Some help?

Dear Sythe.org administrators and moderators,

My regular forum account “ZephyrsFury” was banned today with the following message:

I am unsure of this “scamming” or “intension to scam” as I have never scammed or attempted to scam anyone.

I consider myself a reputable member with 100+ vouches through rares and valuables dealing and through selling merchanting clan ranks. In many of these trades, the buyer has gone first and trusted me with up to several hundred dollar trades – all of which have been successful and resulted in a happy and agreeable outcome.

I am interested as to the exact trade in which I was accused of scamming or attempting to scam.

I can only speculate that this accusation was a result of a conversation I had with Plznate regarding the workings of my clan. I am unable to provide logs as the conversation was had via forum private message which I no longer have access to.

In this conversation, I very loosely admitted to “scamming the public”. Perhaps a misunderstanding arises from this statement. I should perhaps explain and correct any misunderstandings regarding the workings of my clan.

How the clan works

My clan Moola Mash operates in a very similar way to most merchanting clans. There are basically two levels of the clan, the “inner circle” which includes me and all other members who have purchased ranks on my thread: http://sythe.org/showthread.php?t=929514). Then there is the “public”, who I refer to above, which are the RuneScape members who have joined the clan through in-game advertising which DO NOT involve purchasing ranks, these members do not necessarily have any knowledge of sythe.org or have contacted me directly.

In short, those that purchase ranks get access to the “inner circle” while those that don’t are simply part of the “public”.

It is well known that, generally, the “inner circle” either decides the merch item or receives news of the item in advance. The time in which such a member in the “inner circle” receives this news is staggered, depending on the rank which they purchased (see my thread for more details). However all members have access to this information well in advance of the “public” thus allowing the member to buy the stock at a lower price thus maximising profits.


The misunderstanding (I think)
There is also a difference in the dumping price of the item, or the price in which members are urged to sell all their stock. The “inner circle” gets the benefit of a lower dump price than the price publicised, which ensures that while these members dump their stock, the “public” is available to buy the dumped item, which maximises profits for the “inner circle”.

This is where the misunderstanding lies, I (perhaps incorrectly) used the term “scam” to describe how the members of the “public” are given a higher dump price to allow the “inner circle” to sell their items. But remember that these “public” members have not paid a cent for being part of the merch, they are not losing any money by the clan doing this and should in fact expect this from previous merchs with my clan or with other clans.

Let me reiterate that in no way is anyone who purchased ranks scammed, they are in fact benefiting from this. In the end, the “public” still make profits however it may be more difficult to sell their stock – such is the benefit of being in the “inner circle”. I incorrectly and almost jokingly used the word “scam” to describe the difference in dumping prices which I am sincerely sorry for.

Please reconsider my ban; I do not believe I have done anything wrong. I am only guilty of using the wrong word at the wrong time and I apologies for any inconvenience and loss of time due to the consequences of this situation.

In all regards and sincerity,
ZephyrsFury

 

Requested bump. Can the person who banned him please respond? Thanks.

 

http://www.sythe.org/showthread.php?t=937069
He has not scammed yet, but in his pm he clearly states that "all merches are scammers." Considering he is a mercher, he is clearly including himself. Later on he says we rip off the public. By saying "we" he included himself in the previous statement. I support a ban, but for some reason if it is not warranted I agree a TwC would be appropriate.

 

It looks to me like your intentions are to deceive the public. I'll leave this open for other opinions.

 

While seemingly fishy and quite suspicious, I don't believe he was openly admitting his intention to scam - The way Merchanting clans work always involves some sort of deceitful behavior, and what he has explained above does make sense. I vote for an unban, but a TWC to be applied and his actions watched. Let him dispute the TWC in the future should he remain legitimate for a relatively extended period of time.

 

100% agreed with this statement. An unban with a TwC seems suitable.

 

After much in-dept thinking I have determined an unban with a TwC would be appropriate, along with a ban on the sales of merchant clan ranks.

 

Merch clan rank sales have been officially banned. Unban with twc for the time being.