BEWARE... scammers plentiful on FB

[West Oz Cards]

Hi OZCardTraders!

Some of you would be aware of the raffle or 'razz' craze that is big on FB card sites, with hundreds of pages covering just about anything you can think of from sports trading cards to shoes and electronic goods!

Let's face it; People love to jump in raffles!
There's nothing better than winning a nice card normally out of your budget, for just a fraction, sometimes 100th of the price!

However, it has recently come to my attention that a certain FB group, born here in Australia but predominantly USA based has started a nasty scam, whereby they take peoples cards for doing nothing but simply hosting a FB page that people frequent.

The scam goes like this...

5 people put forth a card worth a certain amount. (in one known instance an auto to the value of $50)
The raffle is run and the prizes are awarded;
1st receives their pick of 3 cards.
2nd receives one card of their choice from the remaining two...
3rd, 4th and 5th receive nothing...

But the host page owners pocket the 5th card!

The scam it is claimed; is to obtain funds to administrate an alternative NBA collectors page which is run on FB, which we all know is a completely free social media site.

But get this, it costs you $10 usd to enter this new group!
(just another one of their little scams)
30 people at a time are allowed to enter this group for a fee of $10 usd per person.
Then between those 30 people, they raffle off....

1 box of 12-13 timeless treasures! worth a massive $33 usd

Where does the other ~$260 go you may ask???

Why into their pockets ofcourse!!!

I know these pages are free to join and free to leave, but the audacity of these people running the page just irks me to no end.
They are taking advantage of collectors and blatantly ripping them off.

If the government or a business entity thought up a scam like this there would be a class action or civil lawsuit on their hands.

Why no one else speaks out about this boggles me even more?!
I can't sit quiet when I see any injustice happening whether it be in trading cards or the real world. it just doesn't feel right.

Feel free to leave comment, even if you disagree with me wholeheartedly.

 

[Fleer_retro_collector_aus]

I think I know the group your talking about in question.
You could argue that rest of the money is going to the admin for their time.
Should name and shame the group mate

 

[West Oz Cards]

Most people that are NBA card traders on FB would be a member of this page or one of its affiliates.
I do know the amount of time it takes to admin a FB page as I have administrated a few in my time, including the one I mention above.

We had a falling out during the decision to create this new page and segregate the community and charging people $10 to get into it. so I stood down. (as did a few of the other admins)
Then I was removed from the page after I shared photos from one of our group breaks on their page and they said I couldn't because it was a K2 exclusive breaks page.

So you see what kind of people are running that page... they don't even want anyone sharing any nice cards that are pulled from other breakers!

Great way to look out for the community!

Another crazy thing at one stage during my administration tenure with that page.. this 'head' admin made all the other admin take an oath (or step down) to NOT join raffles as it looks bad for 'his' admin team...

THEN goes and starts up a razz page.

 

[stevic]

mate the whole razz thing is illegal in my eyes no one who is doing them are a non for profit organization you must have a license to run a raffle and that's just what they are a raffle you can change the name to anything you want vault razz snake etc its all the same thing a raffle I run a facebook page and would never even consider doing one everyone that does is one person pissed off away from ASIC or Australian gaming authorities getting involved and handing out massive fines

 

[Fleer_retro_collector_aus]

Actually each state has different laws to razzes in NSW your actually allowed to to do it

 

[stevic]

you may want to read this
http://www.olgr.nsw.gov.au/promos_lotteries_factsheets.asp#Promotional

 

[stevic]

and if its legal in NSW why write this when you list them and I quote "please do not put razz in description when donating or it will be sent back"

 

[Fleer_retro_collector_aus]

Some one has a hard on for razzes what your not getting enough buyers in your breaks mate.
If you really think about it box breaks break the law to after all people are paying for spots then the teams get randomised to the buyers isn't that like a razz to when you think of it.
Also I do know there are breaks where you buy your team you want as well just throwing it out there mate.
Why is there so much hate for razzes most groups do the right thing never had a complaint yet mate.
It's just another way for collectors to get their cards at a good price and th seller to get the full value of the card just like box breaks.
I don't have a problem with either personally.

 

[West Oz Cards]

mate the whole razz thing is illegal in my eyes no one who is doing them are a non for profit organization you must have a license to run a raffle

Well, I wouldn't think that many NFP organizations would bother with raffling sports cards.

I co-administrate the biggest FB raffle page for NBA trading cards in Australia.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that not one of us takes a cent or any non-monetary payment for the time we spend administrating the page.
Our only payment is the enjoyment and satisfaction we share with the participants of running THE MOST honest, friendliest and productive NBA card raffle page in the world.

The people that run the raffle videos are allowed to take gratuities from the person raffling the card for their time in running/producing the raffle result, but its not mandatory and it is stated so in our group rules.

I think that's about as NFP as you can get.

You can call my a hypocrite if you like, but there is no way any of us would consider doing anything remotely as shady as what I mentioned in the OP.

 

[Fleer_retro_collector_aus]

He just has a hard on for razzes mate but the process used to random team breaks is like a razz when you think you about it

 

[graham]

Raffles are raffles. Group breaks where everyone gets a team are not raffles. One is illegal, one is not.

If someone decided to dob in an individual or business for running "razzes" they would be told to stop running them. That's why we don't have them here.

 

[stevic]

well said graham and your site is trusted because of it . something where theres 100 spots and 99 people don't get a cracker is way way diferent to 16 spots were everyone gets something there is no comparison the only people that don't loose are the people running them but good luck with them chris

 

[West Oz Cards]

100 spots and 99 people don't get a cracker is way way diferent to 16 spots were everyone gets something

Lots of people don't get a 'cracker' out of a group break... you purchase a team, your team goes hitless... it happens every break.
There isn't any gaming commission that made sports cards group breaks legal, they just appeared en masse and have been accepted as the norm ever since.
(I'll be happy to be corrected on this)

The only difference is the odds of getting a return in a group break are usually substantially better than a raffle with one prize.

We're arguing semantics.

the only people that don't loose are the people running them

In the scenario I presented above where the people hosting the raffles take no form of payment.. how do we 'win' ?

 

[KB.]

I've always wondered how people get involved in these kind of ventures which seem obviously shaddy imo. This is why I avoid trading on FB period.

 

[0401Specialk]

All the group breaks I've been apart of, you are paying for a spot which on quite a few occasions you don't get squat but if you do strike out you get a pack of cards as a "booby" prize, so you never don't get anything from it. Some breaks you get all the base as well which when compared to some off the boxes I have opened have been a win, I personally love a bit of a Random Team break as it gives you that crack at a decent team/player for a lot less than a box generally. I'm not really a fan of the Team Break as shelling out for a prime team is still no certainty of hitting something even remotely good.

 

[hackadeandre]

All the group breaks I've been apart of, you are paying for a spot which on quite a few occasions you don't get squat but if you do strike out you get a pack of cards as a "booby" prize, so you never don't get anything from it. Some breaks you get all the base as well which when compared to some off the boxes I have opened have been a win, I personally love a bit of a Random Team break as it gives you that crack at a decent team/player for a lot less than a box generally. I'm not really a fan of the Team Break as shelling out for a prime team is still no certainty of hitting something even remotely good.

Yes I prefer random/draft breaks as well, everyone gets an even chance of the good teams. If it's a team one I'll usually buy the Nets lol