For historical reference (if you guys want to read a book):
The original Purple Claw thread (yapiel makes his first appearance)http://www.littlerub...p?showtopic=413The BHS/Yapiel thread:http://www.littlerub...?showtopic=7919(originally we thought yapiel was a dupe shill account for the seller, but it turned out to be a dupe account for Alex)
We were really suspicious of the yapiel account, did some investigating and it turned out to be Alex. Here are all the PM's from the Staff Lounge thread:Alex and Yapiels auctions were both from Glendale, AZ with the same carpet in the shots, and one item was a relisting of the same item the other account sold (and shilled). AND the auctions had the exact same format and auction text and terms.
[quote name='jkaris']Alex,
Since this new SHA has popped up and we have been looking back at the SHA, we have noticed a few things:
1. You are Yapiel. The same guy who supposedly won the BHS for $910. I am assuming that you had a buddy list it for you and bid it high to either shill it up or see how far someone would go, with no intention of selling it. There was no BHS, it was the one you own.
2. The SHA that is being sold now looks suspiciously like yours. The mold defect on the top left hand as well as the size/shape/amount of flashing on the injection marks on the back are identical. It also looks like you are shilling on that one as well. It's very suspicious that the bidder that outbid Doc right after he announced a anti-snipe bid, hasn't been active in over 2 years and has limited feedback.
3. You are also the one who bid up that purple hand auction under the Yapiel username. Why, maybe to be able to bid on it and not piss anyone else off, or maybe that one was yours, like the BHS and you were trying to see how much you could get for it.
We have decided to see what you have to say via PMs instead of posting the info on the main board. There is a huge thread going on about it in the Staff Lounge though. We are all shocked to find this out. We would prefer not to take this info to the full board. Everyone effs up now and again.
I hope that this current SHA isn't yours as well. If it is, you need to cancel the auction immediately.
We'll be awaiting your reply....
I don't mean to be a unit, but this is some seriously effed up news.[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Johnny,
Man are you serious! I am shocked to be blamed for this. I only own my SHA and my BHS and have never listed them at all. I even have a message from this ebayer selling the SHA right now if you want to see it, becasue I made him an offer when the listing began. I have never shill bid up a Super Rare auction and would never think of doing this, not even the Purple claw auction, as you can remember, I offered to give the Purple Claw to Beligerant1 and did, but then he insisted on giving me $20.
How can you come to a conlcusion like this? I can't believe you guys would blame me for something like this.
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='jkaris']Does the item location or the carpet look familiar in either of these auctions Alex?
http://cgi.ebay.com/...item=8207881109http://cgi.ebay.com/...item=8204454827[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Dude,
I am serious here man. This guy either lives here and is copying my photos or has flase information. I listed the same EZ Flash reader and mine was pulled by ebay for violation of ebay's sale rules. This guy took my photos and put them on his auction. Now he may be here or his accounmt may be fake, BUT THIS IS NOT ME!!!
I am serious!
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']I also sold that Blue GBA a while back too. I am telling you he is stealing my photos and either lives here too or is using an account with false information. May be an unbelievable coincidence but you must see that it is possible. Now that you guys think this is true, I don't know what else to say to convince you that I have NEVER tried to sell my Super Rares or shill bidded to raise the price of any that were on ebay, EVER!
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='jkaris']He must be copying your feedback comments as well, when he leaves feedback too.
Great ebayer, very fast payment and a pleasure to deal with, thank you very much[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']You also need to re-evaluate the figure pics. I have my SHA in my hands right now and can point out noticeable differences. Yes, they may look the same, but they all came from the same mold most likely. If you want detailed pics I can provide them. This is insane!
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='jkaris']A pic of his feet, laying on his stomach and a pick of his top side, laying on his back would work nicely. I hope this SHA isn't you. As far as Yapiel goes, sorry, but we don't believe you.[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Dude, possibly, who knows. Jesus I am telling you this is crazy! I don't know what to do to convince you guys otherwise. He probably knows that I own a few Super Rares and has been watching this board for sometime, and decided to check me out on ebay and list a few items by copy pasting some of my auction shizznit, I don't know. But I do know that I have sen may ebayers steal my photos and have seen feedback like mine as well when looking through bid histories for items.
People do it all the time. But I am telling the truth.
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Johnny,
I am taking pics right now to clear this all up. I don't know what else to say about the Yapiel account to convince you guys. I hadn't looked at the person's auctions till you pointed them out.
Alex[/quote]
By the way, on that Yapiel Gameboy auction, I emailed the high bidder to see if he got the serial number pictured. If Yapiel stole his pics, and the seller got that exact serial, then Yapiel must have stolen his gameboy too!
[quote name='jkaris']Well, the SHA pics are inconclusive. That marking is also on the old headless one with blue feet:
http://www.littlerub...d...st&id=43129So we are hoping that this current auction is legit. We are still pretty shocked at the Yapiel thing though.[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Johnny,
I have been looking at all the information you have been posting to me about this Yapiel account and it looks so suspicious that I would be doing the exact questioning you are right now if I were you too. I checked the bid history on recent auctions and also rthe fact that both of our account have been REGISTERED FOR THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME, which I am not sure if you have seen yet, but if you haven't, you can check the ebay member search to see this. I am goin to be looking into this, because I have friends who know about my ebaying in AZ and especially people who live close to me who may have created this Yapiel account and been using my pics to sell some of there stuff too. I even have a friend who has, or had, the same blue GBA that I did, so I will be checking to see what username he has, if he has one.
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='jkaris']Well, since you brought up the join dates, this is what they are:
yapiel has been an eBay member since 11-22-2001
arforbes has been an eBay member since 11-29-2001[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']They are a week apart, and that is too close for comfort and I see why you guys are suspicious. Like I said, my friends do know that I am an ebay fanatic and am into M.U.S.C.L.E.s and collecting, so I am going to have to make a few calls to ask them if any of them may be registered under a yapiel name or bid with this name.
As far as the identical pics to auctions I have created in the past, the descriptions and even the feedback being identical, I can only assume that someone saw what I had sold my items for, simply copied and pasted the auctions pics and descriptions and listed their stuff as well the easy way via copy paste. If this is someone I know I am going to more than a little annoyed.
I will be checking into this and getting back to you as soon as I can get a hold of the few I think it could be, if it is them. My friends and I all were all into these GBAs and GBA flash card readers a few years back and we all purchased them from an online site from Japan. If they sold there items using my descritions from when I sold my stuff, then this would explain the identical auctions and possibly the user account yapiel from AZ.
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Johnny,
I sent this message to Yapiel through ebay's messaging system...
[quote]Hello,
My name is Alex Forbes. I have within the last year sold a few items that would appear to match identically some of your recent auctions. One was a Blue Game Boy Advance system and the other was an EZ-Flash card and reader. I wanted to know if you copied my pictures for convenience and the descriptions also. Possibly the feedback too when posting feedback for your transactions? Not trying to blame you for anything just curious because of something I noticed.
Also, have you ever joined the AKIA Forums or visited there? Any chance you might have placed bids on certain auctions on ebay that deal with the M.U.S.C.L.E. toyline? Have you heard of a the Super Rare figures or own a Black Hole Sunshine figure or Purple Claw M.U.S.C.L.E.? Please let me know anything you can that might help answer these questions.
Thank you,
Alex
arforbes[/quote][/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Johnny,
Well I got a response from Yapiel, I cannot believe I was so pinheaded and did not think about this or recognize him, but I don't really know a lot of people on ebay without an obvious giveaway username, I often have to come here to see if I am bidding against any board members...
[quote]Your a bee-eye-itch faggo whats up <^>(sleep.gif)<^> dan[/quote]
I doubt you are going to believe my explanation, but I talked to him and tried to find out what has been going on. I have a lot of answers to what's been going on if you want to hear me out.
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Johnny,
Well, you were right about Yapiel being here in AZ and about him bidding falsely on some of the Super Rare auctions, but he is not me...he is the guy that introduced me to ebay actually, I just never knew it until now.
The problem is I never asked any of the questions you have over the past couple days because I had no reason to. It became evident after the upbringing of recent evidence on Yapiel and after I started asking questions to some of my friends here in AZ when you brought this to my attention.
Yapiel joined ebay in 2001, as you saw, and it turns out he is my friend Dan, who I have known for some time now, but we haven't really seen each other since he moved to Tempe at the beginnning of the year. A few years ago, right after he started surfing ebay and bidding on shizznit he told me that he had noticed M.U.S.C.L.E. men on ebay and knew that I had some of these figures and that we both remembered them from when we were kids. So I checked out ebay and joined, I am guessing that is why the accounts are so close together in establishment dates. He joined, told me about it, and then I joined about a week later, I cannot really remember but looks to be true from what ebay's member information has confirmed. I never really asked him what his username was, I had no real reason to know, so it never really crossed my mind.
Anyways, I asked him about the BHS auction first off. He bid $1000 on it and he said he was trying to win it because he knew that I had one, because I had told him of its rarity when I got mine back 2003. Turns out he didn't intend on the auction getting that high (Because of Philly LOL) and he never completed the transaction. But feedback was left for both parties? He paid the seller's listing fees and final value fee after telling him that he would not want negative feedback for his account, and the seller agreed to do the same. (So that transaction never went through, that BHS is still out there I guess!!!) The same thing goes for the Purple Claw auction, he bid it up with his anti-snipe, and then never completed the transaction, which is why we saw it listed again. He said that his account was suspended after this auction for a month for failure to pay for an item won. I assume the seller filed a complaint back then (I won this one after the seller relisted if you can remember). Dan never intended to pay that much for a figure, he placed an insane anit-snipe bid on the BHS, and the purple claw auction got too high for him. He has bid on a number of other M.U.S.C.L.E. items though in the past, not many though as his feedback reflects. He has some 28-Packs and some 4-Packs that he won a while back for his collection and that's it really.
When I asked about his recent auctions, he said that he knew that I was a good seller, so he copied my listing descriptions and pics for his items. He just recently got established as a seller and never listed an item so he just copied my shizznit. He didn't think there was anything wrong with this, since he had the same GBA and EZ-Flash reader I did when we bought them online a few years back. I remember telling him that I got over $100 for the EZ-Flash and almost $80 for the GBA, so he listed his too later on, with all my info. He may have copied one of my feedback comments too, I am not sure...I forgot to ask. I wouldn't have any problem with this, but now I am being blamed for having multiple accounts and shill bidding and being dishonest on the boards. So it is kinda effed up, but he didn't know, he has been an ebay bidder only, until recently.
The other thing is that he hangs out with my bro all the time, they go to school together at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. My brother is the one who let him list his shizznit on ebay. My effing brother listed the shizznit with Dan's ebay name. So now I get effed with this and no one trusts me anymore on AKIA, effing awesome!
I really dont know what else to say about all this. My name has obviously been compromised as far as honesty goes because now all my friends on the boards think I am dishonest, ever since the first BHS auction I think this goes back to, the one where Doc Moore flipped. I admit to offering the seller of that auction $300 and even contacting the seller of the Purple Claw auction too, but I have not placed fake auctions to test the value of my Super Rares or falsely bid up any claw auction. I even offered to "give" my spare purple claw to Beligerant1 and did, but he insisted to pay me if you can remember. I have one of each known Super Rare, except DM, and don't intend on bidding on any other that I have because I am not a greedy person. I try to be pretty generous and I hope that you guys have at some point of our time together on the boards noticed that. I am not even sure if any of you can come to believe this, and am now unsure how any of you will feel when seeing me on the boards, but I can only hope that past experiences you may have had when dealing with me will put your decisions in my favor. I am sorry you all feel that I am responsible for this, and that this has happened.
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='jkaris']Alex, honestly, I don't believe the story. I think you made it up because you don't want to admit that you have been screwing around with the Yapiel account. Why? I don't know. Whenever I do something stupid and get caught, I always admit it. It's a lot better than writing a novel to try and cover it up. You should go into politics dude. I'm more shocked that you are coming up with this whole story (instead of admitting the truth), even more so then finding out that Yapiel was you incognito.
Whether anyone else in the staff lounge believes you or not, I guess is ultimately their decision. This isn't going to go out on the main board. We all agree that there is really no reason for it to. Everyone knows the shady things you have done in the past, and everyone knows the good things you have done, including giving that claw to Beligerant. You have a good business going on eBay and there is really no reason to eff that up for you. You have done right by far more people in our community than you have done wrong. The Yapiel thing was pretty screwed up, but no one got hurt, so I guess no harm, no foul. I will be removing the pricing of $910 on the BHS entry in the Super rares FAQ and posting that the $910 was shill. Though, I won't mention your name.
Anyways, like I said, I posted this in the thread in the staff lounge, so they can make their own decision. Personally man, I am really dissappointed to see this.
Anyways,
See you around the boards.[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Johnny,
I've been thinking about your last message and you are right. Everything about what I told you is true, except for the fact that I have known about my Yapiel friend for some time now, I didn't find out yesterday. I found out right after the $910 BHS auction to be exact. When he bidded that up I thought you guys would think I was a fraud because of how high it went and that no one could possibly pay that much for a single figure. The thing that got me scared was that he used one of my home computers to place his bid and I knew that the bullshizznit bid was going to have the same IP address as my own so I didn't say anything hoping it would go unnoticed, and it did, until now. I guess I just didn't want people to think that I was trying to get another figure outside of ebay like with what happened with the first BHS, so I kept quiet. But I got fuct when I allowed him to use my auction pics for his items. I basically shot myself in the foot with that and by not being honest upfront about it, I made more people question what was going on.
I feel like an arse. The first time I made you guys question me with the first BHS auction being sold outside of ebay I felt like I had betrayed you all, especially Doc since he got so mad and he had a really good point. I had seen others do sales outside of ebay and didnt think anything of it at the time until he pointed out that I was not giving others a chance by doing that. I didn't want anyone thinking that I was doing something like that again, so I didn't tell the whole truth by keeping quiet about that. I should have been like I found out that Yapiel guy is a friend of mine who bid up the auction and then didn't intend on paying after it got so high, but I kept quiet instead, I guess because I really care what you guys think of me and the first BHS auction was a lesson learned, I didn't want to seem like an arse once again. In my mind that would have made me look like a total unit at the time, I guess this does even more now, I wasn't thinking and I am sorry. Thanks for keeping this on the DL, you guys really do care despite all this. For that I thank you all. I can promise you shizznit like this will not happen again.
Alex
P.S. Please post this in the staff lounge for everyone there to see. Again, I apologize.[/quote]
[quote name='arforbes']Thanks Johnny,
The thing is that I was being accused of two other things that I had nothing to do with and I guess I panicked. Remember your list...
1. The first one was of me being Yapiel myself, which I was not but knew about it.
2. The second was of the Purple Claw auction, which I honestly had no idea about Yapiel back then, but later found out about when the BHS auction ended.
3. The third was of being involved in the SHA auction that just ended today. I had absolutely nothing to do with that auction. Nor did I shill bid. I don't even have any other ebay accounts. I was shocked at this accusation. You don't still think I was involved do you? What did you think of the pics I sent you via email? The differences prove the figure is different, wouldn't you say? And JaxOn is a legit seller.
So I was really only partially guilty of #1, and I should have fessed up to knowing of Yapiel, but I promise that I only knew of him after the $910 BHS auction and never bid up a Purple Claw or anything else.
Sorry and thanks for helping me to realize the right thing to do. I should have let you guys know 8 months ago.
Alex[/quote]
[quote name='jkaris']Because of 1 and 2, we were suspicious of 3 (SHA) auction. But like I said, it was suspicious, that is all. No one said positively that you were involved, just that we thought you might be. By now, I don't think anyone thinks you had a hand in that one. The pics were really inconclusive. As far as the mark on the bottom elbow, the headless one with blue feet had it too.[/quote]
[quote name='jkaris']I just want you to know....
That even though, I think what you did sucks rocks, and most of the guys in the staff lounge are still irked with you....
You are still a member of this board, and are welcome to come and go as before.
Basically, I was browsing and noticed your kinkeshi thread and wanted to let you know that no one will give you grief if you continue updating it.
Just wanted to let you know.[/quote]
Meanwhile Alex was contacting Satan+ (Ricardo, a M.U.S.C.L.E. collector from Brazil) to sell him his BHS for $1000, using the yapiel auction as a pretext. Before then BHS had only sold for $300 or so.
And that is when the shizznit hit the fan and Alex outed himself.
The 2nd Purple Claw thread:http://www.littlerub...?showtopic=9261(Alex blows a gasket and outs himself)