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Irritated


Rjohn

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Last week I re-scaped my tank and posted in the club that I had rocks with gsp,etc, that I was willing to give away. Several people picked up rocks, some large and some small. One man gave me $2 for half a dozen blue mushrooms but that was all the money that changed hands. I didn't mind helping other people start tanks or make additions to theirs. However, I went to River City Friday to get water and lo and behold, there were some of my rocks for sale. I am a bit irritated but should I be?

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yes you should. This happens alot on here. Many people scout the site all day long and post 2 mins after someone has posted something and feel they get "dibs" since they responded first. For that reason and yours I no longer give things away and sell to those i WANT to sell to, not just who Dibs first. Keep those people in mind, for the next round of sales.

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Hi Ric, yes, that's very frustrating. I tend to believe in karma and that ultimately things balance out, but once burned definitely twice shy. There is a star rating system where you can rate other members here, but there is always the potential for that to devolve into reciprocal bad ratings. Ultimately I believe that we will develop a network here of members who are trusted. I do ask that we all continue to give the newbies and fresh faces a chance to participate until they abuse that trust. I'd hate for this to become a place where only us old curmudgeons are allowed to participate.

There's a pinned topic on this about stating your sales terms: http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/20684-buying-and-selling-items-rules-of-thumb/

I'd love to continue adding to these Rules of Thumb to make expectations much more clear for everyone.

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First of all I want to say I can understand your irritation, someone missrepresented themselves to advance themselves on your goodwill. When I give something away it is wit the expectation they will use it to thier benefit and I try not to attach my expectations or if I do have expectations I'll make them a condition up front. I also reserve the right to give (or sell in some cases) to whom I think is the more deserving and not the first person to come along wanting it. In the case of live animals my emphasis is on the person who is more likely to do a better job taking care of it and apreciate it.

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Off topic a little but as far as buying and selling it would be great if the star system worked like ebay where buyers and sellers could rate each other with comments. People would be less likely to leave you hanging if it affected their future dealings. I used to put orders together for people, a couple times well over $100, and have been left hanging. To make it worse I've been left hanging by people that I had good dealings with with in the past. It sucks when you have a limited amount of space for frags and someone has you cut 10 frags and then doesn't pick up. Then you are left with having to discount them to sell fast or wait until someone wants that coral with that size of a frag. That's why I usually have people put down 50% before I cut anything, no one has left me hanging after putting money down. I make few exceptions to this anymore, only a handful of members do I completely trust. The way I see it is that if someone isn't willing to put money down then they aren't serious about buying.....although there have been a few exceptions for people that don't use paypal.

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I think if you pay for something, you have every right to do with it as you please, including re-selling it...even at a marked-up price.

But jumping ahead of others to get some free stuff just to cash-in? That's just wrong.

Now, how about complicating this a bit? What if you get a coral for free and then you sell it or trade-it in a year later? Still wrong? :)

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You have every right to be upset. Well, I appreciate the blue mushrooms that I got from you. And I still have them. How is marco rock doing? Has some of the white gone away yet. Again Thank You.

The rock is getting a bit brown from the expected diatom bloom but it isn't too bad. I changed out the carbon and added some Phosguard. That should clear it up in a few days. I was glad to meet you Michael and I hope the little blues grow well for you. I added a couple of small frags yesterday from the AAF- absinthe blasto and a little piece of prism favia. I'd like a kedd red frag and some dragon eyes maybe.

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I'd be frustrated as well. Also, I agree with Hydro's proposed system. That could really keep sellers AND buyers in the know.

@PBNJ,

When I had my old Solana, another member gave me quite a few corals. They grew out some over the next 5 months. However, when I broke the tank down, I still gave them away for free. Didn't feel right charging for what I got for free.

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I would be mad also. In my eyes when this type of stuff happens the person that did a dirty trick should have their name posted. This keeps other members from dealing with someone who is willing to rip off a fellow ARC member.

Just like the Stockades, those who stole and committed the crime are put out for the community to see and know who will treat others badly.

I personally don't want to deal with the person who ripped you off and took advantage of you; and would like to know who it was so they can't profit off me in the future.

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lol, well I guess I jinxed myself. I had a member pm me last night wanting a little bowfront tank that I have for sale, said they wanted to pick up at 3 todau. I said sure and gave them detailed instructions on how to get out there. Well the tank is actually being used and I needed to move everything to a new tank, I'm glad that I didn't. No show, no call, and didn't answer my pm asking if they were still coming today. I don't understand why people even bother if they have no intentions of doing what they say.

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Rjohn glad to see you back on the forum.

If I give something away I def ask that you pay it forward. If I pay for it I should be able to do what I want with it. It it's given freely I would do my best to make it flourish so others can benefits from it as well.

If it wasn't for the generosity of the mannings & others here, I may have left the hobby.

Dave-

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Dave, I got a little piece of bird's nest from you about 18 months ago in trade for a CO2 cylinder. Now it is almost the size of a volleyball. The limbs (branches?) are very brittle tho. Are they all like that?

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I'm really sad to hear about this. I'm probably going to have some pieces of spare LR soon and I was thinking of giving it away. I'm not so sure now, which really bites. :(

If I do I might put it in the premium only forum instead.

I really like Hydro's idea about having buyer/seller feedback. That would be really useful.

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