not out him earlier. He was interested in my HP-2's when I thought I was going to sell them, and he wrote me a lot of PM's (and kept doing so after I decided not to sell them). He would write PM's from both Waddragon and lucky_star, and in one of the PM's he wrote the exact same text in both PM's, so I asked him if he was the same person and he admitted it. I did not bother to report it because I did not realize it was not allowed and it seemed harmless to me at the time. I am really sorry that I did not report it...I could have saved Larry the trouble!

Here is that PM exchange:

Originally Posted by lucky_star
Hi stuartr
if you are planning to sell it again, plz contact
I accept your price 1500$+paypal fee and shipment
i live in Berkeley, Ca
THANKS

Originally Posted by stuartr

Given your identical grammar, request and being from the same city, I assume you are waddragon but using a different username. But if not, please understand that there are several people in front of you who I will contact first if I decide to sell them again.

Thanks very much,

Stuart

yes, I am "waddragon" too . I have rarely used this nick.

[stuartr]

By the way, he also tried to get me to trade my HP-2's to him for the HE60/HEV70 combo he got from cant sleep. He said he paid 1800 dollars for them and wanted me to trade plus 300 dollars cash for the headphones. I refused, because he struck me as untrustworthy, but mostly because I have heard that combo and think it is awful (no offense to anyone who likes them).

[aaron313]

Originally Posted by stuartr

By the way, he also tried to get me to trade my HP-2's to him for the HE60/HEV70 combo he got from cant sleep. He said he paid 1800 dollars for them and wanted me to trade plus 300 dollars cash for the headphones. I refused, because he struck me as untrustworthy, but mostly because I have heard that combo and think it is awful (no offense to anyone who likes them).

Dude, I'm not even going to talk about my personal experience with him, but let's just say he first tries to trick you without batting an eye, and then calls YOU the tricky one. It sucks that I have been either directly or tangentially involved in the last two HF scam/deceit stories. Let's try to prevent a third from occurring.

Part of an email I just sent him:

Hopefully you get those CC issues worked out, and then stop deceiving people in your personal life. Don't let headphone drama turn into REAL drama, because you could make other people very angry, and they will not be as understanding as I am. Clearly, you have some other issues you need to work out, because you did not recognize when I told you that you were behaving in a crooked fashion. Take care!

[vcoheda]

i remember being involved in a pm conversation with him (waddragon) about the L3000 and told him that it was a great headphone but expensive - a lot of money to have tied up in one item. he said that's what credit cards were for. did he not realize that those things have to be paid off.

on a side note, i'm extremely careful about who i purchase items from. most of the time i rely on feedback, but often just a gut instinct as well. have never encountered any problems on head-fi. a combination of luck and good sense, i suppose.

[aaron313]

Well, I did get to listen to his L3000, and I can say his debt was my gain, in that instance.

Guess I'll elaborate on my experience:
Initially, he coerced me into putting down a deposit for an item I wanted, claiming that he had another buyer. But the truth is, he was probably bull****ting me. Then, he offered me an HE60/HEV70 system for $1800, and the next day told me he was selling it for $2300 to someone else. WTF?! So I pulled out of the deal on his other item, because he pissed me off, and made me not trust him. Then he wouldn't return all of the deposit, because I was being the "tricky" one. Ok, man, you lied to me on several occasions, and scared me off. That voids our initial agreement. Get it?

Hope you are now reading this on one of your ten other accounts, including creditcarddebtdragon, or fallingcredit_star!

[Liroycmoi]

Originally Posted by krmathis

Only sellers are required to post in the FS forum. The buyers can communicate with the seller through private messaging.
Hence they don't need to meet the requirements.

I am with you guys on rising the requirements. 500/750 posts and 3/6 months membership sounds good to me. Perhaps require a paid subscription as well?

Hello,

I understand your point, but please don't do that

I have no post there on head-fi, just because I have nothing to say, but I spend a lot of time on the FS forum and could obviously buy overly expensive gear such as GRADO HP1-2 or STAX OMEGA 2.

I would be happy to participate in this community but my gear and knowledge are not sufficient right now (I don't want you people to make fun at me...and at my potential weak reviews...)

The only way to participate would be to own good audio gear, and the only way to do that is to buy it on the FS forum

Buyers definitely need to be protected from scammers....As for Sellers I understand your point but scammers are rapidly pointed out and banned (hopefully!).

That's what we can see here...and as you, I think that this story is very sad, but in fact that is what most headfiers do...selling their gear for a higher price or at the same price they bought it (only for expensive and rare gear I mean...such as K1000 for example). They don't do it for profit only, but it is quite the same at the end. But ethically acceptable still...do not misinterpret my point.

Do not forget that most people are honest and then they deserved to be trust even if they have no feedback (that is what we called the "présomption d'innocence" in French law, once you are not found guilty you are stated as innocent and then trustworthy).

This community must stay open and not become a closed fraternity of young audio fan millionnaires!!!

Hope you guys will understand my point.

[jmmtn4aj]

Originally Posted by Rednamalas1

buyers are fine. They take most of the risks anyways. We just want to stop scammers/flippers.

something like 750 posts + 3 months (as aaron suggested) for sellers and buyers can buy whenever - that sounds good to me.

Originally Posted by krmathis

Only sellers are required to post in the FS forum. The buyers can communicate with the seller through private messaging.
Hence they don't need to meet the requirements.

I am with you guys on rising the requirements. 500/750 posts and 3/6 months membership sounds good to me. Perhaps require a paid subscription as well?

Sorry, I meant seller too. Maybe it's just a trend for the lower priced items, but I think pretty much every person I've bought from over this forum didn't meet any of those requirements =\

[Audiofiler]

Originally Posted by elrod-tom

This is a great site, and it's great because of its members and what they contribute. The quality of that contribution determines what kind of site that this is. To the extent that any of us is less than satisfied with the site, we have to look ourselves in the mirror to some degree.

agree.
This is the best forum around for audio and maybe any hobby interest. Just because there are more members now participating does not mean people should not use caution, I still unload and buy of the forum but have thankfully not encontered such caveats. Always be mindful as there are those that would deceive you in/on any level anywhere in life.

Well put elrod and touche..