Ben Siegel auctions

We agreed (not a specific date) but the answer was " early next week" and he did not come through or have the smarts to message myself or my buddy on what happened. He went dark for almost 2 weeks with no communication to either or us and then randomly a label appears in my buddys email. On top of that me saying it for the 100th time, my 1st time shipping wanting to do it right to what i thought was a good guy (clearly not) went out the window. Im supposed to send my snakes to a guy with no payment or in this matter a trade i never received a list to choose from?? The shadiest deal ive ever seen. What seller agrees to a deal with someone then disappears for a week+? What you guys are telling me is thats how you make deals? Please send me your names so i can NoT buy from you as well.

Yes Andrew that is how it typically works when YOU are the one with zero references and you are the one who initiated the trade, you will be the one who ships first without payment. Also, you claim that Ben left you in the dark for weeks without contact. Don't you think that sword cuts both ways? Especially when again You were the one who initiated the trade. For such a know it all you seem to be painfully unaware of common business practices. Better luck next time.

Originally Posted by dieselfan

Yes Andrew that is how it typically works when YOU are the one with zero references and you are the one who initiated the trade, you will be the one who ships first without payment. Also, you claim that Ben left you in the dark for weeks without contact. Don't you think that sword cuts both ways? Especially when again You were the one who initiated the trade. For such a know it all you seem to be painfully unaware of common business practices. Better luck next time.

Originally Posted by ben siegel

David--I am sorry you have such a poor opinion of me and my company. I have served the reptile community with an excellent reputation for more than 20 years full time. There is a lot more to that incident than was ever reported. Alot more happened in 2014 than ever was publicly released. I never hit or slapped anyone with any bearded dragon. There was never any video of the incident as claimed. It was literally the word of 2 thiefs against my own. As a matter of fact my own brother caught one of the 2 people who accused me stealing my scuba equipment out of my garage when I was gone. My home was robbed to the tune of $10,000 plus worth of fishing gear, collectibles, my dead fathers rolex, stereo eqipment and more. Fact is I was adjudicated of charges and have no restrictions on me or my business. I am bipolar--Almost everyone knows that so don't appreciate the looney tunes comments. Its a disease that I have struggled with my entire adult life. I have had 5 manic episodes since I was 19 One major thing that oftern happens to people during mania is often people close to you will take advantage of your generous manic behavior and that has happened almost every time I have had a manic episode. Of course as I grew older and my assets also grew the amount stolen got to be more with every episode. The two people who accused me of that were an employee and an employees boyfriend who took huge advantage of my generosity towards them. So aside from that "incident" I have done nothing but be good to my suppliers, animals and my customers. I have donated many many thousands of dollars to reptile related causes and rescues and have personally held many auctions for herpers in trouble and donated 100% of the proceeds. I have gone above and beyond serving this community and it kills me when people pull this incident as the one to judge me on. The two people that accused me of doing this were actually at my house new years eve a day after they made the report like nothing was even the least bit wrong. But you know what they say about drug addicts. They will steal your wallet and then help you look for it. This was a direct response to someone accusing me of taking advantage of my suppliers or treating them badly. That never had been or ever will be the case.

As someone who doesn't know you personally, Ben I'm sure you can forgive the judgement based on what was placed into the news/media. The reality is that you've been in the news more than once for less-than-great reasons and of course there is always things that get left out.....I only had so much to go on, and yes to an outsider you don't have the best reputation based on the brushes with the law you've had.

Having said that, I was not aware that you had any medical/mental health issues and I apologize for the lack of compassion in my previous statement. I do not have a vendetta against you, nor do I wish you any ill will. I have watched friends and family struggle with mental health issues before and I understand the uphill battle it can put on peoples' lives. My condolences for your issues and I appreciate your candidness.

Yah yah its all my fault. Let him go again, feel sorry for him again. Typical i see how this works. Hes the big guy stand up for him, im the little guy who cares. Nowhere in business history do you go off the radar when doing any kind of deal both parties agreed to and then magically appear. But somehow its normal in the reptile hobby. On a second note i researched that story and you sickin me on another level. This was the best thing to happen in my case, thank you for screwing that deal up, god knows what you may have done to the snakes i recieved from you. Digusting person

Originally Posted by DavidBeard

As someone who doesn't know you personally, Ben I'm sure you can forgive the judgement based on what was placed into the news/media. The reality is that you've been in the news more than once for less-than-great reasons and of course there is always things that get left out.....I only had so much to go on, and yes to an outsider you don't have the best reputation based on the brushes with the law you've had.

Having said that, I was not aware that you had any medical/mental health issues and I apologize for the lack of compassion in my previous statement. I do not have a vendetta against you, nor do I wish you any ill will. I have watched friends and family struggle with mental health issues before and I understand the uphill battle it can put on peoples' lives. My condolences for your issues and I appreciate your candidness.

DAVID-no worries--I know how it looked and I don't hold any grudges-I would have hated me also-A lot of people know what happened and a lot don't so I don't get upset but thanks for the kind words.


to the other shipping dude--Man-you sound crazy---I copied and pasted every correspondence between the 3 of us! Everyone can read it and see this is your foul up. When questioned if you shipped we even offered to ship yours separately and pay for it!!!!! So again--how are we the bad guys in this situation?

I am glad to hear that you are doing better these days and I hope you continue improving. Mental health in this country is far overlooked and needs to be better emphasized.

Originally Posted by ReptileCollector

Yah yah its all my fault. Let him go again, feel sorry for him again. Typical i see how this works. Hes the big guy stand up for him, im the little guy who cares. Nowhere in business history do you go off the radar when doing any kind of deal both parties agreed to and then magically appear. But somehow its normal in the reptile hobby. On a second note i researched that story and you sickin me on another level. This was the best thing to happen in my case, thank you for screwing that deal up, god knows what you may have done to the snakes i recieved from you. Digusting person

This has nothing to do with ones stature in the reptile industry...

But I must say, you have some MAJOR ISSUES, you need to sit back, relax, and THINK before you spew again.

Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles

Iit definately is. Do you make deals and disappear for days on end or do you like a real business person stay in contact and update on things? If you dont then id question how your still in the hobby yourself Lynn. I stand by my word hes a horrible guy to deal with when trading or selling to. Buying from like every other person of course it goes good.

I have done business with Ben Since 2000. I have done facebook transactions both buy it now and auctions. I was also very sad to hear when he had his latest episode that he was going to sell off and "retire". I knew that he was bipolar and as the grandson of someone that suffered from this horrible condition I really felt for him. I am really happy that he is back on his feet and I have some real nice animals that he will be shipping out to me soon.

As a past, current and future customer I can say that he is one of the good guys in the industry. I can only speak to my transactions with him but he has always been a man of his word.

Keep up the good work Ben.. just my .02