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Comment by arithmetic | Hacker News Reader

This is completely nuts. I'm surprised that this company gets away (and actually be pretty successful) with it's predatorial behavior towards it's customers. I searched for DecorMyEyes, and while the first result is the company itself, the rest of the page is filled with "My bad experience with DecorMyEyes" and "Consumer complaints against DecorMyEyes". Now I get that people are usually searching for the name of the company that makes the glasses (like Ciba Vision) and not DecorMyEyes, but doesn't one usually buy things online from fairly reputed sources (and you'd look up the company if you didn't know them)?

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Never order anything from Brooklyn without a thorough background check. Seriously. I live here and it's a cottage industry: offer too good to be true prices, game shopping sites and search engines, post fake ratings and reviews, when enough people catch on start up under a new name. This guy seems to have taken it to a whole new level though.

See some photos of storefronts here (some are totally legit like B&H, but you see some of the photos and names and you get the picture)

http://donwiss.com/pictures/brooklynstores/

agreed. Years ago I bought a camera from just such a company and they called me claiming that I also needed to buy a special case to get that price. Very pushy and rude. But I had a coupon for a free case right from the manufacturer and the ad made no mention of such a requirement.

A more thorough investigation would have saved me the trouble. If you've never heard of a company, a significantly lower price from a high cost location is a definite warning sign.

Yep, I live here too (and not in Williamsburg but closer to Brighton Beach). Brooklyn is hustler's paradise. Some people I know do stuff online that will make this guy look like an amateur.

For those not from New York, I'll just point out that traditionally most of these problems have been associated with stores run by Hasidic jews. Although I'd imagine that many of the hipsters and other locals are just as bad if not worse.

That being said, don't buy a suspiciously cheap camera from a store that's closed on Saturday unless you've done your due diligence. And even then you're taking a risk.

If the locals are "just as bad if not worse" why did you single out Hasidic jews? Yikes.

Because a large percentage of the electronics stores selling grey market stuff out of Brooklyn are run by Hasidic jews. Obviously not all Hasidic jews selling cameras in Brooklyn are criminals, but it's generally easier just to avoid them. Similarly, just because I wouldn't pay $5000 for a Rolex on the streets of chinatown doesn't mean I'm racist against asians.

In general I have no evidence that Hasidic jews are any less ethical than any other group of people. At the same time there appears to be an ongoing problem of the ones in Brooklyn using their appearance of religiosity as a cover for committing crimes, especially related to selling stolen electronics and drug dealing. (Jesse Eisenberg was recently in a movie called Holy Rollers, which was about the latter problem.) Sure there are some people who are losing business due to being falsely stereotyped, but it's like 200 people as opposed to 200 million so the social consequences are fairly limited.

>actually be pretty successful

The article has the quote "Mr. Borker described his business as fantastically profitable. At his home, that seems unlikely." and goes on to paint a dimmer picture of his prospects.

In the other thread about this article, I noted how this guy has the exact opposite of the Zappos customer service philosopy, and will likely end up reaping what he's sewn.

The sad thing is that many people don't look up a company they don't know. He's likely taking advantage of time-pressed or less savvy consumers.

He claims he sold $20,000 worth of product in 1 day, for a profit of $3,000. However, if he is sending fake product (like the women claims she received) profits may potentially be much higher.

Except that he has no product inhouse except for stacks of returns. He is merely having other companies dropship the product, which I doubt he has checked the condition of.

So basically, he is using a marginal gain strategy of reselling other companies' stuff.

You'd be very surprised how many people consider being the first Google search result automatically worth of trust. Related: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_google_failed_inter...

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