Need your input! Please help me!

[garnett_21]

People trying to cheat other people out of cards - especially when adults knowingly cheat kids out of cards.

And yes, you could use my name if you wish, but I didn't say much, so you could change it into your own words :-)

[Zuback]

What makes people do what they do and it lies down too 2 physiological reasons....Fear and Greed. Lets look at many examples of this. Dictators of countries that rule by an iron fist. Nazi Germany in WWII with Hitler, Castro in Cuba and Stalin Russia. Hitler was fearful of all of the other races. This fear was expressed to Germans and as a result they too became fearful. However, this fear turned itself into greed. This greed was then how the Germans took control of Europe by destroying other countries and the people that lived in those countries. They then want to control others and identify a supreme race. We see this in our current lives with bullies in our schools. They have a fundemental reason why the bully others. In the vast majority of cases it is due to an underlying fear they have. The current economic recession that we are living in. Greed from banks and credit companies lobbying to the US government to increase credit availablity. So that one could lend 40x their deposits to borrowers so that in turn they would be able to make hundreds of millions of dollars without safety nets in place or the care that people's pensions or savings are linked to how a company performs. Look at Enron. Greed drove certain CEO's to power, to look good on the bottom line for not only shareholders, but future investors. This type of fear and greed leaks into all levels of our lives and yes, to what we love to do and that being collecting sports cards or other forms of memorbilia. People want to make a quick buck at no matter the cost to others. So, they fake cards or fake jerseys or fake anything to others, so that others believe it to be real. Sometimes these people get so caught in what they are doing that in the end the believe what they are doing is real and right.

In the end no matter what we do or what we say or what we buy, we all have these 2 sides.... fear and greed. It could also be expressed as good on one shoulder and the darkside on the other. Most of use look to what is right or what we call our conscience.

[sportyryan101]

Thanks for the input!

[goeyj]

For some people it's more about making a quick buck than the love of the sport/hobby.

[sportyryan101]

Thanks for the input!

[mr_mustard]

I would have to agree with everyone. It is the money just like all the ticket scalpers out there buying all the all star game tickets so an everyday fan like you and me cant go to the game for a facevalue ticket.

[booyahlaw]

I agree that fake logos and patches are a blight to the hobby. However, I really don't think that ticket scalping or demanding more for a card because you know someone collects that player is comparable to the the outright fraud and deceptive practices that goes into creating fake patches and autographs. Though ethically questionable, the former are an application of the tenets of supply and demand; the latter is undoubtedly criminal.

Personally, I think you see so much fraud in patches and autographs is that the perpetrator assumes that 1) people purchasing for hobby purposes are more inclined to make "impulse" buys, thus not adequately researching or contemplating a purchase (goes especially toward the teenage market) 2) hobby enthusiasts are generally "less sophisticated" than normal investors and do not put in the necessary diligence in investigating the provenance of the item purchased and 3) for one reason or another, legal recourse is seldom sought or obtained.

Just my 2 cents.

[mr_mustard]

I agree with that they do the same sell the ticket for a high price cause it is in demand but then when you get to the gate it is a fraud. Its all greed and demand for whats in the now.

[booyahlaw]

when you get to the gate it is a fraud.

Technically, a fraud is when a person presents false information, knowing said information's falsity and that the buyer will rely on the false information, upon which the receiver, not knowing the information's falsity, relies on the contaminated information as true and acts upon it. There isn't the contamination of information flows sufficient for ticket scalping to be fraudulent, as the buyer will generally know the face value. Now, if a seller sold you a fake ticket while representing to you that it was a real one (and of course you could prove that the seller knew the ticket was a fake at the time he made the representation), and you relied on the seller's representation that the ticket was real, then the activity is fraudulent.

Granted, ticket scalping is a seedy practice and it does make you feel like you are getting "hosed". However, you are at least getting something of value for what you pay for--unlike the situation with fake patches and autos--which you are getting nothing out of. I tend to write ticket scalping off as the price of doing business, whereas fraud is inexcusable.

[sports collector]

People ruin the hobby by being greedy lazy bums who will do anything to make a buck.