Ripped off for 1300 dollars on Dropzone.com

[kzeier 0]

I was wondering if anyone knows of a daniel mancer with the username dmancer. About 2 months ago he posted an add up about a rig that was for sale. I contacted him via email to ask about it. He wrote me back about the rig numerous times and I decided to buy it from him. After I sent him the money he was supposed to send me the tracking number for the rig that he was fed ex shipping. It has been about two months and he will not answer any emails I send. I was hoping that someone could help me out if they know any information about this guy. Thanks

[darkwing 4]

Bummer, and I have nothing to help you out, but I hope this will serve as a warning to others, and help them get good advice on how to buy things on line, at DZ.com and elsewhere. There have been many threads where good advice is dispensed.

I hope you find him, and your money. Have you reported it as fraud to dz.com, and the police...?

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[OSOK 0]

There are a few things you can do...

You can contact his ISP and track him down that way. I'm not sure if you might need the backup of the police or some other department to do that, but it's a start.

Just hope he didn't use the email address from a public computer or something.

[DeNReN 0]

Are you sure of the user name??...a search for dmancer turns up squat.

[The111 1]

Read this thread, there is a rig for $1300 that a few people suspect is a scam. It's a different name, but obviously that means nothing if it's a scam. The name was registered very recently before the ad.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[Nickkk 0]

How did you pay him?

What do you do when someone throws a big planet at you?
Throw your pilot chute in defense!

[azdiver 0]

if DZ.com is going to have the classified maybe they could provide a pay pal as insurance against scammers using their site to con people. just a thought

light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak

[scottjaco 0]

Just like craigslist warns,

the best way to avoid 99.9% of scams is to meet the person face to face and accept cash only payment.

If a meeting isn't possible, have the seller mail the rig to you COD.

If you are the seller, and agree to use COD, make sure you specify a "certified check/money order only" for payment.

[Glitch 0]

Don't forget about your friendly neighborhood middle-men (DZ and rigger). Have the seller ship to them (protects them as their sending to an established business thingy which makes reclaimation on their end easier) before you ship the $$$ and you can have your/a trusted rigger inspect the gear prior to payment.

Sorry to hear about the OP's loss....

Randomly f'n thingies up since before I was born...

[ryoder 1,412]

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if DZ.com is going to have the classified maybe they could provide a pay pal as insurance against scammers using their site to con people. just a thought

PayPal "insurance" is a joke. I lost $150 to a bozo that shipped me an unusable item, then his eBay account disappeared. eBay told me to talk to PayPal. PayPal told me that because he shipped me something their "insurance" did not apply. So apparently if the seller ships you a block of wood when you paid for a laptop computer, PayPal sees nothing wrong with that deal.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[ryoder 1,412]

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Don't forget about your friendly neighborhood middle-men (DZ and rigger).

DO NOT ship it to his local rigger, (who may just be his buddy), who just hands the item off to him without concern if you ever get paid. I learned that lesson from experience.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[freeflyit 0]

If you find this guy I think you can take him to a small claims court and win. I've seen an episode of judge judy where some kid did exactly that - he shipped bricks to some guy instead of the actual product and got hammered. I don't know if you want to go the length over $150 (not even worth the time, stress, etc...) but it is doable.

[katzurki 0]

So far I found two scams that originated from Premier users. One is todbalon. In conversation both appeared fairly knowledgeable about their gear, which leads me to believe they are, or he is, a skydiver. The IP was next to identical for both, an AOL ip pool range, so that might be one person.

The todbalon guy went so far as to send me a (badly) Photoshopped Fedex Air Waybill.

I reported both to [email protected] and once to Sangiro via pm, but got no response in either case. It finally bothered me enough that I made a post about it.

What bothers me is that it seems to be someone who skydives and that they go to the expense of setting up a Premier account. Fortunately these scams were fairly obvious as being too good of a deal (plus the little discrepancies add up -- say he says he is in the UK, but his IP is American).

I think we might benefit from a feedback system similar to Ebay's. As an overseas buyer options like COD are not available to me.

I am sorry that the original poster lost the money.

[JerryBaumchen 1,081]

I sold a rig last year (for a friend of mine; I was the 'middleman' on this end). The intended buyer was a regular poster here (and someone who's posts I respect). I asked for a middleman on his end, he selected the DZO. I contacted the DZO and said to contact me when she had the money in her grubby little hands. She did, I shipped the rig, she/someone inspected it and sent me the money. Worked just fine.

I like the use of the middleman because, hopefully, it takes any bias/scam out of it. However, I also req'd that the buyer put the money up prior to any shipment so that I knew there was good faith.

Jerry

[peregrinerose 0]

I have both bought and sold rigs through here.

Both times, the other party and I gave good references for each other, people we both knew or knew of and respected (Beezy Shaw, Dave Dewolf, for example). Even though both transactions were out of country, both went very smoothly. I bought a rig from Canada and sold one to Brazil. I sent the money prior to having the rig, and had the money prior to shipping the rig out but was comfortable due to the background checks that were done.

There's little reason to get scammed as long as you cover bases and ask some good smart questions, use an intermediate rigger or DZ, and check references. There are plenty of scammers here and on ebay... I've run into them, but didn't ever send gear or money to them.

Jen

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[ryoder 1,412]

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I think we might benefit from a feedback system similar to Ebay's.

And we REALLY need an auction system like eBay's. I hate trying to figure out what something is worth, only to either:
a) Having it languishing w/o sale because I overestimated its value.
b) Have it snapped up immediately, then realize I asked too little.

With an auction you know you got the best price you could, and the auction has a definite end date.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[PhreeZone 15]

Years ago (99-00) there used to be an auction option on here. It was hardly used if I remember right. I don't know if that was due to the lack of people knowing about the website or the still new conecpt of ebusiness and online auctions.

Feedback systems are good for repeat buyers/sellers but those are only a small fraction of the people using the classifieds. Everyone else will have a 0 score and then you are at a similar situation as to what there exists today, how do you determine if someone is good to go with no info on them?

I do see this as a good business opprotunity for the right person/people. Have a rigger just provide excrow services where they hold the money and do basic inspections to make sure that things like make/model are accurate at least then they do the shipping and release the funds. Take a $10-20 fee plus postage off the money for canopy/rigs and $5-10 for other things and most people would be happy enough. It would require good record keeping to make the books right and not to mix up money or gear but I know tons of people would be willing to pay that fee for a $4000 rig.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Nickkk 0]

If you pay through paypal with a credit card you can dispute the charges from your credit card company as well as file a dispute with paypal. There is an option for package recieved but not with correct item and im not sure what the investigation entails, but with any paypal claim, if the sellers empties their account, you wont get your funds. That is why it is best to pay with CC through paypal.

What do you do when someone throws a big planet at you?
Throw your pilot chute in defense!

[kelpdiver 2]

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And we REALLY need an auction system like eBay's. I hate trying to figure out what something is worth, only to either:
a) Having it languishing w/o sale because I overestimated its value.
b) Have it snapped up immediately, then realize I asked too little.

I prefer community markets have normal prices. With A), the person is always free to counteroffer. With B), well, then it's an easy sale, right? Sometimes I price for ease of sale over getting the last 10%.

One can always post a url to an ebay link if that is preferred.

[PhreeZone 15]

No, posting just eBay links will get the ad removed.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[ryoder 1,412]

Quote

Quote

And we REALLY need an auction system like eBay's. I hate trying to figure out what something is worth, only to either:
a) Having it languishing w/o sale because I overestimated its value.
b) Have it snapped up immediately, then realize I asked too little.

I prefer community markets have normal prices. With A), the person is always free to counteroffer. With B), well, then it's an easy sale, right? Sometimes I price for ease of sale over getting the last 10%.

One can always post a url to an ebay link if that is preferred.

And HOW do you know where to set your prices??? With eBay I do a lookup of previous auctions and base my starting price and Buy-It-Now prices based on the completed auctions that actually sold. On DZ.com, all I can look at is asking prices. I have no clue what previous items sold for, nor do I have any idea if the prices people are asking are what someone will pay.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[pilotdave 0]

They used to have auctions here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/auctionDB/auction.pl

I think ebay works because it's so popular. I think auctions on a small scale, like dropzone.com, would not work well. I think there are much better ways to determine a fair asking price for a piece of equipment than just previous sale prices on one auction site.

Dave

[darkwing 4]

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...I reported both to [email protected] and once to Sangiro via pm, but got no response in either case. It finally bothered me enough that I made a post about it.

That is the second time in a week I have heard from people who reported abuse to HH and got no response and no apparent action...?

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[freeflyit 0]

Dude, that is so crazy (well not really) but anyways, I'm looking to buy a rig and it is also $1300 for a vector. Guess who the seller is: Paul Countenay. I'll steer clear of that just to be sure.

Edit: What makes you think this guy is a scammer?

[labrys 0]

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That is the second time in a week I have heard from people who reported abuse to HH and got no response and no apparent action...?

People choose to sell here and people choose to buy here... it 's a public forum...jeez. Since when is HH anyone's mother around here?

Owned by Remi #?