Betta Seller Tricks!

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Leedsboi86

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Hello everyone....

Was talking to somone on ebay after hearing alot of complaints about the Bettas they have been selling.
Now the biggest complaint was "Its not the colour I orderd"

Now I can't give the name away but I am going to show you the trick...

As you can see here we have a Black PK male... To be exact my PK Male.


And here the same male but RED!


Now Paypal doesn't cover Fish so even if you could prove it there would be no refund!

What they use is a simple editing tool to remove Red-Eye in pictures....
this removes the Bettas actual red colour and makes him... Black!

Now to somone lookin for a Betta as a pet would really get conned with this >.<

I found it shocking myself that people actualy do this.

I spoke to Paypal and they have said theres nothing they would do!

So WARNING Always ask questions! This takes 2 seconds to do and can con you out of £10+
 
Another one!
This was a very quick one I found a picture on google and set the program to auto-find red and remove it.

Lovely Black HM.....Shame hes actualy red! Check out its reflection!

 
Wow, that's terrible.
Ugh, what people do for the money...it's terrible.
 
Oh, now that's sneaky. I guess it really pays to look at someone's feedback before buying!

There is another "trick" I've seen, but it may not always be intentional. I love metallic black laces, and a couple times have bought one that looked like it had no red but turned out to have a ton of red wash, and I think all they did was use a flash to emphasize the metallic patterning (blue, turquoise, copper, etc.) so it covered the red wash. Recently I was taking pictures of my blue marble juvies, and many have quite a bit of red wash but it just disappeared in the photos when I used a flash!

I just wanted to add that if you look closely at photos, you can sometimes see clues about a fish's true color. For instance, in the photo where Leedsboi86 turned a red halfmoon into a black, the black fish has no metallic or iridescent coloring on him at all. I've never seen a melano that didn't have at least a very slight steel blue sheen to him. As for the plakat... well... he just looks like a black lace now, so he'd fool me! :blush:

ETA: Actually, now that I take another look, the plakat looks way too dark for a black lace and I've never seen a melano with that much metallic on him... in fact that fish would be considered a terrible melano anyway with all that green!
 
Oh, now that's sneaky. I guess it really pays to look at someone's feedback before buying!

There is another "trick" I've seen, but it may not always be intentional. I love metallic black laces, and a couple times have bought one that looked like it had no red but turned out to have a ton of red wash, and I think all they did was use a flash to emphasize the metallic patterning (blue, turquoise, copper, etc.) so it covered the red wash. Recently I was taking pictures of my blue marble juvies, and many have quite a bit of red wash but it just disappeared in the photos when I used a flash!

I just wanted to add that if you look closely at photos, you can sometimes see clues about a fish's true color. For instance, in the photo where Leedsboi86 turned a red halfmoon into a black, the black fish has no metallic or iridescent coloring on him at all. I've never seen a melano that didn't have at least a very slight steel blue sheen to him. As for the plakat... well... he just looks like a black lace now, so he'd fool me! :blush:

ETA: Actually, now that I take another look, the plakat looks way too dark for a black lace and I've never seen a melano with that much metallic on him... in fact that fish would be considered a terrible melano anyway with all that green!
What do ya want for 2 mins of work?
lol if ya was gonna use it as a con ya could easly remove the colours that give clues!

What I did was just remove all the red and funny enough somone has pmed me on forum asking if the black ones for sale >.< didnt read the post I guess
 
From the viewpoint of a seller this is just plain poor business practice. The seller playing games with the pics may sell 5 or 10 fish before the word is out. They could be selling 50, 100, or more and still have a reputation as an honest seller, and make more money, selling the fish for what they are. I could do the same with angels with a little color editing, and sell 100% orange coloring koi angels, and could probably sell a few for a good price. Once found out, I would be lucky to sell much of anything afterwards.

When you are selling you will have the biggest return following tried & true business practices that successful businesses use. Besides the product itself, packaging & service are what brings customers back. I have seen it happen so many times, where a fish at an auction is properly bagged, clearly labeled, in clean water sell for much more than the same fish packaged shoddily, scribbled on with marker, in dirty water.

Short term gain for a long term loss, the total opposite of what any successful business wants.
 
i recently purchased 2 males off ebay, listed as HM and pics were one that is a marbled white and blue and the other with slight marble body with a full solid blue BF tail, i was then, after i paid, informed that b/c of the marbling gene that these fish were quickly changing colour, so i waited for the fish to arrive due to one reason, the pics were of 2 healthy fish. when they arrived they were not the fish in the listing by far BUT the fish that i ended up with are in my eyes were alot better than the others that were on the listing. I was happy with my healthy 2 boys and left positive feedback but this is b/c of the knowledge of what i can have later on due to their genetics.
What has happened now is that the seller is selling another lot of HMs, which are actually SD when you get them and using the same pics of the ones i purchased.
 
the fish you bought where not listed as halfmoons, and they are the actual fish in the pics, you was advised that the colours had changed due to the marble gene, and was offered updated pics to make that u still wanted them, you replied that you wasnt to bothered about the colour change as long as they was healthy. the others on there are not listed as halfmoon except for the red which are. and the other pics on ebay are not the same pics as no two fish are the same
 
the fish you bought where not listed as halfmoons, and they are the actual fish in the pics, you was advised that the colours had changed due to the marble gene, and was offered updated pics to make that u still wanted them, you replied that you wasnt to bothered about the colour change as long as they was healthy. the others on there are not listed as halfmoon except for the red which are. and the other pics on ebay are not the same pics as no two fish are the same
appologies, this is due to being informed from someone who i had shown the original boys to and imforming me that they were back on ebay, i didnt save the info as i delete everything after feedback has been left as it just cloggs up myebay. i've just gone into your listings and seen that i was WRONG and my humble apology to you is sincere, i shouldve checked myself before i stated something that was not 100% true, the fish were perfectly healthy and im really pleased with them and people have seen them today and commented on their great markings.
BUT as much as i was wrong i wont allow you to stand and insist that they were the same fish as the pics as they were NOT. the markings are completely different and TBH it does seem that the pics were altered to enhance the fish for potential sellers.
One thing you will realize is that i speak as see things and if an apology is deserved then i give it but if something is out of place i will also state that.
Niether of the fish have the BF at all, both are white based and not one of the 2 are the second blue BF that i purchased. it doesnt take 3 days for the marble to change SO much, the offer of the recent pics was offered but in that length of time you would expect them NOT to change into different fish

like i said im very happy with the fish, infact they ARE better than the ones originally shown, my point of sending the wrong fish still stands, no matter how much i was wrong on the rest of which im adult enough to admit. and apologise for.

if you wish to take this further then im sure we can do this by pm as a public arguement isnt really needed, dont you think?
 
Marble fish can literally change overnight :blink: I've jarred juvies only to have a completely different fish in the morning :rolleyes:

I think you have to be very careful before you start accusing people of enhancing pics :unsure:
 
Marble fish can literally change overnight :blink: I've jarred juvies only to have a completely different fish in the morning :rolleyes:

I think you have to be very careful before you start accusing people of enhancing pics :unsure:
not to the point of what they are now, tell me do their tails shrink as well? i didnt at all say they WERE enhanced i stated that they seemed that way from the fish ive got now, so what was it? different fish or enhanced pic? i sure dont care as like ive said ive got 2 great fish but i still stand for what i say about them not being the actual fish on the listings
 
no im sorry i dont enhance the pictures in any way shape or form,and wouldnt know where to start on that one any way,and it was a bit longer than 3 days the pic was taken on the 27 sept the auction finished on the 4th oct and they was sent on the 17th oct due to royal mail disputes .as for you saying not same fish they are , but on this we will have to agree to disagree as i didnt keep a pic record of colour change to prove other wise, but i do label carefully to avoid this sort of mishap.
no i have no wish to get nasty and feel that is detrimental to the site and wouldnt solve anything, but i would be interested in seeing the pics you have of them as they are now
 

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