What would you do?

krelldog

krelldog

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This didn't happen to me...but it happened recently in my area...and for that matter it probably happens in every town.

Someone walks in a pool room and wants to sell a high end cue for 10-20% percent of the value. You know its probably stolen....but you have no proof. You have no desire to purchase a stolen cue, but if don't buy it- the cue may never have a chance to get back to its rightful owner.

The problem with the above scenario is....if you do buy it and find out who it was stolen from....you certainly can't lawfully sell stolen merchandise back to its owner without serious risk.

So what do you do when the above happens? I know ....just don't get involved is the easy answer.

But what would you do?
 
krelldog said:
This didn't happen to me...but it happened recently in my area...and for that matter it probably happens in every town.

Someone walks in a pool room and wants to sell a high end cue for 10-20% percent of the value. You know its probably stolen....but you have no proof. You have no desire to purchase a stolen cue, but if don't buy it- the cue may never have a chance to get back to its rightful owner.

The problem with the above scenario is....if you do buy it and find out who it was stolen from....you certainly can't lawfully sell stolen merchandise back to its owner without serious risk.

So what do you do when the above happens? I know ....just don't get involved is the easy answer.

But what would you do?
Click to expand...

You've already figured it out perfectly...:smile:

J
 
Why exactly would you assume it's stolen? I can understand if a guy has speakers in the back of his van he wants to sell, but I'm missing what would lead you to believe the cue was stolen in your scenario.
 
Because the price is not reflective of the value...and I would assume the seller probably looks pretty shady.
 
When's the last time a guy walked into your pool hall with a $5000 Gina looking to sell it for 500 bucks? Either he's a complete idiot, or he stole the cue and figured he'd get more money for it at a pool hall than at a pawn shop. 99/100 times, it's the second option.
 
I'm going to take the high road here and say, "No thanks, I'll pass."
There were two things my sainted Grandmother told me as she lay dying, that I think is appropriate here: " Let your conscience be your guide.", and "Son...you ain't nothin' but bad luck." :smile:
 
It's irrelevant why you think that it's stolen, fact is that you do think it's stolen and that's reason enough to walk away. Period.

J
 
krelldog said:
Because the price is not reflective of the value...and I would assume the seller probably looks pretty shady.
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I would just tell the guy you're interested, but don't have any cash at the moment, and see if he'll give you his info. Chances are if it is stolen, he'll probably be hesitant to give you his name or number.

If you do manage to get his information, then I'd ask around and see if anyone has lost a cue matching the description.

The only problem is that it would be very difficult for the rightful owner to prove ownership. Most manufactured cues don't have serial numbers, and I doubt any of us walk around with pictures of our cues in our wallets.

Overall, if you feel like it's a moral dilemma, then just say no thanks.
 
BeiberLvr said:
I would just tell the guy you're interested, but don't have any cash at the moment, and see if he'll give you his info. Chances are if it is stolen, he'll probably be hesitant to give you his name or number.

If you do manage to get his information, then I'd ask around and see if anyone has lost a cue matching the description.

The only problem is that it would be very difficult for the rightful owner to prove ownership. Most manufactured cues don't have serial numbers, and I doubt any of us walk around with pictures of our cues in our wallets.

Overall, if you feel like it's a moral dilemma, then just say no thanks.
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Good answer, but what I really want to know is..... is that you in your avatar? You can't really like justin Beiber can you? You look a little old for that punk. I'm older.... much older. If that is you, if I get a note from my wife, can I take a nap on your tummy? That's the important stuff right now.

Wait.. you look like karen corr... but no.... I could never tell clark kent without his glasses either.
 
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3andstop said:
If that is you, if I get a note from my wife, can I take a nap on your tummy? That's the important stuff right now.
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I was thinking similar things whilst on the Ronnie O'sullivan thread but was not brave enough to say anything.

The lovely lady's advice was sound I thought...

And for myself, I have picked up loads of cheap cues at boot sales and the like. You just know whether a seller is a goodun or not. It's instinct.

I picked up one once for £2 and sold it for £80 on ebay within a week..
 
3andstop said:
Good answer, but what I really want to know is..... is that you in your avatar? You can't really like justin Beiber can you? You look a little old for that punk. I'm older.... much older. If that is you, if I get a note from my wife, can I take a nap on your tummy? That's the important stuff right now.

Wait.. you look like karen corr... but no.... I could never tell clark kent without his glasses either.
Click to expand...

It's Corr. My name is a joke (I hate Beiber), and I'm a dude.
 
What would I want someone else to do if they were in this situation?

I think I would buy the cue and find it's owner.

randyg
 
I agree with Randy, I would probably buy it too, but just to find the owner.

I'm sure most people would be happy to pay me back what I paid to get their cue back, but one thing I would be worried about is that the owner is under no legal obligation to repay me for the amount since it's stolen property.
 
What I'd do is say "I personally love my cue but I know a guy who has been dying to buy a [cue brand] just like this one.
Can I pass him your phone number?" ...then I'd ask to photograph the inlays or whatever
so my fictitious friend can see if he likes the look of it.

If you are a reasonably good bullshitter you can probably pull this off. They might balk at having it photographed
but it's hard to refuse that without it seeming sketchy. So anyway, you then post the pics on AZ and ask if anyone
recognizes the cue. If someone says "I just had that stolen from me last week" you can at least pass on the location
and phone number of the seller and let them deal with it from there.
 
I would just say your not interested. Me personally I think its a waste I have no aspirations for a $5000 cue.

The truth is unless you are on the tour a good $300 cue will do the trick or even $90 cue.
 
I have a true story about this I will share.

Some college kids asked one of the security guys at a local university if he would be interested in buying a cue stick. They knew him well enough to know that he was pretty serious about pool and played quite a bit.

When the guy went to see the cue, instead of one cue there were several and it was obvious that they were stolen, and frankly the guy recognized some of the cues. He told them that not only was he interested in one of them, he would be interested in several but didnt have a ton of cash on him at the time. He offered them a deposit to "hold" them, until he could run to the ATM machine and get some more cash.

They agreed. Greed took over.

The guy left, called the cops, and went to the ATM machine to get cash. Eventually he came back in, with his "friend" so he could look to see he wanted the ones he didnt want.

You guessed it, the "friend" was an undercover cop.

ALL of the cues were recovered.

Ken
 
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I would buy it with the intentions of getting it back to it's rightful owner (depending on it's value). Post a note at the local pool halls or on craigs list saying I have what I believe is a stolen pool cue. If the the person can describe said cue then you've found the original owner. explain to them what/why you paid for it. Any reasonable person will give you your money back.

Edit : If you get no responses after all of that. Then you got lucky and just got a good deal. If you don't need the stick. Sell it at it's real value.
 
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