Joshua D. Lassing
Well-known member
Fellow redusers, colleagues, forumn hunters, buyers and sellers of our tools of the trade:
I'm bringing you another safety/beware notice, in hopes that it will save someone from enduring the misery that I've had to endure over the last month.
This particular instance is about PayPal and how the $1,000 Red Pro LCD turned into a $3,000 nightmare.
Times are hard. They have to be -- if people are resorting to these measures.
More and more I see/hear of decent colleagues being ripped off by thieves, sheisters, and scammers. Not just in selling / buying tools, but even on jobs. (it's only happened once to me, but I've heard some insane stories) We are all aware of the common schemes individuals play to take advantage of our hard-earned money, and our work. It's usually easy to spot -- and a simple imdb, website/reel/reference check, can pretty much sum it up. Since RED (and reduser) has been around, I've trusted it's fellow users, most owners are legitimate professionals, and there's an unsaid camaraderie, and trust among our community. That's what's beautiful about our commmunity -- our passion and love for our craft, our love of the game. We wouldn't all be nerding out online if we weren't obsessed about our job and tools. It's totally a business, but I can't deny I live and breathe this stuff. I can imagine that not many of us were given a free ride on the road to success in this business. You can't build a rep, and a business without trust, loyalty, intelligence, and an undying love and passion for the craft, and art. The callbacks and continuous clients and good references are everything. We all know this, and live by our names; and are constantly trying to build upon everything we've worked for. It's everything.
But more and more -- it seems like we're being infiltrated (and taken advantage of) by shady opportunists. I've heard more horror stories than I can stomach, in the words of Howard Beale from 'The Network' I'm Mad as Hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!!
I work my arse off for my money. I know alot of you guys make a killing in this business -- as I'm beginning to rent out my package, or provide a full kit along with my day rate.. I get it. It's amazing. I can finally afford living, and I wouldn't consider myself a starving artist anymore. I'm young, but I won't lead you to believe I'm something I'm not. To me -- $2,000 is not chump change... I can think of A LOT of things I'd do with 2k.
So here's my story:
I sold a used, but completely 100% red monitor on January 07 2013 to a guy on ebay. I've heard/read the horror stories, but I covered my bases. I emailed the guy, checked out his website/reel, and a reduser account. He had been one of the BT guys, but, it was a good deal, despite my bitterness since I paid a pretty penny for my used package. Everything added up with him. Totally okay right? I said ' great, I sold my monitor, now I can push it over into a new SmallHD, and have a more versatile monitor system for when I AC/DP on all of the other cameras I work with. 41 days later I recieve a 'Significantly not as described' compaint. That's a month and ten days later. I said to myself, really? Is that even possible?
41 days after, the guy claims his monitor isn't working now -- and is asking for a refund. After 41 days -- I want to trust the guy, and give him the benefit of the doubt, I really did. But it's just way, way, too long to have not tested something. Jesus, the guy could have used it for that entire time, and just shipped it back after using it. I'm not furious at this point, despite feeling pretty ripped off. So rather than contacting eBay, I email him and try to sort it out. I said, hell, I'll meet you half way on the cost of the damages (giving him the benefit of the doubt, that EVEN if it arrived damaged, which was virtually impossible because I shipped it in a storm case, wrapped in foam and bubble wrap) so he agreed, and said he'd send it in for a fixup. I thought all was good and settled. A few days pass, nothing is verified with RED. All of a sudden $1k is withdrawn from my bank account, and eBay refunds the guy. I speak with an eBay rep (who was completely upfront and honest) whom essentially told me that anything under 'buyer protection' can be refunded within 45 days for essentially any reason. The buyer (after receiving the payment) is to ship the item back. I would then have 72 hours to inspect the item. Since the buyer claims it's damaged, if it's damaged in any way, I am essentially screwed.
Big problem for anyone wanting to sell on ebay. There's an infinite list of horror stories if you google this.
The package arrives a day ago -- of course with no monitor. I even open it at the post office, WITH a video on my iPhone. I call up ebay, and of course -- again, they have to side with the buyer since he claims he's shipped it. The answer is: it must have been stolen in shipping. Impossible. USPS? Come on, I've shipped usps for over a decade and I've never, ever had an issue with any of my packages. Ever. Even the postal worker, said: "yep, you're taking a big loss"
So, I'm out 2k at this point. No monitor, and a refund from this guy.
Murphy's Law - if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. I talked with the rep @ ebay, and essentially tomorrow if I decide to buy a RED camera on ebay, I can keep it for a month, and after I'm done, receive a full refund for essentially any reason I feel fit -- calling it a signifcantly not as described case. Can you say FREE FEATURE RENTAL? Watch yourselves out there.
I hate being that guy who's lecturing you away from eBay, because it's a great resource to sell unused goodies, but I'm warning you so, so, much to avoid selling high dollar items, cameras, glass, monitors etc. Essentially, if you can't afford a double loss. Imagine if it were a 10-20k camera package......
Imagine being out 40k. Do all of your business in person, face to face, with financial backing, and inspection by RED. Check sources. Meet your seller/buyer. We're all smart guys -- but I'm naive and took the bait. Those good deals I've found out the hardest way, are usually always too good to be true.
And regarding redusers buying from redusers on here. The majority of us are genuine, hard-working, great people. We have an amazing community -- Let's not let the bad apples spoil what we have here. Keep up the support! Keep up the comraderie!
I hope this story helps someone, please, please protect yourselves out there.
Best regards.
-Joshua Lassing
I'm bringing you another safety/beware notice, in hopes that it will save someone from enduring the misery that I've had to endure over the last month.
This particular instance is about PayPal and how the $1,000 Red Pro LCD turned into a $3,000 nightmare.
Times are hard. They have to be -- if people are resorting to these measures.
More and more I see/hear of decent colleagues being ripped off by thieves, sheisters, and scammers. Not just in selling / buying tools, but even on jobs. (it's only happened once to me, but I've heard some insane stories) We are all aware of the common schemes individuals play to take advantage of our hard-earned money, and our work. It's usually easy to spot -- and a simple imdb, website/reel/reference check, can pretty much sum it up. Since RED (and reduser) has been around, I've trusted it's fellow users, most owners are legitimate professionals, and there's an unsaid camaraderie, and trust among our community. That's what's beautiful about our commmunity -- our passion and love for our craft, our love of the game. We wouldn't all be nerding out online if we weren't obsessed about our job and tools. It's totally a business, but I can't deny I live and breathe this stuff. I can imagine that not many of us were given a free ride on the road to success in this business. You can't build a rep, and a business without trust, loyalty, intelligence, and an undying love and passion for the craft, and art. The callbacks and continuous clients and good references are everything. We all know this, and live by our names; and are constantly trying to build upon everything we've worked for. It's everything.
But more and more -- it seems like we're being infiltrated (and taken advantage of) by shady opportunists. I've heard more horror stories than I can stomach, in the words of Howard Beale from 'The Network' I'm Mad as Hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!!
I work my arse off for my money. I know alot of you guys make a killing in this business -- as I'm beginning to rent out my package, or provide a full kit along with my day rate.. I get it. It's amazing. I can finally afford living, and I wouldn't consider myself a starving artist anymore. I'm young, but I won't lead you to believe I'm something I'm not. To me -- $2,000 is not chump change... I can think of A LOT of things I'd do with 2k.
So here's my story:
I sold a used, but completely 100% red monitor on January 07 2013 to a guy on ebay. I've heard/read the horror stories, but I covered my bases. I emailed the guy, checked out his website/reel, and a reduser account. He had been one of the BT guys, but, it was a good deal, despite my bitterness since I paid a pretty penny for my used package. Everything added up with him. Totally okay right? I said ' great, I sold my monitor, now I can push it over into a new SmallHD, and have a more versatile monitor system for when I AC/DP on all of the other cameras I work with. 41 days later I recieve a 'Significantly not as described' compaint. That's a month and ten days later. I said to myself, really? Is that even possible?
41 days after, the guy claims his monitor isn't working now -- and is asking for a refund. After 41 days -- I want to trust the guy, and give him the benefit of the doubt, I really did. But it's just way, way, too long to have not tested something. Jesus, the guy could have used it for that entire time, and just shipped it back after using it. I'm not furious at this point, despite feeling pretty ripped off. So rather than contacting eBay, I email him and try to sort it out. I said, hell, I'll meet you half way on the cost of the damages (giving him the benefit of the doubt, that EVEN if it arrived damaged, which was virtually impossible because I shipped it in a storm case, wrapped in foam and bubble wrap) so he agreed, and said he'd send it in for a fixup. I thought all was good and settled. A few days pass, nothing is verified with RED. All of a sudden $1k is withdrawn from my bank account, and eBay refunds the guy. I speak with an eBay rep (who was completely upfront and honest) whom essentially told me that anything under 'buyer protection' can be refunded within 45 days for essentially any reason. The buyer (after receiving the payment) is to ship the item back. I would then have 72 hours to inspect the item. Since the buyer claims it's damaged, if it's damaged in any way, I am essentially screwed.
Big problem for anyone wanting to sell on ebay. There's an infinite list of horror stories if you google this.
The package arrives a day ago -- of course with no monitor. I even open it at the post office, WITH a video on my iPhone. I call up ebay, and of course -- again, they have to side with the buyer since he claims he's shipped it. The answer is: it must have been stolen in shipping. Impossible. USPS? Come on, I've shipped usps for over a decade and I've never, ever had an issue with any of my packages. Ever. Even the postal worker, said: "yep, you're taking a big loss"
So, I'm out 2k at this point. No monitor, and a refund from this guy.
Murphy's Law - if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. I talked with the rep @ ebay, and essentially tomorrow if I decide to buy a RED camera on ebay, I can keep it for a month, and after I'm done, receive a full refund for essentially any reason I feel fit -- calling it a signifcantly not as described case. Can you say FREE FEATURE RENTAL? Watch yourselves out there.
I hate being that guy who's lecturing you away from eBay, because it's a great resource to sell unused goodies, but I'm warning you so, so, much to avoid selling high dollar items, cameras, glass, monitors etc. Essentially, if you can't afford a double loss. Imagine if it were a 10-20k camera package......
Imagine being out 40k. Do all of your business in person, face to face, with financial backing, and inspection by RED. Check sources. Meet your seller/buyer. We're all smart guys -- but I'm naive and took the bait. Those good deals I've found out the hardest way, are usually always too good to be true.
And regarding redusers buying from redusers on here. The majority of us are genuine, hard-working, great people. We have an amazing community -- Let's not let the bad apples spoil what we have here. Keep up the support! Keep up the comraderie!
I hope this story helps someone, please, please protect yourselves out there.
Best regards.
-Joshua Lassing
