Money 6/22 - New eBay account

[Silver]

When another Coty Smith incident happens, don't say I didn't warn you.

I dunno man I bought one of the photos last summer for my friend and everything went swimmingly, don't really see the problem

 

[Human Institute Director]

Christmas is coming early this year!

View attachment 33717

More like Christmas.

 

[Cucky]

I say he goes for the trifecta

Don't you mean the tribfecta?

And, eh, I don't think Chris' notoriety is what makes the doxing bad, from ebay's perspective. I mean, of course it actually makes the act much more serious, but still, I think the intent of "hey, harass this guy! *address*" would be enough for them to take action. That looks pretty bad.

This.

It would be terrible business if people didn't trust Ebay or sellers on there. If customers don't feel comfortable giving out their addresses and information then that's the end of Ebay. I'm sure they know about all the tricks in the harassment book.

 

[Someone in a Tree]

We all know how much I think its crap how Chris is using eBay like this (and you really are such fools for paying for his stupid arts and crafts).

When another Coty Smith incident happens, don't say I didn't warn you. Especially since Chris will handle this eBay crap exactly the same, slothy, lazy way.

People tend to forget that what started the whole Mr. Smith ride is that the buyer tried to cancel the transaction after discovering that Chris got his taint pierced, which is an incredibly stupid reason to back out of a sale. Mr. Smith did not release his initial communications with Chris (only the ones that followed the doxxing), but, judging by the tone he took with the message board, I doubt they were civil or professional. Probably along the lines of 'you disgusting fuck. I don't want your medallion.'

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

People tend to forget that what started the whole Mr. Smith ride is that the buyer tried to cancel the transaction after discovering that Chris got his taint pierced, which is an incredibly stupid reason to back out of a sale. Mr. Smith did not release his initial communications with Chris (only the ones that followed the doxxing), but, judging by the tone he took with the message board, I doubt they were civil or professional. Probably along the lines of 'you disgusting fuck. I don't want your medallion.'

Yeah, it was pretty obvious that guy went out of his way to poke the bear, then act all righteous to us with "look how awful Chris is for no reason!"

 

[Ravenor]

I would imagine they are aware of the doxing, just because I'm sure someone reported it.

And, eh, I don't think Chris' notoriety is what makes the doxing bad, from ebay's perspective. I mean, of course it actually makes the act much more serious, but still, I think the intent of "hey, harass this guy! *address*" would be enough for them to take action. That looks pretty bad.

Actually, did we get a stated reason for his selling limits? It couldn't have just been bad ratings, right? On ebay, it says that, in the past twelve months, he's got 235 positive reviews, 3 neutral and 3 negative. I'm probably forgetting something.

Back when ebay was first founded it attracted a lot of "Car boot" sellers, who are used to selling crappy goods and moving on, when people left them negative reviews there was a webring listing names and addresses of people who left negative feedback to protect the buyers they banned users who where part of said webring (god I feel nostalgic using words like this). While ebay isn't policing it as much any more they still will in extreme circumstances, one incident is a slap on the wrist essentially but if he did it again it would be flagged and they would come down on him like a bunch of non danish construction bricks.

 

[autism420]

We all know how much I think its crap how Chris is using eBay like this (and you really are such fools for paying for his stupid arts and crafts).

When another Coty Smith incident happens, don't say I didn't warn you. Especially since Chris will handle this eBay crap exactly the same, slothy, lazy way.

Nah man you're the fool, this shit is gonna be worth thousands someday. Stay jelly.

 

[Clown Doll]

I know it's just a name of his eBay account, but I can't help but feel a tinge of sad every time a small piece of "Classic Chris" vanishes in favour of the new "Christine" identity. It's like watching Sonic's arms being painted blue one drop of paint at a time .

 

[Jace E. Denton]

I know these will never function as a legitimate business for him, but is CWC aware that stuff like this is in conflict with his tugboat money? Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't disabled mean disabled? From what I know, he can earn very small amounts of income, but anything resembling "job-like" income from any venture means he is actually working, even if it is via eBay self-employment. It would also need to be reported as 1099 on taxes, right?

So if for some reason trolls or SJWs start actually buying this crap and Chris never reports it as income, given his popularity and social media presence, it would be really easy for the IRS to get involved. I will admit I don't know all the finer details of having SSDI income, but I do know I've met a decent amount of autists and cows who reap tax money like this and then think they're still 'allowed' to earn income on the side with no negative consequences.

Is he simply not happy with his free government checks and lack of responsibilities?

 

[AnOminous]

I know these will never function as a legitimate business for him, but is CWC aware that stuff like this is in conflict with his tugboat money? Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't disabled mean disabled? From what I know, he can earn very small amounts of income, but anything resembling "job-like" income from any venture means he is actually working, even if it is via eBay self-employment. It would also need to be reported as 1099 on taxes, right?

Disabled means unable to engage in "substantial gainful activity," which means a standard 40 hour a week job. This involves showing up reliably and not having health issues that a normal employer wouldn't reasonably accommodate. Only employment above a certain level would disqualify him on the grounds of disability.

Then there's SSI criteria, which are needs-based. So there are limits on his income, and over a certain amount, he would be subject to reduction of benefits or disqualification. So far, he's nowhere near that.

The specifics are too technical to go into and we don't have enough details to really be sure anyway, but I think it's safe to say he's nowhere near disqualification.

The rules are also somewhat different between earned income and unearned income, and part of the issue would be whether this is earned income. As a wild guess, I'd say the Sonichu medallions and things involving him actually making stuff are probably earned, but signed photographs? He does have to package them and actually deliver them, but I'm not sure that qualifies as "work."

If he made enough, he'd be disqualified just on the grounds of not needing it, though, whether or not he was disabled. I doubt he's anywhere near that.

 

[Holdek]

On topic, I'm willing to bet that this'll be one of those situation where Chris just slips through the cracks and avoids repercussions.

With anyone else on eBay, probably. But not a guy who has thousands of people following his every move.

I am surprised someone has not bought a photo, made some high-res copies of it, and sold it for half as much.

If someone wanted to send him over the edge, that would be the way to do it. What is he going to do at this point? He opened two accounts selling the same damn crap so someone else might as well actually profit off it.

Well...that would be like selling a photocopy of an autograph.

 

[LagoonaBlue]

Well...that would be like selling a photocopy of an autograph.

I do wonder if Chris would be offended or would gloat about how he was so famous and great that people copied his work and whatnot. I mean, people change.

Then again this is Chris, the unpredictable enigma.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

Yeah, it was pretty obvious that guy went out of his way to poke the bear, then act all righteous to us with "look how awful Chris is for no reason!"

Having an altercation with Chris and coming out as the bigger douchebag is, in a word, pathetic.

 

[timtommy]

I know these will never function as a legitimate business for him, but is CWC aware that stuff like this is in conflict with his tugboat money? Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't disabled mean disabled? From what I know, he can earn very small amounts of income, but anything resembling "job-like" income from any venture means he is actually working, even if it is via eBay self-employment. It would also need to be reported as 1099 on taxes, right?

So if for some reason trolls or SJWs start actually buying this crap and Chris never reports it as income, given his popularity and social media presence, it would be really easy for the IRS to get involved. I will admit I don't know all the finer details of having SSDI income, but I do know I've met a decent amount of autists and cows who reap tax money like this and then think they're still 'allowed' to earn income on the side with no negative consequences.

Is he simply not happy with his free government checks and lack of responsibilities?

Well, his budget with the tugboat is fairly tight. He likes to have a little extra money to alleviate that a little bit.

Not declaring money from eBay and the like falls into the category of "shit a lot of people do". Technically, every dollar he earns on eBay (net material costs) is income, and should be declared as such. Also, he should pay sales tax if he is selling to other Virginia residents. In reality, almost noone except large eBay businesses do it. And noone except large eBay businesses who don't do it get busted.

If he declared his other sources of income, and the tugboat would be clawed back. That wouldn't make him ineligible, it would just mean he lost some tugboat money. I think it is about 50 cents less tugboat for each dollar he earns.

In reality, noone really cares. It's not worth anyone's time coming after him. His claim to the tugboat is decent, and his other income is sporadic and rarely significant.

The "Chris is defrauding the government and is going to have the IRS up his ass" claims remind me of the "Chris is a violent criminal and is going to get multiple years in prison for his assault" claims. You take something he did wrong, put it in it's most negative light, and comb the legal code for the most severe consequences for it. Then you act all indignant and claim he is somehow evading justice when he doesn't get that punishment. That's just not how the world works.

 

[Someone in a Tree]

Well, his budget with the tugboat is fairly tight. He likes to have a little extra money to alleviate that a little bit.

Not declaring money from eBay and the like falls into the category of "shit a lot of people do". Technically, every dollar he earns on eBay (net material costs) is income, and should be declared as such. Also, he should pay sales tax if he is selling to other Virginia residents. In reality, almost noone except large eBay businesses do it. And noone except large eBay businesses who don't do it get busted.

If he declared his other sources of income, and the tugboat would be clawed back. That wouldn't make him ineligible, it would just mean he lost some tugboat money. I think it is about 50 cents less tugboat for each dollar he earns.

In reality, noone really cares. It's not worth anyone's time coming after him. His claim to the tugboat is decent, and his other income is sporadic and rarely significant.

The "Chris is defrauding the government and is going to have the IRS up his ass" claims remind me of the "Chris is a violent criminal and is going to get multiple years in prison for his assault" claims. You take something he did wrong, put it in it's most negative light, and comb the legal code for the most severe consequences for it. Then you act all indignant and claim he is somehow evading justice when he doesn't get that punishment. That's just not how the world works.

Yet somehow, without fail, every eBay thread has someone either bitching about Chris violating his tugboat lease or bitching about the people buying shit from Chris. To some forum members, that's their blue arms...I mean white whale.

 

[zrowsdower]

I wonder how "fresh" his personal drawing will still be by the time it arrives in the mail.

 

[Reldnahcnotsewnaitsirhc]

You don't file taxes if you're only getting SSI because you're not paying tax on it (it is tax). Unless you make over $400 self employed, then you don't file at all.

 

[Jace E. Denton]

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I want to see Chris in trouble over finances, was just wondering if he was aware enough to consider it was a possibility. I know the laws are probably kind of complicated and it could just end up being subjective in a lot of cases as to whether or not someone on SSDI can or can not do certain things.

While I have known people who blatantly milked the system and then continued to earn 'real' income on the side, I don't think Chris has those intentions. I was also just curious about how much breathing room he has with his tugboat...like whether he genuinely felt he needed more supplemental income or not. While I don't typically like most SSDI situations because I've seen a lot of abuse of aid systems, I do pretty much feel Chris is better off with it, he would be a big liability in the working world in many industries.

Not to say he never had the potential to live a normal life, but it looks like that ship sailed a long time ago. I followed the CWC stuff years ago back when he was first discovered by trolls and kind of forgot about his existence around 2010 or so. It's actually a bit sad how much things have derailed for him since I last paid attention, although I know much of it is his own doing.

 

[timtommy]

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I want to see Chris in trouble over finances, was just wondering if he was aware enough to consider it was a possibility. I know the laws are probably kind of complicated and it could just end up being subjective in a lot of cases as to whether or not someone on SSDI can or can not do certain things.

While I have known people who blatantly milked the system and then continued to earn 'real' income on the side, I don't think Chris has those intentions. I was also just curious about how much breathing room he has with his tugboat...like whether he genuinely felt he needed more supplemental income or not. While I don't typically like most SSDI situations because I've seen a lot of abuse of aid systems, I do pretty much feel Chris is better off with it, he would be a big liability in the working world in many industries.

Not to say he never had the potential to live a normal life, but it looks like that ship sailed a long time ago. I followed the CWC stuff years ago back when he was first discovered by trolls and kind of forgot about his existence around 2010 or so. It's actually a bit sad how much things have derailed for him since I last paid attention, although I know much of it is his own doing.

I guess we will never know what would have happened if Chris had never gotten the tugboat. I think there are two possibilities.

1. He lives off his parents. I am not sure how feasible that is. My guess would be they could have managed it with Bob alive. He seemed to have average personal finance acumen. When he died it would have been trickier. His tugboat seems to be crucial to the running of the household. Maybe Barb adjusted to it being there and would have acted differently if it weren't. But that is a big ask of her.
2. He is forced to work. I think he is capable, if he deems it necessary, of holding low end jobs. His ability to do what needs to be done is underrated on the forum. If he got it into his head that showing up for work and doing what his supervisor asked was one of those things, he would do it. I could see him losing a job here and there because of doing something stupid like repeatedly hitting on a coworker, but he would muddle through if there wasn't really an alternative.

Option 1 would make his life worse. The Chandlers have never had a ton of money, and if you take away the $15000 or so that Chris brings in, it would really tighten things up. Option 2 would be a mixed bag. I have often thought that some things about working might end up appealing to Chris once he settled in. But his "career" would consist of a series of bottom of the totem pole jobs. He would have to spend a huge proportion of his days doing menial work for low pay.

Overall, I don't really think Chris "abuses" the SSDI system. His autism is enough of a handicap that anything above entry-level is pretty near impossible. And a lot of entry level jobs, anything that involves a lot of customer interaction, are pretty much beyond his reach. So while he is capable of work, the job market he operates in is much shittier as a result of a "disability" he has. You would have to have a pretty conservative view about disability benefits to think he shouldn't qualify.

 

[Holdek]

I think we all know how adept Chris would be at calling anybody.

Yeah, my advice to Chris would be: don't call anybody!