[SEL] Low Rent Bastard

[Luke Tonneberger]

Arnie,

After reading your post it sure makes me wish I paid better attention in my 
English classes in school. I always did great in math and science but always 
was borderline failing English. I typed up three different responses to Curt 
and ended up deleting them all. I tried to explain how I felt, but I just 
couldn't type what my brain was thinking. Especially in a way so others 
would comprehend what I'm trying to convey. Some on here can really 
write/type well.

Luke Tonneberger
Rockford, Michigan
USA

================

>From: Arnie Fero <fero_ah at city-net.com>
>
>Hi Curt,
>
>My I offer an opinion?  I think you're comparing apples and oranges in
>your example below.  AFAIK, no one has complained about any eBay auctions
>EXCEPT the new Wendel books being offered by one guy at triple Wendel's
>price.  If you look at his other auctions, you'll see that he is a
>prolific seller of old engine parts.  No one has made an issue of his
>prices on anything else.
>
>The thrust of the complaints has been that experienced engine
>folks, GEM subscribers, etc. know what the book costs when ordered from
>Wendel.  There is no way they'll spend $150 for the book.  Wendel has not
>been offering it on eBay.  The "comparables" one might see on eBay have
>all been (up to now) the older, more expensive, originals.
>
>The Low Rent Bastard was taking advantage of the fact that the newbies
>didn't know that they were available from Wendel.  To a great many engine
>folks, that didn't seem like fair play.  They pointed out to the newbies
>that they were being had.  The Low Rent Bastard was clever, and used the
>Private Bidder dodge to get around that.  In return, engine folks are now
>offering the books at Wendel's price.  At this point, the newbies will
>have a clear and honest choice on eBay.  If they choose to spend $150
>instead of $50, that's a legitimate choice and no one would mind.
>
>So to use your "perfect capitalism" example of happy buyers & sellers, in
>this case the buyer is happy only as a result of carefully cultivated
>ignorance perpetuated by the seller.
>
>You want an example of "perfect capitalism" with happy buyers & sellers,
>consider the practices of many large stores.  They sell you an item.
>Within the next 30 days if you find that item offered for sale at a lower
>price somewhere else and you bring that proof into the store, they refund
>the price difference.  That's "perfect capitalism" working with fully
>informed buyers & sellers.
>
>You might better compare Low Rent Bastard's behavior to the scam artists
>who target the elderly because they are often easily confused & ill
>informed and thus are an "easy mark."  It happens all the time.
>
>The reality is that there are folks, new to the engine hobby, whose first
>experience might have been to be ripped off for $100 on a new BYB.  Some
>(perhaps including you) would say, "Tough titty, that's just good
>business."  For my part, I call it shoddy greed at the expense of a
>newbie.  The bottom line is the bloke made at least $600 profit in the
>last 30 days.  For me, he's also CLEARLY established exactly what sort of
>character he has.  And I've decided that I want nothing to do with him.
>
>So much of what's important in this hobby is based on trust.  Knowing how
>he works, would you trust him to give you an honest assessment of the
>condition of an item he's selling?  Or is he more likely to conceal or
>misrepresent an item?
>
>There are a few other sellers out there who I regard in the same way.
>They conceal defects and they misrepresent what they sell.  Knowing
>that, I refuse to deal with them too.
>
>The old adage is "Buyer beware."  And in the case of the guy selling
>Wendle's books for $150, he's clearly announced what sort of person he
>is.  Would YOU trust him in the future to deal with you honestly?  I
>wouldn't.  But the loss of any future business from folks like me will
>certainly be more than offset by folks like you who will actually prefer
>to deal with this paragon of capitalistic virtue.  8-))
>
>See ya,  Arnie
>
>Arnie Fero
>Pittsburgh, PA
>fero_ah at city-net.com