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

[Kyogissun]

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.

I'm surprised someone didn't jump down your throat about this statement being all 'times have changed' or 'thanks for the lecture DAD' or some shit like that.

This really is the way I feel about the scenario. I feel that the way my mom raised me, how her parents raised her (her animosity towards them aside) and various other people who have told tales of what their parents did for them have set an example of responsible decisions concerning parenting.

This just doesn't sound like really good parenting and, I'll say it again, I do NOT buy for ONE second that the Xbone was REALLY for his four year old. UK, 19, decision to blow load of cash on a game console instead of general child rearing costs... Something reeks of 'this guy isn't being very responsible'.

I know I'm being judgemental and I'm not going to apologize for it. Why should we be feeling bad for this idiot? I'm feeling more bad for the kid because all I can think is stuff like 'Where's his mom?' or 'What important bills could that money have gone to?' or 'what kind of nice thing could he have done for his kid that he ACTUALLY would have appreciated?' (I.E. something besides buying a gaming console he probably doesn't even have the proper hand eye coordination to handle yet).

Now, the kid could have parents supporting him and maybe the mother still supports him too but there's not enough info here so here we are.

tl;dr Kid seems like a dumbass and looks like he will continue to feel like a dumbass. Scamming is bad but I don't feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for the kid who's probably not going to be raised in the best way. I hope things get better and the dad begins making better decisions but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen!

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Said he was buying a xbox one for his 4 year old son? lol. Guess thats the parent he is, sticking the kid in front of the tv 24/7.

Regardless, ebay should stop this kind of scamming because its obvious he was pretending to be selling a console and not a photo.

 

[mindfaQ]

More like bought it for himself (else I fear for the 4-year-old).
Sad to see him get a refund, gotta check the description what you buy.

 

[Arrogancy]

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

He's Nineteen, so yes, he's still a teenager. We might only use the term "teenager" in reference to people age thirteen to seventeen, but nineteen is still teenage years.

 

[Aesir23]

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.

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.

"Manning up" would have been keeping it in his pants, because "Men" aren't animals who can't control themselves.

"Hormonal urges" and "oh he just couldn't help himself! It's kind of endearing!" are the kinds of things you'd say about a bloody dog!

While I agree that a better decision would have just been keeping his pants on it is still quite admirable that he stuck around for the kid at all. I went to an Alternative School so a fair number of my classmates were pregnant teenagers (roughly seven or so) and a couple of my friends even became pregnant as teenagers. With the vast majority of them, when the boyfriend received the news it resulted in a "Well, sucks to be you" before he headed for the hills. (Granted, that sort of thing isn't unique to guys since another of my classmates was in a situation where his girlfriend essentially dumped the baby in his lap and refused to help care for it.)

Now, that doesn't mean he's an ideal father since, in this case, I'm pretty sure he's just using his son for the sympathy since the Xbox One isn't exactly known for its child friendly games.

The real mark of idiocy for me is blowing that much money when he probably has more important things to spend it on and it probably would have been cheaper just to buy it via retail instead of on eBay. (I'm not sure what the sales tax is in the U.K.)

 

[Scarim Coral]

Oh lawdy I can't help but to laugh at this news but either way I am glad he got his money back despite he didn't check the deal properly.

 

[Caiphus]

Ignorance is no excuse from the law.

I'm afraid you have horribly misused that phrase. It is meant to be "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."

 

[Shim3d]

How can people justify this? There is no way in hell the seller is legitimately trying to sell a picture of an Xbone for $700~ USD. It's a scam.

 

[TallanKhan]

I am glad they banned the seller because at the end of the day he was clearly out to con somebody. But to be honest i don't think the purchaser should have got his money back, whatever the intent of the seller, the guy didn't bother to read the description where it stated it was photo, and anyone who is stupid enough to make a purchase on Ebay without doing so isn't worthy of their money.

Also, yes it is disgusting that a 19 year old has a 4 year old child. But the other thing that ocurs to me is; who buys an Xbox One for a four year old anyway?

 

[Panzer Camper]

To all the people that are berating him for not keeping it in his pants I would like to point out birth control is not 100%. My best friend was total accident and both parents were using protection. You people make me sick. And if you simply think he should not be having sex at all then well I cannot help you there. I started trying to lose it when I was like 10. Didn't succeed until a bit later but it's not like the kid raped a girl, they agreed and did the deed and he stuck around. Good on him for that. Bad on him for buying a picture but people trust the website more than common sense sometimes.

 

[Lo Flying Frying Pan]

Seriously, I'm glad Ebay is resolving the problem for the dude, but you should probably pay more attention to the fine-print in online purchases. "Caveat Emptor."

On another note, Holy Hell! So what, the guy was active as a teenager. Young and stupid comes to mind, but it's easy to forget the pressures and impulses of being a teenager. I've noticed that the people who tend to lambaste these human-beings are cave-trolls and prudes who couldn't get any when they were young. How about focusing on the article and leaving the irrelevant, off-topic "poor choices" out of the loop?

 

[jackpipsam]

Well at least this one didn't get shot like the PS4 buyer.

 

[miketehmage]

I'm upset that this idiot got his money back. I don't think the "scammer" should have received it either though, it should have been donated to charity or something because fuck both of them. That level of stupid should not be encouraged by this "oh don't worry we'll make it all okay for you." attitude.

Also a 4 year old cannot make good use of an Xbox one

 

[Fearzone]

Selling a photograph of an XBox for more than $10 is an obvious scam. Ebay did right, and nobody got shot.

It's so weird, I'm tempted to call BS on this one.

 

[Eve Charm]

Meh at the end of the day I'm glad the buyer got his money back and the con guy got banned and hopefully the money got charged back.

Why doesn't anyone want to see someone get screwed out of their money on a service they use or probably will use one day??? It's stuff like this that makes it safer for the rest of the people that use it. Also why the hell would you be allowed to list a picture under the video game consoles.

It really doesn't take much to get scammed out of crap and people are jerks, so be glad something is out their to watch you. I've had 2 bad experience with ebay in years, One was a customer that wanted a money order to go around later and say he never got the money order and won't send out the game till he gets another, which is why I never not use paypal now.

Second was a listing for old xbox game that said " complete, game case and manual" with no picture. The game case I got was an PS2 case that someone printed out a copy of the cover image and instruction booklet for me. Needless to say I was pissed and got my full refund plus shipping with the logic of "Complete means original case and manual!" and offered the seller if he wanted to send me the 6 dollars shipping he charged I'd send the game back, Needless to say I have a spare copy.

But ya doesn't take much for someone to try to screw you over on how they wrote the listing.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

What 19 year old with a 4 year old son can afford an Xbox One? I'm 26 with no dependant family and a good job but I can't afford that sort of cash! Now I'm going to have to go on a bitter rant about spongers on state benefits...

Oh yeah, the eBay part is the most unremarkable element of this story to me!

 

[The Lugz]

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

Perhaps this is less to do with majority, and more to do with numeracy?;

thir-TEEN, four-TEEN, fif-TEEN, six-TEEN, seven-TEEN, eigh-TEEN, nine-TEEN.

I mean, you don't say twenty-TEEN or thirty-one-TEEN, at-least I hope.. so surely he's a 'teen' at nineteen? I don't see any other logical conclusion here.

 

[Strazdas]

I've already seen this story printed elsewhere, but it's worth having another go at it.

We've already covered the fact that the guy is 19 with a 4-year old son, something which hardly shows to be a paragon of self-responsibility. Also, the article I read referred to him as a student ad also that he had "saved up" to by the Xbox One for himself (sorry, his 4 year old son). More like, he was using his benefits money to buy the console. I remember being a student at 19 and being able to even save up for a console was a pipedream, even though I was working part of the time.

You can always save up. I am currently a student for masters degree, work full time, pay for my studies (half of my wage goes there alone) and still managed to save up for a new washing machine, hard drive, garage refurbishing and now am in a course of saving up for new PC (plan is february). you definitely CAN save up being a student.

snip

"Buys $735" that is the bit I'm talking about, the headline! Not the article. The fact that the pound is mentioned first in the article is irrelevant, what is relevant to my annoyance is the first mention of finicial loss is in dollars when the story is about a teenager in the UK!

Let's flip it around "an American teen bought a picture for £450"... Why did he pay in pounds?

Why did you even make a mountain out of a mole hill? I was pointing out how weird it was and you ride in making an argument about it.

Title said: Buys $735 worth photo.
Title did not said: Pays $735 for a photo.
Your example does not fit this title. a fitting one would be:
US teen buys £450 worth picture.
The title does nto say what currency it paid. The article however does, and it he paid in pounds. Which makes sense him being in UK.
I merely pointed out that you have misread the title, and in return you are trying to prove that your interpretation of the title is somehow the right one.

And little kids love video games, when she was younger my sister used to just watch me play stuff like GTA or Fallout (I avoided doing anything grossly inappropriate), she didn't even want to give the game a go herself. I expect most 4 year olds would find a game fascinating, even if they couldn't play it properly themselves. But yeah, an Xbone probably isn't the right console for a young child, this guy should have just bought a picture of a Wii instead.

I can sencond that. My sister was watching me play games since she was 2 years old. Now she is 6 and she was playing on her own since she was 5 (there were attempts at 4 as well but she didnt play got the way of handling mouse correctly then). She plays on PC and phone (parents house has no consoles).

I've been a 19 year old student, been on a full time course, worked two jobs and had a (moderate) student loan. Between helping my parents out with rent and bills getting transport, buying food, buying college supplies (yes some of us have to actually do that) i barely had enough left to maintain my relationship and keep clothed. Things like learning to drive, getting a car etc have had to be sacrificed. I didn't even have a child to look after.

You list helping your parents with rent and bills as expenses. How much spare money could you save if your parents were paying for it themselves? Would it be enough to, i dont know, buy a console every 8 years? Just because you had a lto of expenses does not mean everyone does. I am a student, paying for the studies (no loan, just paying the price every half a year while studying), working full time (8-5 work, 5-10 studies) and i manage to save up some money on top of that. Then, i dont have "relationship", so i guess a lot of money could go that way.

But lets pretned you have grown a brain in the meantime and invest wisely; inflation tracks at around 3%-4%, as a conservative estimate. I currently have bonds invested with money my perants gave my for my 18th birthday and they track 0.5% above inflation and are risk free. So lets say you get 4.5% a year yield on your accrued investment, re-investing every year.

Not sure where you came up with that numbers as conservative inflation estimates are closer to 2% and bellow. especially in the long run. I do not know how it is where you live, but currently here risk-free investments are not above inflation prices. You would be getting closer to 2% a year.

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

To me they both sound kinda retarded.

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.

The article said that the person in question admited he KNEW it said that it was a photo but bought it anyway hoping to recieve the actual thing. He know it was a photo, but thought the seller would send something else than listed.

Putting aside console war BS, he obviously bought the console for himself, not his kid. Even in a few years the kid still won't be able to really play that thing, and even if they could do you really want your six year old playing CoD? Fuck this guy...

4 year old are capable of playing videogames. COD is not the only game on Xbox.

I don't understand your not understanding. 19 has always been a teen. NineTEEN. I mean... Its right there.

Language/cultural differences. "Teens" translated to my language has absolutely nothing to do with numbering. completely different words. Teens are 14-18 here, at 18 you become adult and not a teen, before that you are a child. word teen is not related to numbers in any way here, but merely represents a certain age frame. Apperently, it is different in english speaking countries, thought it sounds more like a coincidence than anything to us.

What 19 year old with a 4 year old son can afford an Xbox One? I'm 26 with no dependant family and a good job but I can't afford that sort of cash!

Its called saving up. If you got a good job and no extra expenses such as loans to pay ect you should be able to save up money for it too. If you cant you should probably take a good luck at your expenses. Either that or your good job isnt paying very good.

I mean, you don't say twenty-TEEN or thirty-one-TEEN, at-least I hope.. so surely he's a 'teen' at nineteen? I don't see any other logical conclusion here.

The problem comes probably from that fact that we dont say teen in ninteen either. completely different words in non English speaking countries.