• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Bad Guy Jim Godfrey- Won auction, won't pay or communicate

M

martin-bernstein

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This is a matter of principle, not money, as the amount is small. Jim Godfrey won one of my auctions for a corn snake for $160. He has repeatedly ignored my PMs, even when I was nice and agreed to hold the snake for him while he got his funds together. This is surprising coming from a man who does breeding trials with Don Soderberg.

The transaction starts out nicely.

On September 9th, one day after the auction he PMs me to ask about making payment arrangements. I respond shortly thereafter and give him the shipping quote and my paypal addy. By accident I left out one digit in my addy. He tries to make the payment on September 11th but is unable to because of the incorrect addy. He PMs me again to inform me that the payment was not accepted. Meanwhile I was away for the weekend and unable to check the internet. I hadn't informed him of this, but I was unaware of any problems at this point.

One day later, on September 12th I get this in my PM box:

"Since I could not send an email to the address you provided for PayPal payment and because I have not gotten a response from you in two days I have cancelled the payment. If you contact me we can discuss the matter further, but I do not feel comfortable under these circumstances for now.

Jim"

This was incorrect, I had communicated with him the day before. I was surprised that he took the liberty of canceling the transaction but I responded politely and apologetically. September 12th with this:

"I Jim, I'm sorry you feel that way. I normally don't use the internet on Sundays which was why you didn't get a response yesterday. I'm only just now seeing that you've been trying to send a payment and that you've been looking for my assistance. I do apologize for that.

I simply missed out a number in my paypal addy. It is ...... I had missed out one of the '1's.

I hope you decide to resume the transaction, and I hope you don't feel like I've treated you wrong. I appreciate your business and I hope we can resume it.

Best,

Martin

Btw, feel free to give me a call if you feel more comfortable speaking directly with me. Or you can text. I'm not as frequently online as I am on my phone, so texting me will get you an immediate response. 917 .......

Thanks"

He calls me the following day and leaves a message saying he jumped the gun, he gets paranoid about transactions online etc, but does not clarify whether he wants to resume the transaction.

I write him three PMs to inquire whether we're still on to do business on the 14th, the 16th and the 17th, but only get a response on the 17th:

"Martin,
My funds are in PayPal limbo. I was told they were to be credited to my bank account in 3 to 5 business days. That was on Tuesday. Unfortunately I do not have the extra funds to send until I get the original transaction back. If you cannot wait for this to take place I understand. Let me know.

Jim"

I write back on the 17th that I can indeed wait if he is 100% sure he'll take it. No response even though i can see he's logged on to CS.com and has probably read my PM. So I write this on the 19th:

"Jim,

My patience is wearing. You initially backed out of the transaction because I hadn't communicated with you in two days. I apologized profusely and made every effort to make you feel comfortable. Now, after going out of my way to accomodate you while you sort out your paypal limbo situation you don't have the courtesy to reply to my last PM sent two days ago, even though you logged on to CS this morning.

So what's the deal? Are you going to leave me hanging or what? I asked you to let me know if you are 100% going to purchase this guy. If yes, I can wait until your paypal situation is sorted. If not, please have the decency to tell me now.

Martin"

Still no response. He has logged on to the website, but refuses to pay me the curtesy of responding. This is disrespectful and I have done nothing to deserve this silent treatment.

The take-away message here: be careful when selling to this guy. He's unpredictable, untrustworthy and seems to be buying more than he has the funds for.
 
martin-bernstein said:
The take-away message here: be careful when selling to this guy. He's unpredictable, untrustworthy and seems to be buying more than he has the funds for.
Click to expand...


Wow Martin, you seem a little impatient and judgemental. If you don't want to give the buyer a reasonable amount of time to come up with the money, without badgering them to death, then relist the animal.
 
Magic Merlin said:
Wow Martin, you seem a little impatient and judgemental. If you don't want to give the buyer a reasonable amount of time to come up with the money, without badgering them to death, then relist the animal.
Click to expand...

I will absolutely be patient, and I have. But when I write to ask "do you want me to hold on to the snake for you" and don't get a response even though the guy has been on the website and has surely seen my PM, I get impatient. A simple yes or no will do. Just communicate with me, that's all I ask.
 
I paid Sean Niland for a snake twice by accident once, by hitting the dreaded BACK button when PayPal-ing. It took a few days to get the money back even though Sean took the proper refund action immediately upon notification from me...
 
It's really a bit too soon for this kind of posting
 
I want no trouble with no one, but I will give my side of the story. After initially responding to the fact that I won the auction I was not able to get a response from Martin for two days. In the meantime I had PayPal'd the funds for the snake. I became concerned when I tried to send an email to the email address he provided for Paypal and it came back undeliverable. This prompted me to cancel the PayPal transaction. When Martin finally replied he admitted to have left out a character in the email address he provided me with. I am still waiting for my funds to be returned by PayPal. Now Martin is chastising me for not checking my PMs every day (something he obviously does not do himself). Just because my computer logged on to this site does not mean I was the one who was using it. Other people in my family use the computer, and this just happens to be my home page. I provided him with my email address, but he never sent me an email. I prefer not to use the PMs because they do not catch my attention like a regular email does. I told him that I would purchase the snake when I received my funds back from PayPal (something that would not be necessary if Martin had provided my with the correct address to begin with). Now I come home after being away for a couple of days and see this mess has materialized. I may also remind you that this is a place to state facts not speculations, Martin. You have no knowledge of me or my financial condition. I feel that you are way out of line by posting your opinions of this. Keep in mind that your error initiated this chain of events. Also keep in mind that you are treading very close to slander with the remarks you made. I will gladly supply references from some of the most well known and trusted names in the business to anyone who has doubts as to my credibility.
 
Jim, You have done nothing wrong. Not only did you pay when you were supposed to, but now you're made to wait on a refund due to his mistake. Personally, after this, I'd never buy from someone who is obviously impatient even after he admitted his mistake, only to go on to send a multitude of emails. I would feel harassed.
This is his own fault and has no place here in the BOI.
 
Jim, there was no slander here, but I wouldn't blame you at all for cancelling the transaction at this point. Taking shots at someone's financial situation is completely uncalled for.
 
Hi Jim,

I apologize for what you have taken as slander. You are right, I was out of line for speculating about your financial situation and should have kept this thread as factual as possible. If I could edit it out I would. I'll admit I'm a bit of a hot head.

That being said, I find it frustrating that you haven't replied to the PMs I've sent you in the past few days, but as soon as I send you a PM notifying you of this thread you respond to the thread within an hour. I felt that you were avoiding me and that is what upset me. I wanted to know whether you wanted the snake as soon as possible so that I could offer it to the runner up if you didn't. I never felt like you clarified that question and have since your cancelation more than a week ago gotten more and more frustrated at the lack of clear communication.

Now that you've responded and I've cooled off a bit I see that I let the situation escalate in my head.

Anyway, I've said my peace. I still feel that you could have made more of an effort to clarify whether you wanted the snake or not. But again, your lack of communication did not merit the irrelevant and immature comments I've made about you in this thread. I apologize.
 
Way to man up, Martin. This situation is sad for both parties. I know you are both good guys.
 
How did paypal send the money if the email address was no good when you send paypal it says the name and email address of the recipient.Or am I missing something?
 
Apology accepted. Like I said before wish for no problems with anyone. Life is way too short. I also apologize for any inconveniences I have caused. I certainly did not wish for this kind of outcome.
 
Nanci said:
Way to man up, Martin. This situation is sad for both parties. I know you are both good guys.
Click to expand...

"Way to man up, Martin?" How did he "man up"? I think he achieved his goal, he has placed a black mark against Jim's name. Martin brought this to an open forum and did not apologize for anything but taking remarks about Jim's financial status. He hasn't apologized for his post or starting this thread, just the "slander" comments. He also stated this was a "principal" issue now but still discusses how much he has done to accomodate Jim. Maybe it is a principal thing for Jim now? We are close friends and I do know he was excited about getting the animal in the first place but was really disapointed when he went days without a response from MB.

I have no dog in this fight but seems to me if Martin had provided the correct info, then this would not be an issue period. As a seller, you have to be responsible enough to be sure all the info is correct. Mistakes happen but to make a mistake and then discuss it in a public forum as if it was no big deal, that to me is also as irresponsible as providing the wrong payment info to a buyer. What would have been the result if the money transaction had went to the wrong person? Lastly, I am sure Martin would not have been happy if after two days of no communication went by and Jim started a bad guy post.

dc
 
Seems to me like Martin apologized. Just my interpretation.
 
How did paypal send the money if the email address was no good when you send paypal it says the name and email address of the recipient.Or am I missing something?
09-20-2011 06:50 PM

The funds were not "picked up" by anyone at the wrong address. I cancelled the transaction before this happened (IF it was going to happen at all). My cancellation was a direct result of my not being able to send an email to the PayPal address provided to me. It was a red flag to me when I could not send a regular email to the address I sent funds to through PayPal. When you PayPal funds to an email address the funds remain there until claimed or transferred. Luckily I was able to cancel the transaction before this happened. I would have still been able to recover the funds had they been picked by someone at an incorrect email address. This is all very unfortunate, but I am not the kind of person who throws rocks at the drop of a hat. I do , however, conduct business cautiously on the internet. It is sad that I have this blemish on my good name now. If nothing else comes from this I hope everyone will now see the need for timely and accurate communication, in particular the benefits of transferring communications from PMs to regular email once a transaction is initiated. The notifications are picked up much more timely by recipients.
 
What a shame this thread was initiated . . .

Magic Merlin said:
Wow Martin, you seem a little impatient and judgemental. If you don't want to give the buyer a reasonable amount of time to come up with the money, without badgering them to death, then relist the animal.
Click to expand...


Originally Posted by martin-bernstein
The take-away message here: be careful when selling to this guy. He's unpredictable, untrustworthy and seems to be buying more than he has the funds for.

If THIS isn't slander (?libel?), I don't know what is?
I see that the false-accuser (Martin) has apologized, but like so many people that FIRE-AIM-SHOOT, he obviously still denies his complete blame in this situation. When I make a mistake that is worthy of public apology, I don't dilute it with vague (and false) diversions. I apologize 100%, without mentioning the 1% about which I MAY have been innocent.

It IS sad that in such cases as these - where Martin was the stimulus that evoked Jim's actions - many feel that a partial apology like Martin's is adequate. I agree that once something is spoken (or published and seen by others), it cannot be completely retracted. Therefore, while an apology does not adequately satisfy the victim (Jim - in this case), it is shameful when the apology includes a lame (and false) distraction about Jim not being more timely in his responses. Some people I know hang on every word of forums, but not me. I'm a very busy person, and I know Jim is also (and apparently, so is Martin, since he was not punctual with responses to Jim). This would have been a MAN-UP action if he had completely and utterly admitted that none of this would have happened, had he published his PayPal account eddress correctly. PERIOD! Therefore, how can anything thereafter be Jim's fault, now that we know the entire story?

Regarding Jim being upset about this nasty and unjustified slam upon him, I think we would all feel the same. Regarding the partial apology repairing the damage, when the Judge says, "the jury is instructed to disregard the last statement", the attorney (or witness) that made the statement knew exactly what they were doing. They knew that the jury would NOT be able to disregard it, once heard. Hence, this is tarnish on Jim's otherwise flawless reputation, that is not make the accusation completely go away. I know it's just the reference of one person, but I proudly call Jim my friend, AND I declare his honor to be beyond reproach. He HAS the money to buy such a snake, but I don't blame him for not wanting the first payment hanging out there until he was refunded by PayPal, and btw, ALL Online banking institutions are horrible about returning $ quickly. They don't even try. They take it from your account in a tenth of a second when we pay, but I've known people to wait up to seven days to get refunds. They cannot prove to me that it needs to take that long to return money, while they are investing those funds for THEIR monetary gain. In this crazy world, I can just see Jim losing that $160 because of Martin's error, and would Martin MAN-UP to compensate for the lost payment - had that happened? Sorry to digress, but I wanted to state that even though a partial apology (therefore an insincere one) was made, some people may only read the initial posting of this thread, and therefore think Jim is dishonest. Martin, consider anger management therapies. It's one thing to SHOOT-AIM-FIRE (we've all done it), but a skewed apology like that shows me you do not accept responsibility for this fiasco. If this scenario had happened here at SMR, the snake would have been shipped to him, free-of-charge. Everyone's actions should speak louder than their words.

BTW, in response to someone's question about how the money was pulled out of Jim's account at the time of purchase. I don't know how long it is (I'm sure it's somewhere in their fine print), but when you make a payment to PayPal for an account that does not exist, those monies are held for something like 30 days, until claimed. If not claimed, they are refunded to the sender. I know this because before we even had a PayPal account, two people bought snakes from us, sending the funds to our email address. We did not have a PayPal account at that time, so when we opened the account, it already had $ in it - from those paying customers.

Jim is PREDICTABLE, TRUSTWORTHY, and HONORABLE. As much as I hate that this unwarranted thread was ever posted, I hope people will take the time to read it entirely, so you can see who was responsible for the failure of this transaction. You can bet I won't be asking Martin to be a project partner with SMR. We are all responsible for our actions, so learning to aim before we shoot is an invaluable habit to have.

Don Soderberg
South Mountain Reptiles
Jim's proud friend and snake-breeding partner
 
I think this more tarnishes Mr Martin-Bernstein than it does Jim. If anyone were to read all the way thru, they will realize that Jim only did what any of us would do. I would not want my money floating around in Cyber space either. I have met Jim in person, I bought a pair of Rat snakes from him and my step-daughter has bought Corns from him. I would gladly call him a friend and a VERY upstanding guy. So, hopefully anyone who does a search on Jim, will take the time to read this BOI and realize that He is NOT at all the Bad Guy here.
Rayna Marie Waddell
SlytherynHiss Exotics
 
It's too bad there isn't a way for someone who was wrong, who posted hastily in the heat of the moment without considering the consequences, to make a retraction.
 
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