Anyone Lost Some Travelbugs?

[+Cave Troll and Eeyore]

I for one was watching with interest but had no contact with the seller.

Lets hope something can be salvaged from the wreckage

[+walkergeoff and wife]

They have now been withdrawn from sale.

[+The Golem]

"I thank you for your kind response, as i said i do not appreciate those kinds of emails. If you suggest an amount which can go to charity then i may think of saving these poor little bugs.

 

thanks."

 

 

I have just received this message from the seller, it's amazing what you can achieve when you behave in a reasonable manner!!

 

So what do you think? Do we make some charitable donation, I wouldn't suggest sending the seller the money but if we could call in a local charity shop and hand over some dosh we should hopefully get them back...

 

Edited to add: There are three charity shops in Keswick, Oxfam, Barnardos and Cancer Research, to avoid a big debate about which charity the money should go to I will go to Barnardos and donate £5 if everybody agrees. I choose Barnardos because it has the easiest parking!!

Edited December 30, 2005 by The Golem

[+walkergeoff and wife]

"I thank you for your kind response, as i said i do not appreciate those kinds of emails. If you suggest an amount which can go to charity then i may think of saving these poor little bugs.

 

thanks."

 

 

I have just received this message from the seller, it's amazing what you can achieve when you behave in a reasonable manner!!

 

So what do you think? Do we make some charitable donation, I wouldn't suggest sending the seller the money but if we could call in a local charity shop and hand over some dosh we should hopefully get them back...

Well done. I think that you should arrange what you can between you and the seller, and the rest of us should let you get on with it.

[+rutson]

Good going Golum, that was tyhe first thing I suggested last night, glad she's changed her mind though. Put me down for a fiver.

[+slimey]

I was going to send a very sympathetic email to the seller, but I won't now as I don't want to harrass them.

 

I think it's probably fair to cover the sellers costs - especially for shipping, but perhaps for the amount they spent at the car boot sale.

 

I do believe that the ebay seller is regretting ever touching the TBs, and probably had absolutely nothing to do with the caches goingmissing. I'd like to think that anyone who sent a message to the seller accusing them of handling stolen goods, or even accusing them of stealing the items in the first place can look back on this and think whether an apology is deserved.

 

Simon

[+rutson]

Just got this:

 

Hi

You donate 5.00 to cancer reasearch, plus

the 3.00 for them, plus 2.00 postage.

making 10.00 in total to cancer research.

 

then you send me your address to send to.

 

this is a one time offer.

 

Donation made, looks like we're getting them back

[+slimey]

Thanks rutson!

[+Nellies Knackers]

Nice to see common sense prevail, at the end of the day they only have one 'use' and that is as a travel bug so they were bound to end up travelling again sooner or later and even by buying them you can't change the gc.com ownership or goal so what was the real problem, at least they were getting back into geocaching circulation.

[+The Golem]

"5.00 donation for cancer research charity, plus also 3.00 i paid for them, plus 2.00 postage..

making 10.00 total for charity to cancer research.

then the bugs can be set free."

 

Sounds like they're being held to ransom...

 

I'll pay £5, Rutson if you can pick up the other fiver that will cover it...

 

I don't know how we're going to prove we've done this though - perhaps send him a couple of cheques made out to Cancer Research?

 

Edit: - have you paid the full £10 already Rutson?

Edited December 30, 2005 by The Golem

[+rutson]

Donation already made online, screenshot forwarded to ebayer, she's happy with that.

[+Stuey]

Well done everybody, that's a great result . Ain't it funny though the things we do to save a few McToys with tags which the owners should have copy tags for anyway

[+Cave Troll and Eeyore]

Well done on turning the situation around

Thats 3 TBs that will be happy to get back to travelling.

[+The Golem]

Right - hopefully we'll be getting them back - keep us posted please Rutson!!

 

While we are on the subject of travel bugs does anyone know vfmfca ?

 

He retrieved my Wandering Albatross TB from my Castlehead Cache back in November and I haven't heard from him since. I have sent 3 emails with no response - what should I do now?

 

Note the shameless self promotion under the guise of a plea for help...

Edited December 30, 2005 by The Golem

[+The HERB5]

Surely if the TB's had had their mission attached to them it would of lessened the chance of them going astray.

[+mollyjak]

Well done - a good result

Hope to see them on our wanders some time

[+Jonovich]

Is it worth politely asking what Car boot sale they were for-sale at? Maybe a local cacher could check it out to ensure no further ones are being sold in this manner and find the original culprit?

 

J

[+Sensei TSKC]

Is it worth politely asking what Car boot sale they were for-sale at? Maybe a local cacher could check it out to ensure no further ones are being sold in this manner and find the original culprit?

 

J

Has anyone called The Cache Police?

[+Munkeh]

im daft I would have just given them back

[+welch]

Basically, stolen property can become legitimate if the buyer buys in good faith and for a proper price - of course not knowing or believing they were stolen n the first place. The money used to buy said items then becomes the stolen property and is transferred to whatever is bought etc.

 

Not as easy as you may think.

 

Oss!

But wouldn't the stolen property be seized and returned to the rightful owner?? assuming it can be proven, not sure if the police accept copy tags and control of the the page as proof of anything.

[+Simply Paul]

And 'leaving something in a hidden box in the countryside, perhaps never expecting to see it again' might well equate to abandoning it in the law's eyes. Caches and their contents are on very wobbly ground, especially if they're hidden without the landowner's permission.

[+freespirit1402]

hi

im new to the forum. i was the highest bidder until rutson managed to persuade the seller to grant the bugs clemency and left the message on the main forum.

prior to the auction ending i had requested whether the seller would be willing to furnish me a buy it now price but am very glad to see not only have the bugs gone back into circulation but money has also gone to charity.

 

i do agree however, that nasty emails probably werent the way to get things back. i tried to be fairly polite and explain that although the tbs were low in monetary value they did have sentimental value.

 

that said before i read the forums i did come home and email the seller again asking about the buy it now offer.....if they are dodgy it would be interesting to see how they responded to THAT

 

still alls well that ends well. next time i will be sure to have a quick scan of the forum before i take any action

 

ty rutson

[+tteggod trackers]

i have had a reply from the owners of bagpuss i think they will be contacting someone through this forum.

[Shep, Seren & Tess Dog]

OMG...I haven't beenon the forum for a few weeks, & I come back to something like this.Its sad that some people are hell bent on wrecking things for others. I really hope this is a one off, & that no one elce tries to hold TB'S to ransom.

S.xx

[+FunLovingGeocacher]

I would be furious if any of my travel bugs ended up on E Bay. Time to send round "the boys" to have a quiet word.

Not much that can be done now though.

[+rutson]

Look what dropped through my door this morning:

 

[+rutson]

B*gger. The tags don't match the bugs, someone is playing silly games

[NickPick]

Well, at least you've recovered 3 tags. Well done!

 

Now that's another 3 cachers you've got to contact to figure out the whole mess.

[+tteggod trackers]

has the owner of bagpuss been intouch?

[+rutson]

I've emailed again.

[+tteggod trackers]

ok great i'll leave it with you then!!!

[+The Golem]

B*gger. The tags don't match the bugs, someone is playing silly games

Why - which bugs do the tags refer to?

[+Moote]

These one's:

 

Bug 1

Bug 2

Bug 3

 

All last seen in either Far North England or Central / Southern Scotland. Bit like the caches that the original 3 went missing from!

 

Emmmmmm

 

Moote

[+HazelS]

so... if the tags refer to different TB's... are we about to find 3 other TB's with the other set of tags on them at another car boot????

[Bagpuss & Emily]

Just to let everybody know, we are the true owners of Bagpuss III and following contact by tteggod & Rutson, we are now up to speed on what has been going on.

 

Thanks to everybody for taking an interest. Rutson has the bug now and one way or another we will get him back into circulation once we have found his spare tag (which is in the house somewhere)

 

It's true that we haven't been caching for quite a while, but it's fun watching the bug's progress until we get the time to start again.

 

Cheers,

 

Bagpuss & Emily.

[+Alibags]

I thought that the bugs has been identified by reading their tag numbers from the EBay listing? Did I get that wrong? Were they just IDd from their photos? If the former, then somebody IS playing at silly buggers.

[+68 GUNS]

I assume that bug 3 is the original tag and not the copy as according to its history Postie re-released the bug with the copy tag and it is currently in the hands of Molyball.

 

I think the only thing to do is to separate the tag and hitchhiker and return them to their relevant owners, then wait and see if the matching bugs/tags turn up.

 

If this is; as it appears, a deliberate effort to mess the caching community about and possibly make some money to boot, then the confusion could get even worse if copy tags are in circulation and the originals turn up again!!

Edited January 6, 2006 by 68 GUNS

[+rutson]

UPDATE....

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.as...f5-f5723c021015

 

Junior has his correct tag attached and is ready to to be re-released.

[+rutson]

UPDATE #2:

 

Bagpuss III is packed up and ready to be returned to it's owner.

[+rutson]

UPDATE 3:

 

 

I wonder if this is this bug?

 

I've emailed the owner, if I get no reply, I think I'll mate the two and send them on teir way back towardss Chester....

[+rutson]

UPDATE 4

 

YEAH!

 

The purple thing is indeed Geeko and will be on his way soon.

[+adambro]

Good work!

[+Bill D (wwh)]

With all the travel bugs that go missing along the way, it's good to hear of some that have made it back into circulation. Well done!

[Oor_Wullie]

Dunno if this will help, but for future reference I'm an Ebay Powerseller and as I'm a 'gold' I have a contact phone number for Ebay, plus priority email access.

 

I will cheerfully call and or/email Ebay should this occur again - if anyone thinks it might help.

[+BareClawz]

Hi,

I too am glad to see the bugs back in circulation. Having looked at ebay today there are several coins for sale, mainly from the US. From the UK there is a new pair of travel bug tags. As I'm hoping to set my first cache in about 10 days I would like to place a bug in it.

At the moment I'm watching but not bidding those tags, but if anyone has a spare set they're willing to sell I'd be more than pleased. Just contact me direct and we can discuss what I hope will be a rather special one.

Now where did I put that white land-rover?

It's that or a special task that hopefully will get geocahing some good publicity. Maybe I'll combine both ;-)

 

Regards

[The Royles]

Mail sent to BareClawz.

[+BareClawz]

Royles, thanks again, the travel bug arrived safely and will be released out into the wild in my first cache in about a weeks time. I've already given them a name and mission, details to follow.

I would like to comment here how friendly and helpful I have found everyone on the forum and connected to geocaching. I'm looking forward to meeting some at some point and putting faces to names.

[+Team Vorvik]

Hi There BearClawz

I would like to comment here how friendly and helpful I have found everyone on the forum and connected to geocaching. I'm looking forward to meeting some at some point and putting faces to names.

 

I remember last years camping trip to Crockerton with fond memories, we were only there 3 days but in that time we were disturbed by the site owner emptying the cess pitt . Then the following morning the gardener decided that 7.00am was a good time to start cutting the grass!! Then to top it all we were asked to move our tent as there was to be a marquee erected where our tent was standing, in fact we were woke up and asked when we were leaving the site.... we still had one more night which was pre-booked, someone had failed to tell us that the marquee was to be erected!!

 

But then we also had the good fortune to meet a really great guy, this guy was carrying these long poles from the roof of his transit van into the camping field on his own. So my father in law and i decided to help him with his task (being friendly folk that we are), he then told us that this was to be the frame-work for a tipi. How cool was that, a tipi in Wiltshire!! We were so intrigued that we decided that we would help build this tipi (it's not everyday that you get the chance to see how a tipi is built), It was great to see the finished tipi standing there, and we later retired to our tent for a cuppa tea and a chat.

 

We told this guy ( BearClawz ) that we were having a short holiday and that we were to go to Longleat Safari Park later that day but also that we were interested in doing a Geocache or two whilst we were down there. He looked at us strangely when we mentioned Geocaching so we showed him our GPR's and a couple of print outs of cache's nearby to which he showed a interest. We then told him how it all worked and that it was great way to see some of Englands hidden places of interest, was free to take part ( apart from the fuel and having a GPR's ), and was also beneficial to us in getting some exercise.

 

So we are glad that we did actually meet BearClawz in person and hope that in one way or another we were instrumental in getting him into this great hobby/sport/recreational activity, we hope that you have as much fun as we do and if you are ever in North Yorkshire hope that you get in touch with us so that we can do a couple of caches together!!

 

Team Vorvik ( +1 )

[+BareClawz]

Yep, it's all your fault. I blame you 100% for getting me into this!

You wait till I do get up to Yorkshire!!!

But I am also very grateful that you have. Just as grateful that these nice people helped me and enjoyed the experience.

Thanks on both counts. See you one day and this time I won't be quite so confused when you show me some logs lolol

[+rutson]

UPDATE...

 

Junior is now stateside!