I feel no guilt in the schadenfreude I experience watching his fall.
CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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I feel no guilt in the schadenfreude I experience watching his fall.
There's no allegations. Alec openly admitted to using a proxy bidder in his 2009 BSG live auctions. He justified it by saying essentially "Hey, I could have just bought the items I wanted outright from NBC/Universal, but I wanted the fans to have a crack at it."
Well, yeah but...
1. Alec knew how many other copies of the item were in his inventory, and which ones were in the best condition. He also knew if an item was one of a kind. He never disclosed how many copies he had in his warehouse, we found out as more and more of the items popped up in the eBay auctions held after the live auctions. When questioned in the prop forum, Alec ignored the post. Question too much? Get called a troll, hater, loser, cheapskate and banned.
2. Alec created and had full admin access to the BSG prop forum, where he could see people chatting about how high they were going to go, and presumably could read our PM's to each other about our limits.
3. Alec could afford to bid higher than most of his customers. If Alec won, he didn't have to pay himself the 20% buyer's premium or the shipping costs. On large items the shipping costs were hundreds of dollars.
4. Alec bid on and won the original Cylon War oil painting at $15,000. He saved $3000 on the buyer's premium, and avoided the shipping costs. He knew NBC/Universal wanted a copy as a cast and crew gift. Alec made 100 copies for N/U of the large painting on giclee, then promptly proceeded to churn out an additional 250 paintings, putting them up for sale to fans at $199 each - much to the consternation of N/U. There were rumors they were very pissed off at Alec for doing this without permission. $199 x 250 = $49,750. Makes his original investment of $15,000 look like chump change.
There are many, many, many more "Misdeeds of Propworx" out there in forumland. I just don't know how many people are wanting to dredge it all up again. People generally don't like to admit publicly that they were taken advantage of. I'm still on the fence if I want to reveal all the gory details of my years of prop collecting with Propworx. Stay tuned.
Tell us more, Admiral...
We wish to know more about this dishonourable prick called Alec
I'm sure C/P (or other similar parties) would be interested too.........
Seems to form a picture of Peters as being deceitful to turn a buck. Not sure how applicable it would be to the case?
Won't be relevant unless it goes to trial and he boasts something on the stand and it's used to show he's lying, but I doubt any of that will happen.
It would be admissible in a UK court - that would count as his "previous"
How interesting. For many years he has been repeating the same behavior: Questionable business practices, shoddy work, poor communication, terrible customer service, and obsessive attacks on anyone who dares expose his shady dealings.
I'll just say that I don't think anyone who has gotten burned by Peters has anything to be ashamed of. He's a slick talker and good at covering his tracks unless someone has a very specific suspicion and knows exactly what to look for. Also, he was working with reputable companies, which gave Propworx further credibility.
I'll also say that I'm glad people are talking about their experiences with Propworx, whether in specific terms or general warnings. I found that information when Axanar first hit my radar as an exciting crowdfunded project. It kept me from donating.
I'll also say that I'm glad people are talking about their experiences with Propworx, whether in specific terms or general warnings. I found that information when Axanar first hit my radar as an exciting crowdfunded project. It kept me from donating.
I was thinking it would paint a rather poor picture of his character and either strengthen whatever claims C/P wants to make about him (think Gen. Chang's statements about Kirk in ST:VI) or cast doubt on the truthfulness of whatever statements of his that are part of the record (what he knew and when, what he says C/P told him so on and so forth.........). You're right though, it may not amount to much unless it goes to trial.
However, during discovery, could C/P perhaps use this to establish a pattern of some sort, or actual intent (to infringe copyrights) ??
He has a history of committing shady, underhanded business dealings, to ultimately enrich himself as some of the allegations in that Propworx thread show. Given his knowledge of and tenuous 'association' with Star Trek (as some kind of archivist?), would it not be reasonable to assume him capable of trying to capitalize on that IP in a similar manner?? (any evidence at this point is entirely circumstantial.......Carlos has done a great job of keeping track of various issues/figures though)
However, during discovery, could C/P perhaps use this to establish a pattern of some sort, or actual intent (to infringe copyrights) ??
He has a history of committing shady, underhanded business dealings, to ultimately enrich himself as some of the allegations in that Propworx thread show. Given his knowledge of and tenuous 'association' with Star Trek (as some kind of archivist?), would it not be reasonable to assume him capable of trying to capitalize on that IP in a similar manner?? (any evidence at this point is entirely circumstantial.......Carlos has done a great job of keeping track of various issues/figures though)
My guess would be skimming..........he either inflated the bids too much so as to gild his own pockets (driving away potential bidders with the sticker shock), or he took more than Propworx' standard fee from whoever.........(thus coming to owe whoever it was)
Another quote from the old prop days:
"As far as Charity goes. Why do people think there needs to be a charity component? This is, after all a business. Do you ask that of every company you deal with? Why shoudl MGM be any different? Do you ask your cable company if they give to charity? Do you ask a portion of your DVD purchases to go to charity? Do you ask that of every business you deal with? And do you give a portion of your salary to charity? Now I do. In fact Propworx bought a home for a homeless family last year. NBC/Universal, who we did the Battlestar Galactica auctions for, gave a portion of their proceeds to The United Way. But why should that be either a requirement or something people expect? I just find that really unrealistic. We are in business, and to automatically assume because this is an auction, a portion of the $ should go to charity baffles me."
What are the odds that happened?
"As far as Charity goes. Why do people think there needs to be a charity component? This is, after all a business. Do you ask that of every company you deal with? Why shoudl MGM be any different? Do you ask your cable company if they give to charity? Do you ask a portion of your DVD purchases to go to charity? Do you ask that of every business you deal with? And do you give a portion of your salary to charity? Now I do. In fact Propworx bought a home for a homeless family last year. NBC/Universal, who we did the Battlestar Galactica auctions for, gave a portion of their proceeds to The United Way. But why should that be either a requirement or something people expect? I just find that really unrealistic. We are in business, and to automatically assume because this is an auction, a portion of the $ should go to charity baffles me."
What are the odds that happened?
Link?
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