Is everyone giving this kid free ponies?! (IG Trade)

[Carrehz]

Well said, Noxxbunny!! Age is no excuse, scammers come in all ages unfortunately I hope no one else gets taken in by him.

[zombienixon]

I thought this sounded familiar to some new person who showed up at the Southeast Pony Meet yesterday.  Looked up the username, and it's the same person.  I hope he actually paid for stuff there.  I knew there was something off about him.

[Baby Sugarberry]

This is do rude! I judt blocked. As a 17/yo collecter whoS been in the hobby since 15, this really pisses me off as its people like him making people not trust teens im the hobby. I have my own money & paypal and wont ever break sellers rules or pull stuff like this, because i wanna be seen as a real valud collecter, not a dumb kid.

Oh this type of behaviour isn't restricted to teenagers, not at all.  There are plenty of documented cases where adults go bad - I dare say it's even more common, just because there are more adults.

[MonstarNomNom]

I wanted to quickly put in my two cents on this since I have been in contact with this person and his mother.

He attended the Southeast Pony Meet this year and his mother did message me at some point asking if it was okay that she drop him off to go shop around nearby. I explained to her that since he was under 18, that she, or someone else, needed to stay with him. She did stay, but I noticed she had disappeared for a bit at some point, and I think she had gone out to the car for a while.

On the other hand, she did personally come up to me to tell me that he does have Aspbergers and is very below his age maturity wise. She was very kind as was he at the meet, however it concerns me that she would even consider leaving him alone with all of us to watch him. I am not sure if anyone gave him free stuff, but I do plan to ask around to make sure he was not going around pressuring anyone into giving him things. If so, that is 100% not cool and I will likely have to take action because I do not want my attendees feeling uncomfortable ever. No one came up to me or any of my Meet staff during the event if he had made them feel uncomfortable and he just seemed to be having a grand time surrounded by ponies and was very excited.

Shelvesofwhimsy, I am so sorry you had to deal with this and no one ever should. I am not excusing his actions by any means but I did feel like everyone here needed to know this information. Sending many hugs to you and I cannot believe I somehow missed this whole debacle over on IG.

[kCherry]

SoW, I am so sorry to hear that you had issues with positive_vibes! I can honestly say that I am only newly introduced to him myself, but I really would not have expected this news concerning his past transactions. I personally sold several ponies to him in person on Saturday at the Southeast Pony Meet and he never asked for freebies or discounts or anything else that I would have considered to be in bad form. He was obviously young, inexperienced and now that I know he has Aspergers it seems only too obvious. I personally found him to be pleasant and rather funny.
 

I am quite interested to see if anyone else posts having had any similar issues with him.

[Vertefae]

We worked out a sale prior to the meet and he picked up how Pony from Cherry (I wasn't able to attend). He was polite in all his messages to me. I'm so sorry that happened on IG.

[UrocyonFox]

I do remember this young boy, he came by my table and chatted for a bit showed me his ponies that he had purchased and was very excited about it. After pulling them out of his bag, setting them on the table to show them off, and naming them he put them back into his bag and that was it. My table mate had some free g3 ponies at her table that I think he may have taken one or two but he did ask me to confirm that they were hers and that they were in fact free.

I'm sorry that you guys had negative experiences with him, the internet can be a weird to use place for underage users and the online etiquette can get lost in translation.

I never met his parents, I only saw him around from time to time.

[shelvesofwhimsy]

SoW, I am so sorry to hear that you had issues with positive_vibes! I can honestly say that I am only newly introduced to him myself, but I really would not have expected this news concerning his past transactions. I personally sold several ponies to him in person on Saturday at the Southeast Pony Meet and he never asked for freebies or discounts or anything else that I would have considered to be in bad form. He was obviously young, inexperienced and now that I know he has Aspergers it seems only too obvious. I personally found him to be pleasant and rather funny.
 

I am quite interested to see if anyone else posts having had any similar issues with him.

@KCherry and @MonstarNomNom

After learning that information from another attendee, his behavior and actions make much more sense to me now. I am not excusing his online behavior, since it did really upset me when it happened, but in hind sight it is much easier to move on past this transaction. I think if anything his parents need to be more involved in his interactions online if he is buying and trading ponies.

[minamarie]

he has a lot of photos of that parasol - what other ponies did you give him?
It doesnt surprise me he is nice and honest in person - it's so much easier ripping people off online and those other stories show it's not about money, he has money and his mom isn't raising him alone so some lies right from the start I started ebaying with 14 and never did such bull crap ..

[shelvesofwhimsy]

he has a lot of photos of that parasol - what other ponies did you give him?
It doesnt surprise me he is nice and honest in person - it's so much easier ripping people off online and those other stories show it's not about money, he has money and his mom isn't raising him alone so some lies right from the start I started ebaying with 14 and never did such bullshit..

I gave him a Fashion Style Celestia and one other, let me see if I can remember, oh a poor quality G1 Firefly. So 3 ponies total, and one of his responses to someone about me blocking him was "they were mad I didn't ship their package on time", when it was more of, "I'm upset you will never be shipping my package.".

[apanda0622]

SoW, I am so sorry to hear that you had issues with positive_vibes! I can honestly say that I am only newly introduced to him myself, but I really would not have expected this news concerning his past transactions. I personally sold several ponies to him in person on Saturday at the Southeast Pony Meet and he never asked for freebies or discounts or anything else that I would have considered to be in bad form. He was obviously young, inexperienced and now that I know he has Aspergers it seems only too obvious. I personally found him to be pleasant and rather funny.
 

I am quite interested to see if anyone else posts having had any similar issues with him.

@KCherry and @MonstarNomNom

After learning that information from another attendee, his behavior and actions make much more sense to me now. I am not excusing his online behavior, since it did really upset me when it happened, but in hind sight it is much easier to move on past this transaction. I think if anything his parents need to be more involved in his interactions online if he is buying and trading ponies.

That was my thought exactly when I found out his age and that he had Asbergers.  His parents should definitely be watching his online activity more closely.

[minamarie]

Just wondering, but did the OP directly tell him "That's scamming, you are stealing from me" after he said he couldn't ever pay for the pony?  I know it seems super obvious, but some kids are honestly dumb and 'don't get it' until they hear it directly, lol.   If the OP hasn't confronted him directly then my suggestion is:  do that.  Give him a chance to make things right.  Say "Within one month I expect either Minty back, my trade pony (it was a trade, right?), or this amount of money in compensation."  Something with a solid deadline, so he can't just stall. And if he doesn't make good, that's when you post to the Facebook group telling what happened, or whatnot.

I don't think sending a letter to his parents is a good idea.  I think most parents would find it super creepy to know someone is looking up their personal information, even if their kid did something wrong.

I did confront him that it is stealing, that he made OP feel bad, that it is fraud/ripping of....I did tell he still can make things right and send his part. He said he "just wanted to send it that very day but Op didnt believe him" (so he just stopped?) then that he "didnt had the money" and in the end he just laughed a lot and told me it is not of his concern to send OP his part of the trade. And just like before he made a post about how mean it is to "accuse" him while he really wanted to send his part (but didnt).

[Snapdragon]

I just saw him on FB bragging about 3k followers on IG. I will be making a note to avoid/block him. So sorry to hear that happened to you Shelvesofwimsy, especially considering he is perfectly capable of NOT scamming people.

Edit to add, I've had lots of friends on the Autism spectrum, and last I checked in the DSM-IV, "pony related kleptomania" isn't a symptom of Asperger's...

[Vertefae]

I've been speaking to his mom on FB. If I can get your address shelvesofwhimsy, I believe I can get your part of the trade sent.

[shelvesofwhimsy]

I just saw him on FB bragging about 3k followers on IG. I will be making a note to avoid/block him. So sorry to hear that happened to you Shelvesofwimsy, especially considering he is perfectly capable of NOT scamming people.

Edit to add, I've had lots of friends on the Autism spectrum, and last I checked in the DSM-IV, "pony related kleptomania" isn't a symptom of Asperger's...

Thank you @snapdragon, I totally agree with you. It shouldn't be used as an excuse for his behavior.

@ficklefae at this point I honestly don't feel comfortable giving my address out, and in my mind the trade is over. Even if I received the pony how could I enjoy it? When I still thought of this kid as a "friend" the pony would have been welcomed. But I honestly don't think I would want it now. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. And since it is a custom it's not like I could sell it?