Update 07/Nov/2007 - Added Where To Buy (at end)

Update 08/Nov/2007 - Added Proof That She Is Scum (near the end)

Update 27/Nov/2007 - Updated Even Bigger Even Scummier Scum (near the end)

Update 15/Dec/2007 - Added Even More Scum (near the end)

Update 16/Dec/2007 - Updated Even More Scum (near the end)

Update 15/Dec/2007 - Updated Where To Buy (at end)

Update 14/May/2008 - Added They're Back! (near End)

Rant & Rave

Don't you just hate it when the scum of this world lie and cheat and steal and rip off innocent people?

Don't you hate it even more when look you in they eye and pretend to help you while they do it?

Doesn't it make you fume and steam come out of your ears when they prey on you at Christmas and use your love for your own children against you?

God! I hate those people.

Explanation

I write reviews and guides on eBay because I love writing and I like helping people. I regularly read other people's guides, praise the good ones and encourage those writers if I can.

Anyway, I was looking at some other guides today and came across two from an eBay user about Lazy Town and, in particular, the Sportacus Switchboard.

That eBay user appeared to be concerned and appeared to be warning other eBay users of a possible scam;

Oh No! These things are popular and hard to find! He or she went on to say how Argos had run out and appeared to be wishing you good luck in your search for one of these 'hard to find' items  and warning you about scammers;

"All well and good" I hear you say. "Very public spirited." and maybe even "What a nice person!" but wait, there's more...

The reason I said "appears to be" was because although you may not realise it the person who is writing all these helpful guides warning you not to be scammed and ripped off  is actually selling the very same items on eBay for more than the manufacturer's recommended retail price and, on top of that, they are charging an incredible £9.99 postage and packing!

In their eBay listing they attempt to whip up interest in this item and imply it is rare and hard to find by saying things like;

• one of "the" Christmas "must have"presents this year...
  
• My son has one (he is 3) and absolutely adores it...
• This toy is a "must" for christmas and is extremely hard to get hold of...
• Grab one now!

Why Am I Angry?

Because this person is writing guides to whip up an interest in an item which appears to be overpriced to start with and then goes on to sell them at an inflated price to people who probably can't afford them but are made to feel inadequate if they don't buy the damned thing.

eBay guides are meant to help people. They are meant to be helpful and informative. They are certainly NOT meant to be used to deceive people or as the basis of a scam.

He or she is NOT helping you, He or she is scamming you. I would not be at all surprised to find they had dozens of these things in their back bedroom and were deliberately listing them one at a time to make it look like there are only a few available. Do you, like me, suspect the price will go up and up as Christmas gets nearer and nearer?

These people are preying on the weaknesses of vunerable people at a time of year when nearly everyone is [psychologically speaking] especially vunerable. That's why I think these people are scum.

What Can You Do?

It is difficult. Very difficult.

Believe me when I tell you I  know exactly how difficult it can be to deny your child something they want. Especially at Christmas. Even more so when their friends are better off than you and their parents can afford all the things your children want but can't have. You have to be strong.

Education is the key, teach your child;

• the difference between essentials and luxuries
• that designer clothes and shoes are a waste of money and promote fashion wars in school
  
• that clothes and shoes [even sensible, affordable school clothes and shoes] are just as much a present as toys
• that there are children in this world who are dying because they can't afford food to eat or clothes to wear
• that we must treat the world better and not waste valuable resources on pointless luxury items
  

There is an old American Indian saying that goes something like "we do not inherit this land from our fathers but borrow it from our sons". We have a duty to teach our children good values and respect for our planet. They will thank us for it [eventually]. Who knows, when they grow up and have children of their own maybe they will pass those values on and there might just be a hope for this planet after all.

In Closing...

When it comes down to it I would rather see my children playing in the garden on Boxing Day wearing warm clothes and with food in their stomachs than sporting a crappy overpriced piece of plastic they will either break or lose or be fed up with before they go back to school.

Sorry if you have been offended by what I have written or the language used in this guide but people like that really do make me want to scream.

You need to be strong and above all remember these people can't force you to buy their goods. If you think it is overpriced don't buy it and don't forget they often try to screw you with excessive postal charges. If that's the case, report the listing to eBay - I understand they are starting to clamp down on that now.

Wishing you a fantastic and, above all, affortable Christmas.

Update 07/11/2007

I received two (yes, two) angry and irate messages from an eBay member last night.

It transpires that eBay member had been selling Sportacus Switchboards for more than the manufacturer's RRP [and quite a few it would seem]. She was angry and indignant about this very guide "I know it was aimed at me" she ranted. Funny that, I write about despicable scum ripping people off and she automatically assumes I am talking about her! Now there's a guilty conscience if ever I saw one.

She tried awfully hard to justify her actions, more to assuage her own guilt than to convince me I would imagine. Things like;

"I am a mum of 2 kids and a student - I support them myself. I am not looking for sympathy"

Really? Then why bring it up at all.

and;

"...one seller constantly had their switchboards for £33.99 with £9.99 P&P..."

So? Just because there are other people ripping us off doesn't make it alright for you to do it. By that argument you might as well say "he's mugging old ladies and stealing their pensions so it must be alright for me to do it too". Yeah, sure, but only despicable scum would think that! Because it's wrong. And if it's wrong ... IT'S WRONG!

Edmund Burke once said "The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." I refuse to stand back and do nothing and if that makes me unpopular so be it. At least I can hold my head up high in public and sleep soundly at night.

To be honest the sum total of both her messages amounted to a bunch of pathetic excuses for behaviour that was morally questionable at best and despicable at worst. She knows it and she obviously feels guilty about it otherwise why would she have bothered sending me those messages? I believe Shakespeare put it best when he said "Methinks the lady doth protest too much"...

On a final note she almost gained herself a brownie point by acknowledging her hypocrisy and [temporarily] deleting her guides but immediately lost it again by voting against this guide and putting her guides back up again [that's one way to erase all the No votes I suppose]. Ah well, what do you expect from someone like that... [Whoops! Her guides have gone again - 13/11/2007...]

Second Update 07/11/2007

I received yet another angry and irate message from that eBay member today.

Once again she was trying far too hard to convince me she was not despicable scum yet she freely admitted she bought her stock of Sportacus Switchboards on a Buy Two Get One Free offer from Boots. Even if we assume she paid full price for them [highly unlikely when you buy in bulk] she would have got three boards for less than £60. She then lists them using the Buy It Now format which nets her in excess of £100 per three boards [plus a bit of extra on the inflated P&P] that's almost 100% markup / over £15 profit on each item. Arthur Daley would be proud.

Had I been in a similar position I would not have wanted to rip anyone off. I would have listed them as auction lots with a starting price of £25 ie: more than I had paid for them but less than the RRP. That would have given me a minimum of £5 profit per board. If these items are truly as popular as she says they would most likely go for more than the RRP but then it would have been the bidder's choice how much they paid for their board not mine. Had she acted fairly she could, quite easily, have ended up with a larger profit but no one would have been forced to pay over the odds.

That is MY position and all I can say is: if it looks like a Duck, walks like a Duck and quacks like a Duck. I am sure you know what I mean...

Update 08/11/2007 Proof That She Is Scum

It turns out this other eBay member, the one who keeps sending me messages trying to convince me she is not scum, continues to act in a very scummy way.

Over the past few days [since this guide was published] she has been actively bidding on other people's auctions for the extremely scarce and very much in demand Sportacus Switchboard. Nothing major, four or five bids of £15.00 and a couple more for £21.00 - all on different auctions - just enough to get the bidding moving and push the prices up.

"Nothing wrong with that" I hear you say, "people bid on items all the time, that's what eBay is all about".

Agreed. There would be nothing wrong with her behaviour if she were trying to buy one for herself but, as she has likes to boast so proudly "My son has one (he is 3) and absolutely adores it...". Ignore that, it's just another one of her dirty little tricks designed to make other parents [ie: those who haven't been able to find one at or below RRP because her and her scummy friends have been buying them all] feel inadequate so they will buy her overpriced items out of sheer desperation.

So exactly why is she bidding on these other auctions when she [her son] already has one?

• Shill bidding? Are they really her items under another eBay name? Or maybe a friend's?
  
• Perhaps she is trying to buy more stock cheaply for later sale at obscenely inflated prices (and profit)?
• Or simply to drive up the price and emphasise the scarity value so as to whip up a buying frenzy?
  

Obviously I don't know the real reason for her (extremely suspicious) behaviour but any one of the above could be considered ethically bancrupt or morally corrupt. And at least one is in direct violation of the rules of eBay and almost certainly illegal. If she is shill bidding it would be enough to get her account suspended.

The only legitimate reason I can see for her bidding on one of these would be if she had already sold her son's Christmas present(!) to squeeze an extra few quid out of some poor sod and then, uncharacteristically, felt so bad about it she desperately tried to buy him a replacement. But even I don't want to consider that (extra mega scummy) option.

Whatever her reasons I find her behaviour extremely distasteful and don't know how she can live with herself.
Do we need any more proof?

Update 27/11/2007 Even Bigger Even Scummier Scum

What do you call someone who sells children's toys that previously sold for about £20 retail for £100? Yes, that's right, £100 [£90 + £10 P&P].

I call them scum.

And what do you call them when they do this on the run up to Christmas?

I call them Filthy Rotten Despicable Scum and wish they would cancel their listings and crawl back under their stone.

Update 28/11/2007:

Update 15/12/2007 Even More Scum

Here we go again, with just over a week 'til Christmas another piece of scum has stuck its filthy little snout over the edge of the feeding trough and is offering two Sportacus Switchboards for auction with the tag line "RARE & BNIP" and an unforgivable starting price of £90 [£80 + £10 P&P].

Yes folks, this is an auction with a  starting price of £90 which means either one could go for a lot more than that. This particular item is only rare because some people bought all the available stock and then whipped up a buying frenzy among parents who only want to get their young children something nice for Christmas. The really sad thing is some desperate parent will almost certainly feel obliged to part with over £100 for each of those items, putting good money into the pockets of a dirty filthy scumbag.
I will monitor this auction and publish details of the final price when it is available...

Update 16/12/2007:

Update 14/05/2008 They're Back!

Don't get excited, it's only the scum, not the popular toy...

As you may know, I've been monitoring the price of these toys since before Christmas 2007 but only one or two have been listed on eBay this year and, I am glad to say, at reasonable prices. Furthermore, this guide has received literally dozens of Yes votes over the same period of time. So some people must appreciate my efforts. Thank you all.

However, about two weeks ago I noticed kiddimax-auctions (one of the people who had been listing overpriced Sportacus Switchboards on the run up to Christmas last year) had listed another one as a Buy It Now for the bargain price of £42.99 + 8.99 P&P making an unbelievable total of £51.98, enough to make you puke!

Thankfully, it didn't sell so he was forced to relist it at a reduced price of ONLY £45.98 inc P&P [I'm being sarcastic here in case you hadn't noticed] and [sad face] it didn't attract a single bid that time either. Nor when it was relisted at the same ridiculous price. Bye Bye...

The following week another one of the pre Christmas offenders listed a Sportacus Switchboard for auction with a starting price of £29.99 + £9.99 P&P [£39.98] I think the Post & Packing is a little high but otherwise not too bad. Nobody bid on it at all, neither did they when it was relisted but it has been listed again and, this time, some one has bid on it.

In addition to the above I am updating this guide because somebody voted against it today and I find it hard to believe these two events;

• A scummy scumbag scammer lists a popular childrens' toy at an obscenely inflated price for the first time in months, fails to sell it and loses their listing fees
• The only eBay guide that dares to speak out against their scummy scumbag scamming ways receives its first (and very much undeserved) No vote since Christmas 2007
  

are totally unrelated. Particularly when they happened within days of each other.

Personally, I suspect the eBay member finally read my guide, recognised themselves for what they truly are, didn't like what they saw and got very angry. Rather than considering what was written and changing their scummy scumbag scamming ways they chose to lash out and vote No for this guide. Oh well, you know what they say? Once a scumbag, always a scumbag...

I wonder just what popular item they will be trying to sell at vastly inflated prices to desperate parents next Christmas?

Where To Buy One...

As of Wednesday 7th November 2007 it appears the Sportacus Switchboard can be found at the following outlets:
As of Saturday 15th December 2007, this item still seems to be unavailable unless you are prepared to deal with the blood sucking scum who are giving eBay a bad name...

Sadly, as of 14/May/2008, this toy is still very hard to find. Unless, that is, you want to pay the ridiculous prices the people above are asking on eBay or their web sites.

• www.boots.com price: No Longer Available
  

• www.stevenstoymaster.com price: £29.99

• www.amazon.co.uk price: not quoted

I have done this research so you don't have to and in the hope it will help you get your loved ones the Christmas present they want at a price you want - and can afford - to pay.

Regards
tbod