New Type of Scam: Nicholas Gifts

It's obvious that the intent is to trick people(aware or not) into thinking he's selling the non-Pre gifts. If that's not the definition of scam, i don't know what it is.

heh, this woman's boss never said it was a car.. btw, they did settle and she did get a car..

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3260/...0cf3926f_o.jpg

If the world worked the way some people think, those of us that are either stronger or smarter than others would pretty much do whatever we want (in some respects we do). Luckily there are people like the op that feel the need to at least help those not so fortunate know to watch out for something like this.

It definitely can give a false impression or mislead another play. I'd say the motive at those prices for that product is probably to give a false impression, which can be done without lying - or saying anything for that matter. If I fell for it, I'd be pretty pissed and probably feel pretty stupid, but that doesn't mean I'd condone doing that to someone just because they're stupid. Being stupid or weak is no excuse to be taken advantage of. If you think it is, you probably just don't know how far down the totem pole in either case you actually are :-)

EDIT: btw, I was just going off of the wiki and the definitions or deceive/mislead to throw in input. I doubt it's against the rules, but then again ANet can easily decide what is against the spirit of the game - they have in the past.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Scam

of course taking advantage of anything is relative to each person as to whether it is done within acceptable limits (difference between good marketing skills on one end and a ponzi scheme on the other).

This isn't a scam. If someone said "Hey, you wanna buy this starter sword for 10k?" and you buy it, it's not a scam, just overpricing.

By now, I know what the difference is, been trading both of them around a lot lately, the green name factor for the Traveler's Gift's also helps.

EDIT:

But you just never know. It's not 100% that he is trying to trick people. But yes, it's most likely he is trying to trick someone.

That's exactly it. The rest of you are just letting him off because of a technicality. I'm not giving the benefit of the doubt in this case.

It may not be a scam technically, but it would seem the player is selling the gifts under false pretenses. The player assumes buyers are thinking they are Post Nicholas gifts and thus will buy them because of it.

True, it's the buyer's fault. But that's like saying the greasy car's salesman who primed a junked car to run long enough until it's off the lot has a halo above his head and is completely innocent.

It's underhanded and worth making players aware of it.

of course they are trying to trick people

they even call them "nicholas gifts", which is voluntarly confusing, in order to be able to say "it's just over pricing, not a scam"

those ***** seriously deserve a ban, not for taking others money, just for being pathetic

"oh, I scammed 100k out of those idiots, look how smart I am", yes, you spend your time trying to abuse people on an online game, how glorious, hope you get a perma ban so you can come QQ here

That is awesome.

if we went on technicalities...no one would be a scammer due to smallprint of 'it was your fault'...to scam is to obtain something via disception or cheating and i never seen any huntsmen presents for sale until the traveller arrived...so he is infact trying to trick u, so this to me falls under being classed as a scam (someone tried it with me today).

i dont see anything wrong with this, they are making money and i for one give them a pat on the back, you guys are made because you have fallen for a scam or are made you diddnt think of it first, i for one feel so great when i scam someone its the one of the only reason i play the game anymore

EDIT: just seared 10 gifts sold them for 5k really fast, looks like i need to spend my pre money on some gifts.

I don't know which is worse: the fact that you try to scam people (your words, not mine) or that apparently your life sucks so bad that scamming people in online games is one of the things that you do to feel 'so great'. I don't harbor any ill will towards you but rather I feel bad for you and pity you. If you need friends I'm sure some of the people here on this board may live near you and would be willing to help you out.

It's amazing how bad things can be for people in today's world. Even someone that doesn't see anything wrong with scamming people should at least be able to have a full enough life that something like this wouldn't be the highlight of it.

anyhow, good luck in your guild search. That may be a good start for you.

"It's not a scam."
"It's a scam."
"No, it isn't."
"Yes, it is."
....

Thanks to OP for making some of us, who might have not been in pre for a long time, aware of this type of thing (scam, subtle wordplay, whatever you want to call it)...

Even a (insert appropriate adjective here) scammer admits it a scam. And no, most people who are upset about it aren't mad because they fell for this garbage or because they didn't think of it first. What makes people mad is that there are douchebags in the game pulling this crap.

It's not a scam, but it's definitely taking advantage. Thanks to the OP to making us aware though.

agree

I would hope A-Net will shortly get around to making the icons appear very different from each other.

if that was bannable, GW would be empty

It is worse then scamming.

You guys would make good lawyers; finding technicalities. These people are obviously trying to take advantage of players who think they're getting the Gifts of the Traveler. Did you see anyone in Kamadan trying to sell these before Nicholas the Traveler came to Post-Searing? Likely not, and definitely not for that price.

As for people who say that everyone should know, not everyone starts the game in Prophecies.

Oh, and The Air Revenger ... Karama's a bitch.

For those ppl who still think this is NOT a scam, pleas look at this:


Player A: WTS ectos 6k/each.
Player B: I'll buy 10.
Player A: ok

After trade was done...

Player B: wtf, Frozen Ectoplasm?!!!

Player A went offline.

This is a very similar way ppl used in the old days to scam ppl as this monk using the vague words "Nicholas gifts". One of my friend almost fell into this ecto trap, and he reported the person, the scammer got banned!

But according to some of you, player A didn't do anything wrong, rihgt? He was selling an "ecto"...

Disagree with the thread title. Finding two things that look similar in game, and trying to sell one off while pretending it's something else... that's not a new thing (call it scam, unethical, whatever. The exact terminology isn't very important). Selling Ice as a Sapphire, or Lilac Eyes as Rubies -- those are even listed on the wiki page about scamming.

This is just a new item to do the same thing over again.

For the record, I wouldn't personally call this a scam, but I do think it's highly unethical.

Edit for clarity:
Personal opinion:
Selling Lilac Eyes as Rubies? Scam, misrepresenting the item sold.
Buying black dye in pre-searing for hundreds of gold? Unethical, no misrepresentation, but it does depend on the player not knowing the value of the dye.
Selling a quest item as another quest item ("Letter to Mom", for example, sold as the letter for the "Captured Son" quest)? Scam, misrepresentation.
Selling a pre-searing Gift as a post-searing Gift? Unethical, no actual misrepresentation (given the wording of the OP).

But again, I don't think the exact terminology is too important.

From the official Guild Wars Wiki.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Gift_of_the_Traveler

Under Notes. Quote: "Beware of scams, some players may try to trade you a Gift of the Huntsman instead of Gift of the Traveler."

I didn't see anything different among those, they were all trying to sell one off while pretending it's something else, but you called the first two as scam but the last one unethical?