I admit, I fell for a scammer from Thailand, even though I was warned. It just was that it took forever to sell my Stealth cables at a give away price. These cables are awesome, but evidently not popular in the USA. I refused to send the cables to the buyer because he wanted me to declare the value at $30 USD for custom fees. So he had me direct the shipment to his friend in SoCal. Now, after UPS (and I insured the cables for $4,000 to save on shipping-my fault) delivered the package, the buyer says his friend did not sign and receive the cables! Just be aware A-Gon members, and don't be foolish like me.
I send container loads of Audio equipment to Thailand and have nothing but good to say about the Thai people, friendly honest and very enthusiastic about their HiFi Equipment. Have visited there several times and always been treated with great respect. The food is absolutely awesome too.
Lady-boys, "i was warned", Stealth cables, scammers, give away prices, friends in SoCal, something to do with Thailand -- sounds like the pitch for an Amazon original series. If you can maintain the narrative into act 2, you could have a hit!
^First of all lewm, do you have a job? I am honored you spent so much time thinking, and writing your response. Yes, I have insurance against this scammer. But, as a warning, and I have emails o back me up from fellow members, be aware of buyers and sellers from Thailand. I asked Tammy here on help[/support before I sent the cables, and now all I get is "Sorry".
Apart from all the vitriol that your post engendered, I am trying to figure out what exactly happened. From what I can decipher, you sent the cables to the third party recipient in SoCal without having received payment in advance. That's where you made your tactical error. It is normal in these transactions for the buyer to trust the seller by paying in advance of shipment. Obviously, all ways of doing such a transaction have pitfalls, if the buyer and seller are not honorable to begin with, but you have a reason to expect payment in advance of shipment, based on past practice on this and other similar websites and assuming you are a registered member on Audiogon. (Your registering on Audiogon is at least a fig leaf that should make you, as seller, trustworthy, because the buyer can report you if you do not fulfill your part of the bargain.) So the take home lesson is get paid before shipping (and register on Agon, if you have not done so already). Not "Thai people are dishonest" (or thoughts to that effect).
It's almost a separate discussion, but if you sent the cables by UPS and asked for a signature, then UPS is the responsible party for either confirming the cables were lost or that they were delivered and signed for. You don't mention that part of the story. Trying to get money out of UPS is like..... any number of other impossibilities.
How were your warned, was there an Agon thread or by a friend not to sell to certain non U.S. countries in general? I don't sell much but would limit it to U.S. and Canada, but that's just my personal preference.
Out of curiosity Talk2me, you indicate you were "warned" not to sell to folks from Thailand ("
You have been warned, as I did not heed this warning,") So are we to understand that someone(s) told you that folks from Thailand are scammers? I am unsure why you don't see that some of the responders find your comments unfairly categorize people from Thailand as somehow being dishonest. My question to you would be; some of the time, most of the time or all of the time?
People who are dishonest are dishonest period. Your comments seem grossly unfair nothwithstanding what happened in this transaction.
I have sold gear to china, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and most part of Asia too. You can get scammers and genuine people in all parts of the world. The same applies to the USA, EU and UK.
I was both Ripped of by David Shult the guy who runs the Modification service in the USA. I was also ripped of by Ryan Scott from Vapor Audio on both speaker transaction. I have been ripped off by USA Ebayers too on countless stuff.
Don't go around claiming the whole country is sham to deal with. Not everyone is the same.
The point is your ripped of by an idiot that lives their. Their are idiots everywhere with no ethical practices when it comes to business.
First of all, I am warning A-Gon members to be aware of Thailand members. If this is too much for your comprehension. so be it. You have been warned, as I did not heed this warning,
While I commiserate with your experience I'm not sure you should write off a whole country. Asking for a mis-declaration of shipping value and/or shipping to a US third party are par for the course in many overseas transactions
Rather than blocking a whole country (or for that part continent) a better policy may be in future to state your overseas shipping terms i.e. "customs value will be declared at the price sold and no third party shipping"
And if UPS have a record of a signature (no matter who signed) then as far as you are concerned the cables were delivered -- I believe AudioGon (and PayPal or whomever you received payment via and shipped with) should side with you in this regard
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