SCAMMER ALERT!! Have you ever been scammed by someone in the hobby?

[revhtree]

YUCK! I'm sure this is a can of worms I'm opening up today but hey it's a good topic and one we should think about when buying and selling online. (sorry mods )

It's one of a couple things that really gets my blood boiling! It's never happened to me personally, in this hobby, but it seems to be becoming a little more common. I can tell you that it aggravates me very much when we find out someone has scammed any of our R2R members and we make it a mission to try and figure out who the person is and try to help get the issue resolved as best we can.

With that being said let's hear from you by answering the following questions:

1. Has anyone ever scammed you in the hobby and did you get the issue resolved. (please no names, save that for the feedback forum)

2. What are some proactive steps you take to help protect yourself when buying or selling online?

 

[AZMSGT]

No never been scammed, I take what some would consider as extra precautions. But to be honest I don’t do much buying or selling online. However when I do I make extra effort to verify who I’m working with.

1.When buying I ask for pictures taken just for me. With the sellers name and date written on a piece of paper in the photo of the item. If the seller doesn’t want to, I live without the item.

2. When I sell, I only use regular paypal. I’m not worried about the 3% fee.

3. I only work with people with real phone numbers and talk to them. As soon as I see something flaky in the communications I back out.

4. I look at persons post history. If you have under 100 posts.. allot more verification will need to be required than someone with 1000 posts.

I have had scammers try to get me and do stupid things but that’s usually on Craigslist when I see the standard scam emails.

 

[Silent]

Bought a "new" ph probe that didn't work. Never bothered to tell them as, maybe they knew maybe they didn't. Wasn't worth me shipping it back.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

There's an LFS I used to frequent that would often try to scam customers. Expired chemicals with the expiration date rubbed off, malnurished overpriced fish, "named" corals that look nothing like the actual named variety, and lousy advice just to capture a sale. The LFS used to be respectable, but then I guess they just got greedy.

 

[radsdad]

My experience has been that if you're going to get ripped off by a coral seller, odds are it will be on ebay.

 

[MichaelP121579]

Yeah I sold a t5 hybrid to a guy and he filled a dispute with PayPal saying I shipped him a box of rocks

 

[Mhart032]

I dunno if bate and switch counts, but i bought some coral and it was not what i was given, but with different water quality and all that it wasn't worth it to start a he said she said match. Cause you never know how something really looks till its in your tank for a bit with your own water chemistry.

 

[Chasing-Coral]

Other-- I was just starting in the hobby when I met up with a guy to purchase a eshopps skimmer and a reefkeeper controller among a few other things.

The controller had a cut cable that he concealed with electric tape and the skimmers pump did not work.. Luckily I was able to sell off or trade some of the stuff so that I was better off than I was before the original purchase.

 

[jrp1588]

I got screwed selling an ATI Sunpower once, though I don't know that I'd call it a scam. The buyer ended up complaining that a couple of the reflectors had a slight amount of corrosion on them, even though the photos I took clearly showed the condition of the unit. He claimed that since I didn't call that out in my description, I was being deceptive, and Paypal agreed. He ended up getting half his purchase price refunded.

Also had a local try to drag my name through the mud after I sold him a turf scrubber. I'd never had a problem with it, and tested it before he picked it up, but he messaged me a couple weeks later claiming I ripped him off, and the lights on it didn't work. I even offered to look at the lights and see if I could fix it, but he wanted a full refund. I told him he could go pound sand.

 

[Jeremy Luke]

I once bought some frags from a vendor before and one of the acros was not even 1/4". I'd say that's borderline scam.

 

[JDarling]

No not yet but I have not started yet. Still doing homework and waiting to close on house before I get started. Hopefully get started in April.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Probably by every reef related product on the market with MAP pricing, and hidden or hard to find chemistry data.

 

[BOWHUNTER4250]

Yes a few times , once was with my calcium reactor , was told it was brand new but no new box , some of it put together etc ... filled it and leaked out of every seal .... was able to fix it but angry that i was lied to ... and also was shipped a box of dead smelly coral and seller would not even refund shipping ! and that was on this site !

 

[Mhart032]

No not yet but I have not started yet. Still doing homework and waiting to close on house before I get started. Hopefully get started in April.

this is one of the best posts i have read in a long time! research and homework before starting will save you tremendous money and issues down the road.

 

[Bigbaby]

My experience has been that if you're going to get ripped off by a coral seller, odds are it will be on ebay.

I had an experience from a quite reputable online seller that switched the product on me. Purchased a CC mushroom on their website, only to have the dealer delay the shipping due to reasons undisclosed and told me after dropping off the package at UPS that he "hooked me up" with a better mushroom for the troubles. Ended up getting a CC that looked nothing like the one I paid and purchased. Complained "nicely" and he told me he would make it right. Told me to choose a bunch of other corals that he will give me a significant discount for. In the end, I over paid for a run of the mill mushroom and got pushed to make more purchases with a guise of "making things right". Never expected to run into this issue especially from a reputable online seller, but conversing with other members here, I realized that I wasn't the first and probably won't be the last. The ability to check up on other members are crucial for anyone looking to purchase from the sale threads, but we're only limited to the information available to us. I decided not to put the dealer on blast when it happened cause that didn't sit right with me at the time, but after talking with the other members, I've come to the conclusion that it's valuable information that can save someone else from the trouble I went through and bring accountability to all members and sellers on this platform.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

1. Has anyone ever scammed you in the hobby and did you get the issue resolved. (please no names, save that for the feedback forum)

I had a fellow hobbyist who was helping me out after my rainbow chalice colony got lit up by a torch, as he was a little more experienced than me at the time. I trusted him taking my chalice to his place to rehab it and we later decide its best shot was to frag it. So he turns it into 17-18 frags and I tell him he can keep one for himself as a thank you. Fast forward 3 months; he has sold and given me the money for the three sales (they were approved) and then disappears off the map. He would ghost me when I tried to contact him and would make excuses when I tried to come over. We ended up meeting and he gave me three frags that "survived" but still won't let me come over to shop (he runs a frag business out of his house). Everything about it just feels wrong. Needless to say I will not be working with him again.

2. What are some proactive steps you take to help protect yourself when buying or selling online?

I only purchase online from reputable stores (WWC, LRO, TSA) or hobbyists I know personally.

 

[Cassian]

I was almost scammed once. Someone was going to sell me some Radions at a really good price. Almost too good to be true. He sent me images and everything looked ok. But then I saw the same images on someone’s EBay listing and turns out the guy just joined R2R a few days before.

 

[Gadamwoll]

My experience has been that if you're going to get ripped off by a coral seller, odds are it will be on ebay.

I use a reputable company when dealing with ebay like WWC or AquaSD

 

[Zydan777]

I have not been scammed yet but I think that is due to my IT and Military background. I am always on the alert when buying something.

A few steps to protect yourself
1. I would always recommend buying from a reputable source first. I know that sites like offerup, ebay, etc. have protections against fraud and can help resolve your issue
2. If it is not a reputable source and you are doing a in person purchase never pay before you actually see the product.
3. If you are buying online try to use one of the mobile/online money transfer sites. These companies or sites will ususally help you with false advertised purchases.
4 See what the return policies are or if they have a DoA policy. This will help with items that die in transit.
5 Finally always be cautious. It does not hurt to be wary.

 

[LA Reef Addict]

Yes I have been scammed by a member of R2R unfortunately. Something told me initially not to deal with this person because of his lowball offer on some mushrooms that I was selling. Anyway, long story short I sent him more than 10 pictures of the frag and he convinced me to ship for the first time. Sadly he ended up claiming with paypal that it wasn't what i had represented in pics and got his $1000 back and sent me back a bare frag plug in brown nasty dirty water. I just recently found out from a few other members that this guys has multiple screen names and accounts here on R2R and he has scammed multiple people not only here but in his local community as well. I believe in karma so I just told him that when it comes back to bite him in the you know what, to remember me ; )

Since he's the reason that was my first and LAST time shipping, the only thing I can think of doing different if I were to ever consider shipping again, would be to record the entire process as I place the coral in the bag and put it in the box and drop it off for shipping. Sad that there are dirtbags like this "person" but luckily that for that one horrible experience, I have had thousands of good experiences with reefers on this forum when buying and having corals and equipment shipped to me, as well as great experiences with reefers when buying/selling locally.