Who is the biggest seller / thread / price police

[randomhero1090]

[quote author=TheLostGringo link=topic=8780.msg47692#msg47692 date=1302539972]
I have just never understood all of the commenting on price. If there is no interest in the price being asked then the seller will pull the sale or reduce the price.

I understand the brotherhood thing to a point but we are all grown ups here. We can all spend 10 minutes to do a little research and decide if the price is something we are willing to pay.   
[/quote]

I agree.  If you don't like the price, don't buy.  To me, it is pretty clear who is here to make money and who is here to be a BOTL.

[zeebra]

Keep it consistent at least.  Just because you have dealt with them in the past and are good friends with them, doesnt mean you should NOT post about them in the BZ about their pricing.  I've seen it.

(not directed towards anyone)

[Knuck42]

I guess times change.  If you look at the Scumbags List you will see that there are a number of guys who earned their way onto the List by gouging.  Some committed other nefarious acts as well to earn their way on, but some did  not.  It is worth noting that while there are no dates indicating when these, (or any other), guys were put on the list, they all seem to be from years ago.  Again, times change, and I guess that's a good thing.

For me, the guy who wants to make an extra buck a stick or so because he feels his risk/time aging/trip to the PO/whatever is worth it, well so be it.  However, there exists another type of board member, the profiteer.  The guy who sets up shop and cultivates a side, (or primary for that matter), business of making money reselling cigars to others in our online cigar community at a vast profit.  This is the guy I refer to as the gouger. 

I hate this guy, and no, I don't buy from him EVER! 

Not because I don't order my own sticks direct from a vendor as some have brought up, (in fact the vast majority of the time this is exactly what I do), but because my love of this hobby and the real brotherhood that exists within it causes me to feel offended when another comes around to exploit it.  I understand the concept of a free market economy, but this understanding abates my distain for the gouger about as much as it does my distain for the gouging, profiteering oil industry that is raping the American people at the puimp every damn day.  My personal practice will continue to be one wherein I do not buy from these members, and call them out about what they're doing.  I understand that there will be members here who will continue to view my behavior in these circumstances as futile, unnecessary, antagonistic, or what have you, but I don't care.  My principles dictate that I warn others that there is one in our midst intent on exploiting what we have built here.     

Additionally, this board is something of an amalgamation, a circumstance that I think is fairly unique to OLH.  Guys from various other "big" boards come here primarily to buy, sell, & trade, (though some like myself like to stick around and banter), and then go back to the "mother" board.  Things can get murky when guys whose "mother" boards have diffeent rules, norms, and mores, begin interacting.  This adds to the confusion while contributing to what has become a never ending debate about defining and dealing with OLH members that that end up with more money then they spent for their cigars whatever the percentage. 

Well, there's my .02 fwiw.  Carry on gents! 
 

[BklynNYCigarLover]

Bravo Sir!  :clap:

[Gee-Man]

Thanks Bill.  :bigup:

[insight]

Agree with bill's post.  Also fwiw I don't add guys to the list strictly for gouging anymore unless there are compounding circumstances.  Most instances on there are guys who actually bought up from cfers at low prices and then quick flipped them within the community for a profit.  

Also I would like to think everyone is able to see the clear difference between a guy hiking the price a couple bucks per stick for something because of risk/storage/whatever and someone buying something and immediately flipping it here for double the price.  

[likescarsz28]

Some of you are missing the point. This is Wade's house and the rules are made by him. Those of you from CF can remember that when Wade brought OLH back, one of the things he felt strongly about was NOT calling people out for price in the TSBC.

I have never sold a even a single cigar at a profit. More often than not, I give them away. I doesn't really matter what I think though becuse again, this is Wade's site.

Those of you that advocate price policing have the best of intentions, but this is not CF or CP.

[Knuck42]

[quote]Some of you are missing the point. This is Wade's house and the rules are made by him. Those of you from CF can remember that when Wade brought OLH back, one of the things he felt strongly about was NOT calling people out for price in the TSBC.

I have never sold a even a single cigar at a profit. More often than not, I give them away. I doesn't really matter what I think though becuse again, this is Wade's site.

Those of you that advocate price policing have the best of intentions, but this is not CF or CP. [/quote] Please don't misunderstand me, I was referring to using the BZ and only the BZ to call out profiteering gougers, not the TSBC.

[jasdav16]

[quote author=mcgoospot link=topic=8780.msg47678#msg47678 date=1302531452]
I guess here is what gets me fired up.  I order a ton of cigars.  I order boxes of them and then usually sell of fivers/ten packs for my cost.  It gives me the opportunity to buy 10 or 20 cigars at the "box price" and also gives other people the opportunuity to buy fivers/ten packs at great prices.  Seems all good.  Problem is that I received 22 letters in the Chicago confiscations.  Any of the guys that I sold cigars to at my cost get those letters?  Then I have guys bitching at me that I should donate a portion of my sales to this site (which I do).  So I say, I should raise my priices to accomodate the risk as well as the donation fees.  OOPS, now I am a gouger because I'm selling a five pack of Siglo Is for $45.00 when they only "cost me" $35.00. 

It's called supply and demand and risk and reward.  It involves every single decision we make in life.  Wheether to drive 10 miles over the speed limit to get somewhere on time or whether it's to invest in that certain stock that you've gotten a tip on.  That's America baby-free market system.  There is a reason why Wade put a "No comment on price" policy into play in the sale room.
[/quote]

To be totally honest, I have no issue with this at all, and I don't think even making a modest profit is a terrible thing either.  I realize it may seem like a contradiction but it isn't in my mind...  I just think someone calling out a guy selling a box of BHK56's for $650 is ok...if noone wants to listen what's the harm?  As everyone keeps saying it's a free market, the market will bear xx price, etc...

This may be a news flash but negative press is part of it too.  In order for all of this to work you have to take the bad with the good.  If one person keeps bashing your prices but everyone else says it's fair and your stuff is selling, then the system is working.  If everyone agrees the price wasn't fair and your stuff isn't selling, isn't that now the price the market will bear?  Isn't this the system at work too?

I don't get where all the complaining is coming from.  If these Price Police are truly lowering the prices EVERYONE can get for their cigars then pretty quickly noone will be willing to sell anything anymore and the price will go up; supply and demand right?  Either you want a real free market, or you don't...you can't complain about the price being less than what you want when noone is forcing you to sell anything for less than what you want to sell it for.

But like I said...ask whatever you want, I personally don't care if people are selling at a loss, at cost, or even making money...I just think if someone *IS* gouging (defined as selling for way more than it's worth) they should be prepared to get called on it.  Like BHK56's for $650 which is how this got started...

[jimbobber]

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I agree with everbody.
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