Thunderbird Club

[PillO]

TOTALLY dig our rehearsal space.... repurposed old post office from the 30s.....
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Stage lights, appropriate (I hope) beverages, and stage lights. What more could you want? Well, I have a list, but it is mostly about hookers and blow.

 

[PillO]

What he was doing wasn't technically illegal, so far as I know. He was banking on the small amount of leverage he had, knowing what the instrument was selling for and seeing if he could get a slightly higher price. He was just an opportunistic middle man. Call it shady if you like, but it's just arbitrage. That's how the finance industry works, for the most part. And, I better stop now, or I'll end up on a soap box.

Gimme that soap box! He/she will likely eventually be disintermediated.

 

[Gaolee]

Gimme that soap box! He/she will likely eventually be disintermediated.

So long as the soap box starts full and the soap used, he/she will be clean while disintermediated. It's a start.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Stage lights, appropriate (I hope) beverages, and stage lights. What more could you want? Well, I have a list, but it is mostly about hookers and blow.

see that door in the third pic?......

 

[PillO]

Stage lights, appropriate (I hope) beverages, and stage lights. What more could you want? Well, I have a list, but it is mostly about hookers and blow.

And now that I have finished coffee, I see that I put stage lights twice and omitted the gong. Gotta have a gong.

 

[Count Bassie]

It's been nearly 10 years but as best I can recall...
Found a nice G&L 2500 Tribute on eBay for a fair price. Hit the pay it now option. Offer accepted. Emailed the seller with preference to pay via money order vs PayPal. He said ok. Got sellers name and address, mailed the money orders and got the bass serial number. One week later reconnected with the seller via email, no response. Had his mailing address so I did a reverse phone number search. Before calling him, looked the address up on google earth, turned out to be a music store. I thought, how odd, why make the money order out to a person vs the store.

Looked the store up on line, viewed their used inventory and found what looked like the same bass for less money. Called the store from my office phone number and asked for the manager. Asked the manager if the seller worked there, he said yes. I asked if the G&L listed on eBay was still for sale, he said he didn't have any eBay listings but he did have a used G&L in stock (it was the same bass), so I bought it on a credit card and asked him to rush ship it to me.

After a couple of days I got hold of the original seller and asked him if he had shipped the bass, he gave some lame excuse as to why it hadn't been shipped yet. I told him I'd pay a premium to have it Rush shipped, he thought that was a good idea, so I told him I'd overnight another money order to cover the urgent shipping. Instead I called the bank and voided the previous money orders, which fortunately hadn't been cashed yet.

The next day I received the bass in the mail from the store manager, serial number matched the one the eBay seller sold to me. So I called the store up, talked to the manager and thanked him for the honest and prompt deal. Then I let him know that his employee had posted that same bass on eBay at a higher price. The manager looked into it.

Manager called me back later that day and apologized about his employee, who he had just fired. Turned out the employee (eBay seller) was taking photos of store inventory, inflating the price, selling the instrument on eBay and pocketing the difference. The manager offered to completely reimburse me and let me keep the G&L. Told him thanks, not necessary - terminating the employee was good enough for me.

Haven't bought anything else on eBay since then.

Wow. Store owner went well beyond making an offer of restitution. Good for him I suppose, clearing his reputation...

 

[GonePlaid]

And now that I have finished coffee, I see that I put stage lights twice and omitted the gong. Gotta have a gong.

Gotta getcha a some Jolt Cola.

 

[Gaolee]

And now that I have finished coffee, I see that I put stage lights twice and omitted the gong. Gotta have a gong.

And a theremin. Everyone needs a trusty theremin. If you can find a trusty theremin that's also Burgundy Mist, all else is superfluous.

 

[PillO]

Gotta getcha a some Jolt Cola.

Goes with @ToddOfThunder 's amp.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Goes with @ToddOfThunder 's amp.

which believe it or not, may have been my amp!...

 

[PillO]

And a theremin. Everyone needs a trusty theremin. If you can find a trusty theremin that's also Burgundy Mist, all else is superfluous.

Or a Theremin in a badger.

 

[JJR58]

Or a Theremin in a badger.

 

[GBassNorth]

What he was doing wasn't technically illegal, so far as I know. He was banking on the small amount of leverage he had, knowing what the instrument was selling for and seeing if he could get a slightly higher price. He was just an opportunistic middle man. Call it shady if you like, but it's just arbitrage. That's how the finance industry works, for the most part. And, I better stop now, or I'll end up on a soap box.

I suspect the store owner felt a little bit different about it. Probably falls into the white collar crime category since the employee was selling products that belonged to the store for personal gain. Kinda along the same line as pocketing any overage from the cash registers each night.

Now if he wasn't an employee one might be able to make a case for an enterprising young entrepreneur just living on the edge wheeling and dealing on gear in a semi speculative kind of way.

 

[Gaolee]

I suspect the store owner felt a little bit different about it. Probably falls into the white collar crime category since the employee was selling products that belonged to the store for personal gain. Kinda along the same line as pocketing any overage from the cash registers each night.

Now if he wasn't an employee one might be able to make a case for an enterprising young entrepreneur just living on the edge wheeling and dealing on gear in a semi speculative kind of way.

I'm sure the store owner was unhappy about it. I'm not sure what the legalities of it are or are not. I'm not a lawyer, and have no intention of ever becoming one. They are pre-Platonic Sophists for whom logic is an artificial construct with absolutely no connection to reality. Another soapbox to use to scrub down the disintermediated.

 

[Gaolee]

Or a Theremin in a badger.

I don't trust badgers. Especially not badgers on a pole.

 

[JJR58]

I'm sure the store owner was unhappy about it. I'm not sure what the legalities of it are or are not. I'm not a lawyer, and have no intention of ever becoming one. They are pre-Platonic Sophists for whom logic is an artificial construct with absolutely no connection to reality. Another soapbox to use to scrub down the disintermediated.

Tell me about it. I work with them, it's enough to make me pull out what little hair i've got left on my head.

 

[BklynKen]

I don't trust badgers. Especially not badgers on a pole.

We don't need no stinking badgers.

 

[GBassNorth]

But what kind of feedback did he leave on the transaction?
And what feedback did you leave him?

Good question on the feedback. We didn't complete a transaction so I didn't leave any feedback that I can recall. I also don't recall getting any negative feedback. Just like ServPro - it's like it never happened.

 

[GBassNorth]

Or a Theremin in a badger.

LOL - just what every studio needs, a Pole Cat.

 

[PillO]

I suspect the store owner felt a little bit different about it. Probably falls into the white collar crime category since the employee was selling products that belonged to the store for personal gain. Kinda along the same line as pocketing any overage from the cash registers each night.

Now if he wasn't an employee one might be able to make a case for an enterprising young entrepreneur just living on the edge wheeling and dealing on gear in a semi speculative kind of way.

I was working on the assumption that he/she was listing the item, then upon a successful sale purchasing the instrument and re-selling it and that he/she was only a clerk at eh store with no executive (fiduciary) responsibility. If he was doing it all under the business umbrella then pocketing the difference, that is a different matter. Likewise, if he/she were the one purchasing used instruments and setting the offering price in the store, he/she is defrauding the store for personal gain. The end result is the same, but the mechanics of it matter; did the eBay lister have a fiduciary responsibility to the store owner?

I'm sure the store owner was unhappy about it. I'm not sure what the legalities of it are or are not. I'm not a lawyer, and have no intention of ever becoming one. They are pre-Platonic Sophists for whom logic is an artificial construct with absolutely no connection to reality. Another soapbox to use to scrub down the disintermediated.

The store owner may be unhappy about it, but you would have to ask him specifically what was upsetting him. If it is just that an employee is buying his stock then re-selling it at a higher price, he is blaming the wrong person. IF it was the fiduciary responsibility of the employee, then well placed.


I too am not a lawyer and as much as I despise them as I always despised the kid on the playground who 'knew' all the rules and spent their time arguing instead of getting on with the game, have several on retainer. For lawyers, I suggest a case of bleach rather than a box of soap.