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Redmeer is a Thief

M8owner

Well-Known Member
This is first for me on this site. We have a member who has used this forum to commit fraud. I contacted Redmeer early this year asking if he had anything for sale. He showed me many photos of German ordnance he was willing to sell. We made our first deal for $500, and I sent him $250 in advance - in June 2016. Then he stopped emailing me. We exchanged hundreds of emails before that. He has been off this site since August 2016. This is most disappointing as he posted 46 times here and displayed a great knowledge of German ordnance.

My Polish contacts have done some digging and now tell me he is a well known thief in Polish ordnance circles. It is also my understanding that he has been raided by the police in Poland, and is in significant legal trouble. His name is Hubert Watkowski. Beware if he shows back up on this site with his Redmeer or another handle.
 
Ouch! Sorry that you have been burned. Good luck for the future.
 
That is actually the smallest amount that has been stolen from me thus far. I keep putting more precautions in place each time I find a new vendor. I wanted to buy several thousand dollars from him. I suggested with limit the first deal to $500 with half up front. In the last two years I have lost:

1. $400 to another Polish vendor on met on ebay - PM 75 - who did not ship a deal we made off line
2. $500 long time Dutch vendor I met on ebay just refused to refund my money when two packages of shell cases were seized by US customs. We agreed early this year that he is on the hook for all lost items.
3. Russian vendor failed to ship $1000 worth of items. He was good for a year and shipped several thousand $, then went bad.
 
I Feel your pain I have lost money , but not quite to the level of your loss. All my problems have been of the "lost in the post) type were the sender has claimed the item was shipped, but has not shown any interest to help. I have lost some hard to find items, which makes me feel evils thoughts about the senders honesty, but cannot get any facts. So, I have stopped buying out of country stuff, which severely limits the market. I suppose things can, and will, get worse.
 
"2. $500 long time Dutch vendor I met on ebay just refused to refund my money when two packages of shell cases were seized by US customs. We agreed early this year that he is on the hook for all lost items."

Personally I think there is a difference between a person that willfully commits fraud by selling stuff he knows on forehand he is not going to send you, but receiving money, and items seized by customs. We all know sending -inert- ammmunition -or ammunition linked items- is a game of russian roulette.... it may arrive, it may be seized. Especially in times like these when the terrorism scare has customs hair triggered on any item that has to do with ordnance/ammunition/weapons/explosives in any way. I think it is simply not wise to send any ammunition related item from and to the USA these days.......

Regards, DJH
 
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I agree with DJH,

There is a big difference between someone taking money and not shipping the goods to having the goods sent and then seized by customs.

I always send stuff by signed for delivery. If you can track the parcel then the 'lost in the post' problem goes away.

Happy New Year to all.
 
Not completely true about risk management by signed for delivery: a package I send for signing for delivery was lost without any indication of where and why (send to M8owner, from NL to USA). Luckily I was able to get refunds from Dutch post.

I do agree with DJH and Glevum that if items get confiscated it is not the sellers responsibility as long as the sender did not ship anything illegal and/or has the right documents for it. Best would be to agree upfront on the split of risk and funds when something goes bad. Based on my latest experiences I can imagine 2017 will be the year I stop shipping to the USA at all......
 
I have found that seizure by customs (US or other) is a big enough risk that I always clarify before shipping who is responsible if that should happen. The Dutch vendor noted above violated our agreement. I generally do not have items shipped any more unless the vendor assumes responsibility for the shipment regardless of why it did not arrive. I have now almost gotten to the point of not having items shipped from overseas due to the trouble involved. However, there is still one country with interesting items that can ship and have most items make it to the US without issue.
 
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