White van story- ocurred this morning

[Goodwill_HiFi]

I'm sure whatever city or township would love to have a chat with them about sales taxes...

Cities and townships don't collect sales tax...... at least not around here. Probably the most that would happen to white vaners would be that they'd get sited for soliciting on private property, since a lot of real business's wont appreciate their customers getting harassed by these guys.

 

[soundmotor]

Apparently it isn't fraud (or illegal) in Canada. I'd bet the same applies to the US, caveat emptor.

"Hey, would you like to buy some high-end Kirsch speakers? (Kirsch name printed on box, sounds similar to a high-end speaker brand you think you are familiar with.) They cost $3,000 (points to price printed on box) but I can let you have them for $1200."

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Alta+sounds+warning+bell+stereo+scam/1839606/story.html

This scam has been going on long enough that I'd bet there is nothing that can be done to shut it down, otherwise it would have been. I was approached the first time in 1981!

 

[rifftrax]

Cities and townships don't collect sales tax...... at least not around here. Probably the most that would happen to white vaners would be that they'd get sited for soliciting on private property, since a lot of real business's wont appreciate their customers getting harassed by these guys.

I imagine it's just the same as if people are asking to wash windows for you in the parking lot. It's an immediate 911 call at the business I'm an employee of - we can't risk the harassment complaints from customers.

 

[Switchblade]

Cities and townships don't collect sales tax...... at least not around here. Probably the most that would happen to white vaners would be that they'd get sited for soliciting on private property, since a lot of real business's wont appreciate their customers getting harassed by these guys.

Are you kidding? Every retail seller is required to collect sales tax. Here there is federal, state, city of Chicago, and Cook County sales tax.

 

[cooljjay]

I wonder if I can come in to business by selling my old thrift store speaker finds out of my benz, maybe I can get a world famous phrase like white van but mine would be called Brown Benz

 

[electronjohn]

Don't these guys read the sign at the city limits..."Green River ordinance enforced!"

 

[Dynacophil]

Paramax' already arrived in germany. after the Kirsch-Boom 2 years ago there was a year of quietness around white van... the relaunch is now, and already hundreds of cheated cheaters wine in the german hifi-forum
after 30 years of white van....

 

[Arkay]

It's a clever scam, perpetrated by a hard-core organized criminal gang (not that all the guys at the street level are members ) that treads carefully enough around the edges of the law that they have not been shut down in 40 years or so of operation. They've even managed to open up some quasi-legal selling aids, including websites that help suck in the unaware. In fact, the scam is highly profitable, and has grown from a local thing in the US to an increasingly worldwide phenomenon.

It can be fun to suck the guys in a bit, then hit them with the fact that you are completely clued-in and potentially troublesome... and then watch them run (most of them will, after an initial attempt to "call your bluff"). I wouldn't advise being too confrontative, though: they have 'friends' in their organization, and could --if irritated enough-- come back at you in ways you wouldn't like. They're unlikely to do that, though, as one of the ways they keep their operation going is by being there today, and almost impossible to find tomorrow, when you realize you've been had. You are marginally safer confronting these guys than you would be, say, Hell's Angels or Crips (hehehe...). They do NOT want to attract attention from anyone, beyond the sucker-of-the-moment, and will readily move on to the next spot and the next victim, when they realize they won't get your money.

 

[hammr7]

In many areas of the US, where officials have finally caught on, white van sales are illegal.

The typical "criminal" charge is "theft by deception". It ties in with the comment that valuations need to have a basis in reality. Giving speakers a list price of $3,000, when none of them actually sell for anywhere near that, qualifies. In convincing someone that the retail price is $3,000, so that you can convince them they are getting a deal, you are using deception. When you make claims related to specifications (in the glossy brochures) that are false you are using deception. [Personally, I think this is why Bose dropped any semblance of audio specifications from their literature and web site]. And you know that even when the scammers hook someone for a large amount that transaction is never reported to state or federal tax officials. So the scammers can't use prior sales (ripoffs) as a basis for value.

The "civil" charges for white van sales run the gamut from selling without proper licenses (since it actually is a business for those involved) to different levels of tax fraud (ranging from sales tax evasion to income and employee tax evasion).

 

[Goodwill_HiFi]

Are you kidding? Every retail seller is required to collect sales tax. Here there is federal, state, city of Chicago, and Cook County sales tax.

No, I'm not kidding.

Federal sales tax? Not unless it's built into the price, like with gas and cigarettes.

We have state sales tax, that's it........6%.

 

[Sam Cogley]

No, I'm not kidding.

Federal sales tax? Not unless it's built into the price, like with gas and cigarettes.

We have state sales tax, that's it........6%.

Most cities and counties around here have separate sales taxes to fund separate projects.