What he does is illegal. If he were located in Germany, I'd have already reported his offence to the police. For the individuum, it's just a couple of dollars. In the sum, it's a nice holiday trip for "James Corvin".

I don't understand why not one of the other resellers, darkseraphim, Bad Mike, Guido the Gypsy or someone else is not taking legal actions against this fraudster. Have you already talked to you lawyer about it?

Ebay has this link listed under fraud reporting:


http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

benwax wrote:I think that as long as reasonable info about the emporium is sent, and we tell bidders them to watch out, the worst that can happen is a slap on the wrist from ebay.  As I just got my first negative feedback from the GE after leaving negative for them, I have used my daily quota of ebay messages to warn off bidders.  I'm going to keep doing it until someone sends me a threatening notice.  I'm sick of this, and hope that everyone on the Acaeum will join me in sending off a few emails to bidders everyday until GE is out of business!!!

Ben newbie collector whose 100% feedback streak is now gone..frick!

dathon wrote:

My two coppers is that it may indeed be time for the Master Shiller.

As for letting current bidders know the story behind this scoundrel... well, I can tell you from experience that it is risky.  A long time ago in my early eBay days I ran into a terrible seller who was selling a Gamma World minis box.  I bought it, and then found it was missing a miniature even though it was advertised as near mint/complete.  I asked the seller for a refund, and she replied that I shouldn't be playing with children's games anyway and would not give a refund.  That's right, she mocked our hobby!  
I contacted her then current bidders on "children's games" and warned them about the seller.  Well, one of the bidders must have told the seller or eBay because then eBay's Safe Harbor got on my butt and told me my account would be suspended if I continued to "interfere" in the seller's auctions.  So if you're going to warn bidders then don't do it from your regular account.  
Bottom line: eBay refuses to police itself so how can they be surprised when vigilante justice arises?  
We're not the first to contemplate this.... the New York Times had a whole article a while back about a Mac users posse that hunts down and harrasses eBay villains.  There was even an article last week about a "vigilante" group that harrasses the Nigerian scammers.  It's probably still up on the NYT site and it was very amusing.  

I've started the very beginning of contacting winning bidders of his auctions to see if they would be willing to be party to a lawsuit against him.  So far, 100% are willing.  The guy is beyond incompetent and way into the territory of criminal.  

I've consulted with a lawyer friend of mine and will (soon) get some notes written down about what needs to happen.  I may send a copy to Deadlord so he can run it by his lawyer friends.

I believe TGE is in New Jersey.  I'm looking for an NJ lawyer buddy of mine I've lost touch with to make sure it sticks.

Basically, I think the damages here would be 3x the amount of money he's collected for non-delivered services, plus the promised services/items, plus legal fees.

He's so hosed already he might as well flee the country.

It's a real good thing that I've not been burned by this schmuck.  It also helps that I don't regularly traffic ebay for AD&D books...though I do look for other games.

The Game Emporium is an example of what happens when people get out of control and let their greed overcome good business sense.  The most common complaint given by those who left negative feedback is that the item was never shipped.  The Game Emporium responds in various ways, either by replying to the negative feedback with something along the lines of "we talked.  The item is on its way.", disbelief because he got a negative feedback for merchandise that he didn't deliver in a timely fashion, or by retaliatory negative feedback.  Every single response The Game Emporium makes shows an astounding lack of maturity.  I do not know the person(s) behind The Game Emporium, and really do not care who they are.  I have no respect for immaturity, and the signs of it are all there on The Game Emporium's feedback.

This crap of The Game Emporium not fulfilling its orders is totally silly, and absolutely uncalled for.  It's certainly not healthy for his business.  For every positive result, you get one person telling another about it.  For every negative, you get that one person telling ten.  And each of those ten tells ten of their friends.  Beyond that it's not really effective due to the way stories change as they're passed on from person to person, but the effect is like dominoes falling.  After all, at least 14000 people know how much of a wanker The Game Emporium is (conservative estimate, assuming multiple negative feedbacks by some buyers).  That's roughly 140 people telling ten friends each.  Now what happens when those 14000 each tell ten friends of theirs?

There's no excuse for shoddy business practices, and The Game Emporium is one of the poster children for it.  Pity I didn't go for one of his auctions...I might enjoy being part of a class action lawsuit.  In any case, the class action is the way to go here, to get this loser to fulfill his contractual obligations.  After all, a completed ebay auction is a legal and binding contract between buyer and seller.  What's good for one should be good for the other.

Did some research today … here is the complete list of the 57 eBay members that T_G_E has given negative feedback to.  This is just here for informative purposes, of course, for those who might be … curious.  Have fun!


albertopardo
angelicus_dmort
benwax
bob64smith
capncaveman1
captaincaffeine
cstogdill
darius_fo
dgnmstr68
draiden
erniep1
faker676
festinog
fishingcag
freelancerbagok
futuresuccess
galen_macbyrne
henbane_au
hkphooey1
hu11114
jd1627
johnny_chainsaw
keladrin
kgdolan
kimby_cbfh
klazymama1
lanceteryork
leonrn
likenthroup
mad_mozart
mebemg
mmacgregor
morrowrj
mrblonde9mm
nosemuffin
ocelotgames
patfalloon17
pjjones3000
raincricket
ralf_toth
raver_moksha
rick_tsdmdk
scottalanreed
smsdenny
syncevos
terresti
thufir77k
timereaver
tozaz
tsimons27
turboalexmulford
uglydog1969
urdlen
vacuum_time
verchulaka
wezzie77
zelgadis-greywords

The neutrals could probably be added to that list.

Sorry to hear about this mess.
Much appreciated for the clarifications behind the limited eBay feedback text.

A quick comment, aside, noting that the vendor in question was formerly a "Power Seller" on eBay...
*
Given that eBay invite sellers to take up this status, and that the seller is requested to uphold "eBay community values, including honesty, timeliness and mutual respect" (eBay Seller Information Center: Selling Resources -- Top Rated & PowerSeller Program - Requirements), is there not an extra case to be made for violation of such agreement (seller->eBay), or possible deception of customers (by eBay's representation of a seller's apparent worthiness)??
(or (more likely?), in reality, is "Power Seller" a totally worthless concept?).

Just my 02 cents thoughts, anyhow...

Best wishes & hope you all can resolve this.

Gotta love this feedback:     My Book smells like weed!!!!!!! My parents confirmed it. BUSTED!!!!!   Buyer   packrat8484( 8 )    Aug-01-04 16:42   5905889658  

Hmmmm perhaps TGE is using the idea posted on this forum regarding using boxed sets to ship illegal herbal cataract remedies?

Who is Jason?  (Not that I care, really)

"Took a while, but item arrived once Jason was involved. A Man of His Word. "  item 5904729237

Reply by the_game_emporium: "DANG IT!! This is Jason, Just getting in from the weekend. Give me time to get.. "

Reply by the_game_emporium: "this sorted out!! ALL the Items are being sent MYSELF!! So PLEASE give ME TIME.."

Reply by the_game_emporium: "I cant FIX This in one or even TWO days
so PLEASE let me get my feet under me... "

Reply by the_game_emporium: "and get this fixed!!! I'm trying to fix a problem for a Friend that I didn't.... "

Reply by the_game_emporium: "CREATE......so AGAIN GIVE ME SOME DANG TIME...PLEASE!! Thanks, Jason "


Evidently, James has a split personality named Jason...?

(I am currently looking at page 83 of the DMG.  "Insanity"; specifically schizophrenia/ dementia praecox/ pathological-liar/ dipsomania/ paranoia...etc.  Now, I'm thinking he's wearing a cursed scarab of insanity...)

M