Something Needs To Be Done.

[Perfectionist]

DEALER OPTIONS ON HOW TO HANDLE NEWBIES :

OPTION 1 ) Newbies ?? Screw em !! I've been on these forums for a long time now and have built up a healthy customer base who know what they are buying, know what to expect and keep placing regular orders with me .... plus they are obedient, docile, never stop praising me and are secretly in love with me

OPTION 2 ) Newbies ?? Love em !! This is a business for me (full-time or part-time) and I wanna sell as many watches as I can (while this gravy train is in motion, cos sooner or later this train is gonna stop!) therefore I must treat all newbie orders with the utmost care to make sure these mofo's don't f**k things up for me !!

This will involve simple things such as :

a ) Get a good email dialogue going with the newbie, explaining what I sell, what are the flaws, how long delivery would take and most importantly, what to do if anything is not to their liking .... be honest and realistic and do not, under any circumstances, assume the newbie has an IQ above above single digits

b ) Stay in contact with newbie, letting them know when item has been shipped out and emailing again when item has arrived to make sure little noobkin is happy and won't run crying to Paypal .... Throughout the "First Purchase Process", keep reassuring newbie that all is well and if need be, tell him a bed-time story so he can sleep at night, instead of worrying about how he sent hundreds of bucks to a total stranger in another country whom he has never met, to supply contraband goods, which may get stopped by Customs, and may turn out to be a complete scam/rip-off, like all his friends warned him about .....

Although this will involve a major investment in time and effort on my part, I realise this is the nature of the business I have chosen to run and am happy and grateful for the opportunity to earn money through this dubious and mildly illegal trade .... not only would I be protecting my business from "Newbster Attack", I would be generating a long and very loyal relationship with said newbie, therefore making him much poorer and me much richer

Job Done

I'm now gonna write to Bush and Blair to help them sort out the Middle East ....

PS - Note to long-time members who see a "Dealer In Distress" and suddenly turn in to Don Corleone, ready to make offers that a newbie cannot refuse etc etc LOL

Dude, YOU ARE NOT THE GODFATHER !!

You are a middle aged man with wife and kids who would never risk a lawsuit or criminal charge to physically harm any individual in the western world .... especially over a silly hobby involving fake watches !!

To be in any position where you may deem yourself above the law, would require you to be extremely wealthy and have great influence in both the legitimate world and more importantly the illegal underworld .... men such as these do not buy cheap fake watches and moreover, do not frequent internet forums talking about them !! LOL !!

Not to burst anyone's bubble but, generally speaking .... Mafia Dons, Pimps, Gangsters, Corrupt Politicians etc etc tend to collect the genuine versions !!

You may however instigate a humorous exchange of insulting posts with TTK - this will greatly help to relieve the stress and frustration the latest Newbster Attack may have caused

Edited August 7, 2006 by Perfectionist

[kanerich]

I"m sorry, but a dealer would be foolish to shut out all newbies. I think I bought more reps in the first 3-4 months than since (I've become both more informed and picky since then), and judging by the number of "I've bought seven reps this month, I'm rep mad!" type giddy noob posts we've seen here on a regular basis, I doubt I'm the only one. Dealers do business with noobs and will continue to do so for one reason -- it's profitable to them.

As far as making this a pay only site or no purchase until 100 posts or whatever . . . IMO a lot of people would never get hooked if we had rules like this. If you have to pay upfront to get involved or buy reps. a lot of people are going to shy away, period. I'm sorry but look at it from an outsider's perspective -- if a website says "access to good fake watches! Just pay us first and we'll give you info!" would you assume that was legit or possibly a scam in itself? I personally would never have handed over money to a site like this as a condition of entry.

If you spend a lot of time on this board you can see that at any given time there are only a couple of dozen really active members who account for a bulk of the posts. IMO some of them tend to overvalue their value to the dealers . . . there are lots of members who spend a lot of money here, just not as much time. Being a dealer favorite and a regular poster would seem to me to be two different things.

Also, I think just like people tend to overreact with anger when their supply is threatened, longtime members also tend to blame new members for problems on this board disproportionately. When I look at members, watchsmiths, etc. who scammed other members or flaked out of old RWG, TRC etc., they were almost always well-trusted members who were regular posters. That's how they got away with crap for a long time. Also, of the recent dealer problems one person used his uncle's (a respected longtime member) account -- his ID theft was not something this board could do anything about. Another involved a fairly longtime member and regular buyer.

This hobby doesn't "belong" to any one of us in particular, and this board would become as dead as TRC without regular infusions of new blood.

[eddhead]

would you have wanted to wait 100 posts before getting your first watch?...

come on

.. or maybe we should all put up silly nonsensical or meaningless posts to just to build up our counts.. I am sorry, but this is insulting. Some people here are using a broad brush to address a problem that is significant, but is also the result of a relatively few number of bad actors... not all of whom are even new to the board. It doesn't take a seasoned member to understand how to build business relationships or even to act in a responsible and courteous manner. Leave up to the dealers to decide who they will and will not do business with.

[Guest aclaimsman]

I"m sorry, but a dealer would be foolish to shut out all newbies. I think I bought more reps in the first 3-4 months than since (I've become both more informed and picky since then), and judging by the number of "I've bought seven reps this month, I'm rep mad!" type giddy noob posts we've seen here on a regular basis, I doubt I'm the only one. Dealers do business with noobs and will continue to do so for one reason -- it's profitable to them.

As far as making this a pay only site or no purchase until 100 posts or whatever . . . IMO a lot of people would never get hooked if we had rules like this. If you have to pay upfront to get involved or buy reps. a lot of people are going to shy away, period. I'm sorry but look at it from an outsider's perspective -- if a website says "access to good fake watches! Just pay us first and we'll give you info!" would you assume that was legit or possibly a scam in itself? I personally would never have handed over money to a site like this as a condition of entry.

If you spend a lot of time on this board you can see that at any given time there are only a couple of dozen really active members who account for a bulk of the posts. IMO some of them tend to overvalue their value to the dealers . . . there are lots of members who spend a lot of money here, just not as much time. Being a dealer favorite and a regular poster would seem to me to be two different things.

Also, I think just like people tend to overreact with anger when their supply is threatened, longtime members also tend to blame new members for problems on this board disproportionately. When I look at members, watchsmiths, etc. who scammed other members or flaked out of old RWG, TRC etc., they were almost always well-trusted members who were regular posters. That's how they got away with crap for a long time. Also, of the recent dealer problems one person used his uncle's (a respected longtime member) account -- his ID theft was not something this board could do anything about. Another involved a fairly longtime member and regular buyer.

This hobby doesn't "belong" to any one of us in particular, and this board would become as dead as TRC without regular infusions of new blood.

Here Here, I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Defender110]

copy post of thead farther down:

totally sucks the recent problems some of ourt dealers are exeriencing with paypal, customs and general transactions with newbies or spoiled brat so called long time members... :-( makes me sad that they have to go through these issues because of incompetence.

we all love this hobby but have you noticed how the membership numbers have JUMPED over the last 6 months on all the boards?? i think many newbies are here that are not at all interested in watches and horology but are only after 'PERFECT.... sub, breitling, tag etc....' i posted a message a few weeks ago entitled 'advice to all newbies' some flamed me for using caps too much.. but i was trying to make a point.. if you here for a holy grail watch.. save up your money, charge it, or build it with parts yourself, but no matter what you choose it will cost dearly either in time or money.

the word is startling to get out and many are also inviting or telling others about our great little hobby home.. yes we all at SOME POINT started with nothing or had to learn about the comunity but some here are only after a HOLY GRAIL watch and will [censored] and complain no matter what happens with the item. these are the kind of people that can hurt us and hurt our trusted dealers.. within the last month EL, PT, Trusty, REG have all have either customs issues with RETURNED watches that included unspeakable documentation or PAYPAL issues.. THESE are 'TRUSTED DEALERS' so if you have a issue politely ask or inform or WORK IT OUT with the 'trusted dealer' they are here to assist and provide... NOT SCAM. yes they are running a business and are making money but many of them do this because they enjoy horiculture and the community and they have other jobs or business to support their families.

please lets all be a little more careful with who we invite, and encourage all the new ones to post and learn about this enjoyable hobby so as to be better informed, but also to better weed out the riffraff.

josh

[chad]

You do not really think the dealers care who orders? newbie or not.......

They want that money in the paypal account and they give you the best service they can get away with to keep there reputations up.

That is like going to a strip club and thinking the strippers actually like you.

They could care less.....

Reps are made just good enough so that people will buy them...no better..

Dealers are doing this for profit not because they enjoy posting on the board....and rightly they should be.

copy post of thead farther down:

totally sucks the recent problems some of ourt dealers are exeriencing with paypal, customs and general transactions with newbies or spoiled brat so called long time members... :-( makes me sad that they have to go through these issues because of incompetence.

we all love this hobby but have you noticed how the membership numbers have JUMPED over the last 6 months on all the boards?? i think many newbies are here that are not at all interested in watches and horology but are only after 'PERFECT.... sub, breitling, tag etc....' i posted a message a few weeks ago entitled 'advice to all newbies' some flamed me for using caps too much.. but i was trying to make a point.. if you here for a holy grail watch.. save up your money, charge it, or build it with parts yourself, but no matter what you choose it will cost dearly either in time or money.

the word is startling to get out and many are also inviting or telling others about our great little hobby home.. yes we all at SOME POINT started with nothing or had to learn about the comunity but some here are only after a HOLY GRAIL watch and will [censored] and complain no matter what happens with the item. these are the kind of people that can hurt us and hurt our trusted dealers.. within the last month EL, PT, Trusty, REG have all have either customs issues with RETURNED watches that included unspeakable documentation or PAYPAL issues.. THESE are 'TRUSTED DEALERS' so if you have a issue politely ask or inform or WORK IT OUT with the 'trusted dealer' they are here to assist and provide... NOT SCAM. yes they are running a business and are making money but many of them do this because they enjoy horiculture and the community and they have other jobs or business to support their families.

please lets all be a little more careful with who we invite, and encourage all the new ones to post and learn about this enjoyable hobby so as to be better informed, but also to better weed out the riffraff.

josh

[Bigshooter]

The minimum post rule for newbies won't work IMHO - people will speed post frivolous crap just to get their post count up.

As far as Pay Pal restrictions on newbies - its really the dealers call and from a newbies standpoint PP offers a little protection on their end.

We know the dealers are great, we tell everyone the dealers are great but I remember being a newbie on RWG - I didn't believe everything I read for awhile - being new to the hobby; having a little protection when ordering an (illegal) item from the other side of the world is an attractive option.

I think Pug is right (gasp) LOL its really the dealers call - we can't be the nanny.