Hobby Becoming Exhausting

[Turd Furgeson]

Hey Guys,

Does anybody else get exhausted by the shady people they run into in this hobby?

I'm at about a 50% success rate lately on honest sellers and trouble free transactions. Just today I went to pick up a HiBid auction lot I won close to some Lambton Shores Ontario following some meetings in the area for work. I was bidding against one other guy for some bulk Stihl chain, two breakers, a spinner, a bar rail dresser, and 3 stihl 2 in 1 file systems. I went to pick it up and the chain amounts didn't match the auction description. Then I noticed two of the 2 in 1 file systems were gone(the sizes I would actually use), after a while I noticed one of the breakers was gone as well. The auction house gave me a discount but in the end it only covered the missing items, not the incorrect chain lengths. After taking a closer look once I got cell reception again I noticed the bar rail dresser and one of the breaker anvils was gone too. I guess the guy who was bidding against me showed up first thing this morning at pickup and demanded they sell him the lot, I'm not sure if they sold him the missing items or if he swipped them when they weren't looking. If anybody is in that area. The description she gave me was he was a crotchety semi- local old man 70+, he bought a NOS Stihl clock, and a handful of other items. If you know who he is, a good old knee in the nuts would be appreciated. Who does crap like that?

Granted, I have met a bunch of great people, actually really great people in this hobby, but the a-hole factor is really starting to take its toll.

-TF

 

[JB-PlantHeirloom]

> Just today I went to pick up a HiBid auction lot

I have not used them for anything because of the prices and things seemed sketchy on the auctions offered.

> I'm at about a 50% success rate

I do almost all my auctions through Proxibid and established local licensed auctioneers. 100% success rate in getting what I was due in the condition it was suppose to be in. Sometimes I even get more

> but the a-hole factor is really starting to take its toll.

If I see someone poor (like myself) at an auction, that is bidding on something I want too, I will just let them have it, so, they go home with something nice if I already have something. When you go to a place such as fr8auction you end up being there for 12-14 hours, before load out, most of the people are nice, and you hate to see anyone go away empty handed and not have a nice time. It is kind of like a family atmosphere. The auctioneer surely knows when you do this, they don't mind, and other bidders catch on too. They will absolutely not tolerate price fixing or collusion, but, they know when you are just trying to give someone a break at not going home empty handed. I have had auctioneers do the same to me to make sure I left with something I wanted.

BUT, many times I used to go to auctions with the complete list printed out and a note on each item for it's retail cost at HD, NT, HF, or on CL. Sometimes I would take along NT paper catalogs just in case no internet access in case I came across something unexpected. Mocking me because I am carrying around catalogs, a calculator, and clip board is not a good choice.

I will be THAT guy that will wait around 2+ hours just to bid on something you wanted, and bring it to just under 40-50% of retail on my first bid to take as much profit from it as possible because you peed on someone else or me. Then once you bid, I just walk away with a smile.

I have bid on stuff I did not even know what it was and had the auctioneer ask if I could bring it back for 2x the price paid or $100 extra, whatever I choose. I chose $100 because he was nice to (newbie) me to save him money. He was not suppose to sell it if it did not hit a reserve. I found out once I had them home they were $4000-$6000 plumbing valves and I bought them for $100-$250 each one. :-D

I know a company that installs cameras at it's supermarket and restaurant auctions and has people check in at the front and the people get escorted to someone that gets their stuff.

I can only speak from personal experience that jerks and thieves are not well tolerated in the auction business in the south, from my personal experience.

 

[Funky sawman]

Chainsaws are pretty simple straight foward, and most of the folks dealing with them are decient. Now start buying, selling and trading horses, that is a group of people I can't stand, bunch of dishonest and deceiving folks. And I won't even go into the equine registry, another nightmare that's nightmarish lol

 

[Turd Furgeson]

Chainsaws are pretty simple straight foward, and most of the folks dealing with them are decient. Now start buying, selling and trading horses, that is a group of people I can't stand, bunch of dishonest and deceiving folks. And I won't even go into the equine registry, another nightmare that's nightmarish lol

I know plenty of horse people. Dated a crazy horse chick for a few years and worked on a big ranch out in Colorado for a few months. I think I had better luck in that circle though in regards to honesty, well if I'm dropping the ex and her mother from the equation . I didn't do much buying and selling though, I just worked out one deal for the ex which worked out pretty well in her favor. I'm sure once you get really into it with the pony princesses and the guys that put up with them, that's when the real fun starts.

 

[Woodslasher]

Chainsaws are pretty simple straight forward, and most of the folks dealing with them are decent. Now start buying, selling and trading horses, that is a group of people I can't stand, bunch of dishonest and deceiving folks. And I won't even go into the equine registry, another nightmare that's nightmarish lol

I've learned there are two types of horse owners, people with horses and horse people. The first are usually okay, my grandparents and a neighbor were in that class for awhile. The others, hoo boy. Nut-cases! Just.... yeah. Wackos. I have a relative who has a daughter that rides, they truck the horse around to shows 'n' stuff and blow all kinds of money doing it. They aren't nutcases but that kinda spending on that kinda garbage just boggles my mind. Paying thousands of dollars to truck your horse to a show just so you can show it off is weird. Spending hundreds on a saw to show it off to a few dudes isn't, of course.

Now, saw guys are usually okay in my experience but I know one saw guy that took advantage of a family member's lack of knowledge and sold 'em a clone 372 with an ancient 28" bar for $700. Not cool. 'Course, he seemed slicker as a snake from the get go so all ties were severed and the saw was written off as a learning experience.

 

[Woodslasher]

I know plenty of horse people. Dated a crazy horse chick for a few years and worked on a big ranch out in Colorado for a few months. I think I had better luck in that circle though in regards to honesty, well if I'm dropping the ex and her mother from the equation . I didn't do much buying and selling though, I just worked out one deal for the ex which worked out pretty well in her favor. I'm sure once you get really into it with the pony princesses and the guys that put up with them, that's when the real fun starts.

I'd say it's easier to see if a saw isn't a pureblood than it is with a horse. If my mind remembers right, breeding is crucial and a fib about a horse's ancestor is a lot harder to prove/disprove than chinese or OEM parts.

 

[davidwyby]

Military vehicle hobby has real good people in my experience. Same with 4x4 people. Old school jeeper style.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

Chainsaws are pretty simple straight foward, and most of the folks dealing with them are decient. Now start buying, selling and trading horses, that is a group of people I can't stand, bunch of dishonest and deceiving folks. And I won't even go into the equine registry, another nightmare that's nightmarish lol

I was told, if you want to be cheated, buy horses and hay. There is so much truth in that. But at the same time there are still honest folks out there.

 

[Sierra_rider]

Meth is quite common among chainsaw people/tree industry...I think that explains a lot of the dishonesty. I think the majority of people are good, but it doesn't take much to sow the seeds of dishonesty. I know my tree service buddies sometimes have trouble hiring people that aren't tweaks.

 

[FergusonTO35]

My hobbies are totally exhausting without other people involved. Seriously, I often wonder if I have a diagnosable disorder. I don't share it with most people. Constantly scheming to spend money on guns, shooting stuff, and tools. Hiding the full extent of my acquisitions from friends and family.

At the same time, look how much money some people waste on new cars and electronics. Stuff that is practically worthless within a short time.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

My hobbies are totally exhausting without other people involved. Seriously, I often wonder if I have a diagnosable disorder. I don't share it with most people. Constantly scheming to spend money on guns, shooting stuff, and tools. Hiding the full extent of my acquisitions from friends and family.

At the same time, look how much money some people waste on new cars and electronics. Stuff that is practically worthless within a short time.

Hey, that's not a disease! Those are just some of the finer things in life. They can even help you and you're family survive if needed.

But, then again maybe that's just my disorder trying to justify my wants..

 

[FergusonTO35]

Thanks. This is something I seriously wonder about. Some recent examples of how exhausting my hobby is:

My metric wrench set is all Snap On except the 23-27 mm sizes. Those are all Matco, which are quality tools. But I want them all to be Snappy, so I just spent $130.00 to replace the 24 and 27 with very nice used examples, the ones that got replaced are now on Fleabay for half that much. I haven't used them professionally since 2007.

I used to have a Taurus 856 which was a nice little wheelgun and my BFF talked me out of it. I have three other perfectly good snubbies, but the fun store had the 856 for a whopping 20 bucks off so I put one in layaway jail.

I have two perfectly good Glock 19's. I study different firearm designs, and thought the design of the S&W SD9 is pretty kewl, so I told the fun store to order me one of those as well. Obviously, the SD won't do anything my two 19's won't do. And, I found five NIB factory mags for 100.00 so I bought those for a gun I don't even own yet.

I really love the Glock 42, so I spent a large part of my tax refund on a nice used example so now I have two.

My vehicles have fuel, we got food in the fridge, and all my bills are paid up on time. Do I have a problem? Hell if I know!

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

If you don't know, then who does??? LOL

 

[mrxlh]

I think the common theme in this arena to not getting screwed is patience. Any deal you have to jump on or not be able to put your hands on should be a huge red flag. I have lost saws here to other great members by being hesitant or late to seeing the post. I don’t regret that a bit, as I have also been late to the party several times and made great purchases here also. Often times the Addiction in CAD, wins out over patience and common sense.

 

[jacob j.]

Thanks. This is something I seriously wonder about. Some recent examples of how exhausting my hobby is:

My metric wrench set is all Snap On except the 23-27 mm sizes. Those are all Matco, which are quality tools. But I want them all to be Snappy, so I just spent $130.00 to replace the 24 and 27 with very nice used examples, the ones that got replaced are now on Fleabay for half that much. I haven't used them professionally since 2007.

I used to have a Taurus 856 which was a nice little wheelgun and my BFF talked me out of it. I have three other perfectly good snubbies, but the fun store had the 856 for a whopping 20 bucks off so I put one in layaway jail.

I have two perfectly good Glock 19's. I study different firearm designs, and thought the design of the S&W SD9 is pretty kewl, so I told the fun store to order me one of those as well. Obviously, the SD won't do anything my two 19's won't do. And, I found five NIB factory mags for 100.00 so I bought those for a gun I don't even own yet.

I really love the Glock 42, so I spent a large part of my tax refund on a nice used example so now I have two.

My vehicles have fuel, we got food in the fridge, and all my bills are paid up on time. Do I have a problem? Hell if I know!

Thing about that though is firearms are almost always a good investment. Even accounting for inflation in most cases you can at least get your money back. An old boss of mine got heavily into guns about 14 years ago. He even sought some advice from me about it. He spent a lot of money
but made good purchases. About six years ago, he moved to Hawaii. Since then, he's sold most of what he bought for near double what he originally paid.

 

[isaaccarlson]

I know what you mean. I buy hay for my pigs and it is very hard to find good hay or an honest seller. Most of them will tell you it was never rained on, not moldy, etc... I walk away from way more hay than I buy.

I've been burned on many occasions, and have made out on a handful. I have learned to walk away when it feels awkward or pushy.
People lie about hay, chainsaws, and everything else.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Thing about that though is firearms are almost always a good investment. Even accounting for inflation in most cases you can at least get your money back. An old boss of mine got heavily into guns about 14 years ago. He even sought some advice from me about it. He spent a lot of money
but made good purchases. About six years ago, he moved to Hawaii. Since then, he's sold most of what he bought for near double what he originally paid.

Well yeah, there's that. It's amazing how some firearms skyrocket in value. I'm not talking about preban machine guns, but guns that used to be common as dirt. Lever action rifles are red hot right now. You can't touch even a rusty cheapmart edition Marlin or Winchester .30-30 for less than $5-600. My 1982 Marlin .357 that I paid $250.00 for like new in 1998 is easily $1500.00 or more on GunBroker.

 

[Nathan lassley]

I've learned there are two types of horse owners, people with horses and horse people. The first are usually okay, my grandparents and a neighbor were in that class for awhile. The others, hoo boy. Nut-cases! Just.... yeah. Wackos. I have a relative who has a daughter that rides, they truck the horse around to shows 'n' stuff and blow all kinds of money doing it. They aren't nutcases but that kinda spending on that kinda garbage just boggles my mind. Paying thousands of dollars to truck your horse to a show just so you can show it off is weird. Spending hundreds on a saw to show it off to a few dudes isn't, of course.

Now, saw guys are usually okay in my experience but I know one saw guy that took advantage of a family member's lack of knowledge and sold 'em a clone 372 with an ancient 28" bar for $700. Not cool. 'Course, he seemed slicker as a snake from the get go so all ties were severed and the saw was written off as a learning experience.

Nut cases is an understatement, those people show up to our local rodeo just to parade around on their horses trying to show off in front of the pros. Sometimes I see them riding them down the street to the rodeo grounds.
I used to be into target shooting but the last time I went to the range with a buddy was about 8 years ago and there was a group shooting next to us with ARs would never call going to check their targets, and when they left we had to police up all of their brass which was over 900 rounds. Haven't fired my m91/30 since. Also members of my family like to drink and shoot, I can't abide that kind of stupidity. The chainsaw guys that I've spoke to have come across as pretty good people and have given me a few good deals plus chainsaws to me are more interesting. There's *a-holes and thieves in every group but some have more than others.

 

[isaaccarlson]

I haven't been to a public range in years. As you said, too many idiots and showoffs.

 

[Nathan lassley]

I haven't been to a public range in years. As you said, too many idiots and showoffs.

That was the only time I had been to a range and having to deal with those idiots ruined it for me.