U.K. Teen Buys $735 Photo of Xbox One on eBay

[Shraggler]

Why are people hung up on a 19 year old with a 4 year old child? He manned up and owned his shit at an age when most people would likely run from it. You judgmental people and your unqualified opinions.

That really doesn't change the fact that he could avoid being in the scenario he's in if he, you know, had better decision making skills.

It's GREAT that he owned up to his decisions, but please do not try and act like that wasn't a stupid decision. Hell, there are people who are twice his age and still struggle with being parents because, let's face it, parenting's not for everyone.

People are judging that factor because it ties into the other carelessness this article brings to light. Kudos on his responsibility for the big and important thing he did raising his kid but... Fuck, you think the guy would be a LITTLE more careful with his money considering he has a CHILD to care for!

This is exactly why people are giving the guy shit. Irrespective of his accepting of responsibility (which, I agree, is rare), his decision making skills are still questionable. Even if it is presumptive, empirical evidence regarding teenage parents does not a wise man indicate. Some other flags are raised in the posted list by Kyogissun [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/7.835951.20476761]. The frivolous spending, the questionable reasoning, the indignant nature of idiocy. Frankly, I'm somewhat amazed he was allowed vaginal entry.

I'm still confused by friends of mine getting married and having children.

I remember being a kid.

I was an asshole. Making parents' lives difficult for no fucking reason, whining about "bland mashed potatoes" and other such nonsense when they were putting food on the table. Feeling jealousy when my spoiled neighbors and classmates would come back from winter vacation with a tan (i.e. went to Disneyland) or a stash that would make Richie Rich pitch a tent, then coming home from elementary school sullen and moody because I couldn't appreciate that I got something and, especially, something I wanted or could use.

Parents did basically everything for us on top of working and all the stresses of trying to survive in the modern era (mortgages/rent, paycheck size, bills, gas, etc.).

Now, being grown up and going 'round my parents, I've felt mostly guilt, regret and ignominy. I've also felt that having a child right now would be a huge mistake.

Kids are assholes. Kids have no perspective and are (however unintentional) arrogant, myopic, selfish little shits. The responsibility is enormous and the gain, on the surface, appears little.

Sorry, went off on a tangent.

 

[Andy Chalk]

The guy that bought the thing got a lucky break with this PR. If it was clearly printed in the description then that's on you. Ignorance is no excuse from the law.

 

[Denamic]

Somehow, $735 seemed like a good deal, the ad did mention it was a photograph, he's 19 and has a 4 year old son, goes sympathy fishing by implying his poor 4 year old son won't get a fucking xbone. Sometimes, people deserve to get scammed.

 

[suitepee7]

So this gut got a kid when he's 15 and pays ungodly amounts of money for something without even reading the fine print or the damn description? ..... I can't even get mad at him, who I am mad at is the UK government.
first of all, what on earth is your age of concent and please don't say something ridiculous like 14.
And two, this guy does not sound suitable to take care of a child. Or atleast without some kind of crash course in how money works.

Edit: bonus while(aren't you lucky) what's a 4 year old to do with an Xbox one? Even in this day and age four year olds most want chocolate and jumping

The UK age of consent is 16, but getting a 'head start' in that area is very common and indeed there have been proposals to lower the AoC to 14 to take into account facts on the ground. Doesn't sound ridiculous to me, 14 year olds tend to be well into puberty, it's easily arguable they're old enough to make that decision for themselves.

the main opposition to lowering the age is twofold, one aspect reasonable and the other retarded.
1) lowering the age of consent means lower ages for paedophilia charges, and a fully grown person cannot be charged for statutory rape for having sex with a 14 and 15 year old anymore. this is made even worse because of the laws around teen sex anyway, which the UK government admit are kinda shit, so they have a general set of guidelines for whether to take cases to trial when teens have sex with each other

2) it won't solve the problem, it will just mean younger kids end up having sex, because the excitement of underage sex isn't the sex part, it's the underage.

hmm, i wonder which one is the legitimate concern...

i say it sarcastically, and david cameron supported the stupid reason -_- but seriously, not doing it for moral reasons is stupid, the proposition is so more help and advice can be given to teens, not so we think it's 'ok' all of a sudden.

OT: wow, took a while to get back to the subject... the guy is an idiot, and neither is in the right. he was clearly scammed out of his money by being stupid and not paying full attention, but that doesn't mean the scammer is in the right. and i have no idea as to his parenting capabilities so i can't comment on him specifically, only teen parents as a generalization, which is they leave a lot to be desired. but props to him for actually sticking around for his kid.

and to other points raised, being a student doesn't make you poor, or reliant on benefits. i'm 3rd year uni, been working part time since i was 16, and currently i have student loan for living costs (food, bills, rent) and between £650-£900 a month depending on if i do overtime or not (the £650 is 2 night shifts a week FYI). needless to say, i live comfortably

 

[samahain]

not surprising considering this guy's stupid enough to have a child at 15

Too-sheh! Yeah, he bought ift "fOr hiS sOn"... -__o right...

 

[Product Placement]

Who else but a scammer sells a freaking picture for 735 dollars.

Now, the article doesn't specify what the asking price was but it probably wasn't 735 dollars. The thing with ebay is that it's runs on a bid system. Someone can put something on offer for 1 dollar and if enough people are fighting over it, it can end up going for hundreds of dollars.

But again, I have no idea what the seller was asking for, so it may have been a ridiculous figure.

 

[Megalodon]

and to other points raised, being a student doesn't make you poor, or reliant on benefits. i'm 3rd year uni, been working part time since i was 16, and currently i have student loan for living costs (food, bills, rent) and between £650-£900 a month depending on if i do overtime or not (the £650 is 2 night shifts a week FYI). needless to say, i live comfortably

To point out again, this guy isn't in Uni, he's still attending college. So no student loan for him. He has a 4 year old kid to support (which tend to be expensive). We have no information about his state of employment, but he won't have a full time job and I'd be surprised if a part-time would pay enough to support him, his kid and be able to fork over £450 for a Xbone. The information given about him in the two Post articles suggests that he lives in a low income, pretty scummy area of Nottingham. As Scrumpmonkey said, he is most likely on some from of benefit, even if he's not the stereotype Council Estate benefit scrounger (but to be frank, that is rather plausible). While it is circumstantial evidence, all the information provided suggests that he is either poor, on benefits or both.

 

[Slash2x]

Hey, the kid was overtaken by his hormonal urges and fucked up when he was a stupid teenager (we were ALL stupid teenagers once), cut him some slack. The way you people berate someone who is trying to be responsible for his actions is pathetic. He's being a good father and getting his kid an Xbox One, that's more than enough in this day and age where far too many kids don't even grow up with a father at all. Good on him, and I'm glad he got his money back.


....unless of course, the flip side of this story, is that this guy is full of shit and getting it for himself and just using his son as a sap story to gain empathy and get his money back.

In which case, fuck him.

I doubt it was for his son. Most four year olds can barely grip the controller.

My 5 year old kicks my ass at some games, like Castle Crashers or Lego Batman..... Or trolls me on purpose. "Hey dadda you need this health?" "Yes I do"... "MINE!" -_-

 

[Riff Moonraker]

not surprising considering this guy's stupid enough to have a child at 15

You beat me to it, although I was just going to say that its pretty obvious good decision making isnt in this guys cards....

 

[Riff Moonraker]

Hey, the kid was overtaken by his hormonal urges and fucked up when he was a stupid teenager (we were ALL stupid teenagers once), cut him some slack. The way you people berate someone who is trying to be responsible for his actions is pathetic. He's being a good father and getting his kid an Xbox One, that's more than enough in this day and age where far too many kids don't even grow up with a father at all. Good on him, and I'm glad he got his money back.


....unless of course, the flip side of this story, is that this guy is full of shit and getting it for himself and just using his son as a sap story to gain empathy and get his money back.

In which case, fuck him.

I doubt it was for his son. Most four year olds can barely grip the controller.

My 5 year old kicks my ass at some games, like Castle Crashers or Lego Batman..... Or trolls me on purpose. "Hey dadda you need this health?" "Yes I do"... "MINE!" -_-

True, however there are several things to consider:

1. He DID have a kid at 15... it happens, true, but it displays poor decision making.
2. If he is 19 and has a 4 year old son, unless he is wealthy (which I doubt or this article would have never seen the light of day) then why in gods name would he be spending the amount of cash an Xbox One would run you right now, instead of going with a system that has ALOT more 4 year old-esque games like the 360? For ALOT cheaper? So that he could be buying other presents for his son, too? Or better yet, food and clothing for his son?

I certainly applaud ANYONE that has a child and mans up and fathers the child and looks after them. Its the right thing to do, and anyone that doesnt, simply doesnt deserve to keep his testicles, in my opinion. BUT, there are some things with this story that doesnt add up, and thats what people are pointing out, I think.

Granted, the honest truth to this could be that he really is taking care of his child, and has the money to get the Xbox One that the 4 year old wants, and is still able to feed and clothe him with no problem, and if that REALLY is the case, then I have no problem with that at all. But it just seems.... really fishy.

 

[DaWaffledude]

Does this not happen all the time on eBay? What makes this story so special?

 

[ThunderCavalier]

I'm...

I don't know what to respond to here.

There's... just too much stupidity all around.

When the fact that someone got scammed by purchasing a photo instead of the actual product starts to become a footnote in the story, there is a huge problem with the world.

 

[Ticklefist]

Why are people hung up on a 19 year old with a 4 year old child? He manned up and owned his shit at an age when most people would likely run from it. You judgmental people and your unqualified opinions.

so not using contraceptives are "manning up"?

Dealing with your mistakes like a man is. It's not a difficult concept to grasp.

If it was a mistake then a simple solution is already present. It is called abortion.

Man, you just have a crappy answer for everything. He didn't get himself pregnant. The option you've presented must have come up. A different decision was made. He dealt with it like a man.

This is a real life scenario and you're having a very hard time convincing me you're qualified to give opinions about it.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

I see a lot of people are just latching on to the fact that he had a kid at 15... or alternatively he got married to someone with a kid recently. In any case, so many people here are definitely embracing this point and simultaneously embracing their strong "blame the victim" mentality.

See if you can spot the similarities:
This story: "This guy has a kid at 15 years old and gets conned? Well of COURSE he did, he's stupid!"

Stories of Rape Victims: "This girl dressed like that in public and got raped? Well of COURSE she did, she's slutty!"

Conning and taking advantage of innocent people is never right, regardless of who the victim is or their lifestyle.

Everyone blaming the victim here is just being disgusting...

People here have this weird obsession with rape. Its not even close to the same thing. You don't get a choice if you get raped. You get the opportunity to read about what you're buying before you buy it. You're not forced to buy it.

Except that they are the same basic thing. You're preying on another person. Taking advantage of them. He didn't have a choice in getting conned either. Someone else posted here earlier that it's very likely that the listing was worded in a very misleading manner that could make anyone but the most discerning person think they were buying the actual thing. Everyone around here is extrapolating "He's stupid and deserved this." because he has a four year old, and for no other reason. Which is the same as blaming a rape victim for being slutty because of some non-related fact (like she is conventionally physically attractive and wasn't wearing body armor, because it's "COMMON SENSE"). He checked the seller's profile and the seller had good ratings (which indicates he did not lack common sense), and ebay requires you to put information on there that pertains to the product people think you're selling. So on the surface, it had to look legitimate, and apparently, this kind of scam is pulled often, with listing worded in a VERY VERY confusing manner, where, if you were just glossing over the details, it all looks correct, because the fact that it's a photo is kind of de-emphasized, like it being in fine print.

People get preyed upon all the time, they're basically the same thing and instill the same kind of mistrust and lack of faith in humanity to the victims.

 

[AlwaysPractical]

Repeating everyone else's points...

1) He has a 4 year old son?
2) He buys an Xbox for his 4 year old son?
3) He didn't check the description?

Okay, so Ebay did completely the right thing, the seller is a douchebag but wow, this guy is stupid, I have to say.

 

[Yozozo]

I am amazed at how so many people here understand so little about the circumstances going on here.

Being a uni student does NOT make you poor, I knew a few of my fellow students who made more than 20k a year at uni before graduation, heck, I was past that when I was in 3rd year. With the right combination of grants and living arrangements, even as a freshman, I could support myself AND have money to blow on video games and systems.

As another pointed out, we don't know if he is the biological father, he could be married/in a relationship with somebody a couple years older than him, and he's seeking to bond with the kid (who he's come to accept as 'his', regardless of actual parentage).

4 year olds are perfectly capable of playing video games. I played the LEGO games with a 3 year old and it wasn't... awful. Took some steering, but the kid had TONS of fun, and every week when he'd visit he wanted to play Star Wars LEGO with his Uncle. This was a few years ago when the franchise was new. Now, I bet he doesn't even remember who I am, but at the time, he certainly did. A 4 year old would be even more capable.

The victim blame here is just disgusting. As far as his decision went... he had the money, and he made a risk/rewards assessment, and hoped that since the vendor had a good reputation that it was legit. Regardless that he was... leery of the purchase since the term 'picture' was in there, there is obvious intent to deceive on the part of the seller. That is a CRIME. The seller is a CRIMINAL, and should be considering themselves fortunate that Paypal and eBay are not pressing charges against them.

 

[WindKnight]

I don't think it was a con. If the seller said it was literally just a picture of an Xbox One, then so be it. The same thing happened when the 360 launched as well. A few people were selling only the box for the 360. They made it very clear that it was just a box, not the system, and people still paid absurd amounts of money for it. If the seller said it was just a picture and not the system itself, that blame falls solely on the buyer.

Now, if the seller didn't make it clear (which it sounds like it did say it was just a picture), then yeah, that's a scam. I would like to see the listing myself personally and see what it says.

You get people who will put up misleading entries that state what they are very carefully in the listing somewhere, but go all out to make it look like something else. One listing I saw was selling guides on buying from police auctions, but unless you read the description minutely you'd think you were buying a digital camera from a police auction, or the 'forgeworld' scam where small scale miniatures were sold without specifically stating the scale, but with enough double talk in the description to make it sound like it was the far more expensive full scale miniatures for sale.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

Well, once you realize he had a kid at 15, making stupid decisions and not fully thinking things through, isn't that shocking.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Wait, a 19-year-old is a "teen" now? ...what's the legal age of majority in the UK, again?

...and he's buying it for his four year old son? I...


...there are things about this news article. Things that are wrong, and in more than one way.

Welcome to the uk, with the highest rate of underage pregnancy in Europe. Amongst other proud endevours. Cant wait to move out!

 

[chad001001]

You know, I actually agree with the conman on this one. If you're willing to put down $735 on something before checking for shenanigans like this, then you deserve to be taught a lesson. Although as I didn't see the listing, perhaps it was a bit difficult to tell.

Also, is that actually how much an Xbone is going for in the UK?

While I agree that the guy deserved to be taught a lesson, I don't think that the seller/con-man deserved the money. Just because one man deserves a loss does not entitle another man to gain.