Frank van Lindert wrote:
>During the last year I have become aware of at least three cases where
>this Portuguese/Norwegian Olympus collector (name: Paul-Lauritz
>Amundsen) has made debts which have remained unpaid until now. This
>might only be the 'tip of the iceberg'...
>
>Recently I also became a victim of his irresponsible way of bidding at
>eBay, which cost me $100. His feedback there shows that I am not the
>only one who suffered from his behaviour.
>
>I feel reluctant about dishonouring another person, but I also feel
>that he has disgraced himself towards unsuspecting people. Reason
>enough to issue this warning: be prudent when doing business with him.
I must join with FvL in issuing the above warning. Sadly, I had a
similarly negative experience with Paul-Lauritz, though it occurred
during a direct, person-to-person transaction, and did not involve
eBay.
When faced with inability to collect a payment from Mr. Amundsen,
I was very fortunate to have FvL's wise council in dealing with
this problem. Moreover, FvL who knew Mr. Amundsen pesonally, was
kind enough to get involved on my behalf. His moral fortitude
and verbal prodding were instrumental in resolving this matter
amicably and quietly.
It was FvL who had convinced me to keep this incident off the OLY
list, and thereby spare Paul-Lauritz from public humiliation. It
is very sad to see how Mr. Amundsen chose to repay FvL's kindness.
Apparently, a skunk is a skunk is a skunk.
Mark Hammons wrote:
>Could it be that "Yeti" is a ghost-bidder -- a friend of the seller
>who "bids" hoping to bump up the sale price by forcing people's
>proxy bids? And when not successful he just "dissappears"
>and the seller can legitimately demand the next highest bid!
Probably not in this particular case, since "yeti" is a well-known
collector of anything Olympus. However, Mark's comment is, IMHO,
very valid and applicable to eBay in general. The entire concept
is wide-open to abuse. After all, the only existing "enforcement"
mechanisms are: (1) negative feedback comments, and (2) kicking
a participant off eBay. Both depend on someone filing a complaint.
If a large-size eBay dealer hires a ghost-bidder, then this seller
won't complain, and eBay has no incentive to root out such fraud
since higher sale prices increase eBay's income. The only injured
party here is the buyer, but she/he whould have a very hard time
proving that anything is non-kosher, based on a single transaction.
Cheers,
/Gary Schloss.
Studio City, CA
schloss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|