The justification people have for their actions is interesting. The mother thought she was "outfoxing" the rich, the writer gave himself rules to follow. I can feel a little empathy for being vulnerable to tricking yourself like this.
How I became a con artist (2010)
31–40 of 66 posts
Re: How I became a con artist (2010)
#32I had a really hard time reading this, mostly because it's difficult for me to separate out in my mind when arbitrage becomes theft. For example, in my teens I found a hack in the eBay search algorithm. The algorithm was very simple; it simply scanned the titles. So if I input '32GB Apple iPod Black' it would return everything with those keywords. If, however, I typed in 'iPod' it would return millions of results and…
My thought on ticket scalpers: They are, funny enough, actually providing a service for one group of people (those who are short on time and have plenty of money) while hurting people who have plenty of time and less money. Without scalpers/brokers, getting a ticket turns into a game of who is willing to stand in line the longest.
That's just what GP states:
I let people wait to buy tickets, and let Capitalism decide who would get the tickets instead of who got word of the shows first or who cared the most.
That's also the reason why they are so hurtful: People with little time and plenty of money are not usually great fans. People who gets an early word of shows, or cares the most are almost by definition great fans. So scalpers buy cheap tickets so that fewer fans can go, and sell them so more suits can go.
Re: How I became a con artist (2010)
#33It's funny, but this (seemingly blind) trust is why I like shopping in the Western world. As someone who never abuses it, it makes my life a lot easier. By contrast, in India everyone's tried every variant of this scam. The net result? Shopkeepers don't accept returns and buying things is a combative experience. I guess what I'm trying to say is "This is why we can't have nice things".
So true. Not even western world, the US. In my travels I have never found a place that is as open and easy to return stuff as America. Even the same company has different return policies depending on the country. H&M has 30 day return for cash with tag & receipt. H&M Brussels will not give your money back, only credit. It might even be only 14 days their I forget.
We pay less of a risk premium in the US. Some of these scams will drive that up.
Re: How I became a con artist (2010)
#34It's funny, but this (seemingly blind) trust is why I like shopping in the Western world. As someone who never abuses it, it makes my life a lot easier. By contrast, in India everyone's tried every variant of this scam. The net result? Shopkeepers don't accept returns and buying things is a combative experience. I guess what I'm trying to say is "This is why we can't have nice things".
So true. Not even western world, the US. In my travels I have never found a place that is as open and easy to return stuff as America. Even the same company has different return policies depending on the country. H&M has 30 day return for cash with tag & receipt. H&M Brussels will not give your money back, only credit. It might even be only 14 days their I forget. We pay less of a risk premium in the US. Some of thes…
We pay less of a risk premium in the US. Some of these scams will drive that up.
Yup. Thanks to the scammers, even REI has limited their return policy: http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2021116265_r...
Re: How I became a con artist (2010)
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess the ethical thing would be to inform all people selling iPods the wrong way that their methods are flawed. The second best thing would probably be to give those tips for money.
It would be the good thing to do to inform the seller of their wrong methods, however the lack of doing so isn't unethical: you can't stop people from making bad financial decision in life (it might actually be condescending to make the assumption that they don't know what they are doing). And if you didn't buy the iPod yourself, their bad listing might not even be selling for them.
> And if you didn't buy the iPod yourself, their bad listing might not even be selling for them.
i don't follow your leap from the first part of that statement to the last.
it's completely at odds with admitting that austenallred could have disseminated what they discovered and improved some peoples financial decisions.
instead he was rewarded for exploiting an asymmetry of knowledge.
i think the root of this is that some people deeply want life to be a winner take all game.
Re: How I became a con artist (2010)
#36I had a really hard time reading this, mostly because it's difficult for me to separate out in my mind when arbitrage becomes theft. For example, in my teens I found a hack in the eBay search algorithm. The algorithm was very simple; it simply scanned the titles. So if I input '32GB Apple iPod Black' it would return everything with those keywords. If, however, I typed in 'iPod' it would return millions of results and…
In the late '90s I'd do a much smaller scale eBay gambit. Buy Plam Pilots or Palm Pliots (eBay used to not suggest corrected spellings) cheap and flip them for more money as Palm Pilots. Looking back, it was probably a waste of time. I think I only did this about 10 times. It was easy to justify since there was usually another bid on the item, but not 10 people bidding like when the product was spelled correctly. Als…
As recently as last year there were still niches where spelling errors led to arbitrage opportunities: I knew someone who was into CCGs (e.g. Pokémon, Magic: the Gathering) and would search for variations on card names, score cards cheaply, and keep them around to trade at full value later. Same rationale (which I agree with!): eBay gives you a way to say "I will not accept a price less than $N" and a way to say "I will accept the highest bid regardless of magnitude." Trying to second-guess a seller's choice between those is just totally not viable.
Re: How I became a con artist (2010)
#37There seems to be a suspiciously large dose of "How smart I was to exploit the trusting nature of people" even if he makes it clear that what he was doing was illegal.
If I had to guess, the moral compass is not truly reset - I see a future ether as a CEO or a Wall Street Hedge fund trader for this person.
Re: How I became a con artist (2010)
#38I had a really hard time reading this, mostly because it's difficult for me to separate out in my mind when arbitrage becomes theft. For example, in my teens I found a hack in the eBay search algorithm. The algorithm was very simple; it simply scanned the titles. So if I input '32GB Apple iPod Black' it would return everything with those keywords. If, however, I typed in 'iPod' it would return millions of results and…
A seller on an open market quotes the price they want to sell for. They would rather have that much money, than the item they are selling. So it's not victimizing them to make the trade. But it would be victimizing yourself to not make the trade, and instead tell the other person your inside knowledge. And it's not dishonest, because in a market, there is no implicit assumption that the buyer doesn't know something t…
There are some places lately with online ticket sales - I'm thinking particularly of http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/log/2013/04/26.html - who have begun to demand not ID, but the credit card with which the ticket was purchased. It's an interesting anti-scalping measure.
Re: How I became a con artist (2010)
#39I had a really hard time reading this, mostly because it's difficult for me to separate out in my mind when arbitrage becomes theft. For example, in my teens I found a hack in the eBay search algorithm. The algorithm was very simple; it simply scanned the titles. So if I input '32GB Apple iPod Black' it would return everything with those keywords. If, however, I typed in 'iPod' it would return millions of results and…
It is quite puzzling about how you are equating buying & selling on e-bay without ANY misrepresentation (Product is as described & Payment is legimatelty delivered) to a Confidence scam where the author very clearly cheated the stores by misrepresentation/lying.
Similarly why is ticket buying and selling a Con? Long-hold Time frames and upfront-risk are a very legitimate way to add value.
Is it possible that there is some cultural/educational/somethingelse deep-seated mooring that does not see this as "hard-work" and instead as profiteering?
Re: How I became a con artist (2010)
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I once heard that described as "Trust is a common good," which really rang true to me. I'd go as far as to say that the first world's biggest asset is the collective trust it has accrued over the centuries.
This is a bad way to look at it, because you're saying, inmplicitly, either sacrifice for the "common good" and be good, or help yourself and be evil. The truth is that constantly stealing and manipulating instead of relaxing and focusing on producing real value to trade with others is not in your self interest. So there is an argument to be made for behaving honestly that relies on self-interest instead of calling f…
"The truth is that constantly stealing and manipulating instead of relaxing and focusing on producing real value to trade with others is not in your self interest."
Do you have any proof this is true? I would guess there are whole classes of people for whom stealing and manipulating is in their own self interest. Sociopaths for example.
Honest question: are you sure you aren't rejecting the parent's premise because you don't like the conclusion, not because you disagree with the premise?