Buyers and Sellers Beware - Protecting Yourself

Original article written by Regina Moore posted 11 years 0 weeks ago

It happens sometimes. A horse is advertised on the forum as being a such-and-such galloper, or a such-and-such quality of mare. You buy the horse. Then you gallop it, and it has a lower level gallop than was advertised. Or, you look at the history tab, and it says something different than was advertised. Or perhaps, in the case of a mare, the history tab says nothing at all about the mare’s quality.

So, did you get cheated by the seller?

Let’s look at these sorts of situations a little closer.

THE HISTORY TAB
The history tab gives a whole lot of information on a horse, a lot of it pretty boring. What’s most important to note, for any horse you just bought, is any information given in italics. Italicized comments are something that only the current owner of the horse can see. This italicized information can be:

The assistant trainer’s comment each time the horse galloped.

The veterinarian’s comment each time the horse is vetted.

The horse whisperer (SIMperior players only) comment about the track condition the horse prefers.

The bloodstock agent’s comment about the quality of mare, if the horse is a broodmare.

One important thing that is NOT recorded on the history tab (and I wish it was) are any nicks that a mare has with particular stallions.

Very often, this same italicized information is cut-and-pasted into the horse’s notes. This can be because the player prefers to have such comments more immediately at hand, or it could be simply out of habit, per the section below.


A LITTLE BACKGROUND
Prior to Year 30, no comments from the assistant trainer, veterinarian, or horse whisperer, existed on the History tab. Therefore, players often pasted such comments into the notes, or they would be forever lost. The bloodstock agent did not exist until Year 30, so there was no such thing as mare quality prior to that.

In rare cases, prior to Year 30, a player might complain that they bought a horse that the seller said galloped one thing, and the buyer galloped the horse and found out that the comment said something else. The seller could give the defense that the gallop comment must have changed, which was known to happen, though very rarely. (It happens a little more often in current times.)

To protect buyers, Anna Liza Doolittle was introduced in Year 30, to give comments on youngsters and racehorses that, while stated differently than gallop comments, had similar levels as the gallop comments. So, for $10,000, a player could ask Anna about a horse the player was considering buying, and not have to depend on the seller’s honesty about the gallop comment.

Anna Liza Doolittle also gave information on broodmares, as long as they were retired from racing. She would give the same comment on the mare’s quality for a non-owner as she did to the owner.

I don’t remember exactly when it was that the gallop comment, horse whisperer comment, and vet comments started being recorded on the History tab, but I’m pretty sure it was right about this same time in Year 30.

However, the broodmare comment was not added to the History tab until over a year later – I believe, from research of my own barn, in early Year 32. This is crucial to know, if you’re buying a broodmare that was retired before Year 32. The seller might tell you that the mare is a “formidable”, and after you buy her, it indeed says “formidable” in the notes, but you can’t find anywhere in the History tab where it says such. In these cases, you’ll either have to trust the seller (which you can do the vast, vast majority of the time), or pay the $10,000 to see what Anna Liza Doolittle says the mare quality is, and verify that it is indeed “formidable”.


PROTECTING YOURSELF
If you’re plush with SIM cash and purchase sparingly, you can afford to spend 10k to check the mare comment yourself for a broodmare, or the bloodstock comment (ie, gallop equivalent) for a youngster or horse of racing age, before making a purchase.

However, for newer players, or those who otherwise have to watch their bank balance, as well as those who are constantly buying new horses, the 10k “pre-purchase check” can get very expensive.

So, what to do, when you buy a horse, based upon something the seller said in the Forum, or told you in a private message, and you can’t or don’t want to invest the 10k to verify the accuracy of the information before purchase?

First, as soon as you purchase the horse, check the History tab, with an emphasis on the italicized comments. Make sure that all information that the seller gave to you is accurate, per the history. Note that most gallop levels have two comments that mean the same thing (see the end of this article), so don’t be alarmed if the seller said the horse was “wings”, and the history tab says the horse galloped “great”. Those two comments mean the same thing.

Again, a mare that was retired before Year 32 will likely not have a comment in the history about her quality. And, again, any nicks the seller claims he/she has done with the mare will not show on the History tab, though most players will put them in the notes.

If you have reason to be suspicious of the seller, or are a naturally suspicious person, you can verify information, at your cost. You can always bloodstock check a mare yourself (before or after the purchase), for 10k in SIM dollars, and you can always nick her with a particular stallion (before or after the purchase) for 250 game points. For youngsters and racehorses, you can, of course, gallop the horse at no charge (though make sure it’s rested enough to do so; ie, it hasn’t had a race, workout, or gallop recently).

If the seller has represented the horse as “a half-brother to two stakes winners” or some such, this is easy to verify before you ever bought the horse, since race records and family history are readily apparent to everyone. So, you should have done such verifying before making the purchase.


WHEN YOU FEEL CHEATED
If you find out that there is a material difference between what the seller said the horse was, and what it actually is, what should you do?

First, I strongly recommend giving the seller the benefit of the doubt. Assume it was an honest mistake. It’s easy to get a horse named Red Socks mixed up with a horse named White Stockings, and call one a “wings” when it’s really an “OK”, etc. The vast, vast majority of players in SIM want happy customers when they sell horses. Most players have the utmost integrity and will fully disclose as much information as possible, so that buyers know exactly what they’re getting.

So, if there’s been an error, contact the seller. Tell them that you didn’t get what you thought you were buying, and that you’d like to return the horse and get your money back. A player with integrity will rectify the situation immediately. (Though be aware that you can’t return the horse until 48 hours have passed.) I've even heard of situations where the seller feels so bad that they inadvertently gave wrong information on a horse, that they’ll buy the horse back for a higher price than the original purchase cost, or give a free horse instead, or something along that line. In other words, the buyer ends up in better situation than if the error had never occurred. That’s all the more reason to give the seller a chance to set things right.

If the seller corrects things to your satisfaction, then I don’t see any reason for the situation to be carried further than that. No reason to bother The Steward, no reason to get on the Forum and huff and puff about how you were wronged.

However, if the seller pulls an “as is sale” attitude, or otherwise indicates that you, as a buyer, should have known better than to trust what you were told, I would contact the Steward with the details of the false advertising that was given. I’m not sure how things will proceed from there, since I’ve never been in that situation, but no one wants deliberate, false advertising to be going on in SIM.


ADVICE TO SELLERS
Don’t be naïve about how seriously players take the comments that give information on the horses they’re buying. A player I was mentoring bought a “star” mare that gave high nicks. Turned out, the mare had never even been bloodstock checked before the sale and was only a “formidable”. The seller said she had assumed the mare was a star, based upon the high nicks. Even if the argument could be made that most veteran players would have also assumed the mare was a star, you just don’t go throwing around labels like "star mare" on the Forum, without having the facts to back you up.

Don’t title your auction “Formidable Broodmare Auction” if 100% of the mares offered aren’t formidable. That’s asking for trouble. Even if you make it clear on the Forum that a few of the mares are merely “good” or “potential”, a whole lot of SIMsters never read the Forum, let alone read every post. All it takes is the one player, who bought a mare that was “good”, to cry foul, since they had every right to assume that any mare they bought from the auction was “formidable”. Title such an auction “Mostly Formidable”, or something similar, instead.

Generic, relative pricing can get you into trouble. For example, many years ago, somebody announced on the Forum that they were putting a bunch of yearlings for sale. The ones with “higher prices” were wings gallopers, and the “lower priced” were mere “hard to tell”, gallopers. So, the seller put the wings at 20k each, and then the HTT yearlings at 5k to 10k each, based upon the strength of the pedigree. The wings horses were bought up immediately. Players coming along later read that the “higher” priced horses were wings, so when they saw the seller’s remaining 5k to 10k horses on the sales list, they assumed the 10k horses were wings. One can hardly blame them for feeling cheated when the yearlings they bought turned out to be “hard to tell”.

If it turns out that somebody who bought a horse from you feels wronged, because you accidentally gave incorrect information, then make amends. If you simply say “sorry” and buy the horse back, it’s likely that the wronged player will still be muttering under their breath about how they were cheated, and venting to other SIMsters that they’re friendly with. Try a peace offering, in terms of a free decent yearling, a free lease of a quality mare, a free breeding to your expensive stallion, buying the horse back for more than you sold it to them for, or something along that line. I’ve known it to happen that wronged buyers end up feeling good about a botched transaction, because the sincerely sorry seller made them better off than if the error had never occurred.


IT’S A BUYER’S MARKET
Just as with real life, the very best horses are always in high demand. There aren’t enough of them to go around.

Otherwise, in SIM, for all the other horses, it’s an extreme buyer’s market. There’s far more unwanted horses in SIM than there are players willing to buy them. This has been true for the twelve game years I’ve been playing, and I don’t see it changing in the foreseeable future. As long as players breed far more horses than they ever intend to keep, this buyer’s market will continue.

A buyer’s market means that the buyers wield all the power, and sellers who are serious about selling need to cater to them. Which means being forthright with information that is correct, and bending over backwards to make buyers happy.

Years ago, a veteran player held an auction. I contacted him privately to ask about a couple of the horses (the gallop, probably – I don’t remember). He responded back with a riddled, convoluted answer, making it clear that he was afraid that if he gave me a straight answer, I would lose interest in the horses. Of course, he had every right not to answer my questions. The result? He’s on my short list of players I’ll never buy a horse from. After all, there are plenty of other horses to choose from, and plenty of other sellers out there who are forthright with correct information.

I can assure you that most other players have their own mental lists of players they will never buy a horse from.

If you’re a seller who doesn’t want to be on anybody’s short list of sellers to avoid, then accept that it’s a buyer’s market and behave accordingly.


INFORMATION ON COMMENTS ABOUT HORSES
On my website is a page where I’ve summarized comments that Mary Weather (the assistant trainer) and Anna Liza Doolittle (the bloodstock agent) give to assess horses. This link is also available in a Forum post, titled “List of Shorthand Comments”, pinned near the top of the New Players board.

http://www.magicravenranch.com/comments.html

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