PSA: Bad Actors in Classifieds

[El Marro]

This thread seems to have struck a chord in you @blobsterroll and it seems like you are taking everything personally. I don’t think any of this is directed directly at you.
I’m sorry that somebody dissed you early on in your time here when you were just trying to buy a jacket from them but I’m sure since then you have found most of the members here to be very friendly and generous in spirit.

 

[cbez]

Sus amount of brand new accounts popping in to sell expensive jackets too. Would def not pay them f&f. I know for a fact scammers have stolen pics and posted here in the past.

 

[navetsea]

IMO the feel here has absolutely changed over the past year, maybe two. Feels more like style forum. Yes the fit check threads are an absolute bane. Asking about fit opinions is so utterly pointless. What difference does it make?A thousand people can tell you it’s perfect and if you don’t feel it, it isn’t. They absolutely cheapen the lounge. Post it it the jacket o’ the day thread. Doesn’t need its own.

I disagree that this place is a business. There is a forum to do biz in but the forum itself is free to join, collects no membership fees, and has less vetting than most Facebook groups. How people conduct themselves in that sub forum, generally speaks volumes about the member and does so in relatively short order. Whatever money that the site garners from advertising clearly goes to operating expenses and paying for the Windows ‘95 server this place runs off.

My interests have certainly changed and in reality they don’t align with this space all that well. This has happened to a number of members here and I think that’s ultimately why people fall off. Unfortunately the lounge doesn’t really evolve all that much in this way. How many times can you go over essentially the same small set of vintage jackets, the same repros…. boring, at least for me. I’ll freely admit this probably says more about me than the space. But it feels really stale.

The only thing keeping me here is the few relationships I value, the good conversation I have between some members, and the entertaining often ridiculous threads (that have become too few and far between). I couldn’t be less interested in x,y,z vintage Halfbelt, M/C jacket, repro, etc. I don’t feel there’s anything left to impress or wow me in that regard. This probably happens to everybody that spends enough time in the hobby.

you should get a vegtan leather jacket, and shift the excitement gear into watching the jacket evolving each wear, can be natural for the maximum effect and uncertain future promise, or dyed vegtan that will fade and darken, what I mean, to give a jacket a chance to prove itself allow it to get into unprepared rain and accidents like how TM's type 2 jacket did to him through accident.

 

[Fonzie]

Best response I read so far, and love the attitude!

I do feel and understand the gripe, but indeed, your last statement just concluded it all!

Thanks mate, I’m glad you agree.

 

[blobsterroll]

Haha. No genius. Ask away. I just don’t like the threads. Like another member said, I prefer those type posts in the what jacket are you wearing thread. You can’t be this dense.

You are way off base with your recent posts. People message me, and no doubt others, frequently for help with a jacket or even just finding a jacket. I like helping the same way I was helped and still am helped by folks here.

Nice backtracking. As an example;

It’s not the stupid asking prices or post count, it’s the BS to hide the fact that they are here to gather info to go try and screw someone over with.

Let's pretend a new member asked you a question about a jacket, you answered, now that new member posted the jacket using the info he got from you. Wouldnt that make you an accessory to what you just define as "screwing people over"? Would you want to answer further questions?

Like maybe it didn't seem this way to others but one of my issues with the Reddit approach to these things is that it's more prone to groupthink than a forum. Any given subreddit develops a certain main opinion, then a dissent. I've seen this in everything from video games to music discussion to of course jacket discussion.

I would argue that it happens here a lot already, but in a different, more passive-aggressive way. Look at how people came after me ITT when I disagreed with them, straight up trying to call me out that I had to provide receipts, been real quiet after that. It's also wild to me that members here don't want someone else to make a profit, fair market value ofc.

This thread seems to have struck a chord in you @blobsterroll and it seems like you are taking everything personally. I don’t think any of this is directed directly at you.
I’m sorry that somebody dissed you early on in your time here when you were just trying to buy a jacket from them but I’m sure since then you have found most of the members here to be very friendly and generous in spirit.

I dont either, but I am just addressing people as they respond, agreeing or disagreeing with them... which I thought is what one does in an online forum(?) Which apparently to you means, "it struck a chord" To be honest I am just confused as to what expectations are in this forum. So how should we post? What can we post? Can @blobsterroll be part of the discussion ITT or would that be interpreted as "taking it personally"?

And yes a lot of members are helpful and I owe some a beer or two. I thought what happened in the past with that user was just all part of the game and being in the TFL, all is good IMHO. I am just mentioning that it happens quite often and I do not pretend that its not all just gatekeeping guised as preserving the non-existent "holiness" of the forum. We are an online forum like every other one.

 

[Marc mndt]

Look at how people came after me ITT when I disagreed with them, straight up trying to call me out that I had to provide receipts, been real quiet after that.

You eventually may or may not have lost money on your resale, that's not the point imo.

The point is that you listed the jacket for double the price you paid for it here. Which means you were (at least initially) looking to make a (huge) profit. Which is, how I see it, not in the spirit of this forum.

It's also wild to me that members here don't want someone else to make a profit, fair market value ofc.

You really don't get it do you? I guess I need to spell it out.

When a member lists a jacket for less than market value in the TFL classifieds, he does so because he wants to pass the deal on to a fellow TFL member. An act of camaraderie as others have called it earlier in this thread. Market value has nothing to do with it.

If then some member buys the jacket just to resell it at fair market value, here or elsewhere, that spirit of camaraderie (which is what this forum is about imo) is harmed. Because the profit will be made at the expense of the TFL member who initially listed the jacket below market value.

 

[jeo]

Looks like my real estate terminology is starting to pick up here LOL!

At the end of the day we are not talking philosophical discussions here, we are talking outerwear and outerwear costs money. Period. The buying and selling is half the hobby.

This is just my opinion, but if it's gets listed in the classifieds then it's open game.

Passing on of deals is an amazing feeling, but I'd say typically doesn't happen between two strangers or even two long standing members that just never communicated for some reason. Sometimes it does and if all goes well then all of a sudden you have a new buddy you can buy/trade/sell to etc.. if it doesn’t then you won’t sell to that person anymore and the bad actors will get weeded out.

A lot of our long standing members list stuff in the classifieds and just want their price (maybe they overpaid, maybe they truly think it's worth more than they paid, can charge more and still think it's a deal) and sometimes no one is willing to pay so we do what we must and sell to whoever is paying. It's funny because I've seen members buy for less and charge more than what they paid. Sometimes it's not a big deal, sometimes it is a big deal.

People can list a price on the classifieds, then people DM you, then, if you are friendly with them, you give them the TFL price.

 

[Will Zach]

Am I wrong?!?

Yes. This forum is not running on a Windows 95 server, it is running on some DOS box that Bill Gates developed in his garage in 1982.

 

[blobsterroll]

If then some member buys the jacket just to resell it at fair market value, here or elsewhere, that spirit of camaraderie (which is what this forum is about imo) is harmed. Because the profit will be made at the expense of the TFL member who initially listed the jacket below market value.

Camaraderie? Then why would I not want my friends to make a profit? If you sold it below market value, say fair market is $50, you sold it for $30, and that someone sold it for $100 then I personally dont see a problem. Its worth $30 to you (as you let it go for $30), and its worth $100 to someone else. Your friend made money, and I think thats a good thing. You cant expect people to believe that if that someone offered you $100 for that same $30 jacket that you would not take it in the name of "camaraderie".

And I would like to challenge this "camaraderie", as I pointed out before; some members are more equal than others -and thats ok, its part of the TFL and life in general. But I dont think the TFL is better than any other forum. The other forums just do away with the hypocrisy.

You eventually may or may not have lost money on your resale, that's not the point imo.

The point is that you listed the jacket for double the price you paid for it here. Which means you were (at least initially) looking to make a (huge) profit. Which is, how I see it, not in the spirit of this forum.

I posted receipts while I dont have to prove anything to you, lmao get over yourself

Say I was able to sell it for twice the money, leather jackets costs money, and the jacket I sold is my property. Let me know when "camaraderie"-coin crypto drops so I can pay bills with it.

 

[Marc mndt]

Let me know when "camaraderie"-coin crypto drops so I can pay bills with it.

 

[blobsterroll]

View attachment 588302

eBay, Etsy, vinted, classified Gestapo? TFL Commissar?

 

[CatsCan]

Classified Gestapo?

"I was bitten by a rabbit. Or rather, I was nibbled by a rabbit, but, because I was such a weedy, namby-pamby little pansy, I reacted as though I’d lost a limb. It was the sheer unfairness of it all that so upset me. One minute, I was saying, ‘Hello, Mr Bunny!’ and smiling at its sweet little face and funny floppy ears. The next, the fucker savaged me. It seemed so gratuitous. What, I asked myself, had I done to the rabbit to deserve this psychotic response?”
― John Cleese, So, Anyway...: The Autobiography

 

[Peacoat]

I'm a Seinfeld fan, so I appreciate the above references. But back to the original purpose of the thread: Bad Actors. All of you may well be aware of it by now, but there is a scam still going on here.

A member expresses an interest in a jacket. He gets a message from a new or low count member telling him a third party has the Jacket and provides an email address for the third party.

If you should get such a message, use the report button and let us know what is going on.

 

[blobsterroll]

Classified Gestapo?

Classified NKVD? Keeping tabs on every trade to make sure its in line with the party's camaraderie lmao but with the Soup Nazi meme, you're right Classifed Gestapo fits better

 

[CatsCan]

Don't put your words into my mouth. I don't think "Classified Gestapo" fits at all. At least it shows a certain grade of creativity albeit lacking the corresponding grade of humor to be a point.
(it's my german lack of humor when someone mentions Gestapo)

 

[El Marro]

Like I said @blobsterroll, this thread has struck a chord in you.

 

[blobsterroll]

Like I said @blobsterroll, this thread has struck a chord in you.

You're going to have to explain this to me, I am responding to people responding to me. Shit, you tagged me twice by now with no real response. Am I not supposed to respond? Funny thing is nobody comments on the main argument I posted which is in post #89. Also I thought we were sharing Seinfeld memes

Surely its cant be because you're projecting and my responses actually struck a chord in you and thus demonstrating the hypocrisy of the sound board I just described and now it bothers you that someone outside the circle dares to disagree with the "kNoWn mEmBeRs"

 

[Boyo]

@blobsterroll using these 2 searches as an example, but I can think of a bunch of other times it’s happened .. this is the camaraderie Marc is referencing…

none of these jackets cost a fortune .. but they weren’t free either.. but all were given away to members here

that said I think you’re continuing to argue just for the sake of having an argument.

 

[hungapotamus]

He's definitely arguing just to argue.

The guy's just mad that he got called out for trying to flip a jacket at 2X the price he purchased it for outside of TFL. That chat he posted just proves he's not a good seller and folded, of course he would have sold at his 2X asking price if a buyer would've gone for it.

 

[Aloysius]

I think everyone is caught in an argument loop and that we are largely talking past each other.

@blobsterroll himself is facing a situation TFL is famous for helping to handle (a vendor is or was screwing him for something that wasn’t his fault) and unless I misread, a forum member offered to intervene directly with the store. He’s an established poster but I’ve seen this pattern play out over the years with complete newcomers too; as I mentioned in another thread, it’s the closest to a “service” we provide, and it helps keep the market healthy.