Silk Road forums
Market => Rumor mill => Topic started by: KingJoey on November 10, 2011, 08:29 am
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While checking out different items on SR I stumbled across the new vendor "Shoot Em Up" in the weapons category. This guy is a brand new vendor and he is currently offering 3 guns and viagra. I have extensive experience buying guns online and shipping them legitimately. So when I read his profile and looked at his prices I got hit with a few different red flags. Basically I believe that there is a 95% chance hes a scammer a 4% chance he is LE and a 1% chance that he is neither but still not legit. I strongly urge anyone to hold off purchasing from him.
I am not a gun expert but someone in my family has a collection of hundreds of guns and I have learned alot about guns and selling guns from him. Based on my experience this guy cannot offer the price he is offering on any of his current products and make a profit. Now I spoke to my family member and mentioned the prices of these guns and then my family member contacted his people to see the best prices he could get. My family member that collects guns has a collection valued over $60,000 so he has good connections and dealers do give him discounts.
Right now he has 3 guns listed at the current prices - Beretta 92FS - New - $424.83
***The cheapest price that my family member could find even after dealer discounts on this exact item was $480. Thats after his discounts. A normal price for the Beretta 92FS new is between $525 - $700 depending on how the gun is configured
The next gun he is selling is the Walther P22 .22LR - New $339.85
*** The cheapest this gun can be purchased for is $319. His price on this one is a little bit closer to reality but still its just not feesable and no gun dealer would be able to make money of this low price selling it legitimately.
Next gun - Glock 17 for sale - New $423.69
***A great deal on this gun would be $399. However the average price is closer to $499.
Prices on each one of his guns were to low to make money on even without considering the 6.25% fees and shipping.
Another point to consider, the only way to ship guns illicitly is by separating the gun and shipping it in multiple shipments. The receiver must be separated from the barrel. It is possible to then divide the rest of the parts into the two packages but a more realistic approach is to send a 3rd package containing the magazine and the other misc. parts that are not the receiver or the barrel. The post office is much better at finding guns then drugs so most people who try to ship guns know that its essential to at the least split them into 2 packages.
So this guy will have a minimum of 6.25% plus the cost of shipping 2 packages, realistically 3. But he still has multiple guns listed at prices lower then prices normally offered to the public.
The next thing is the fact that hes offering new guns. That means that his "source" is an FFL dealer. An FFL dealer is someone who is licensed by the federal government to sell guns. FFL dealers are the only people that its legal to mail guns to or from. So this guy is basically saying that hes buying new guns at super low prices legally and then diverting them to the black market for a very low markup.
LE calls this "Straw purchasing." Straw purchasing means that a legal person buys the gun with the intent to sell the gun to someone who isnt legally able to purchase the gun. Anytime people "Straw Purchase" guns for criminals there is a mark up so they can make a profit. But this guy is actually giving a better deal then gun dealers are able to give after you consider the tax thats on all new guns, the 6.25% SR fee, and the fee for shipping multiple boxes.
Another red flag - The fact that he claims to of tested his shipping method of shipping guns to other countries 20 times. The reason he is saying this is to add an additional flavor to his scam. This will make the overall scam look more realistic and like he is actually doing something or that he has actual knowledge. He says hes tested his method and shipped to multiple countries but in the UK 2/3 times the guns were siezed. He then goes on to claim the he has an improved method now and that its likely that shipments would get through to the UK. The reason he does this from a scammers point of view is because he is greedy and he doesnt want possible marks from the UK getting shy after reading his make believe shipping test story.
Another red flag - he requires 50% up front and 50% escrow
******To Shoot Em Up
Just like my profile says there is 2 many rookies and not enuf proZ you fuckin rookie scammer LOL.
Bitch I got ya lol.
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That seems right to me. It's high risk shipping guns and the prices he wants make it not worth it for him.
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Way to jump to conclusions. Not backing anyone here but if you had read the item pages you would have realized that the prices listed cover the in-escrow half of of the full payment. i.e. if you got the glock 17 the listing price is 417.61 USD. That is HALF the price he wants, and he's asking the remainder to be out of escrow.
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Thank you pcpHead you understand :) For anybody before jumping to conclusions why not send me a pm i am happy to answer all questions :) If you had asked I would of told you kingjoey. but i think every new seller will have people suspicion it is the way of the world especially this one. but thank you for the thread and if anybody have any questions please email me on forum or mainsite and i will happily answer
if different news, feedback for test shipping (1x9mm bullet) has started to appear, guns will follow soon :)
thanks everyone :)
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I dont support the gun selling on here but way to shoot yourself in the foot OP I read about the 50% pricing on SR and I remembered it. he could be a scammer or LE but then again you could be a cop, anyone of us could be a cop or scammer thats the thing with anonymity.
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All items delisted for now, if anyone has questions please PM. All orders will still be sent, all pm's will be answered. You can still order on Black Market Reloaded or direct with me (at lower price)
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No you are wrong. Silk road say 100% must be in escrow not 50% .. this is the problem not me.
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From: Silk Road
32 minutes ago
re: Your items have been delisted
your listings were not in compliance with the the seller's guide. you must accept full payment through the escrow system.
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Shoot Em Up,
I want you to know I am not trying to hate on you or put you down but I am stating what I believe. It is up to you to disprove me by doing good
business and supply customers with the products they expect at the prices you promise. Once you do that I will be proven wrong and you will
have a good reputation and your business will flurish. I honestly hope that you do prove me wrong but until that time I felt like the right thing
too do was to share with others my thoughts and how I arrived at my conclusions. I hope you understand. Thank you for your time.
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umm... KingJoey, you missed an important point. The prices listed were %50 of the actual price... Seller stated that in his listings and profile..
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@kingjoey
yes i understand, but you must also read the listing in full before jumping to conclusions. No harm done.
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No matter what sellers are not allowed to require buyers early finalization.
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Maybe the guns are stolen/illegal/imported? He could be getting them for half the price.
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No matter what sellers are not allowed to require buyers early finalization.
then why does every scammer on silk road have page after page of "finalizing early" feedback?
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I bought from him and got scammed. :( sucks.
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^^^ What did you buy from him?
How much?
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^^^ What did you buy from him?
How much?
I don't want to go into details but I bought a weapon from him (the cheapest one listed) and paid the 50% up front. I got scamed good. It's mainly my fault for trusting him.
Now I'm still on the search for a weapon in Australia. If you know where I can get one please contact me in a PM or my threads.
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How do you know you got scammed. Also I could have told you so.
Maybe it is for the best though?