fishin_magician
Well-Known Member
Well, I just HAVE to post this one.
A local acquaintance of mine who I have guided privately on couple of occasions over the last two years has been slowly realizing the experience that a fine piece of equipment brings to fishing enjoyment. Over the last two years he he bought a few items from Craigslist and then sold his old equipment to offset the cost of the new equipment. He recently posted a couple of high end reels to Craigslist and they sold almost immediately for less than "fair value" as the buyer self identified himself as a "guide" and the "guide" chewed him down saying he could buy the reel at "guide rate". I found this a little odd since guides can get "guide rates" as ambassadors of fine product a d being in the industry as a professional and using certain brands is an almost official endorsement of fine equipment. My acquaintance received emails from "guides" time and time again. Interesting. Anyways, a conversation ensued about the reason for the sale and my acquaintance explained what he was going to do.
A week later, said acquaintance is about to fork over the cash at a retail store and he sees the buyer of his is reels in a well known tackle store attempting to get a guide deal on the exact 2 reels he wants. My acquaintance found this somewhat odd as it's early October and the season is over. Needless to say, he pretended he didn't see the guy and kept a low profile. The "guide" if that's who he was, paid for the reels and left.
My acquaintance, 15 minutes later, approached a sales associate and wanted to purchase the 2 reels. The sales associate then said he was "out of stock" but said he would endeavour to find him 2 reels. My acquaintance, disappointed, hit the bricks and went to another shop to find the reels he wanted, nothing doing, everyone is sold out of that colour.
Anyways, fast forward to last week when my acquaintance sees an ad on a local forum/craigslist for exactly what he wants. He emails the seller with a different email address and asks for a phone number. It's the same guy. Who bought his reels. He blocks out his number, calls the guy, and sets a time to see the reels. He is offered the reels at almost full retail but discounted. He is also offered 2 other reels (the ones he sold 2 weeks before) at a hefty premium to his original selling price. He asked the guy to bring all reels to the meeting.
My acquaintance sends his wife to meet the guy to buy the reels while he waited and watched from the truck. Lo and behold, the individual who showed up to sell the reels was the individual who identified himself as the guide... The same guy who bought the reels. The wife negotiates $40 off each reel and buys 2 reels. Interestingly enough, my acquaintance then observed the guy from the tackle shop walk up and meet the "guide" after the sale had completed.
Well...how about that!? Talk about the hard way!!!
So after all this I viewed the emails and as it turns out the individual who identified himself has the name of a junior guide at a well known lodge "in the north". The sales associate isn't someone I know but I figure he and the guide are colluding and sharing in the profits and clearing a few bucks each.
To top it all off, another acquaintance at my marina ended up buying the two reels my acqaintance sold at $50 more each than my acquaintance sold them for weeks ago.
Just thought I would share this knowledge for those out there... Beware. My acquaintance was a willing seller in his original sale...definitely naive and a fool and his money...but either way, lots of unethical things going on here.
Buyer beware!
A local acquaintance of mine who I have guided privately on couple of occasions over the last two years has been slowly realizing the experience that a fine piece of equipment brings to fishing enjoyment. Over the last two years he he bought a few items from Craigslist and then sold his old equipment to offset the cost of the new equipment. He recently posted a couple of high end reels to Craigslist and they sold almost immediately for less than "fair value" as the buyer self identified himself as a "guide" and the "guide" chewed him down saying he could buy the reel at "guide rate". I found this a little odd since guides can get "guide rates" as ambassadors of fine product a d being in the industry as a professional and using certain brands is an almost official endorsement of fine equipment. My acquaintance received emails from "guides" time and time again. Interesting. Anyways, a conversation ensued about the reason for the sale and my acquaintance explained what he was going to do.
A week later, said acquaintance is about to fork over the cash at a retail store and he sees the buyer of his is reels in a well known tackle store attempting to get a guide deal on the exact 2 reels he wants. My acquaintance found this somewhat odd as it's early October and the season is over. Needless to say, he pretended he didn't see the guy and kept a low profile. The "guide" if that's who he was, paid for the reels and left.
My acquaintance, 15 minutes later, approached a sales associate and wanted to purchase the 2 reels. The sales associate then said he was "out of stock" but said he would endeavour to find him 2 reels. My acquaintance, disappointed, hit the bricks and went to another shop to find the reels he wanted, nothing doing, everyone is sold out of that colour.
Anyways, fast forward to last week when my acquaintance sees an ad on a local forum/craigslist for exactly what he wants. He emails the seller with a different email address and asks for a phone number. It's the same guy. Who bought his reels. He blocks out his number, calls the guy, and sets a time to see the reels. He is offered the reels at almost full retail but discounted. He is also offered 2 other reels (the ones he sold 2 weeks before) at a hefty premium to his original selling price. He asked the guy to bring all reels to the meeting.
My acquaintance sends his wife to meet the guy to buy the reels while he waited and watched from the truck. Lo and behold, the individual who showed up to sell the reels was the individual who identified himself as the guide... The same guy who bought the reels. The wife negotiates $40 off each reel and buys 2 reels. Interestingly enough, my acquaintance then observed the guy from the tackle shop walk up and meet the "guide" after the sale had completed.
Well...how about that!? Talk about the hard way!!!
So after all this I viewed the emails and as it turns out the individual who identified himself has the name of a junior guide at a well known lodge "in the north". The sales associate isn't someone I know but I figure he and the guide are colluding and sharing in the profits and clearing a few bucks each.
To top it all off, another acquaintance at my marina ended up buying the two reels my acqaintance sold at $50 more each than my acquaintance sold them for weeks ago.
Just thought I would share this knowledge for those out there... Beware. My acquaintance was a willing seller in his original sale...definitely naive and a fool and his money...but either way, lots of unethical things going on here.
Buyer beware!
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