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INQUIRY - snowballsballpythons.com

G

Ghi Reptiles

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Does anyone have information about someone who goes by 'Snowballs' or snowballsballpythons.com?

I have been to their site and this is what I have found:

There is absolutely no information about them. No names, no phone numbers, no location, no address, and a yahoo e-mail address. If you 'Whois' the domain name, it was changed two days ago to a privacy account so nobody could tell who they are. There is a page of links on the website snowballsballpythons.com that has many well known breeders of ball pythons on it but I have checked with several so far, and none of them know this persons name...they just sign 'Snowballs' in the yahoo e-mails.

The website is a nice looking site but it is a bit scary that this person will not let others know who he/she is.

One thing is for certain though...THEY ACCEPT PAYPAL! Out of curiosity I clicked on the paypal link and the paypal account is just 'Snowballs' and that's it.

I mean who would have a website and still be using a yahoo account for e-mail? Wouldn't you use something [email protected] and so on?

Does anybody else see the <font color="#FF0000">red flags</font> besides me?
 
I see red flags........yet scanning the website, it almost appears to me that this is a person just starting out (although they DO have a very nice site) and may not know all of the ins and outs of things yet. Their breeding stock only seems to consist of 5 or so animals...so I just don't know.

Keeping in mind...I'm one of those people who ALWAYS like to give the benefit of doubt to people....
 
Seems to me someone just starting out. I was contacted not too long ago asking permission to post our shipping guide on that site.... Seems like a swell fellow.
 
just snowballs.... it was a request sent through our forums, did not think much of it. ill go ahead and link him to the thread so he can reply for ya....

ttyl matt
 
Thanks Chris!

Just weary of the scammers and ripoffs out there. I am not trying to be mean but you would think if someone put up a website like that they would love to tell people about themselves...it's on almost every website out there. No contact phone? C'mon....a paypal account with no name associated with it? Would you send money to someone without knowing their name?

How about if they wouldn't tell you their name when you asked them for it. This person is on NERD's forum and refuses to give their name to anyone who asks and they have seen the post asking...kind of weird...but maybe I am just cautious after being ripped off by a couple of guys in the past.
 
Yeah I hear you, I would think he would provide this information.

Many people new to the "biz" or internet sales can be a bit paranoid, especially those not familiar with how neglecting to share such information when trying to form a business presence can destroy any and all attempts before they are off the ground. Perhaps he has his reasons, perhaps not..... I linked him moments ago, lets see what he has to say I guess. :)
 
This person is on NERD's forum and refuses to give their name to anyone who asks and they have seen the post asking...
Click to expand...

Whoever they are, I was severely turned off by the MASSIVE size of the banner they had on the NERD forum for awhile in their signature line. I noticed that a mod has since removed it, but the first time "Snowball" posted on that site I immediately thought that their post was little more than an excuse to get people to go to their website! Regardless of the quality of their animals and service, to me that's just... Rude. :p

I suppose that my comment doesn't help much, but the size of that banner did indicate, to me, that their main perogative is for some reason to get people to go to their site... (And not neccessarily to contribute to the conversations being had on forums.)
 
I contacted this person to alert him of the thread here and this was his reply:

Snowballs said:
Chris@TSE said:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73906
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris,

I dont frequent that forum and dont have an account to it. I have heard to many negetive stories about it and don't need that type of hype in my life.

I enjoy what few animals I have and the simple life I lead.

Here is a perfect example of what I am saying, if someone has a question to ask me or about me, why haven't they asked me? My email is all over my site.

Thanks for the heads up though.

Happy Holidays
Click to expand...

I stated in reply basically that a personal site is one thing, conducting business on one as well with annonymous information, site, and email addresses is another. This person gave me no reason to suspect anything odd until Matt brought up some good points, so I felt the need to address them.

Another thing that concerned me is the second reply I obtained...

Snowballs said:
Because to me its not a business.

I am private collector and enjoy my privacy. The only reason I have a for sale page is because my web guy did it in a package deal. If it wasnt for that I wouldnt even have it. He also warned me against posting my personal info on the net due to ID theft, stalking, and thieves that may use it to steal from me. With the latest events of stealing (ie the Paragon), I think his point has been proven valid.

I didnt know wanting to share some great information and some of my pictures was going to cause so much drama.
Click to expand...

Now there was not much to concern me with this reply aside from the fact that there is no web designer, this site of his is hosted on freewebs free hosting, its "designed" using pre-made templates and this can be seen in the source of the html used to display the page. It also bothered me because when contacted for permission to post our shipping guide he made no mention of a designer and made the change himself, instantly. Even made an alteration thereafter as well, there is no designer. Not to mention no designer in the world would use a free host that utilizes a "make your own free site engine". Its a tool used for those with little to no knowledge whatsoever..... Not a designer.

It may be a simple white lie but to me, it is still a lie. I'd rather not be associated with someone who choses to be less than honest with me on such a simple topic and I have since asked he remove our shipping guide and all mention of our business name and any associated links.....

As for his legitimacy or any other facts on this matter, I honestly have no other input. Just this single experience, perhaps he may shed some light on this matter instead of allowing people to take a simple matter and run in the wrong direction with it, or perhaps its not the wrong direction? I do not know.

I gave him the benefit of doubt considering previous correspondence with this individual through our forums was quite pleasant. I was hoping he would come here to clear up any doubt but it is apparent that he has no intention of doing so, perhaps my first impression was wrong.

I have no problem with someone staying anonymous when simply running a private site, but when conducting any type of sales certain information MUST be provided and made public for your customers safety and assurance. The site from what I can see has sales written ALL over it, and it seems a bit more than the simply private site he described to me. I have taken a few screen shots just in case someone wishes to make changes to support previous statements as well, force of habbit I guess.

Either supply possible customers and consumers with appropriate information, a name, even perhaps a number..... an address is not necessary, something other than anonymous hosting and emails that leave people feeling very uneasy, or dont sell anything at all. simple as that imo.

Hopefully this has a positive turn somewhere. I wish I had been met with some understanding on his matter from this user but apparently he either has something to hide or has been grossly misinformed about business and proper courtesy.


Oh well, good luck everyone.......
 
I also saw this on the blog section of the site, seems someone had some words to say to him and he took a bit of action...

Sorry Guys
Monday, Dec 5, 2005


Due to some very sad, pathetic degenerates that can't behave themselves in a civil environment and are bent on causing trouble, I have taken down the guest book. Fear not, I have their IP numbers (205.188.116.65), and will be forwarding it along to their ISP abuse departments. It wont be long before they are off the net all together and we all will be rid of them once and for all.

Sorry it has come to this, but low class degenerates will not be tolerated on our site or in our community.

Snowballs


Again, the repeat use of "our site", a terms of service page, an available page, yeah I think the private site excuse got a bit under my skin....

I'd like an explanation and it is obvious this person does not intend to do such a thing. I guess if this is where it stands I can honestly say I have enough doubt and concern to avoid a transaction with this individual, simply knowing there is something probably fishy going on. As for corresponding over the internet outside of sales, I have not seen anything other than the previous possible lie to lead me to believe this person is any sort of antichrist.... yet.

The rest of you may go forth and follow this up as you see fit, I've said my .02 :)

Have a great day.
 
Maybe I am reading more into this then I should but why is this guy a concern to anyone here? Did he post a For Sale ad that you replied to or did you simply run across his website and started questioning the legitimacy of it? I can COMPLETELY understand if he was actually selling animals under the guise of anonymity, but if he simply has a website showcasing his animals then I have no issue with him leaving out his contact information whether he has a For Sale page or not. To include a For Sale page in the original design is simply good forsight.

As for the web design aspect and templates, that is completely false. I know numerous web designer that utilize templates. My own website, which utilizes a template, was done buy a very well known web designer (he handles one of the Porches racing teams). I told him what I wanted and he said he could either design it or I could choose from some existing templates. I chose the latter as it was clean and fit my needs. The fact he is using a template does nothing to increase or decrease his legitimacy.

Again, if he is not selling anything then there is absolutely no reason for you to continue harping on him. He wants anonymity so give it to him. If he starts selling then we have a whole other story.

Griz
 
not templates in general, im talking a template driven engine as in "click here to make your own website" type services, freebies.....

Many designers use real templates, I know this :)

as for the original reason for this thread, that was Matts motivation, I am sure he has his reasons.
 
and yes, it has sales oriented site written all over it, as I previously mentioned with terms of sale and the whole nine. just because there is nothing currently listed means nothing, the intention of the site is clear, therefore it is a "whole other story" as you have mentioned.
 
Chris, I understand what you are saying. But, unless he is actually selling something, then any "red flags" are simply irrelevant. He is not behaving in a manner that should raise any flags given he is not selling anything. Especially, if he was willing to take the effort to ask your permission to post your shipping guide. Less scrupulous people would have just used it without first seeking your permission.

Griz
 
Hey Griz,

Love the avatar!!! Ask Ben Siegel about seeing a Griz while in Montana with me...Jersey boy, Griz...it was great!

About Snowballs...

I went to 'Snowballs' site after seeing it on NERD's forum....yes the huge banner that was mentioned. After seeing the site and going through it...a nice site indeed, I realized there was no contact info anywhere...not a name, address, phone number, state....nothing. But what did stand out in my mind is they accept paypal and there is even a 'donate' link to click on for paypal. With the thieves in our community...sorry but they are there, I found this odd. So I went back to NERD's site and posted on Snowballs thread something like..."hey I was on your site and didn't see any contact info. What's your name?" Nothing came back...no response. I talked to some other people....just out of curiosity at that point and they had similar stories fo this person will not give out their name....but they will still accept Paypal.

The yahoo e-mail is strange too....an anonymous e-mail account for a website. The 'Whois' lookup sealed it for me...three days ago this person changed their account to be private so nobody would know they were. This was a few days after I asked their name....am I that scarey?

Anyway Griz....maybe this person doesn't have anything for sale at this point but they are certainly trying to hide their identity.

And I am the one that posted a funny comment in their guestbook...it went something like: "I see you are into balls but why don't you have the 'balls' to post your name anywhere? Just kidding buddy!" It was meant to be a funny and harmless 'ball python' joke as was another off color post there by someone else.

This person did fly off the handle a bit by shutting the guestbook down for some reason...all they had to do if they didn't think it was funny was remove it.

Also now that Chris has brought some things to light it makes me even more suspicious. Why wouldn't this person come here and just say hi and sort of fill us in on what's going on and say goodbye?

People who hide like this usually have something to hide...

But that's just my opinion...I am pretty open about everything.
 
Chris, I understand what you are saying. But, unless he is actually selling something, then any "red flags" are simply irrelevant. He is not behaving in a manner that should raise any flags given he is not selling anything. Especially, if he was willing to take the effort to ask your permission to post your shipping guide. Less scrupulous people would have just used it without first seeking your permission.

Griz
Click to expand...

But Griz....if you were going to use Chris's shipping guide wouldn't you say, "Hi my name is Bob and I was wondering if I could use your shipping guide on my site?"

Wouldn't you at least introduce yourself? The people who I have checked with on his links page all say the same thing...he didn't give his name...kind of strange don't you think? Inconsiderate? Is this person just known as 'Snowballs" everywhere? On checks and everywhere else?

Is the herp community that different from every day life?
 
I don't understand this guy is not willing to put his name out on the web, but is willing to put Chris packaging info on his site. He also uses other peoples names in references on his site, but is afraid someone will rip off his identity. He doesnt want to use Fauna or the classifieds, then how did he find your shipping info Chris? Was that not posted on Fauna? Your right, this isnt adding up!! I looked at that site and it looks like sales are coming in the near future, its not just a photo gallery!!
 
I guess only time will tell. Obviously, if I was looking at a transaction with him then I would only continue once I had all of the needed information. If he is never going to sell and simply wants a site to showcase his animals then I see no reason for him to put personal information out there. That is obviously not the case if he does choose to start selling animals. I would expect him to be completely upfront about who he is then. But, until then I could not care less how anonymous he is.

I actually killed myself a bear when I was 3...... ;) Never had the chance to see a grizzly but I did get to wrestle a full grown male lion as well as his housemate, a bengal tiger. Needless to say, despite my size, I lost. Ever been musked by a Lion at less than 2 foot? Not a pleasant experience! :)

Griz
 
Ghi Reptiles said:
But Griz....if you were going to use Chris's shipping guide wouldn't you say, "Hi my name is Bob and I was wondering if I could use your shipping guide on my site?"

Wouldn't you at least introduce yourself? The people who I have checked with on his links page all say the same thing...he didn't give his name...kind of strange don't you think? Inconsiderate? Is this person just known as 'Snowballs" everywhere? On checks and everywhere else?

Is the herp community that different from every day life?
Click to expand...

I guess I am still going back to the saying "No harm no foul". Should you be leery? Nope. There simply is no reason to be leery at this point as his behavior is not hurting anyone. I am not going to worry about what might occur tomorrow. His For Sale page is your classic for sale page. I am just stuck on why worry when he is not affecting anyone? Yet, anyways....

Griz
 
Yeah I can kind of see what you are saying but I still look both ways before crossing the street....just in case ;)

I also think that since he has been posting on several forums that by saying he won't give his name out to anyone...it's a red flag. Not even a first name? How many Bobs are there in the US? Make sense or am I being overly cautious?
 
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