Bad Seller Warning!!

[Acill]

I think I can safely say now that I was ripped off my the user "Shaf" on here and many other Amiga forums. He lives in Toronto Canada. I didnt want to call him out before knowing for sure, but its been nearly two months now of him telling me he has been busy, it will go out today and sorry I will go now and send it excuses over and over. This was only $300 but it was money i didnt have to just toss away with nothing in return.

One again the users name here is "Shaf" and he has been around a long time, so its a shock since I dealt with him before and it was completely positive.

[Amiga1992]

Hold on here for a sec.

One, alright, I understand you are upset, but do NOT post people's personal information like home addresses, full names and email addresses here. Can a mod edit that? Scammed you or not, this has implications, and this is a public forum that can be scoped by robots to extract such info.
And there is still some chance that this person has had issues and their unusual behavior is justified. It's best to err with caution.

Second, can you please post link(s) to the thread(s) where he has posted stuff for sale or whatever? Just so we know in which case you have been scammed and how. I cannot find any threads of his in Marketplace, this is why I ask. He's actually even a VERY light poster here. Not much activity. How did you enter a buy/sell deal with him in the first place? Was it in Amibay?

Just trying to not make this into a doxxing episode, man. I feel your pain, though, so I am trying to help. Nobody should lose any money like this, and I would also be furious if I feel I was shafted (pun intended ) for $300.


Does anybody else have any experience with this user? Have you been scammed too? Please post here.

[davideo]

Originally Posted by Akira

Was it in Amibay?

AmiBay does have a member with the name Shaf but he/she has no For Sale threads. Only two Wanted threads.

[grelbfarlk]

I understand your stance Akira but lets say the guy tries to pull it again and we've heard Acill's story, do we just say ok don't buy anything from Toronto?

How else are we supposed to avoid a known scammer?

Originally Posted by Akira

Hold on here for a sec.

One, alright, I understand you are upset, but do NOT post people's personal information like home addresses, full names and email addresses here. Can a mod edit that? Scammed you or not, this has implications, and this is a public forum that can be scoped by robots to extract such info.
And there is still some chance that this person has had issues and their unusual behavior is justified. It's best to err with caution.

Second, can you please post link(s) to the thread(s) where he has posted stuff for sale or whatever? Just so we know in which case you have been scammed and how. I cannot find any threads of his in Marketplace, this is why I ask. He's actually even a VERY light poster here. Not much activity. How did you enter a buy/sell deal with him in the first place? Was it in Amibay?

Just trying to not make this into a doxxing episode, man. I feel your pain, though, so I am trying to help. Nobody should lose any money like this, and I would also be furious if I feel I was shafted (pun intended ) for $300.


Does anybody else have any experience with this user? Have you been scammed too? Please post here.

[lilalurl]

I see your concern.

It would be interesting if Acill could answer Akira's post.

IMO, what could be posted are the seller's initials, the domain name and maybe a few characters of the email address.


For instance, if you had to buy some stuff from:
B.G.
Bi**.Ga***@microsoft.com
Redmond, USA

you would probably not trust his offer about "Lot of rare Amiga stuff. Always loved the Amiga. PC sucked back in the day and still do."

[Amiga1992]

Yeah we definitely need m,ore info, especially since we cannot find a single trade post here or on Amibay from that user.

I'm not siding with the possible scammer, I am just erring on the side of caution.
Other personal info isn't needed unless the seller is actively scamming people while using other screen names (Also something we don't know, probably not happening since it wasn't mentioned).

And as I said, what if this person had a legitimate reason not to be able to fulfill his commitment? We can't be quick to judge without more info and evidence.

My point is: we don't YET know this is a "known scammer", we lack the necessary information to make that statement without doubt.

[Acill]

I'll agree posting his info was not smart, but he is activly avoiding me now and has been reported to crime stoppers in Toronto. I was contacted by him in the past through here and another Amiga forum, had a great purchase from him, then he reached out again and took the money and ran. it wasnt a post here, but i wanted to get his name out and warn people.

As far as proving it? I have a massive email chain with excuse after excuse of him telling me he will ship and then he goes silent again untill I treaten him with legal actions. The last email being that he spent the moneyand is waiting for fund to be able to ship.

Here are a few samples of those emails even.

KHAN to me
Show more
12/8/17
Sorry, I've had so many things going on, i'm going to fefund you $150 USD next week, sending the boards out tomorrow. I'm also including Ian Steadsman's ATX adapter for the A1000.
You already have the 040 board which i sent with the other GBA 1000 i'll also include more memory chips.

Regards

Shaf

KHAN to me
Show more
12/13/17
Paul,
Sorry its packed and ready to go, i had to repack because i forgot the Xlink Chips for the Video Card.

I'll sent the Shipping Waybill number tonight, i might be able to send it fromn my phone at the post office.

Contents of package:
GBA1000 Board Populated
GBA Video Board Rev 3.3 with parts
GBA USB Board with parts (PAL's)
A1000 ATX Power Adapter
040 to 060 adapter boards partially populated

Shaf

KHAN to me
Show more
12/13/17
I was planning to send it express, and going right now.

KHAN to me
Show more
12/20/17
I'm, sorry Paul,

I run my own business and things have been slow, i'm behind in shipment due to low finances, this is unusual for me but promise it board will ship in a few days. I've been waiting for customers to pay for repairs for a few week and haven't received the money since i mostly do TV's and Laptops parts can be ecxpensive.

I think you will be happy with the Parts you receive please notify if there is any damage immediately when it arrives. I expect the shipment to go out either tomorrow or friday. I will send tge Tracking number immediately.

Regards

Shaf



and again he is silent.

[Amiga1992]

Thanks for the extra info Acil, I think we can definitely treat this as being shady.

This is why people shouldn't really deal privately with others they don't really know in the forums or elsewhere, unless there is a public thread everyone can refer to in case things go south. As I said this user had not posted a Trading thread ever and was just dealing with you through PM, offering stuff? That sounds really bad.

I didn't mean "you have to prove it" with anything I said, I meant we needed more info (proof) to ascertain this person's intentions. I think probably now this is clear, unfortunately (always sad to hear people here get scammed by users)

I hope you resolve this soon, but I am afraid that since this was all a private deal, you'll have very little in the way of power to steer it your way It all ends up being a he said/he said kinda ordeal.

[Acill]

Yup I know, and the only reason I even did it was due to a deal i made with him not long ago that went great. This was a posting he made on amiga,org I think where is was much more active.

Most of the work i do is through the Amiga facebook group and he was in there as well, but I gave warning about this as well and havent seen much, but he does post offering to buy and sell things from time to time. Fair warning to all.

[shaf]

Paul are we OK now, everything has been sent, sorry about the delays over Christmas time.

Shaf

[Amiga1992]

Shaf, can you explain more about the problem here? The whole thread doesn't leave you standing in great light. Please elaborate so people know what's up.
Thanks.

[shaf]

I ran into some financial issues over Christmas where I had a few customers after approving estimates didn't pay and left me extremely low on funds. I am no longer repairing equipment without a minimum deposit. This doesn't affect my Amiga stuff only TVs and Laptops that I only repair locally.
All equipment has been sent to Paul including a few extra items as a gesture of good faith.

And this is why I recommend good communication practices by sellers. I even include my phone number and preferred calling hours to a customer, just in case they want to call me and talk it out. Over PM/email a lot of communication and nuance can get lost, unfortunately.

[Amiga1992]

Thanks for explaining that, shaf. Let me give you some advice to all of you to avoid this kind of situation in the future:

1) Do not deal with users privately only. Only use Marketplace posts to do your trades, sales, and purchases. This applies to both sellers and buyers. If we see publicly what happens, it's easier to assert if someone is being a shithead scammer or not.

2) as Raion-Fox says, COMMUNICATION IS KEY! Everyone can have issues, we're not perfect, and I know I had them in the past myself, but you need to keep communicating. Not explaining and/or ignoring your buyer's questions and worries leads to problems. Transparency is fundamental.

As it was my initial feeling, I believe you did not act out of malice (I hope you did not act out of malice), and I ask you that, from now on, if you have services or items for sale, that you make a thread in Marketplace about it, and be transparently communicative throughout every transaction. You can apply the same practices to Amibay. I don't understand how the transaction between you two started, but it wasn't ideal, and it shouldn't happen again.

Advice for Acill (and all prospective buyers), is to never deal with users only in private like in this situation, and to leave negative feedback for shef in the User Feedback thread, before resorting to more drastic real-life measures. I am afraid I am a little too late for that, but hopefully for the future, it will be advice well kept.

I hope this is the end of this situation, Acill, please report back if everything has been sorted!

[shaf]

Acill is travelling on Business my last communication with him was on sunday afternoon.