NAG - dirty pool

Sorry, I just can’t let this one go without saying something about it. I am indifferent as to whether this comes off as being childish or catty to people. I attempted to act like an adult about the matter. In turn, I was called a 12 year old kid, told I was being disrespectful and told that my business isn’t desired or needed after I expressed that I felt wronged and told Nik that he’s losing a customer. Truly an example of top notch customer service in a niche hobby.

Anyone who would, for even a second, believe that someone in Nik’s position and of Nik’s experience and tenure in this hobby was unaware of a 4-stamp can buy some ocean front property from me in Kansas. This is nothing more than someone putting an altered (stamp partially trimmed off, not original hair & paint) mask up for sale, initially saying that it wasn’t altered (stamp partially trimmed off) and then realizing that there was more interest in said mask than the seller originally anticipated.

I simply want people to be aware that it’s not always all duckies & bunnies with Nik, it can get ugly & mud slingy pretty quick. So this is for informational purposes.

Obviously, in my mind, this situation is wrong and unprofessional, nothing more than a pure bait & switch if you will.

I am sure there will be people that are of the opinion that Nik has/had every right to not honor his original asking price of $450 if he doesn’t want to, but in my book that’s just plain backhanded and no different than listing something for auction on eBay & then refusing to sell to the final bidder because the item didn’t end up going for as much as you wanted it to or thought it would. So if that’s your opinion, then whatever. You’re entitled to it. There really isn’t anything else left to say then since we already completely disagree.

My position is that if you put something up for sale at a certain price then you should have the scruples to honor that price.

Constructive comments are welcome if necessary, however I fully admit that I am bitter over this so there’s really no need to just point that out if that’s your opinion of me/this situation.

Right-click, view image for full screen shots

Just out of interest, how would you feel if you made that mistake… Whether you believe it or not is completely irrelevant. Sounds to me that you’re just sore from missing out. I too had an offer in and it exceeded your “$450 fair price” but has gone up more now, so I am out too…

Plus if you’re questioning Nik’s knowledge, then I question yours… You know full well this mask is worth a lot more than your offer, so you were out to take advantage of that, but that is fine eh? So he made a mistake, he is only human and he does not have to live by eBay rules when having a private sale, eBay rules are for eBay, end of.

I was talking with a friend on Facebook about this and he summed up my feelings in a nutshell when he said


This to me seems like a case of the pot calling the kettle black, you are accusing Nik of being unethical by not honoring his original asking price, which you feel is unethical, Yet, you tried to exploit Nik’s ignorance and buy the mask at Nik’s asking price, a price that you knew was well short of what 4-Stampers have sold for in the past. My question is, how is exploiting someones ignorance any more ethical than Nik not honoring his original asking price?

This has nothing to do with eBay, it was simply a comparison.

I own up to my mistakes. I’ve already clearly pointed out that I would honor a price that I listed an item at and wouldn’t go back on that. That’s being under handed.

It seems you guys believe that Nik wasn’t aware of what he had…for the life of me I can’t fathom why anyone would buy that, but somehow I knew people would. But you’re right, that’s not the point. The point is that he isn’t honoring the price he freely established with anyone.

How exactly is offering someone what they’ve asked for explotative? For all we all know he listed it for x amount because the two left stamps have been defaced and because it’s not original finishing

I can imagine someone would have snagged that mask and flipped it for more than treble what they paid which would have been far worse than what Nik has done, for me he made a mistake sure, he could have done a little homework to get an understanding of potential worth before putting up the ad for $450 but it was a mistake and i’m sorry but we are all human and capable of it.

Just want you to know, Nick, i have nothing against you, and always seen you as a nice fellow in the community.

No worries Anth, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I just don’t think that’s really what happened here.

Honestly mate, Nik and i speak daily and he came to me after he listed the mask and asked me if i knew what they are really worth as he never had any real idea and i gave him some idea of what they generally go for, now why would he have asked me this or came to me about it if he wasn’t being sincere and really knew their worth ? he wouldn’t have, it was a genuine mistake.

Then what are you implying did happen? That Nik actually knew the potential value of the mask but listed it at a much lower price anyway, only to invent a tale about not knowing the true potential value of the mask after which retracting the initial asking price? I can’t see what Nik (or anyone) would stand to gain by doing this, other than bad press.

My thoughts about what I think happened are clearly listed at the beginning of my OP.

The sad thing here is that had anyone other than someone like Nik, Sam, Chris, a MOD, etc done something like this and be called out on it they would be treated like a pariah for it.

Im glad this came up to the surface,in my book since BEFORE i get the asking price of 450$ i found out i did a mistake,its al fine,i honor everything and all good.Now if lioner luthor wants to try to bad mouth me and bash me because he idnt get the mask in a wrong price i gave at first its wrong i can only apologize that i raised his hopes in the first place together with 10 more forum members,i gave him the chance and im giving him the chance openly here to give an offer,and he is allways welcomed a customer
N

Nik, maybe you should have done a little homework first before committing to anything. Somebody had to tell you a little history on it & then you changed things up. So it was due to your own ignorance that this thread even exists over a mask you have known about/heard of for years now.

Next time find out a little about something before you toss out a price or at least find out the most minimal about something ( what’s the value) you plan to sell before knowing what to price it for… But hey!! At least there will be a stampless 4-stamp soon to be released so not all is lost i guess!

All fair remarks. If Nik’s initial asking price was reflective of his believed estimated value of the 4-Stamp NMM78 (in general, not a value based on the defaced stamps), I’m interested to hear how he came to the conclusion that the mask might be worth $450.00. Is that amount comparable to what standard NMM78s sell for? That question is not rhetorical as I honestly do not know what a standard NMM78 could possibly fetch. I’m sure there is some logic behind Nik asking $450.00 for the mask, even if his logic was invalid and lead to Luthor feeling wronged - something that Nik has already apologized for.

I sincerely hope that an agreement can be reached that is satisfying to all parties involved.

Paul thats good if Justin makes a new run,people seem to like this mask.About the value of N., masks i dot have a clue,since u seem to know stuf though can you help me out about the value of psychos andother nmm78 i have?Any help would be appreciated.
i have one more small nmm78 wit a weird smal stamp?
a cgp nmm78 large size?
2 nice deluxe looking psychos
1 stmped the psycho
1 original maniac.
How much are estimated?
N



I’m unlocking this topic to add my post ONLY because my name was brought up in the pms that were made public. Also because someone said that buying the mask at 450.00 was unethical . The implication is buying the mask at 450.00 was unethical because it is worth MORE.

I offered 450 as I thought it was fair given the cirumsances. One, it is what Nik ASKED for the mask!!

I wasn’t trying to take advantage of him, it seems like a fair price in reality. We are not talking about a mint, stand-out copy here and let me add that Nik didn’t try to sell it as such either. I’m not faulting him I am simply saying that to say someone offering 450.00 for this mask was somehow “unethical” is ridiculous.

Keep in mind that part of one of the 4 stamps is MISSING, this means a flawed mask. A friend of mine on the board 5oOne5o (Paul) pointed out that it appears the neck has been cut shorter. If you look closely you will see the “N” and “I” of the Nightowl Productions stamp is missing, or at the very least the “N”. This would indicate the neck being cut shorter as Paul suggests.

The mask has also obviously been redid which decreases value as it is no longer original. In addition the mask seems unusually small (which Nik DID divulge to me) and the pics don’t really give me a great amount of detail to go on.

With these facts (or at least observations with the knowledge I have to go on) in mind I thought I would buy the mask and take a chance on it to have Justin redo. That would cost money as well.

I don’t see how 450.00 was an unethical offer considering these facts. I also assumed this is what Nik thought this particular mask was worth himself as he has the mask in hand, I do not.

Sorry for bumping this thread but I wanted to say my peace and give my side of the story although no one was directly accusing me of anything. I like to think I play fair!

Thanks for your time.

LOCKED

Update: Nik took bids for three days and said he would sell to the highest bidder. After 3 days my last bid of 680.00 (I wouldn’t go a penny over 700 personally) was the highest bid.

Nik refuses to sell it now and wants 1 to 1.2K (minimum) for the mask. The neck has been cut short and the mask will need a complete redo so I will not pay more, nor should I for an auction price I won at at 680.

If any of you guys want it the mask is for sell, I’m passing.