First Dibz Not Living Up To Their End of the Bargain

For those of you familiar with the situation, here is my email interaction with First Dibz.
(Will Update As I receive word from the company)

Tues. Night I received this email from First Dibz.



Dear XXXXX,
FirstDIBZ is sending you this very important email because it has come to our attention that an individual uDIBZ seller has misused the FirstDIBZ website (in contravention and breach of the Seller Agreement). As a result, this individual has had their account suspended to protect the integrity of the overall uDIBZ marketplace. FirstDIBZ has accelerated its activities in finding any sellers that are misusing the marketplace and will continue to do so until all sellers are 100% verified.


During the seller’s misuse of our website, our records confirm that you have purchased DIBZ from this individual and as a result we will be refunding you 100% of the amount you paid for these DIBZ plus 100% of the transaction fees that were incurred. This refund will be for all DIBZ associated with this individual seller, whether that team is still active in the marketplace or has been eliminated. In addition, if you have sold any of these subsequent DIBZ, the funds received from these sales will be reversed. Please allow 48 hours for the credits to be funded in your FirstDIBZ wallet. Your DIBZ holdings associated with this uDIBZ seller have been removed from your account.


To ensure the continuing customer satisfaction and positive user experience which you have become accustomed to, we have temporarily suspended the ability for any new seller markets to launch in the Super Bowl XLIII uDIBZ marketplace. Existing Super Bowl uDIBZ markets are unaffected and still open for trading.

Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to seeing you again soon at http://links.mkt816.com/ctt?kn=5&m=30959529&r=MTYxNTU3NTcwMAS2&b=0&j=NDUxMDQxNzkS1&mt=1&rt=0

Regards,
The FirstDIBZ Team



My Reply:



To whom it may concern:

I find this situation appalling and unacceptable. As you well know, the price of Dibz, both in the primary FirstDibz market and the secondary UDibz market is determined by both supply and demand. When supply is increased, the price goes down, affecting both markets. When the UDibz market started gaining in popularity, and supply, I became concerned and subsequently sent you an email voicing my concerns. This email was titled "Concerns with Fans Selling Dibz" (Ticket number 755870 for your reference - sent on October 8th) voicing concerns over possible fradulent behavior. I was assured that FirstDibz verified with those sellers who appeared to have more than a couple of tickets for sale were verified by FirstDibz. I was also directed to the Seller's Agreement where I could rest-assured that the seller would be held to indemnify me if any fraud was to take place. It appears that this is now not the case from the email I just received. To suggest that I could be losing money now based on my buying and selling of Dibz is infuriating.

As someone who uses your site on a regular basis, the total amount of transaction fees (going to FirstDibz) is $2,212. All of these transactions have been predicated on two beliefs:

1. Should there be any fraud; the original seller of the Dibz will be held liable for any damages.2. All Sales are final.

Per your "Refund policy"

"Final Sales
All sales of DIBZ are final. No refunds shall be given by FirstDIBZ, the venue, the event sponsor or any other party for any amounts paid for DIBZ, including, without limitation, any service charges or fees. Further, you acknowledge and accept the risk that a purchased DIBZ may expire and never be converted into a ticket for the specified event. No refunds shall be given by FirstDIBZ, the venue, the event sponsor or any other party for expired DIBZ. "

The second paragraph of your email obviously contradicts this:

"During the seller's misuse of our website, our records confirm that you have purchased DIBZ from this individual and as a result we will be refunding you 100% of the amount you paid for these DIBZ plus 100% of the transaction fees that were incurred. This refund will be for all DIBZ associated with this individual seller, whether that team is still active in the marketplace or has been eliminated. In addition, if you have sold any of these subsequent DIBZ, the funds received from these sales will be reversed. Please allow 48 hours for the credits to be funded in your FirstDIBZ wallet. Your DIBZ holdings associated with this uDIBZ seller have been removed from your account."

Per your seller agreement (Section 8):

IMPORTANT—PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: This is a legally binding contract. By clicking on the "Accept" button below, you represent that you are authorized to accept these terms and conditions and you agree to be personally bound by the terms of this Agreement (defined below). If you do not agree to be bound by this Agreement in its entirety, please click the "Decline" button below and do not attempt to use any of the services or products accompanying this Agreement.

8. Indemnification - Ramifications of Failure by Seller to Ship Tickets. FAILURE BY THE SELLER TO SHIP THE TICKETS AS OUTLINED IN THE POLICIES & RULES OF EACH MARKET WILL REQUIRE SELLER TO INDEMNIFY FIRSTDIBZ FOR ALL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF SELLER'S FAILURE TO SHIP THE TICKETS. SUCH INDEMNIFICATION SHALL INCLUDE, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, THE COST OF REPLACEMENT TICKETS, THE FAIR MARKET VALUE OF THE TICKETS, THIRD PARTY CLAIMS, DAMAGES AND ANY LEGAL FEES (INCLUDING ANY LEGAL FEES INCURRED IN CONNECTION WITH COLLECTING SUMS OWED BY SELLER TO FIRSTDIBZ HEREUNDER). SELLER HEREBY AGREES THAT FIRSTDIBZ MAY RECOVER ANY AMOUNT OWED BY SELLER TO FIRSTDIBZ USING ALL LEGAL MEANS AVAILABLE, INCLUDING CHARGING SELLER'S CREDIT CARD, AND THAT FIRSTDIBZ SHALL BE ENTITLED TO PURSUE ALL LEGAL REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO IT FOR SELLER'S FAILURE TO SHIP THE TICKETS. SELLER ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT SELLER REMAINS PERSONALLY LIABLE FOR FULFILLING ITS ENTIRE INDEMNIFICATION OBLIGATIONS HEREUNDER WHETHER OR NOT FIRSTDIBZ CHOOSES TO SATISFY PART OF SELLER'S INDEMNIFICATION OBLIGATIONS BY CHARGING SELLER'S CREDIT CARD. MOREOVER, SELLER HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT THE FAIR MARKET VALUE OF TICKETS AT THE TIME OF DELIVERY TO A BUYER MAY GREATLY EXCEED THE FAIR MARKET VALUE OF THE TICKETS ON THE DATE BUYER SUBMITTED BUYER'S BID, BUT THAT SELLER SHALL NEVERTHELESS BE REQUIRED TO DELIVER SAID TICKETS TO SUCH BUYER. ACCORDINGLY, SELLER HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE COSTS OF INDEMNIFYING FIRSTDIBZ, IN THE EVENT THAT SELLER FAILS TO DELIVER SAID TICKETS, MAY BE SUBSTANTIAL, RANGING FROM A FEW HUNDRED DOLLARS TO POTENTIALLY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS DEPENDING ON THE NATURE OF THE TICKETS AND THE FAIR MARKET VALUE THEREOF.

Again, per your email, this does not seem to be the case. From the way I read this, it is FirstDibz responsibility to recover the damages from the seller, not from the victim. Now you seem to be saying...oh wait...never mind, we'll reverse everything relating to that seller. I've bought dibz in the past that didn't work out...what if I wanted my money back, would you then give it to me? Of course not, that's the point of your company.

When FirstDibz introduced UDibz, it had to bear some of the liability of possible fraudulent transactions (this seems to be outlined above per your seller's agreement). You are now holding the buyer responsible for the seller's fraudulent actions and bearing NO RESPOSIBILITY for your decision to allow individuals to sell. Again, I'd like to point out how I voiced my concern on October 8th about this and was reassured that I had nothing to worry about.

I demand that you do not remove money from my account because of poor decisions by both your company (not to verify sellers as I was told you did), and the individual who perpetrated the fraud. It appears that FirstDibz is the one in breach of contract here.

I urge you to do the right thing and live up to your obligations per the seller's agreement (i.e. go after the seller legally rather than punishing the victims such as myself). Otherwise, per the blogs I'm reading, it appears people are getting in line for a class action lawsuit:

http://standupticketguy.blogspot.com/2009/01/firstdibz-is-scam-fraud-alert.html

Regards,
xxxxxx