Beware; Furbuy

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

Who - https://www.furaffinity.net/user/furbuy/ & http://www.furbuy.com/
Where - Via FA notes (Caps below)

I was recently contacted buy the FurAffinity account for Furbuy about hosting my auction on their website. The note was a typical copy/paste spam style note asking why I did not use their website, and asking how they could improve if it if I had issues.

Cap - http://i.imgur.com/PqwWd2T.png

I replied back, saying no one uses the website, (I've asked multiple artists and commissions who refuse to use it, plus every time I check the site, it's nearly empty) I also informed them that the times I used it back in the day, I was never paid, and outright scammed.

Cap - http://i.imgur.com/rIk5i26.png

I was then sent a snarky reply, accused of lying, and what I think may be a threat? I am unsure. They tell me my business will fail. I do have an account, and I did in fact leave negative feedback for the buyers that refused to pay, and the time I was scammed it was after the artwork was completed. I was threatened in to a refund. I did not know about A_B at the time.

Cap - http://i.imgur.com/Q3kjDXK.png (The bottom section circled in red)

I sent a final reply telling them to cease contact, that their behavior would not get me to use their sirte, and that spam like ads via notes were against FA rules.

Cap - http://i.imgur.com/YAclxde.png

Comments

[ichi-black.livejournal.com]

If the person behind that account is who I think it is then this type of behavior is no surprise :\
I stopped using the site a while ago because the owner asked for some feedback on the advertising options on the site, I offered some and I guess he didn't like it because the next thing I know he was telling me my auctions could not be run because they were not 'furry' related (granted chainmaille might not be furry related but before I had run plenty of chainmaille auctions on the site before I offered feedback.)

Also wasn't there some hullabaloo over him keeping sellers/buyers information even after they requested/demanded it deleted. I mean my account is still there even though I asked for it to be deleted (and I can't log onto it).

[stormrunner1981.livejournal.com]

Yes, they just suspend/ban the account, but don't delete it. I just remembered I needed to "update" my information and well Lets just say Not your Business is my name and We Are Not amused is my Address :3.

[gatekat.livejournal.com]

Have you opened a trouble ticket on FA?

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

I havent bothered, I didn't think they'd do anything as my stalking/harassment tickets went unanswered for like 6+ months.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Jurann, he has a post to his name already: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/tag/artist-jurann
Pretty sure there were more, or at least I've heard plenty of complaints about his behavior. Demanding people use his site, admonishing people for not doing so if their FA auctions go awry. Generally wishing artists ill if they don't use his site.

I volunteered on his MUCK when he started one years ago, I'd build stuff and stick around to greet people who logged in. All he did was log in once in a blue moon and complain I timed out in public places, which happened because no-one was logging in, he did nothing to promote the MUCK.

He wants everyone to come to him for various things, complains when they don't and blames other people for his lack of popularity and success. Not sure if he doesn't realize or just denies the fact his behavior is what scares people off, but he's been like this for years and years.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

His behavior on that old post is really... something. He could have kept quiet and the OP might well have come off looking totally unreasonable, but his comments make it awfully clear which of them I'd rather have to do business with! And it's not Jurann!

[maxi.livejournal.com]

Haha yeah I got one of those notes a week ago and it's word-for-word. I just ended up deleting the note because of, well, exactly this happening.

Isn't sending out spam-like notes like this against FA's TOS?

[tealmoonxiv.livejournal.com]

Did you report him?

I'm pretty sure spam notes are against FA's rules.

[blot.livejournal.com]

Yick, that's not really professional in the least.

[fenn.livejournal.com]

Jurann was suspended/banned for this very thing in the past.

Report him.

[kaputotter.livejournal.com]

It's true and I'm very disappointed by all this.

[totschrei.livejournal.com]

"FurBuy no longer has the ability to send messages to FA users in any capacity and additionally we have disabled notes on this account. If you have questions, comments or concerns about FurBuy, please send our admin team e-mail at: furbuy.com[at]gmail.com and include as much useful or relevant information as possible to help us assist you."

This concerns me. So has this happened multiple times, I wonder?

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

Alas, this kind of thing is not new (//www.flayrah.com/3468/owners-fur-affinity-furbuy-clash-over-auctions).

Aside from the inadvisability of insulting people who give you their honest opinion, even if it is negative, this particular method seems like a bad idea because it should be very easy for an admin of any furry site to review a user's sent messages or comments and see a pattern.

[bayru.livejournal.com]

wow, they've lost my business

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

This isn't the first time he's done something like this. Honestly, report it. The spam is obnoxious enough, but being argumentative when you give your reply is just skeevy. If he doesn't like the answer, then why even spam people?

[wingsofjudas.livejournal.com]

You know, I haven't used that site since 2004 and it left such a bad taste in my mouth I haven't touched it since. The person who won my auction not only refused payment because my shipping was too high (despite being clearly stated in the auction, a whopping $6) but they tried to harassed me into selling it to them for less. I can accept that some people are just d-bags but when the ADMIN of the site started emailing me telling me how awful I was and that "some furries have to choose between buying art and basic necessities" it really ticked me off. >:/


It's really disappointing to see this sort of thing is still going on, definitely worth a report.

[morti-macabre.livejournal.com]

lolwot

"some furries have to choose between buying art and basic necessities"

Nice logic Jurann.

[ryunwoofie.livejournal.com]

Wow I thought Jurann was permabanned for his harassing attitude, glad I checked his name and blocked him ahead of time. Jesus I don't need that. FA has been going quite fine for me with using it for auctions.

[lackoflollies.livejournal.com]

... i'm removing my auction off of shis site. It's clear Jurann hasn't learned a damn lesson, and I won't support behavior like that.

[dilario.livejournal.com]

yep, I got that exact same note too.

[ducttapeninja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is pretty par for the course for Jurann in terms of his, er... "PR" tactics for his website-- It's interesting that he's choosing the notes route now, when he was suspended before for going into people's auction journals/submissions and heckling them about not using his site before... If I remember right, he outright harassed a few of the higher-traffic artists this way about hosting their auctions on FA and not his site. Maybe he thinks that by using the notes to continue his weird idea of "advertising" he won't get caught again?

Either way, this is why I refuse to have anything to do with Furbuy. I don't sell there, I don't buy there, I haven't even wasted my time making an account.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

I've honestly gotten tired of him and ended up just plain blocking him. He gets to the point of harassment since he just won't stop. Asking once, I can get, but he's asked me multiple times, just let it go when someone says no.

I did tell him, I did try the site, got no bids, and got tons of FA. This is of course untrue to him, my personal experience doesn't matter. Any chance of using the site was blow out from his responses to people not wanting to use it.

My question is, if so many people use the site, why is it so important to him more do? Wouldn't he not need the traffic? Sounds fishy.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

This genius again?

His attitude is atrocious, his PR is a joke, his services offer buyers and sellers the protection of a single citronella tea-light candle in a mosquito infested swamp.

He is an awful bully, and doesn't make ANYONE who could make his site and service actually worth it wanna use it. Furbuy is a hot mess, that's all there is to it.

I'll stick to ebay.

[catwithpen.livejournal.com]

I love your avatar :)

[muzz.livejournal.com]

I used to use the site for auctions and various things, there were a couple of times that I ended up with spam bids and the like but aside from that I never had any issues. I did notice though after a while that barely anyone seemed to use the site (at least people I knew of), and most did their own auctions via Furaffinity and maintaining them on their own.

I've also received a note from them before regarding the fact that I didn't use their site, and that my auctions would do better/benefit greatly from using the site again. I simply ignored it.

However, if they/him/whoever does send these notes to ANYONE they come across that does auctions and doesn't use their website? Really lame on their part.

[sbneko.livejournal.com]

He does, ya. Many, many people have gotten this note. It used to be worse, he'd comment on the auction pages, he did so multiple times for me not taking no for an answer.

[shariea.livejournal.com]

wow, I got a similar message from him about a week ago. I took some time to respond, and the reply wasnt like this one at all. D:

[kitefeathers.livejournal.com]

Wasn't Jurann supposed to step down from doing PR because of exactly this?!?!

There are others listed as working for FurBuy, how come they don't have someone who's better with handling potential customers?!

[funkicarus.livejournal.com]

if he speaks to his staff like he speaks to his clients, i imagine those other people didn't stick around long.

[zaulankris.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what you were auctioning, but I do now that FurBID has almost zero fursuit traffic while FurBUY seems to be quite popular for that sort of thing.

That being said, Jurann also got really snotty with me once for the same reason. It's like he's incapable of understanding that maybe some people don't want to use his site because not only is he a bully, his buyer/seller protection is a joke and him making major changes to the TOS and not telling anyone is major sketchy, too.

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

I used to check Furbuy on a regular basis, it's basically dead except for people putting up suits. The artwork or books almost never get bid on.

EDIT - My second sentence didn't go though

I sell artwork, commissions to be exact.

[timelapsedecay.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, knew this was Jurann before I read the comments. What absolutely atrocious behavior, I'm so glad I never used furbuy

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

I'm certainly no fan of Furbuy, and a no stranger to Juraan's bully tactics (both online and offline). He came to my table in person at Rainfurrest one year to pressure me about leaving Furbuy and why I made that choice. I told him I wasn't interested in hearing his crap. He became very aggressive and pushy about the topic until I said I'd call security if he didn't leave my booth. I also received various notes about it from him on FA, before his first suspension.

I wish he could have just stayed banned, frankly. His compulsion to harass people have not changed, and he can't seem to control himself.

[tealmoonxiv.livejournal.com]

He harassed you in person!? D:

That's rather frightening.

[epiceternity.livejournal.com]

Yikes, that reply is appalling! Why ask for feedback if you don't want to hear the answer or have the capacity to accept it.
I had heard that there was some problems with the site so having it confirmed seems that the issues are true.

(frozen)

[kaputotter.livejournal.com]

Just some insight here. I'm not playing devil's advocate at all because this is pretty gross. But I think part of the miscommunication you had may have been as a result of confusing auction sites? FurBuy is indeed rather successful right now. It's FurBid (and also FurEAuction) that used to have a hayday but is much quieter now. So I just thought I'd put that out there FWIW.

(frozen)

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

No, I mean FurBUY not FurBID. I know which site I am speaking of. I in no way confused the two. Every auction I posted got one bid, if that (Yet my FA auctions get tons, so its not a lack of skill or interest). Plus I occasionally would browse the site, and it's pretty dead except for the suitting sections.