An interesting (to me anyway) but ethical problem

terryw

Quite a long story. Sorry about that.

On Easter Sunday,I awoke very early and with nothing to do I went on the Ebay.
I am not a regular user - over ten years about 250 excellent feedback, no bad ones.
Hey folks, I am a nice guy.....bought 200 things like books and records, sold about fifty of the same sort of stuff. Never had to bother Ebay about complaints or non-paying buyers and all that sort of stuff. Not one complaint in any shape or form about me or my purchasers.

Anyway, on the last minute I see a bit of Gold (BOG from now on) with no reserve but valued at £200. I bid £3.01 and , much to my surprise, I am the winning bidder.
I immediately pay by Paypal. Seller (Daft lad from now on) sends me virtually unreadable and illiterate reply that he is not prepared to sell for this price but if I pay £50 more I can have said BOG. He alleges that he had had a technical hitch and could not withdraw the item in time. Tone of his email brings out the worst side of me. (If it had a sensible email, I would have just said ok, but I think sod it, I will wind him up a bit. (Yeah, I know this is a waste of time etc etc)

I reply that he has entered into a legally binding contract etc etc and that he is responsible for his own actions and if he decides to put an item into an auction without a reserve then he deserves all that he gets. I suggest that he could have gone to an internet cafe, used a reserve or phoned a friend to avoid selling at a poor price.
Daft lad then accuses me of calling him a liar, knowing nothing about household etc. When I check he has five bad feedbacks (out of 18) for the same thing! Daft lad does not realize that stopping an an auction is not within the Ebay ethos if the price is not realized.

My £3 is refunded but he tries to get me to pay £35.

Six or seven emails go by. He then puts said BOG back on Ebay, and when I remonstrate with him about this he says this an identical BOG as he had two of them!

Today, I checked with 192.com to find his address. He lives with his father or older brother or possibly another relative in Pig's Knuckle Middleshire. The relative has an usual name (Spartacus from now on), and being bored I check with the search facility of the local paper, "The Pig's Knuckle Clarion" and good old Spartacus is a well-known shoplifter with time behind him. I quickly check the previous sales by Daft lad, and he has sold three identical expensive jackets with identical descriptions and photos.

This looks very much like Daft lad is selling shoplifted goods for Spartacus. But I am only guessing, and probably arriving at the wrong conclusion. Or maybe not.

Tonight the BOG has appeared again on Ebay. This must be the third identical BOG. Quite coincidental, I fear.

I feel that I should have a quiet word with the Pig's Knuckle constabularly but I wonder if I am doing the right thing? If I do this, is it because Daft lad has upset me, or is it because I am an upright member of society?

Any views on this moral dilemna?

terryw

mookie

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

frivolous_fay

Bit of both!
Stolen goods frequently show up on ebay...

Rebel

Revenge is a dish best served cold

jenniewb

Man! you got alot of free time- and I think that you need to be a private detective- dump whatever job your in- a PI could pay for your ebay habit from now on- your good!

I don't think there is much you can do btw- (if that was the question) unless you have actual proof. But if he has been caught before, he will be caught again- he's obviously not very good at it! And may well be banned from many stores and more to come!

wolfehouse

you could report it annonymously on crimestoppers
but not sure if it would come to much

ashbart

Rebel wrote: »

Revenge is a dish best served cold

Absolutely! Shop him!

terryw

jenniewb wrote: »

Man! you got alot of free time- and I think that you need to be a private detective- dump whatever job your in- a PI could pay for your ebay habit from now on- your good!

I don't think there is much you can do btw- (if that was the question) unless you have actual proof. But if he has been caught before, he will be caught again- he's obviously not very good at it! And may well be banned from many stores and more to come!

Thanks very much for your reply. Really, I should get out more!

I like your footnote......anyone who can quote Camus deserves recognition.

There is a quote from Nietzsche along the lines of.........Beware about fighting the monster in case you become the monster itself. (Nietzsche said it far better!)
This (mis)quotation was actually in my mind last night when I wrote the original post By looking for revenge, am I not turning into an even worse creature than Spartacus and his brood?

Anyway, rather than write any more deep philosophical nonsense, I am going to take my own advice and go to the pub for a pint.

bw

terryw
.

System

Whatever you do be careful - he has your address from the Paypal transaction!

Avoriaz

terryw wrote: »

..There is a quote from Nietzsche along the lines of.........Beware about fighting the monster in case you become the monster itself. (Nietzsche said it far better!)...

Yours is probably as good a translation as any from Nietzsche’s original German.

Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.

Whoever battles with monsters had better see that it does not turn him into a monster.

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster.

terryw

Avoriaz wrote: »

Yours is probably as good a translation as any from Nietzsche’s original German.

Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.

Whoever battles with monsters had better see that it does not turn him into a monster.

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster.

Thanks for that. My German translation is not very good. It took me all my time to translate the the good old Anglo-Saxon in Daft lad's emails to me.

thanks again.

terryw