Hey gang,
I won an auction the other day on
Ebay, and last night I sent a mail to the seller of the item. In the
mail I gave him my address and and also left him instructions on how to
package the game, which means... no receipt, declare it as a gift
etc... customs still have a way of overdoing it over here, and paying
tax for items they consider new even though they are 15-20 years old is
not my idea of fun and well spent money. Anyway, here is the first mail
I got:
Hello Stefan,
First, thanks for bidding our auction. Second, we understand that you
are trying to avoid the VAT and we symphathize with you. Should there
really be much VAT, if any, on this. Also, since you are asking us to
help you "dodge the law" so to speak, will you be willing to break the
law for us? Say...go rob the neighborhood jewelry store for us. We
realize you do not know us but hey, what the heck, one good turn
deserves another.
We can face serious legal consequences (imprisonment, fines, etc) for
violating our international laws. All of our incoming and outgoing
email messages are routed and filtered through legal authorities now,
due to terrorism activities, so the chances of being caught are very
very high.
We are here for fun and a little profit and really do no wish to become
entangled with legal problems, so we will do everything "above board"
and legal. Besides, is it really worth smearing you character over
paltry sums. If you are going to do it, make sure it involves millions.
Would we not look stupid being dragged in handcuffs in public because
we tried to evade customs , etc, for maybe nothing or pennies.
Still want to deal? We, now, will only accept cold hard cash from you
for your purchase. Since you have indicated that you want to thwart the
law, maybe you are willing to thwart payment to us also. Some people
like to pay and after receiving their item, cancel the payment. Who
wins?
Regards,
national-server
I was like... what? Never gotten
anything like that before in 4 years of trading. Was not sure how to
reply but after a while I started writing. Both professionally and
pretty personal as well, and since he was so paranoid I just felt I had
to annoy him.. just a little. So I included this in my mail:
"So you mean that all your e-mails
are possibly being read by others? So if I in this mail add words like
muslim, Bush, bomb, terror.. the chance of having it read will be
greater?"
Part of his reply included:
"The authorities tap the internet
backbone whenever they wish for "national security" purposes and do not
necessarily use just "keywords". Your messaging (and now mine) most
likely will be flagged for watching because you did use keywords which
causes automatic backbone routing to federal and international
authorities. Tensions run high here now and just "joking" around is not
immune to utmost surveillance. You see, we are not a free people
anymore in the sense that we were. National security and "Homeland
Defense" are and have been the nation's #1 priority ever since 9/11.
Of course, we won't be paranoid because we have nothing to hide and
wish to continue on with our day to day business transactions."
As if I didnt know they would be flagged, that was why I wrote it, pure
annoyance factor ;) And nooooo, he is not the least paranoid.. sure..
Just thought I should share this
with you. Has any of you guys had any trouble with people reacting
hostile when you want them to ship it discrete in order to try to avoid
unnecessary involvement by the customs? Guy has zero feedback btw,
although he claims to have another user as well.
/Stefan
