KalNet Message Board

Benjamin Carroll • 10 hours ago
Mike Jeffries is a Poet of supreme perspective. I have to admit I am a gushing fan girl of his work.

In my opinion, they run out of gas because everyone in the world wants a piece of them. It's an onslaught of dualistic energy, both support and doubt, fired at them all season long. Everyone wants to cage the lion, wants to knock the legends into the challengers division. It's different than impact, heat, damage or any other team, when you step in the ring with dynasty you are trying to behead legends AND an Empire, an Empire that seems the very paintball gods have chosen to lead the evolution of the sport itself, initiating this brotherhood paintball generation after generation with a new opponent in which they have emerged victorious against and stood longer than, every time.
The name Oliver Lang is more appropriately translated to Hercules in paintball taxonomy, Ryan to Leonidas and Yosh to Thor. Who doesn't want to behead the legendary Hercules, who doesn't want to conquer the mighty Leonidas or claim the hammer of Thor for himself.

It seems that their gravest challenge has been laid out before them on a more subtle level. Their new opponent is themselves,
As it always has been, but now it's pride and ego and the true dissolving of it in brotherhood and love that will be the foundation for their return and humbleness that will be the key to a season long performance.

As Oliver said, "it's all just character building anyway."

Dynasty will have to reevaluate their character to emerge again.

The stakes have been raised.

Understanding we literally create our realities is to understand that at some point, Murphy would come out to play, as Jeffries proclaimed, and his law would establish a beheading of dynasty.

The jealousy and pride that has been hurled at them in an onslaught for years finally had its day. Their shield had long withstood said onslaught until life recognized it's moment to teach dynasty and the paintball world through dynasty, once again. I believe their MAO Appearance between the talking shit to damage and the pride itself of reassuring their status by winning, delivered their demise, or should I say, their opportunity to build more character. It cracked their aura, their shield, as pride and shit talking always do, and it caught up with them karmically immediately after.

Karma is the great mirror and you reap what you sow. Not as punishment, but as a feedback mechanism for growth.

Times have changed, leaders must deploy humbleness more than ever now or feel the wrath of karma instantly teaching as it does,
through the school of hardnock reality aka their 7 straight losses and their relegation. I know Oliver understands this quickening that is no doubt happening. With all that being said, I believe this is a challenge to dynasty. Oliver Lang has said time after time, Love is the key. If they subscribe to that, it is love that will bind them, it is brotherhood AND humbleness that will ensure their rise once again in 2015. Next year they will be faced with the same situation. If they chose humbleness instead of pride after early season success, I believe, they can, put a full season of success together in 2015 and prove again to the world that Oliver's Facebook Occupation: "Being of Light" is the hidden and undiscussed key to Dynasty's Dynasty upon the highest peaks of paintball. Their throne and lore exists to teach the paintball world this key. I am convinced of that. Brotherhood got them there. Brotherhood will take them back and Humbleness will deliver a full season of success.

To expand on this. As life wanted, teams recognized family was the key by observing dynasty's brotherhood.

A few years ago the chants of professional teams weren't humble, they didn't end in a humble "team" or "family". Then heat emerged in their family environment organized around the real world success of Sarge and their one team attitude. What happened? The obvious, life rewarded them. And paintball furthermore recognized this film atmosphere as fundamental to success. Then impact adopted it on a deeper note than ever and their recent success is directly proportional to their investment in that family environment.

Now more than ever teams recognize that brotherhood is a master key to success. Its cohesive, it binds,
Love binds, and their is power and support from the unseen realms in the deployment of that wisdom.

It is the force that has empowered dynasty all these years, in my
opinion, and it is dynasty that held that wisdom in plain sight for those with eyes to see and learn from, again, exactly as Life
Intended and orchestrated.

Now, brotherhood is not enough. Many teams are deploying that wisdom. Dynasty must reinforce the shield and teach by example once again. Their bucket must contain less holes than ever before.

Humbleness will be the only way forward for them. If they reestablish their dominance by flexing their supreme brotherhood, they will have a choice, again. Fall in their ego and pride or reign in humbleness.

Times have changed, dynasty must as well. The ultimate sacrifice they can make is to let each other die so the team can emerge. I say this all with the utmost respect for dynasty and the hunch that they are who they are because they have deployed love and brotherhood more than everyone else.

This deployment of the secret of life has given them the keys and the kingdom of paintball. The orchestrator has orchestrated this, there is a reason why their leader's Facebook page says, works at "Being of Light". Pay attention world. Love is the key. Dynasty has taught us that.

Humbleness seals you in that power. Wisdom is in the pattern. All those that have become consumed by pride in leadership positions have fallen because of it, all leaders that have been ruthless in their humbleness have become timeless inspirations.

Mendela, Ghandi, Martin Luther. The supreme characters have demonstrated this on a national scale and dynasty must again demonstrate what is possible with brotherhood in the world of paintball.

This is my opinion. My article. There in lies some truth, some opinion, and some mysticism. All is written from my heart and the belief that maybe just maybe one heart will be sparked by these words.
For that heart is destined to lead and his eyes can see what is in plain sight yet goes unnoticed by the closed heart.

Find love, and you will find the perspective to see what I have discussed here.

Much love Paintball world,

Stay light and as the yogis say...

Namaste

A New Beginning.

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
-Winston Churchill

The ominous gray clouds of the dreary winter afternoon hang over the cold cement parking lot as the boys sit outside the bookstore while anxiously and restlessly flipping through the pages of the magazine at a frantic pace. The teenagers point and comment with every turn of the glossy sheet dreaming of possibilities and hoping that their delusions can one day become a reality. The allure of becoming a professional football player, basketball player or baseball player has sputtered away leaving only the optimism of becoming a world class paintball player. Despite the peculiar looks and constant questions, society is intrigued by the game of paintball and the notion that someone can commit such a large portion of themselves to one goal and one objective with little to no monetary return. Nonetheless, such grand outlooks and sociological concerns are irrelevant to the boys as they admire the images of the professional paintball players and their shimmering trophies and oversized plaques. At 25 and about to turn 26 in a week and almost 11 years since I sat outside the Barnes and Nobles with my friends, my dream has been lived and the opportunities that life and God have provided within the game of paintball continue to be seized and consumed, further fueling my life and allowing a new door of prospects

For over 20 years, a large quantity of aspiring paintball players has dreamt of playing on the All-Americans. Despite the public outcries and opinions pertaining to certain players or sponsors, it was always hard to deny the intrigue of a team that had endured every transition of the sport and maintained the ability to remain competitive. Much in the way the Yankees or Red Sox have built a legacy in baseball with their staying power and ability to survive, the All-Americans had forged through the muggy intermediary periods of our game. Coincidentally, I grew up in the Midwest; therefore it was inevitable to hope for a tryout with Detroit Fusion or Chicago Aftershock, it was a right that came with location. But, I had always respected the All-Americans and their drive for victory and perfection that defined the team and its players and so I was able to still imagine myself waiving the All-American banner after a victory.

In 2004 I joined the team out of necessity when I had nowhere else to go and once I was provided a chance to leave I stayed because I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I do not consider myself too masculine to admit that a piece of my heart has been broken; but not in the way that a girl can strain a boy’s emotions or the loss of a family member evokes mourning, but similar to waking up from an amazing dream that seemed all too real and sadness arises because the harsh reality of daily life is overly mundane. Still, much like the players that came before us, the 2009 team all poured our sweat and tears into making the Philadelphia Americans a success, and we did it on our terms. Nonetheless, in the same manner that a proud parent observes their child begin college and embark on a new adventure, the players of the All-Americans will witness their careers in the game and in life evolve into something fresh and different.

To those that have asked, YES, the All-Americans will not be competing in the 2010 season. Nevertheless, I would be remiss to tell the futures of all the players because I do not know what everyone will do for this season or the next. Some players have moved on because they felt it was time to venture forth and some have moved on because they had to. It was an ending that I could never imagine because the book was too long and the conclusion appeared too distant. Nonetheless, it is not a gloomy day for me or the players because it is simply an unavoidable evolution of life. So, I no longer have to welcome a handful of teammates into town or fend them off my refrigerator or protect my beer like a new born child. However, the cliché that all good things come to an end holds true, it’s just a matter of when the end arrives.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone that made our dream a possibility; most importantly all of our fans, supporters, moms, dads, friends and sponsors that supported us not only when we were up but most significantly when we were at our lowest. For without all of you, our hopes would have remained unfulfilled and plastered between the shiny covers of magazines.

-Tim Montressor
Philadelphia Americans #40

Phoenix 2010: Better late than never

“Far too many people have no idea of what they can do because all they have been told is what they can’t do. They don’t know what they want because they don’t know what’s available to them.”
-Zig Ziglar

The blood poured from the fighter’s swollen mess of an eye as the loud ding of the bell signaled the end of the third round. The sweat mixed with the blood creating a crimson poison that blurred his vision and only fueled the crowd’s never ending thirst for suffering. The heavyweight champion of the world, Sonny Liston, was overcome by his opponent’s speed and ferocity. Struggling to regain his form and sight, the champion continued to endure a beating like nothing he had seen before. As the bell chimed to signal the end of the sixth round, Liston’s eye continued to bleed like an overflowing river and his shoulder emitted pain that became unbearable. Surprisingly, the champion remained seated at the beginning of the seventh round. His defeat and submission was heard around the world, but more importantly his loss signaled the beginning of a new era as the champion of old had been replaced by a new victor. The story of a young 22 year old Cassius Clay had finally begun as he hoisted his newly gained championship belt and ferociously shouted, “I shook up the world!” Indeed he did, as Cassius would later change his name to Muhammad Ali and begin the creation of the biggest legacy in professional sports, which may have never started if not for that enormous upset that occurred in the ring at Miami Beach.

To compare the beginning of Muhammad Ali’s career to the occurrences of the first event of the 2010 PSP season in Phoenix, AZ would be absurd, preposterous, and completely ridiculous. The magnitude of Muhammad Ali’s career trumps the numerous occurrences in professional paintball in a manner similar to the Yankees recent World Series win in comparison to the t-ball championship of the 5-6 year old division at the public park in Latrobe, PA. However, to grasp the significance of the 2010 PSP Phoenix Open the event must be viewed within a specific perspective and unique scope, as both events signaled the end of an era and beginning of a new epoch. To the outside world, no one cares about professional paintball. It would be incredibly naïve to believe, or even consider the fact, that Edmonton Impact’s victory at the tournament carries even a grain of importance within the general public’s interest. Nonetheless, to the paintball world, it was the beginning of a shake up within the professional scene. For sometime now, a select few group of teams and organizations have consistently changed their grips and reign within the podium spots. The LA Ironmen, San Diego Dynasty, Russian Legion and Philadelphia Americans created an insurmountable gap between the next tiers of teams. A mixture of enormous sponsorship, elite players and superior coaching allowed these teams to win event after event. But, as the great Bob Dylan says “The times they are a changin’.”

Change is often scary as it creates a sense of unknowing and peculiar curiosity that can often lead to havoc or disorder. But, this time, change is good. It’s beneficial for paintball to see a new champion. Without some sort of change at the top, tournaments begin to blend together and events become bland, monotonous and stale. One of the many joys about ten man tournaments was that the event was a true mystery. Sure, teams like the Ironmen, Dynasty and Aftershock won on a regular basis. However, watching Ground Zero, Strange, the All-Americans, Avalanche, and Lockout pull out tournament victories as well only created intense interest at each event of the circuit. It didn’t affect my life and pursuit of the game directly, but it added a renewed sense of attention to every tournament. Now over a decade later and competing as a professional player, I would be remiss to say that I enjoy watching a turn of events such as in Phoenix since I am a creature of habit, but it is truly good for all the teams as a whole. Having such an even balance now within the pro ranks makes the game more entertaining and each tournament becomes a new conquest.

On a more personal note, I have settled in quite well with Chicago Aftershock. The organization and squad is much different than the Philadelphia Americans, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of wearing a Shock jersey at the event. We did not win the tournament, but I felt we showed quite a bit of promise for the rest of the season. The team is not built on huge sponsorship or founded on well known and established professional players but the team is full of that never ending cliché known as heart and has a yearning for success and greatness. Nonetheless, it gets annoying to use those terms and descriptions, mainly because they are an easy out to use instead of saying lack of success or victories. Often it’s said in a statement like “they didn’t do well, but they showed lots of heart.” It’s old and played out from a media standpoint. But, truthfully when you are a player and you pursue the game as more than just a game, the term really does make sense. Even so, I don’t use the descriptions and terms because they’re trendy or sound cool, but mainly because a better term has not been created for the actions that it encompasses. Regardless of the truisms or terms that are used to describe the team, I am thoroughly enjoying the change of scenery and I am soaking in the new experiences and opportunities that I am provided.

On another note, despite the “peculiar” decision on overtime rules that was implemented last second (literally), the Phoenix event as a whole was of superior quality. I have always enjoyed the venue because there is nothing else that I could ask for besides some beer vendors. The grass is better than turf, there’s plenty of parking, the event is laid out well, the weather is perfect and there’s free bleachers provided for spectators. Camille Lemanski, Geoff Waterman and Lane Wright continue to do a near flawless job of hosting and promoting the events. Critics continue to knock the league, but truthfully I feel that it’s simply because paintball critics can rarely be satisfied. Their glass is always half empty to them, even if it’s pouring over the edge. The league provides us, as players, an outlet that is very difficult to duplicate. This off season, I pondered the paintball world’s existence without the PSP and it’s one that I would be very disinterested to be a part of for too long.

Back to the topic of Chicago Aftershock…..I hate losing. I hate losing in ultimate Frisbee, Call of Duty, Scrabble, or tic tac toe. More or less, the concept of losing is not enjoyable, but as I’ve matured within the sport, I have become a very gracious loser. Not because I take pride in losing but because once the game is over there is nothing more that can be done for that match. Nonetheless, it was not fun watching the finals because I wished that I was playing for first or second instead of watching from the sidelines. But, it was awesome to see some of my friends compete. Jason Edwards and Ryan Moorhead were teammates of mine for a good while and watching them play was somewhat comforting. Not a comfort like a hot cup of chocolate on a cold day, but more like having at least a garbage bag to use as a rain coat during a thunderstorm. Regardless, I was happy to see Impact and Ryan win the event. Contrary to what some others might say , they practiced hard and were well deserved of their win. Plus it’s nice to see a local Latrobian and Philly American atop the podium.

Usually I can provide a writing of more “depth”, insight and emotional twists, but I don’t have a topic worthy at this moment. Nevertheless, regardless of the doomsday sayers and nayers that predict the fall of competitive paintball, I see the events being as strong as before. Maybe not to the same level of lavishness and extravagance as a few seasons ago, but still filled with the same quality of teams and competition. As long as there are teams, nets and fields, a continued drive for pride and respect will supersede any monetary prize or shiny trophy.

-TIM

Player Write up: Pat Roberts

“"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."
- George Washington Carver (1864-1943)

The lights, the glitz, and the glamour of Las Vegas is alluring and hypnotic, even if it is 3 a.m. on a cool, breezy Sunday morning in early January. We’re in a hurry to get to our next destination, the MGM Grand, for what I’m not too sure, but it sounds like a good idea at the time. The hoard of people that we brought with us to run through the streets and create debauchery has significantly dwindled down to a small handful at best. As we’re walking at a frantic pace swatting away the assortment of annoying club hustlers and call girl peddlers, I can only hear one loud, drunk and rambunctious voice over the gaggle of taxis underneath the walkway. “Hey! What are you looking at? You wanna get beat up?!?” Pat Roberts shouts vulgarly to every passing group of people, regardless of age, gender, and size. His logic and common sense ebbs in and out like the uncaring, ocean water beating against the beach, inadvertently his head also bobbles side to side so quickly I think it might break off. One minute he is completely functional and coherent, the next I have to survey the surroundings and fear for my safety and prepare to either get my head beat in or run for the casino entrance. It is this excitement and thrill for the moment that draws me to like Pat’s company and ask him to continuously join us on our adventures, despite what my rationale and commonsense repeatedly whisper into both my ears.

When onlookers and fans think of the Philadelphia Americans last NXL win in 2004, players such as Spesh Robinson, Frank Connel, Adam Gardner, Eric Dearman, Todd Hugo and Pat Roberts come to mind. Wait, Pat Roberts? That is correct, Pat Roberts defines ambiguity and anonymity to the fullest extent. To this day, many long-time professional players still ask when we picked up “the new kid,” despite the fact that he is one of only three remaining players from the Americans last NXL World Cup win almost five seasons ago. I do not know if it his selfless team attitude or quietness around strangers (when he is sober) that draws him to be overlooked, nonetheless, his mental tenacity has caused him to embrace the constant questioning and curious looks at paintball tournaments.

Pat’s rise to paintball vagueness and haziness is almost a fairy tale in itself. Five years ago his story unfolded, despite many apparent obstacles that attempted to prevent the forthcoming of an entertaining plot. This was because he had yet to commit his life to the sport, he did not come from a successful professional team such as Ross O’Rourke or Jason Edwards, he had no association with a farm team such as Chad George, nor did he even play X-ball before he came to the Philadelphia Americans. Instead, Pat was immersed in acquiring his marketing degree from Iowa State, playing “club” hockey and competing for a relatively unknown amateur 10-man paintball team based out of Minnesota named Cypress, who were known for their partying more than their performanceon the field. However, Pat knew the right man, Danny Manning of OBR and Traumahead fame, which is enough to get you a tryout with a struggling NXL franchise such as Miami Effect.

The day Pat came to tryout for Miami Effect was no different than any other day of practice for the Philadelphia Americans. As usual, Miami was searching for some talent to fill out their spotty roster. However, some injuries heading into the World Cup had the Americans worried about the roster depth that was previously required to win a rigorous tournament such as the NXL finals. Those concerns and apprehensions would provide Pat Roberts with a life changing opportunity. Actually, was it Pat or was it Paul? I could never remember. It took me almost a full day to realize that Pat has an identical twin brother of similar talent. For the eight hours of practice, I simply believed that Pat was capable of playing every point of the practice, when in fact it was his twin brother rotating with him. Regardless, much to the dismay and disheartenment of Miami Effect, we decided to ask Pat and Paul to play with the Americans for the upcoming World Cup. Paul was unable to oblige as a result of a prescheduled European trip that conflicted with the same date as the tournament. But for Pat, he had to choose to play with the last place, winless NXL franchise, or the reigning NXL titleholders. I am quite sure he mulled over the decision for some extended length of time.

Fast forward to 2009 and Pat Roberts continues to linger around the team. He has a wealth of experience and two professional paintball wins underneath his belt. His determination and heart is often overshadowed by more flashy and well known players, but its his belief and happiness in the team itself that magnetizes the members of the Philadelphia Americans to his eccentric and animated personality. After a few recent winter practices, I have firm beliefs that this will be a breakout season for Pat Roberts as his approach and preparation for the game has evolved. He may not ever be Oliver Lang or Konstantin Fedorov in the eyes of the paintball media, but I think he is okay with that. The self-assurance that he did everything he could do to help the team compete is enough acknowledgement and accolade to make him feel satisfied. I became confident in this notion, when at some point during our farewell trip for Fatty in Las Vegas this offseason, we were sitting at the bar conversing. Nevertheless, despite the consumption of a smorgasbord of beers, an honest and sincere look overtook Pat’s facial expressions. “There’s no other team in the world that has this kind of friendship or camaraderie and I’m happy I’ve been a part of it.”



-TIM

Is THIS the dream?

“It is an enduring truth, which can never be altered, that every infraction of the Law of nature must carry its punitive consequences with it. We can never get beyond that range of cause and effect.”
-Thomas Troward

The annoying sloshing of car tires against the wet pavement outside my hazy bedroom window quickly gave way to the bright sun that poked its steamy rays out from underneath the overcast clouds and onto my weary face. The annoying combination of both occurrences awoke me from my deep slumber as I rubbed my sandy, dry contact lenses against my blood shot eyeballs. What time is it? Better yet, where am I? The thoughts immediately increased my alertness, as these questions had been asked repeatedly for the last month. Nonetheless, I was finally lying in my own bed with a solid week of normalcy to look forward to before hopping another plane to some other foreign destination. However, my internal clock forgot to wake me and I stepped onto my cool, scratchy carpet looking for breakfast only to discover that it was well past lunch time. So as I clumsily scraped through my barren cupboards looking for sustenance, I realized that I hadn’t been grocery shopping in almost a month, the last time that I was at home for a prolonged period of time. Eventually, I sat at my kitchen table, eating some stale chips and stabbing at some oat meal that I think I purchased a few months ago, contemplating not what to do, but what I already do. I wish it was a simple answer, but the truths are so much more complex. What have I signed up for? How have I gotten into the situation that I’m in? In the long run, are my actions for better or worse? The questions sound like the beginning of some awkward psychoanalysis that Freud would conduct on me, however they serve as truthful queries that every seasoned and traveled paintball player encounters. But, all of the torturous and deep pondering matters can be summed up with one simple question…..Is this THE dream?

The elements of the dream are different for everyone that picks up a gun and watches all of the videos and movies. The dream is defined by various actions, abilities and opportunities. And yet, the dream is somehow the same for everyone. It’s the hope and desire to live out of a suitcase, to travel the world, to get paid at least some money to play the game, to fill up a passport with stamps and collect enough stories and anecdotes to last a lifetime of bar encounters. However, as one who has had the opportunity to live the proverbial “dream” I have to admit that it’s not all tales of happiness, debauchery and glory. Other’s writings and documentary plots portray the splendor and grandeur of partaking in the lifestyle. However, if I had even a small iota of knowledge about producing movies or films, I would create a story that portrays the trying and tiresome times of living in the “grind.” Personally, it has nothing to do with some sort of self loathing, depressed or down in the dumps mood that I’m in at the current moment. Instead, it’s an honest fact that I’ve grown tired of avoiding and juking around.

The amount of people that actually travel hardcore and jump from airport to airport, plane to plane and country to country is actually quite minimal. There are some that do it every weekend. There are some that do it a few weeks out of the year and there are some that do it quite a bit, but not enough voyaging to be classified as a lot. Regardless, even if you total all of the lots with the littles, it’s still a very small number. Why would there be so many qualified and skilled players who are more than commanding of the opportunities provided but who choose to sit on the sidelines of this incredible prospect of trekking around the world? I can’t answer that question for everyone, but I can respond to the matter from my personal accounts and questioning of others. The answer is because, for some, the loss does not even come near the reward. Such a drastic statement does not serve as my personal testament or as a deterrent to others that choose to engage in the journeys. It is simply an answer to a question that I have been asked by other people and that I have asked myself on a very regular basis. You might be asking yourself “What the hell is he babbling about?” Nonetheless, I simply felt it was time to state that sometimes the other side of the frosted flake is quite dull and lacks enticement.

I’m finishing this blog a few days removed from the Germany Millennium event. All in all, the event was actually quite nice. Granted the location is very far from a major city, but the event as a whole was very smooth. In fact, they finished TWO pro tournaments at the same event. Weird, huh? Regardless, I’m dying of jetlag. I fall asleep early, wake up early, in Europe I didn’t really sleep and felt like a stunt double from Night of the Living Dead most of the days. The truth to this “dream” that we all discuss and ponder is that sometimes it’s more about the story, the opportunity to play or the simple notion of being able to state that one is a “world traveler.” At the age of 16, I read about pro players going to Europe and living the lives of rock stars. Maybe they really did operate in fifth gear the entire time. But, my theory is that they bottled all the amazing stories that were sprinkled between the boring times and created a yarn that appealed to the reader and promoted the hopes of the dreamers.

I should have prefaced this blog by stating that I thank God for the opportunities that I have been given on a daily basis. The possibility to live the life that I partake in seemed unfathomable when I first played this peculiar game we called paintball during my freshman year of high school. I’ve seen places and occurrences that could fill a Tucker Max style book and potentially be made into a much more entertaining movie. I’ve won tournaments in places that I could only imagine about when seen on the Discovery channel. However, it all comes with a hefty price tag. I’m not a naysayer or cynic of this lifestyle. But, I felt that it was an interesting topic and a somewhat avoided subject. Simply put, YES, you sacrifice your financial future, your real life and probably smash most of the solid relationships that you have built in your existence by becoming a participant in the modern day version of Gulliver’s Travels that a select few on the circuits currently live. That’s probably not an answer or statement that most hopefuls and visionaries want to hear. But delusions usually only get seasoned with a small dose of truth and eventually snowball into a messy reality, which is often just a big let down.

Probably once every week or two I get facebook messaged a question that asks about advice for success in paintball. Often I state that it does take hard work and significant sacrifice, which is the truth. However, when I have the time or feel extra helpful, I do my best to promote a sense of multi tasking and future envisioning. With that, I HIGHLY recommend considering the long term effects of every decision that is made. Personally, I enjoy being a trigger puller and being that type of spontaneous person that doesn’t contemplate the reaction to every action. But, usually it doesn’t work out so hot for me. Therefore, I have to revert back to being the overzealous and fanatic plotter and schemer. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s bad, maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong….. I don’t really know and I don’t feel it’s necessary for me to decide anyone’s ambitions and methods of approach.

In closing, I started this blog with no particular topic, simply out of jet lag and sleepiness. I haven’t had a life changing topic to really discuss lately, so this seemed to suffice. Nonetheless, it is a reality. We’re shifting into the third or fourth generation of “Pro” paintball players (notice the quotation marks to emphasize the fact that I use that term loosely), however there are no pension plans, there are no retirement funds and there are very few resume fillers that can be used from the sport. So, as I see all of my friends slowly drift away and fade into an existence without excess and overindulgence of life’s exciting opportunities, it forces my hand to write the questions that I ponder. Is this the dream that I signed up for? Is this what I had hoped to receive out of my time in the game? For me, the answer is a solid and emphatic yes. I’ve done my best to prepare myself for the next phase of life whenever it comes and it makes my current situation much more enjoyable. For some, they take each day as it comes and it works out well for them. Simply put…..it’s just a topic to ponder and varies with your point of view.

-Tim

As my first installment of my new blog topics, I chose Todd Hugo. I thought it fitting to start with the oldest haha I will have some more coming up as I get more time on my hands, so keep checking in and reading my junk.



Todd Hugo is a survivor, a strong hold in an era of fickle minded children looking to simply ride the wave. He is a throwback to times of yore, a period in history that is almost forgotten by most but revered by a small few that can remember the chronicles of the past. Todd is a competitor, a husband, and a warehouse manager but will always be a champion professional paintball player.

I chose to write about Todd Hugo first because he deserves it. Many people grow weary of the terms “respect” and “tribute” because they are commonly overused and analysts and writers gorge themselves on these easy targets and players as a means of simple substance for their articles. Nonetheless, occasionally a person comes along in which respect is truly due and needed regardless of the awareness that it complies with everything cliché and platitude. I have known of Todd Hugo since I started playing paintball. He first appeared on my radar when he played with Avalanche in 2001. He had been on the paintball scene for some decades prior, but because he was always on the outside of the trend teams he was not included in my short database at the time. I had attempted to avoid writing a history about player’s teams and past experiences as those are often dull and printed from a cookie cutter, however Todd’s past is too illustrious and established to avoid. He has won tournaments all over the world with the likes of the All-Americans, the Bushwackers, Avalanche and Lockout, and every team he plays for is immediately considered a contender for a title.

I met Todd at Mardi Gras in 2004. Detroit Thunder had just been broken up a few days prior to my arrival on the Philadelphia Americans and my ticket was purchased earlier that week, so my welcome party to the team was limited to say the least. I had no concealed knowledge of the players before I landed in a cold, rainy New Orleans on that early February day. What I did know is that the Americans had just pounded their way to an NXL title in 2003 and I hated every moment of that season as I had watched them smash people for an entire season, including us. The Philadelphia Americans team at the time was cocky, arrogant, brash but good enough to back it up when it counted. However, despite their boisterousness and apparent conceitedness, a few team members lay in the shadows and saturated themselves in the experience. Similar to the manner in which a veteran quarterback watches the rookies joyfully shout and prance after victories as he simply smiles and nods in a press conference, Todd displayed the same attitude and outlook. Every trip, every tournament, every adventure is just another page in Todd’s book of life, a very long book.

On the outside, Todd is quite enigmatic. His earrings and wardrobe are that of a 25-year old kid looking for a good time, and yet his demeanor and swagger can often display his age and wealth of life knowledge. His solemn facial expressions and quietness can often be mistook for callousness, but six years later I know that it is his own way of soaking in life and calculating the next move and upcoming options. One word easily describes Todd Hugo, simple. His responses are simple, his life is simple, his outlooks are simple and his paintball career has been simple. It is easy, step on a field, shoot some people, win a game, win some tournaments, seems simple enough, right? Anything else or any additives simply convolute the process and clog up the routine.

Todd is a nice guy, sometimes abrasive, but always friendly and smiling. It would be naïve of me to not admit that Todd’s career is in its twilight. But remember when Foreman won back the heavyweight title for the last time, when Ripken hit his last all star homerun or when John Elway jumped into the end zone to win his last Super Bowl? These moments serve as testimony that a plot can reach its pinnacle in the latter stages of a story.

“Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grievances which we endure help us in our marching onward.”
-Henry Ford

I'll post this, but I'm 99% sure that PBNation will simply delete this post explaining what's happening, and let the fire continue to burn

Here is what happened-

We had a user, who's been on the site for about 6 months, who's won about $5,000 in product using approximately $4,000 in bid packs, file a chargeback AFTER he received all his products

I had about $3,000 in the Paypal Account at the time, and this took us to $1,000 negative

Obviously, there is no point in running auctions, because I wouldn't have the money to cover the items.

We are right now on hold, Paypal's legal team, and my lawyer is working through the chargeback process and this guy's credit card company, to get the money back into my Paypal account. It doesn't help that this person is in Canada

I've said this many times in the forum, and via email, that we are hold as a website, until this gets resolved. This issue began at the end of November. We were able to recover a couple of the chargebacks, but the majority of them are still pending, waiting for the credit card company to view our reciepts, and view the tracking numbers of the products to realize that we did indeed ship him what he won

********** only owes about $3,000 in total product. For a site that's sold about $2,000,000+ in product since we opened, it's not a lot of money. But I don't have any "business credit", I don't have any business credit cards to fulfill those auctions.

It's not a "scam", the site is still up and we're just going through the motions. I have every single auction I own, sitting right here in front of me. Once the funds are released, I'll fulfill the orders.

I've also started another business, that so far should be EXTREMELY lucrative, and if that pays off faster than this chargeback process, I'll use the funds from there to get the site back off the ground

I'll take a screen shot of this post, just in case it gets deleted from PBNation Admins (which it most likely will)

I have no intention of running off with $3,000 in product. Whether I get the money from Paypal, or from my new business ventures I've started, I will make sure the products are shipped out.

We haven't run auctions in about 2 weeks, and we've recently moved to a new hosting company to save some money on the monthly payments.

We're not going anywhere. It's not a "scam" by any stretch of the imagination fellas

The items are not ordered, until AFTER the auction closes

********** doesn't stock anything.

Items for auctions run on Tuesday, aren't ordered until Wednesday using Tuesday's money

All the items that we had in stock, have all been shipped. What we owe, are items that were supposed to be ordered AFTER the auction closed. We went to this model 4 years ago, because it's impossible to stock every single color, size and option that a customer would want.

This model of allowing the customers to order exactly what they wanted, was part of the success of the site. For instance with a Ninja Tank, if you wanted a 77ci Tank, in Black/Neon Green, with a V2 Regulator in Medium Pressure, we'd order that exact tank for you.

If you wanted a Spire V2 260 in Camo, we could do that. If you wanted a custom jersey, we could do that.

You have every right to file and FTC complaint, I will gladly speak to the FTC, show them our records, show them the Paypal logs, show them what happened, and show them what I'm doing to ensure everything is taken care of.

I understand RyanWilliams has an agenda to try to sensationalize this as much as possible, that's his right and he can certainly do that.

I just need some patience, that's all. Trust me, it sucks for me too.

Should be resolved shortly, it's only about $3,000 in product. That's HARDLY a scam in the grand scheme of things. We're run the site honestly since September of 2010, we're not planning on "scamming" anyone.

And I do agree with you, my divorce from Jen was finalized in the beginning of November 2015.

Just like any man in a divorce, I got gutted. I literally walked out owing $8,000 to my attorneys to be able to see my kids, $0 in the bank account and no furniture.

A month after the settlement from my divorce, I get hit with this. I lost the product and I lost the bid packs.

What I did have in personal credit limit, I had purchase beds and clothes for my home for my daughters.

It was like getting hit with two cars. I can handle catastrophe, it's just when two hit back to back, its really hard to overcome it. It's why I'm working hard to get these other businesses off the ground that I'm working on

The products will be shipped, I have ALL the records here, we have no intention of screwing anyone over.

The first $3,000 I get, above and beyond what I need to pay my basic bills, it'll all be taken care of.

So let's be clear - The site is not a scam. I got scammed. Any business owner who deals with Paypal / Ebay / BST, has dealt with this. It just happened to hit me when I didn't have any other resources to fall back on

Bankruptcy? Because of one bad month?

In a bankruptcy, I would indeed be screwing the customers over. That's not my intention, that never was my intention

I thought temporarily ceasing business, until I got caught up on past orders the was the RIGHT thing to do!

I never had any intention of declaring business bankruptcy (which would screw over the customers), stiffing my customers, or anything.

The site is not a "fraud", it's not "stealing from anyone", or anything. We simply hit a liquidity issue, so are currently working on the situation to get the products out, instead of making the situation worse by continuing to run auctions.

Let's understand something -

1) I have no intention of screwing ANY of my customers over. If I have to sell everything I owe, to fulfill my debts, I will do this

2) 99% of the things written on this thread about me, about my business that I've run since September of 2010, are entirely false and will ONLY make it harder for me to catch up on my obligations and orders

3) The site has been in business for 63 straight months. We had a period of time, where the amount of chargebacks from one customer who's been on the site since the summer, literally charged back EVERYTHING he's spent on the site AFTER receiving all of his products.

4) We fully intend on resuming the site in the middle of February. I fully anticipate having either a business credit card, an investor, or a business credit line opened up by then.

I'm not the first e-commerce retailer to get screwed by Paypal's chargeback policies. I'm still fighting with Paypal and this patron's credit card company, and I hope that I've faxed enough information for them to side with me

Once again, let's not exaggerate the situation

24 customers
40 total products
$3,500 in total product owed (this is at dealer cost, retail price is about $5,000)

If everyone here is truly concerned with people getting their product (and nt just running the site off the internet) then please stop the lies and misinformation, and let me focus on the solution, which is getting the funds to fulfill the orders.

I am not going anywhere. I apologize for not replying to this thread sooner, I had my daughters with me this weekend. Thanks

1) If we had "shill bidders", why would we stop running auctions? We stopped running auctions because we don't use shill bidders.

If we used shill bidders, problem solved. Just run auctions, shill bid them, and pray we don't get caught. But that's not how I do business. It's not how I've done business for the past 5+ years, and it's not how I would ever do business.

2) I have no plan to devalue the current bid packs. They will always be betwee 60 cents to $1.00 per bid

3) We have no plans to fold the website. 40,000 registered users, too much potential to just close up

4) In terms of "outing" patrons who file chargebacks, that would be a HUGE breach of privacy, and would easily open us up for a lawsuit.


1) Markerbds has always been a PAYPAL business. I do not have any credit lines for the business. I've used Paypal for Markerbds since we started.

We do not have any credit lines, credit cards, tradelines for Markerbds. It's all done through Paypal.

2) I didn't stop running auctions to "scam" anyone. I did because it was the RIGHT THING TO DO based on our current financial situation, and the battle we're going through with the chargebacks we were hit with.

3) ryanwilliams is NOT a customer of **********. He has not provided us any correspondence in regards to him being any one of the 24 customers ********** owes products to. He is a person, with a desire to simply exploit this situation to make it as bad as possible for me as a business owner.

Let's also analyze some of the other things that are taking place in this thread. People are making EXTREMELY nasty remarks about my marriage, attacking me personally, this goes WAY beyond Markerbds or our current financial situation. This a witch hunt, and I'm the witch.

I stopped running auctions because it was the RIGHT thing to do. Continuing to run auctions with a negative Paypal account because of chargebacks from a scammer, would be the WRONG thing to do. Anyone who's dealt with Paypal and e-commerce has dealt with this before. This just happened to hit me at a particularly vulnerable time in my business, and I wasn't prepared for it.

There are many people from this website (PBN) over the past decade, who have threatened my life, threatened my family, threatened my kids, threatened to damage my home, threatened to hurt me, threatened to attack my workplace. This is a perfect place for a Mike Phillips witch-hunt.

I made the business decision to temporarily stop running auctions on Markerbds, until I was able to catch up on past orders.

I had no intention to scam anyone.

Keep in mind, I have already seen people, who have never been a patron on Markerbds, lie on this thread saying I owe them product and I don't

I have the list right here, of every patron I owe product to, and every auction number of the items.

In a few weeks, when all this stuff gets shipped out, and ********** starts running auctions again, are we going to have 35 pages of "Wow, Mike truly did the right thing... he did exactly what he said he was going to do... he shipped out all the product! Just like he's done since September of 2010 when he launched the site!"

RyanWilliams is not a customer of **********. He is an instigator, and he has an agenda to do as much damage to my business as he possibly can.

I'll answer a few more questions that you guys might have, and then I'll continue to work the solutions to shipping out the products

04-27-2013, 11:43 AM #1

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A word of warning about other paintball penny auction sites.....



I wanted to post a message here, about other paintball penny auction sites that have, and are currently popping up.

When I started **********, it costs me almost $30,000 that I spent over the course of 3 months, to get this site off the ground and get it breaking even. About $15,000 of that was straight cash out of pocket (and credit cards), and the other $15,000 was product that I shipped out. On the average, basic week here on **********, I will ship out between $5,000 to $7,000 in gear. This is for just a basic week.

Many websites have popped up, attempting to copy my business model.... and up to this point ALL have failed. 19bids.com even went so far as to spam our unboxing videos on Youtube with their URL. 19Bids was started by Matt from Action Park / Trademygun. Look at that site now, it doesn't even resolve to a real webpage.

We've even noticed some EXTREMELY suspicious bidding behavior on other websites. Two bidders, spending $2,000 in bids each, constantly bidding against each other night after night on basic, mid-range guns (like an Axe), yet when a pro player puts his personal gun on the site with a jersey, the gun fetches 200 bids, and neither of these two "mega bidders" ever put a single bid into the pro player's gun. Time has taught me, that big bidders don't bid against each other night after night after night. Sure, a war will erupt once every blue moon, but 5 out of 7 nights? $1,000 in bids each night? Also, we noticed that these "big bidders" on that site NEVER have posted a single photo on the website's facebook page, or ever listed a single gun in ANY paintball website BST, coming forward and acknowledging who they are on the bidding website.

Before you think about jumping ship from ********** and trying your luck on another website, you need to ask yourself a few questions-

Who is running the site?
What is his name, where does he live, where does he play?
How long has he been in the industry?
Does he have an Ebay account?
What's his feedback rating?

And most importantly, does he look like the type of person who has $5,000 in his pocket to cover the items you are bidding on?

Let me explain something to you guys, it takes SERIOUS connections and resources to launch a successful penny auction website like **********. Setting up the website with a paypal checkout is the easy part. Keeping it open, and keeping the site honest and legit while suffering HUGE losses is the hard part. I can tell you, 99.99% of the people inside the paintball industry can't afford to lose $10,000+ a month while trying to get their site off the ground.

This is why every single paintball penny auction site, launched after **********, has gone belly up. Either they've shut down, or started doing "reverse auctions", or have gotten into something completely different than the penny auction format.

One thing I've learned in the almost 3 years we've had with **********, is that reputation wins more auctions than luck. History has already proved that it's nearly impossible to clone the success of **********. I have the advertising channel (****** with 100,000+ subscribers), and I have the cash to keep the site going through tough times. Are you going to waste your money, trying to build up a reputation on a website that is questionable at best, and will almost certainly be out of business in 3 months?

These promotions they are running are silly-

1) Free Bids - People who sign up for the free bids, simply just make 30 or 40 different accounts and put them into an excel spreadsheet. 99% of the time, if the website is giving away free bids for making an account, it's the same 2 or 3 different bidders, using the dozens of other accounts they've set up. If you see a website giving away free bids for simply making an account, don't waste your money on buying bid packs, just make multiple accounts. This is why we stopped doing it on ********** 2 years ago.

2) Cheaper bid price - the cheaper the bid price, the higher the final value of the item is. People battle on ********** because paying $3.00 for a Rotor is awesome. Paying $60.00 for a Rotor sucks. Lowering the price-per-bid simply increases the closing price.


Thousands and thousands of unboxing videos on Youtube can't lie, ********** is the real deal

No one used it, we're moving servers and going to do something else with the domain.

+Joker Markerbids doesn't operate like a normal e-commerce website. I've made $5,000 in one weekend, yet lost $10,000 over the next two weeks. I've lost $1,300 on a marker, and made $1,000 on a loader


I've had months where I've 5 digit profits, followed by a month with 5 digit losses.


It's very easy, to run out of cash, running essentially a "gambling" website I take losses, just like many of the patrons do. You how many $1,500 guns we've given away, where the auction didn't even bring in enough bids to cover shipping? TONS


Yes, it has been profitable over the course of 5 years, but we've also have VERY bad days, weeks and months.


It's a fun, stressful, exciting website to run, but profit is not guaranteed. I've swung from $20,000 in Paypal to $0 on many occasions. Two or three bad weeks of giving away products, and I've hit some cash crunches many times.


Look on Youtube, how many people have won $1,500 guns that didn't even pull 100 bids. Those sting quite a bit

Q) Why was Dale Ford's auditing services no longer needed on **********?

A) I had numerous discussions with Dale Ford over the 2 years he consulted for **********.

1) Dale Ford was getting out of paintball.

2) thefordreport was up for sale

3) he got a job as a truck driver, and was concerned that he could not fulfill the obligations that we originally needed him to fulfill

4) Dale began asking me for ADDITIONAL money, to do the job I was already paying him. We were paying him $100 a week. When I needed him to verify things for customers, he would verify them, then he'd demand MORE money from us that what we originally agreed on. He'd go a month or two without any inquiries, then when I'd involve him in a discussion, he's send us an email asking for more money.

5) Dale also went on some pretty intense Facebook rants about politics and race, and it led to Dale and I defriending each other on Facebook. As someone with Hispanic family members, and minority friends, I felt some of his rants on facebook were a bit "aggressive" and "offensive", and I didn't want that association with me or my website

After he put the Ford Report up for sale, after he decided he was going to leave paintball, after he started his career as a truck driver and didn't feel he could fulfill his obligations to the site, and after he discovered his "confederate roots" in Georgia, we parted ways.

It wasn't a "conspiracy". I just never hired anyone else because I didn't trust anyone else to have access to my website. I trusted Dale, there is not alot of people inside of paintball that I trust.

And in the time he worked in **********, he can attest that the site was run honestly and perfectly. The site has been run the same way, ever since

In regards to "product not being shipped in three months", this is a complete lie. Claiming we haven't shipped items since October? That is just a blatent lie

SOME THINGS, that were auctioned in October, that didn't come out until the issues in December, haven't shipped yet. For instance, the new HK TFX Loaders in the new colors.

We were shipping product right up until the end of November, until the chargeback issue started.

Stop making up lies to "sensationalize" your thread. Ya'll enjoy your weekend

Q) Why was the forums shut down?

A) Tech*PB, Markerb*ds forum, and Punkworks were all hosted on the same, yet SEPARATE server from the MArkerb*ds home page. We obviously didn't have the money to pay for product, so we obviously didn't have money to pay for the server bills either.

We backed up the markerb*ds forum, the Tech*PB forum, and the Punkworks forum and took those offline. We moved the Markerb*ds website to a VPN for now, so we could ship everything we owed

Our focus right now is getting the money to ship product, not forum hosting. After we caught up on owed product, we will bring the forums back online

What would solve this issue? Paying for a server to host the forum? Or paying for the product, getting caught up, and re-launching the site?

Yes, I have addressed the "donation" gun on numerous instances. But let's address it again-


I had a vision a few years ago, about having a museum of my OWN classic markers, to bring to events to show off some history in paintball. When I started Tech*PB, I had several dozen classic markers that always gathered a ton of interest when I'd bring them out to the field. All kinds of stuff from the late 1980's and early 1990's.

I realized, that my Youtube channel was a FAR better place to show these guns off, than some peg board at a trade show. I never requested ANYONE to send me anything for this idea, I never requested anyone to send me any of their own personal property or anything of value to contribute to it. This was going to be MY project, and I am fully capable of using my own money to build it.

Paintball guns from the 1980's and 1990's aren't exactly hard to find, or expensive to buy.

I had someone, contact me via PM, saying he wanted to DONATE something to me. Let's look at the definition of "donate"

Donate - to give (money, food, clothes, etc.) in order to help a person or organization

I gave him my address, and a few weeks later, a 2002 Angel LCD showed up. The value of these guns on Ebay or Angel Owners, is about $150

The gun didn't work, it leaked. I spent $80 of my own money shipping it to England to be repaired by WDP, they charged me about $50 in parts to repair it, and about $80 to ship it back to me in Tampa.

We did several videos on this gun, but when it was time to raise money to get Markerb*ds off the ground, we put it up for sale along with thousands of dollars of my own equipment.

The gun was sent to me as a DONATION. This gun was being sent to me without any obligation to return it, or to be used in any way. I had a storage unit at the time, FULL of guns just like this one (and they all worked). Why would I allow someone to send me personal property, that i'd be responsible for?


Now, after we sold this gun, and many many others, this is where things get bizarre. The person who donated the gun to me/Tech*PB, never contacts me again. Instead, he contacts TB (a blogger), and has TB write several scathing blogs about me and my business.

So, I contact both the person who donated the gun to me, and I contact TB both via email and over the phone.

I tell them - "Obviously we have had a miscommunication. Remove the blog post attacking me and my business, and I'll be happy to communicate with the winner of the auction, and arrange the Angel to be returned, and I'll substitute his win with another $200 gun instead of his choice"

Both TB and the donor, refused. They were MORE INTERESTED in attacking me and my business in the blog, than getting the gun back. The guy who won the gun, didn't even want it. He bought a bid pack and won the Angel, did the unboxing video, and didn't even want the gun.

For about a month, my offer was clear-

* Remove the blog attacking me and my business, and I'll gladly arrange the gun to be returned to the donor. The winner of the auction was on board, but TB and the donor was more interested in using this "situation" to attack me personally and attack my business, than getting the $150 Angel back

I pleaded with them for almost a month, they refused to compromise or even accept the fact that this was a misunderstanding. They were ONLY interested, in using the situation to spread as much misinformation about me and my business as possible.

Dizzart never said-

"I'd like to lend you an Angel"

"Hey, would you like to use an Angel I have here for a few months, and send it back?"

He said "I would like to DONATE something to you"

I spent my own money repairing the gun, I spent my own money doing the video on the gun, and I sold it along with thousands of dollars of my own gear to get my business off the ground.

I offered numerous times to use my own money, to arrange the gun being returned to the donor (dizzart) and to resolve this peacefully. He was not interested.

Dizzart and TB were more interested in using the situation on the $150 Angel, than they working with me to arrange it to be sent to him


That's what happened

airsoftb*ds-

Everyone on airsoftb*ds has gotten their product. When we first launched Airsoftb*ds, we partnered with Evike to take care of our product to be shipped out.

When we first launched, we ran into some shipping issues with Evike, tax issues on shipping in state, credit card authorization forms to charge for tax, not having a sales associate assigned to our account, etc

Our shipments were delayed about 3 weeks after we placed them.

Airsoftb*ds is still a site we're going to launch, we just need to find the proper way to advertise it to get it off the ground.

Hit me with your best shot. Think this is the first time I've been attacked on PBN?

The person spreading "lies and propaganda" is you. You think I'm the first company to be hit with hard times in paintball, in 2015?

Look how many paintball e-commerce websites disappeared in 2015. Even the PSP disappeared in the 2015.

I'm the one coming up with solutions trying to take care of my customers, you are the one spending your own time and money, trying to make it as difficult as possible for me to fulfill my obligations to my customers.

You are exhausting every resource you have, from spamming my Youtube channel to coming over here to PBN, trying to use this as your "chance to stick it to Mike!"

I'll keep working on the solutions to take care of my customers and relaunch my website. You continue trying to prevent that from happening.

Let's see who wins

On the original launch of airsoftbids, I hit two unexpected issues-

1) My dealer account was not fully setup with Evike, and this delayed my shipments at the launch. I had a considerable amount of things they still needed me to do, and I wasn't aware of this when they told me my account was "approved". I still didnt have an AE assigned to me, I still needed to sign a "tax disclosure form" telling me that all shipments to California needed to be charged additional sales tax, I still needed to fill out a "Credit Card Authorization Form" for any changes in the shipping prices of the products, etc. None of these issues were brought to my attention until AFTER we started running auctions and placed our first round of orders

2) I was also in the worst part of my divorce, and was essentially homeless for two months, while I paid for her and my daughters to stay in the home until they found another place to live. I was staying with friends and at hotels.

A third issue-

3) FTAC Milsim, the item he won, was backordered for several weeks (hi cap magazines)

Yes, the original launch of Airsoftbids did not go according to plan LOL to say the least. It was trying to pitch a tent in a tornado. The most IMPORTANT thing, is that all patrons did indeed get their product, including FTAC Milsim.

We relaunched on November 7th, the site performed poorly due to lack of advertising and promotion, we shipped everything out that was owed, and we temporarily paused the auctions until we find a better way to market the website.

So what's your point? That I tried to launch a new website and failed?

I'll give you that, I tried and it didn't work out. I didn't scam anyone, I'm re-assessing what I did right on airsoftbids, and what I did wrong, and I'm going to try again sometime in the future

Thank you for seeing my efforts and the bigger picture here. Anyone who has done business on Ebay, BST, or has run an online business, has dealt with chargeback fraud from customers. This happens ALL THE TIME

It just hit me, at a very vulnerable time in our business cycle, and we made the business decision to stop running the site until all product has been shipped out. It takes time to raise money, to sell items, to apply for business credit, apply for credit lines, apply for loans, look for investors, after being hit with something like this

You are absolutely right, this is nothing more than a smear campaign, geared more towards discrediting me and my business, than actually getting the products owed to the customers.

My focus - getting the products to the customers
His focus - smearing me and my business as much as possible

And luckily, the Markerb*ds paypal account is within a couple bucks of being in the positive again

LOL I'm not citing Dale as being a "racist", I'm saying that many of things he posted, and many of things we discussed in regards to "race" was offensive to me.

It's not calling him a "racist", hell everyone is a "racist". That words means nothing anymore

I'm saying, we had multiple discussions in regards to his views versus my views on many things (especially regarding the confederate flag and immigration), and I simply got tired of reading the rants on Facebook every day, and we defriended each other on Facebook.

I haven't talked to Dale in years. He's an awesome person and I love him to death, I wish him well and I can't wait to finally see him again. I've known Dale since the early 2000's

Mike didn't shut his own forum down

Mike's forum was taken offline because of nonpayment

Mike's Company Paypal account went negative by someone with a confirmed Paypal Address, who charged him back $4,000 after getting $5,000 in product

Mike is here explaining to anyone who wants to listen, that Mike stopped listing items until he shipped everything that is owed, and is relaunching the site(s) after everyone receives their product

I have NEVER had any intention, to scam anyone!!

I just got hit with a BAD MONTH. November to December, was a BAD MONTH for my website. I simply stopped listing auctions, to catch up products that was owed

This was all discussed in the forum, and via email, to everyone.

The OP has been chasing me around Facebook, Youtube and now PBN for quite some time, attempting to sensationalize this story as much as possible.

I made a video, I'm selling my own personal items to catch up, I'm seeking investors, I'm exploring options to get caught up, I'm not going anywhere!!!

I'm not saying that you have to "like" Markerb*ds or even me, but do you not see my latest video, where I give an honest explanation of what happened, and put up a half dozen of my most PRIZED paintball collectables to sell, to catch up with my customers?

You think I'm even going to find a LNIB Rendition Alias? Or a Splash Automag with a Magix Box? Or a BNIB Automag RT? Or a BNIB Predator Autococker from Bud Orr?

I've been in paintball since 1988. I'm selling my most PRIZED, CHERISHED AND COVETED paintball items, to catch up on what I owe my patrons because of what happened to my business that's been running since September of 2010

Can I at least, get SOME benefit of the doubt here?

Thank you

I don't understand what my marriage, has anything to do with the chargeback in 2015. Jen and I worked very hard to keep our marriage together, our divorce was amicable, and we work hard as coparents to make sure our daughters are taken care of.

Rubbing my failed marriage in my face, is supposed to help this situation?

People have no idea, how hard Jen and I worked to keep our marriage together. To bring it up only shows how desperate and sick the OP is, and what his true agenda is

FACT ABOUT RYANWILLIAMS-

1) No person named "Williams" is owed any product on **********. RyanWilliams is an alias

2) RyanWilliams claims that I am a bully online, yet his own screenshot from a critic video of airsoftbids, shows that I am the exact opposite

3) ryanwilliams is not a customer of **********, nor is he owed any product

4) This is a person, who is NOT a patron of **********, with a clear agenda to attack me personally, attack my failed marriage, attack my business, and is trying to use this sitation to do as MUCH harm to me as possible

5) The mods here at PBN, know in their hearts this entire thread is wrong in it's nature, but they are loving the website traffic and will let it continue indefinitely.

6) I have never had any intention of scamming anyone. I just had a bad month, and tried to do what was right. I stopped running auctions, tallied what I owed, and I'm working now to catch everyone up on owed product

7) Even after I uploaded a video explaining my sitation, and I have put my own personal collection of rare markers up for sale, ryanwilliams STILL continues to attack me, attack my failed marriage, attack my business, EVEN AFTER HE SEES ME TAKING STEPS TO FIX THE SITUATION


Yes, this was a fun 38 page "Mike Roast". But I think the intentions are crystal clear at this point. This was never about "upset Markerb*ds customers", this was an attempt to make a bad sitatuation infinitely worse, by someone with an agenda.

He looped all of you into it, and finally, his real intentions and agenda are coming out

Please define "remorse"

I've uploaded a video explaining what happened, I have all my prized paintball possessions up for sale, my website Tech*PB is down currently, my business website is on hold, I'm here on PBN (of all places) trying to explain the situation (when I could VERY easily just close the laptop and walk away from it all), I'm trying to come up with solutions to get the product that is owed.

what else does anyone want me to do? I got robbed, I got robbed for $4,000 in revenue and $5,000 in product.

Then I got to deal with opportunist attacking me personally, everyone on this site calling me names, people commenting about my failed marriage, people accusing me of all kinds of terrible things on this thread, in plain view of the entire internet.

So please tell me, what is your definition of "remorse"?

I am "shaped up"

Do folks on this site, not realize that I can do the same exact chargeback fraud to you, as what took place to me?

This is how it works-

1) You have something for sale

2) I use Paypal to buy it from you, and I send you the money

3) After I get the item in the mail, I file a chargeback against you (the seller), claiming the item was missing in the box

4) If you fight it, I simply call my bank, and reverse the charge there instead

Done. I own the item and didn't have to pay anything for it

This happens to retailers ALL THE TIME.

Now, let's do something else. Let me buy about $4,000 worth of items from you, over the course of 5 months... then file chargebacks on ALL OF IT

Not only that, but every chargeback I win, dings you $30 in chargeback fees. So if you sold be 60 items to me, I not only took $4,000 from your paypal account, I get to keep the product, and Paypal just slammed you with $1,800 in ADDITIONAL chargeback fees (60 transactions X $30 each)

This happens every day to legitimate sellers online. It just hit me at a VERY vulnerable time in my life and business. I lost $9,000 in one month

So I did the right thing, I stopped listing auctions, and I'm finding a way to ship the product

I apologize (I'm sorry) to my customers, for what happened in December.

I have learned a great lesson about e-commerce, Paypal, and chargeback fraud.

Going forward, we will take considerable steps, to ensure that this never happens again.

Signed-

Mike Phillips
Owner




Did that appease your need for a formal apology?

1. Have any orders been shipped since the PayPal claim?

With the exception of the items I had in stock, nothing has been shipped since the account went negative from the claim. How would I pay for it?

2. If nothing has shipped since the claim, how come you haven't sent individual items one at a time and worked at bringing down the outstanding balance? A loader here, elbow pads there, you get the idea.

How would I pay for it? I can't buy product with no money. How do I pay for something, with a negative Paypal account?

3. Did you sell any of your personal belongings to raise money for this issue before this thread was made? If so, what did you use that money for? If not, how come you waited until now?

Yes, I have sold several things that belonged to me to try to get my account back into the positive. When the account went negative, Paypal wiped out my "linked" Bank Account to try to cover the negative balance. This put both my Paypal Account, and my personal bank account in the negative.

First, I had to close my personal account after I brought into the positive so Paypal couldn't hit it again, now I'm working on my Paypal Account.

Ive sold quite a few things on Craigslist to try get out of this hole.

It sucks getting robbed, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone

posting porn back in 2006.

But in a time when everything was "gay" and "agg" on PBNation, no one really cared.

It wasn't until I launched a competing forum website, was when it made it to front page PBN news.

Before this thread was created. I was selling things two weeks before Christmas, trying to fix this all

I sold numerous things, my motorcycle gear (helmets jackets gloves), my firearms, cameras that I used for Tech*PB, old computer, sporting goods, etc

Yes, I was desperately trying to fix this, long before this thread came along. This thread made it 10x worse for me to get out of the hole, didn't help the customers who were waiting on their product at all

What have you shipped using the money from recent sales?
My Species Intimidator, and my Splash Automag have shipped

I'm in talks for my Rendition Alias and my Belsales Autococker to sell

No bites yet on the Automag or the Predator Cocker

Have you established any kind of queue for people to know their order in line, their order status, and allowed a place for an open line of communication? Even doing that would really kind of kill any real reasons to complain. If they know where they are and what's going on, or if you have to issue refunds if they'd agree to it, it would really eliminate any reasons to complain beyond being late.

Half of complaints it seems like any actual paintballers have with companies, sellers or manufacturers, are delays without any reason or communication as to why and when it'll be fixed. You have the power to eliminate that.
Yes, we are going by auction ID number

The ones who have been waiting the longest, get their items shipped first

Big Boss's Player Profiles: Dale Ford and Billy Smith
Name: Dale “Furby” Ford
Marker of choice: 2014 Machine Paintball Vapor
Team affiliation: South Beach Pimps and Minion Squad











Name: William 'Billy' Smith
Marker of choice: Valken Proton
Team affiliation: Team BBK - Black and Blue Krew







1988, a then PVT. Ford after graduating
basic training (U.S. Army)
SM: What was it that first got you into paintball?

DF: Some friends and I wanted to give it a try after finding out there was a field nearby...this was in 1988, outside of Bloomington, IN.

BS: I played a long long time ago in Atlanta, I got to shoot someone I really did not like and didn't go to jail. Been totally hooked ever since.

SM: What was it that lead you to found your team or join?

DF: I didn’t have a choice! The team captain John Navarro threw me a jersey and told me I was going to play on the Pimps. Pretty much how it went with Minion Squad, too.

BS: Commaraderie of like minded individuals, we like beer and paintball and just having a good time.

SM: You both have been in paintball media for years. What was it that lead to the creation of Shooting Hot Magazine and its goal?

DF: SHM was borne of frustration with the current state of the magazine media. We saw what we felt was an incestuous relationship between the industry and media, and we set out with the aim of being as independent as possible and giving players the information they deserve.

BS: To just basically spread the paintball word in the way we saw fit without being hand cuffed on what we could do or say.

SM: Looking back on it all, how would you say Shooting Hot Magazine helped shape paintball or shape you personally?

DF: Made me older and wiser really. It was good experience for me as a writer and photographer. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

BS: I met a lot of hot women!

SM: Several years ago, you guys did an adults only event called Paint Club 21. I heard it caused a massive firestorm. How would you say Paint Club 21 was compared to other paintball events that have scantily clad women?

DF: There is no comparison. We hired professional dancers for the evening’s entertainment both male and female (there were quite a few women at the event, and we had to give them eye candy too!), had security on site to handle any issues with rowdy players, and the rules were strictly enforced. Contrary to what was dispersed by those who had a problem with us doing the event, there was NO drinking on the field. The rule was if you opened a drink, you were done playing. The morning after the event, we found bands for bundles of cash for well over $5000, so apparently we did well in choosing the dancers.
BS: First rule of PC21 is you can't talk about PC21

SM: Do you guys have any regrets about shooting hot or PC21, and would you want to do things differently?

DF: No, not really. Only real thing I’d change is to work a deal with the dancers so that we as the promoters would have gotten a percentage of what they made that night. As it was, the event broke even, but didn’t make money at all.

BS: I have no regrets, there will be more. To any haters, sit tight, the best is yet to come.

SM: If someone was willing to finance another PC21 for you guys, would you want to do it again?

DF: I’d love to, but I can’t speak for the other guys.

BS: There is discussion on one now, a date may have been set, i can't talk about it. Either you are in or you are not. But Yes.

SM: How would you guys say about the current culture of paintball from what you've seen with it?

DF: The current culture is driven heavily by YouTube and Facebook. Lots of flash and hyperbole, with little substance to back it up. I’ve become a throwback to a slightly earlier time, and my personality is not well suited to the new environment. I’m NOT flashy, I’m NOT a huge self-promoter, but I STILL play with significantly more skill and intensity than the current crop of ‘personalities’ and “E-Celebs” (a term I coined, by the way). The US Culture at large has driven most of these changes, and I imagine at some point the backlash will come around and I hope that the playing community returns to a more substantive basis for what makes someone popular or a role model.

BS: I was here when it was small, I was here when it was huge. I have watched the economy reduce us again. It's ok though, I will be here till my end. Things change, sometimes for the good, sometimes not. This industry is all about killing one another. I simply believe that competition is good for business. If you are losing, get your shit right and work harder.
A nerdy Dale Ford clowing around with paintball legend Greg "Red" Hastings

SM: I know you guys are now family guys, how would you say being a patent has alerted how you view paintball?

DF: My wife has a child from a previous relationship, so I’m a stepfather rather than a ‘real’ father. My daughter was around paintball before I came into her life, so me being around hasn’t changed things much for her, other than as she gets older and starts playing, she’ll have access to better teachers than she otherwise would have. It does make me more aware of what goes on at events, and Ashley and I pick and choose events with that in mind.

BS: Nothing changed.



For what it’s worth, I’ll say that in the case of Dale Ford, that its years on the field or behind a desk typing about what he has seen that makes Dale Ford who he is today. Billy Smith, I’ll say that with this interview and on a few questions that he is a man of few words on some of the things covered. Aside from that, this interview yielded much about what is yet to come with them. If you’re in the State of Georgia, be sure to check out Billy’s field at Low County Paintball. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Low-Coun ... about.work

Word is he was cheating on his wife with a personal trainer from cross fit that has bigger arms then him....just saying. Strange how those vids are gone too.....

This guy Mikey used to hang out with that subversive youtube producer kittey wandel, who was seeing that Ratliff guy, that got blown away on fps russias page....

Yep. Some people would rather steal from others than take credit out and give the product they owe to people.
As Mike said, he had to use the money to buy things he lost the divorce. He will pay back when he can with any money he has other than what he has to live off of. He already said that he had to buy new beds for his daughters (couldn't let them sleep on a couch or an air mattress) and he had to buy a bunch of different stuff for the house he had to buy because of the divorce ( had to buy something, couldn't rent an apartment). Who's to say what style of life he plans on living before paying back what is owed? The fact that the op is saying that Mike is now avoiding his attempts to contact him, and people are trying to give any justification for it? Incredible.
He chose to use other people's money to pay 8k for lawyers fees so he can see his girls? Hmmm, he owes 3k of product but spent 8k for his own benefit. Had to buy new furniture and other housewares, and a down payment on a house? Guess what. He was using other people's money for that. Ryan, I hope you get what you are owed. You are totally in the right in doing this.

People also forget, his prior profession was slinging shady mortgages back in the day down in Florida which was ground zero for fraud and the collapse of the housing market.

The guy is probably hanging out with Dangerman somewhere spending their last dollars on lap dances. That website is never coming back.

Public record shows it as incorporated with a single name listed.... however they're in Florida where it's a bit more gray (see Equitable Distribution). Either way I agree, it's a relatively small amount of money when you're claiming millions in business transactions and shouldn't be that difficult to resolve. Only time will tell.

ford report have not audit the site since 12/2014. It seems like it ended due to non-payment.

Agree 100%

He is also used to having control of his "followers" and he was able to get away with a lot in the past with this control.

Unfortunately for him, I am not one of those people. I treat people how I am being treated in return. Once you shut your forums down and stop answering emails, it was time to call him out.

I've personally done business with Mike. Granted I haven't had any contact with him since around 2010. He always prided himself on being transparent and I honestly sometimes found him to be a huge pain in the *** white knight because of it.

I'm not claiming Mike didn't do something wrong... It's clear he has ****ed up on a lot of levels but why the intentional secrecy and why is everyone just taking this dudes word at face value when he's got no real evidence and refuses to disclose anything about himself? Mike doesn't have an army of 15 year old secret police from his forum who are going to track him down. Ryan has created multiple accounts on multiple different paintball forums and chat rooms but hasn't given anyone anything tangible other than vague claims.

looks like his forum is now down too. i guess he couldn't pay his hosting site. The thing that bugs me is, in mikes responses he never says sorry or shows remorse. I think he truly thinks theres nothing wrong with what hes doing.

Restraining orders will happen...

He was going to get his *** kicked for messing with a guy's kid. Played the big man card and got shut down IRL. Hilarious.

The forum was deleted when many of us started complaining about the 2+ month delay and his excuses. He warned us that if we kept complaining he would simply delete the forum (extremely childish IMO). So we kept complaining and *POOF* it was gone. Now I moved the discussion to here and have been overwhelmed with support from people with private messages and advice. I appreciate it and will keep fighting until all of us have our items.

This marker was donated to ****** by a gentleman named Dizzart I have done business with on AOG as a museum piece for Mike to make his "Traveling Paintball Museum" (similar to what EMR does, but mobile). The idea was, rather than sell it, he wanted to donate what is probably the last PL Angel LCD that's effectively unifired/new in package to someone that would appreciate it and display it rather than use it to make money and start some enormous bidding war. He contacted Mike, and explained his case, and Mike he said he wanted the gun for the collection/museum - he even sent a prepaid shipping label to Dizzart. When the marker arrived, Mike took pictures of the marker, made a video firing, and marked the box with Dizzys name.

Almost a year later the gun shows up, with the packaging but having been used, on AOG. The kid who's selling it states he bought it on **********.com where Mike listed it for sale. Dizzart contacted Mike and others, and was ignored. Finally he contacted several Paintball bloggers/site managers (including Dale Ford, who claimed he did not want anything to do with **********) and tried to get to the bottom of this by making it public knowledge.

Since then Mike has been editing forum posts regarding the theft of his marker, and claimed that "****** sells guns so if you give us something it's reasonably to expect we'd sell it", claiming that he never intended to start a museum (documented), claiming that he didn't know who donated the gun it just showed up (documented), claiming he sold it to buy an SMG 68 (why, if there's no museum?) and even offering the buy the marker back from the kid now selling it to "burn it". Every bit of contact that was positive was ignored, and every bit that was negative was met with more of Mikes BS.

Dizzart is one of the nicest guys I've done business with on AOG, but with that said, he's not my "friend" he's just a guy I did business with and encountered on the forums and field and I respect him for how he operates. If he was a jerk like Mike Philips, he would have listed the marker on Ebay for $1000+ back when it was new in package and tried to make money on the thing - instead he tried to do something good for the sport (at great cost to himself) and has been screwed over since. Oh and if you mention it even in passing, you're in for a nice ban on ******; why ban people for asking questions if you don't have something to hide? It's not a public forum and Dizzarts side of this has not ever really been heard because of moderator interference. When the conversations between Dizz and Mike were posted elsewhere, Mike wasn't very happy.

Mike Phillips (and other ******-involved loudmouths) are far too high on their minor internet fame to ever admit that they are wrong on a subject, practicing bad business, or even that they just screwed up and made an honest mistake...



If you're looking to do "business" on MarkerBidz, take a peek at some of the comments Mike has made about honesty and business practices and make the right choice...

If hiring a third party group to audit the site was a hurdle in ensuring the site's success, I would consider it.

But I don't trust these "compliance" people. We've got a successful pay-per-bid site, that's running efficiently with a strong following and client list. We've spent thousands of dollars ensuring it runs fair, spent hundreds of hours fixing it, tweaking it, and configuring it to work it's absolute best.

We're not going to turn over a 6,000+ client list, along with the entire code of the website to a "audit agency", who could end up stealing our client list, or screwing up the site.

Sorry if we don't agree, but I'm not going to hand the keys over to a successful website, along with thousands of dollars per month, for someone to tell me what I already know.

And it doesn't matter who I hire or how much I spend, you're just going to shoot holes in that as well.

If I hired a guy with a MIT Doctorate in computer science, who was the VP of Penny Bid Website Auditing at Earnst & Young, you'd still find something to attack me with. So it's pointless.


His logic is that if he's making money, there's no reason to distrust him because other people are utilizing his "services" (OK, that works with regard to Ponzi schemes too, right?) - and that a third party audit by a professional group would be a risk to his business because they "might steal his ideas or customers" (Sure. That makes sense ).

Latest discovery! Mike was also 2+ months behind on his other penny auction site "airsoftbids" back in July of 2015, what is the excuse for this one?

No confirmation of he ever received the item and "airsoftbids" is completely down

Just here to say that I have been waiting on an item for over two months and have decided to file a claim with paypal as I don't see this being resolved soon and I don't want to be too late to file a claim.

Mike, you're completely out of line here, for multiple reasons.

1. He clearly stated earlier in this thread that he was remaining anonymous due to your history of intimidation/CAD/Restraining order issuance. To disregard this fact leads me to believe that you haven't read this entire thread, which as the owner of the business under attack, seems incredibly foolish. They may be tough words to hear/respond to, but this is your clientele, and ignoring them is not an option. If you don't protect your baby, you will lose it.

2. The appropriate place to request this information would have been in YOUR OWN FORUMS, THAT YOU SHUT DOWN. This is the biggest red flag that you simply refuse to address. Silencing your opposition in your own arena, then seeking personal information for people voicing up in a medium you can't control, is sketchy and negligent.

3. By closing down your forums where people were discussing these issues, you're literally driving aggravated customers to this arena, where they will find this thread. Bad move.

A small business that has been in operation for half a decade that has no financial existence outside of PayPal seems absolutely ludicrous. Not having a real bank account for the company with a real financial institution to transfer funds to is another red flag . . . and here's why --> As an online retailer, who effectively drop ships/purchases sold product after the revenue generating transaction occurs, HOW IN THE WORLD are you belly up after being hit for a 3.5 K chargeback? There is absolutely no way your overhead costs as an online operation should leave you with no available funds.


Again, I get you said you only use paypal for everything related to the company, and you had an issue with the Paypal debit card linked to the account (an excuse you made to a member that posted before you in this thread, told to him in roughly November or December). If that's the case, it leads me to believe you spend company money on individual (not company) purchases (i.e. how do you payout yourself without a linked bank account? You're most likely operating as a one man LLC with passthrough, but I'd expect more out of a 2 million dollar company, many states have caps relating to this kind of revenue).

The final red flag - You've responded to some of the accusations brought forward in this thread (though you've avoided the most important issues listed above), but have again disregarded the AirSoft bidsite woes that you happen to find yourself in currently. Were both of these companies operating under he same paypal account? Were they not separate entities? For a man touting a college education relative to the field, you seem to continually fail when encountering the pitfalls of Gross Negligence.

Also, beyond the above red flags, since you no longer pay for the services of your auditor, what's to prevent this entire cycle from repeating as soon as this one (potentially) becomes rectified?

You seem to have opened yourself up to liability on too many fronts. Good luck with your new more lucrative business endeavors.

Not meant to be a personal attack. When you present personal anecdotes to justify your business actions, you open yourself up to this kind of response.

You've handled this completely wrong man, poor communication and an incredibly sketchy demeanor throughout. Claiming "witch hunt" is bad form.

I'm not sure if you're actually better or worse off with PBN allowing you to use their forms to respond to this thread. At first I thought you were lucky that they were allowing you to defend yourself on their site that you have continuously lambasted in the past . . . but as this develops, your defense actually seems to further instill doubt and reason for concern. You may have been better off not logging on at all. I was initially doubtful and on the fence, after seeing your responses, I have more questions and less faith.

Mike can bash me all he wants but the fact that I am remaining anonymous and started this discussion outside of his own forum is bringing results and fast!

Does anyone here think he would be selling his own personal gear to make right with us without this thread. NOPE

#oppaintballponzi

When you get a divorce, divorce settlement, and/or collection levied against you, your credit report is done. I use to work for Equifax as a Requirements Analyst, I have a pretty good idea of how credit score works. As for why I made the suggestion, because in MBA there is a term known as "throw good money after bad". He is at a point where his focus should not be to restart the penny bidding website. Because even if he does, he will be losing money. His focus should be to wind down the business, stop the bleeding of the money(hosting fees, service fees, etc) and start a new business where he can make enough to re-pay old debt and clear his mind of the guilt(if he chooses). Just my 2 cents.

What EVERYONE needs to remember is that none of this would have happened if Mike had simply continued to communicate like a normal business owner with his customers. I was EXTREMELY worried when the forum closed and the emails stopped being replied to.

This is not Mike's first failure at penny auction websites. THIS IS HIS THIRD!

1. hobbybids = FAILURE
2. Airsoftbids = FAILURE
3. ********** = FAILURE

Although we all think bankruptcy is a desperate play, it was one of the first things that crossed my mind when he started shutting down all of his sites combined with his unusually public details about his financial situation and divorce. How can you afford to ship 24 items if you can't even keep your own websites active?

TUESDAY 1-19-16 UPDATE:

I have been inundated with messages of people asking how they can help financially to support the next "NEWS UP" assuming it's required.

Although I appreciate the offer, I will not be accepting any donations. The last thing a thread about financial $$$ issues needs is speculation that I am doing this for any other reason than to recover the items for myself and 20+ other users.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

1. Keep reading this thread! Post anything relevant to help!

2. Spread the word! Post a link in your signiture!

3. Don't be intimidated! Mike is going to lash out at anyone who does not support his narrative. When he yells or screams, consider it white noise and keep the conversation going. He is use to controlling his following, he cannot do that here (clearly)

4. Talk about it in person at your local field! Not everyone is on PBN and might have used the site or be considering using it if it ever returns. Don't let them make the same mistake!


Although some people here question my motive or intentions, trust me, they are pure. Why would I spend $125 and put the time and effort in for no other reason to help myself and fellow site users who have been burned???


Mike wants you to think otherwise, BECAUSE he knows the truth...he messed with someone just as crazy as he is

It´s kinda pathetic that 9/10 people in this thread seem to have a personal grudge against Mike and are here only to bash on him and not to add something to the threads topic, and then there´s OP hashtagging like a 12yo girl in every other post he/she makes...

Also quite scary to see how everyone in here takes OPs word as 100% truth when he/she might as well be someone who has a personal agenda against Mike or even be the owner of another penny-auction site and saw an opportunity to do some trashtalking about a competitor.

I understand that Mike as f-up and owes people money/stuff frome his auctions but please people try to show some kind of maturity instead of acting like little children.

Since mike himself has confirmed it to be true (that he currently owes over $3k of product), others have come forward who are owed, videos have been found from other failed ventures where he didn't send out product.

It's quite scary that you are lambasting others without actually reading the thread.

I can argue that Mike is a knowledgable player, however he is immature and dirty. My reason for this is because http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=2735639

I'm going to treat my opinion as a review

Pros:
Has some good videos, helping new players and teaching/informing us about how to work our items.

Cons:
He is selfish, annoying, a minge, and an overall hateful dude. (He gives no ****s about Jen considering most of his recent uploads were with his girlfriend AND Mike posted a video on Facebook of him spanking her *** like a father)

Mike should produce some additional softcore bondage videos with his new GF to cover the hosting fees for the once great TPB website (which doesn't seem to be functioning at the moment). Looking forward to seeing a new YT video where Mike rages about PBN engineering his downfall.

I'm also hearing a rumor that Ryan Williams is Tony Rieker....

He brought up his divorce and all that other junk as an excuse. No one else brought that up on their own. He's full of ****.

A real businessman would have just taken care of this without needing to suck his own dick for doing the right thing on a youtube video and liquidating his personal assets to satisfy his outstanding customers. He is MONTHS behind. This didnt just happen last week, he has had plenty of time to make things right and he hasnt. It took the OP to embarrass him publicly for him to do anything...

Theres no conspiracy by anyone to make him look like a crook. The whole thing smells funny. How does a business that did as he claims $2 mil in sales get turned upside down over $4k of paypal charge backs?

This is only in response to the backlash. He would never have done it otherwise because if that was the case, this would have been resolved long ago. A few weeks, sure, get your act together. A few months? That's taking advantage of your customers.

And even if this gets cleaned up, there will be a line of people who probably still have those "bid packs" which they already paid for and are only good on that site that want to spend them and win products... Products he doesn't have... With money that's already been spent.

Right back to square 1 again.

So you're still going to need new customers to help pay for the old ones. I'm pretty sure that's the definition of a ponzi scheme and the trap I've seen a lot of failed airsmiths fall into.

Money is spent on the wrong things, the gravy train slows down to a halt. Not enough new money coming in to cover the promised old products. Then we get what we have here.
__________________

I wonder how long a news upped thread would stay up about ANS Gear letting people post all the shenanigans they have pulled ?

This guy has done nothing compared to how ANS did and still does business unhampered by any forum or site.......

Not sticking up for Mike, this should have been handled better.

But just saying.

If we put up a complaint thread about ANS I'm betting it would be a maxed out full thread in no time.

You missed the point.

He's a little guy with problems, and this thread is sanctioned by this forum just by the fact that it's being allowed.

ANS has caused more people more problems for more money then this guy ever could,
but put a news upped thread up about ANS in here and see how long it stays up.

I'm not saying that Mike doesn't have to lie in the bed he's made, nor am i sticking up for what he's done.

The big guy is no better than the little guy.

Here's what happened: Paintballbids takes off. Mike is rolling in cash. Eventually, all the losers get sick of spending lots of money to bid on things they don't win, and bidding volume drops, to the point that income from selling bids isn't enough to pay for the stuff that needs to be shipped to winners.


That result was nearly inevitable.


- Chris

Tyger had his reasons, and since I am not him, I cannot comment on said reasons. However, his last few paintball related videos were in response to Mike.

My problem is what Mike did in retaliation. He was really aiming to break him down, which is how Mike deals with people who disagree with him......as we see in this thread.....multiple times.

I guess I'll Also throw my 2 cents into this ring as well. I along with the OP and @bigbadballard am also owed an item as well (ROTOR R2). ONE thing 99.9% of you in this thread need to know is that before all of this got out of hand I received an e-mail about a month ago from @MB-MIKE explaining his situation. I am not sure how many others owed items were emailed, but I can provide the email to prove that @MB-MIKE had no Ill intentions. Did I care for what his excuses were? No. Everyone knows that @MB-MIKE has never been the best at getting items out in a timely manner and his communication skills being subpar, but I've never heard of anyone complaining that they never received an item. Weather the OP is owed a $1,000 item or a $1 item, I guess he is untitled to handling things the way he deems fit. Personally I'd and am taking him on his word that he will eventually get everything out. And if that never happens, well that's the chance you take with a penny auction site I guess. On a side note if you NEED something go to a retailer or PBN NOT a penny auction site, if you WANT something THEN you can risk going on a penny auction site. I would also like to add that Defamation of character is a suable offense !!!

JohnnieTheBull
OUT!!!

love the whole comment except the last part, last place that guy wants to be is in court again. doesnt have a couple grand for owed product but def has enough for a lawyer to sue everyone in this thread though right? last i checked his lawyer is owed money and yes if you buy **** from a bidding site, expect to get scammed. idk who dude is but i dont **** with dumb **** like that. he talks about a new lucrative business venture, set up a ponzi scheme. LOL

Appreciate the response.

Like I said, I do believe he'LL get it taken care of. However, he has still illustrated a complete lack of ethics, only because he wants to stay in paintball. He's not an Airsoft guy, which may explain why that is still an issue - because he's not an active participant. It shows his reasons to resolve this arr from selfish intentions possibly and not just doing the right thing.

More than anything, the lack of ownership, remorse or an apology is pretty unacceptable IMO.

In order to win a case for defamation, you have to prove that the statements made were false.
I don't think Mike wants to get humiliated in court. That already happened twice.

I just started reading through this thread but anyone who's interacted or managed to meet Mike probably could have seen this coming. When I frequented his forum for a time I got into an argument with him over his eligibility for a NCPA event. He was not a full time student and didn't understand the rules, he threatened to ban me from his site. Only after I reminded him I was a supporting member did he back down. I later got into a argument with him about how I thought his auction site was unethical and he threatened to ban me again. I mean really. I've had arguments with the mods on PBN but just because we disagree they never threatened to have me banned.

Hope everyone gets there stuff back or some resolution you can live with. I'm surprised that penny auctions haven't been made illegal yet.

He's an enigma. He gets frustrated at anyone who disagrees with him about anything, to the point of basically throwing a temper tantrum. But at the same time, he has this desperate need to be liked. Even those who haven't interacted with him before can deduce those traits simply from the stories posted in this thread and from his own posts. He attacks anyone who comments on his shady or unethical behavior while simultaneously announcing his status and connections in the paintball industry and what a big deal he believes himself to be. And he has repeatedly brought up his divorce proceedings as an excuse for his poor business acumen and to generate sympathy for himself.

All I can say is wow... I didn't use his site, don't watch his videos, have met him at a game. I don't even remember the conversation, other than some hello's and the normal pleasantries.

I can say from a 3rd party with no interest in either side, this turned into a witch hunt, that even some mods have commented on. That to me shows taking a side, not being impartial.

I am not saying the guy handled the situation perfectly, obviously that is not the case. However it sounds like some people have posted saying the site was legit (ish) and that he did reach out. So to me it sounds like someone didn't like the answers they received and it spawned from there.

Clearly the guy has made some enemies over the years on the nation. Reality is 75+% of the comments on here were directed to him as a person, for things he has done in the past. Everyone mentioning his personal life which is none of any ones business, and mods trying to comment saying it is their business is ridiculous.

Perhaps you missed the memo... he took their money, didn't ship any product, silenced the people asking what happened on his own site, and then made no legitimate effort to settle these debts until put in the hot seat here. He even admitted all the above in this very thread. Smiling and shaking your hand at an event is hardly proof of character.

Many of those "things he has done in the past" relate to prior business dealings. The people who have brought those things up are simply trying to show that Mike has a history of questionable business practices. And sure, there are also several posts speaking of his personality and him as a person, which could be relevant or irrelevant depending on one's viewpoint, but if I'm planning to purchase an item from someone and I know that person has a tendency to insult and berate anyone who challenges him on anything, it makes me think of what a potential nightmare it could be if there was any issue with my transaction. And while it was several years ago, the fact that PBN could have had Mike charged for distributing pornography to minors is still something that might make people wary of dealing with him.

As for his personal life, if you're referring to the divorce talk, Mike was the first one to bring that up. He introduced it as one of many excuses for his failure to ship items or provide any type of restitution. Mike was the one who opened the door, others just walked through it.

We can try to victimize Mike all we want, but there really isn't any excuse for his lack of remorse. He's not much different from Brian @ Sandanna, who I believe is no longer in paintball anymore. I would imagine Mike, despite playing forever, should have a lot of bridges to rebuild IMO.

I'd be stunned to see Mike as a big part of any big paintball event in the near future, if ever.

According to him, this isn't going to hurt his image at all.

I think John pretty much is the face of PBNation and he stays pretty objective.

In my mind, the mods are just like everybody else on here with their own opinions, and they just help out when people break the rules. I don't think they are breaking any rules by sharing their own opinion.

Nobody has been infracted or banned for expressing an opinion in either direction. That sounds pretty impartial to me.

Been reading this thread for a couple days now. Figured I'd throw my thoughts in.

I have used the site before and got the items I won very quickly. This was a few years ago though when the site was very popular. This has no bearing on what is going on now but at one point this site was VERY legit.

Just a thought, why would paypal help anyone in this situation? The only thing paypal was used for was paying for the bid packs and the small price for the item won.

A lot of posts in this thread have been about how Mike attacks people who disagree with him and how awful of a thing that is to do. If that is looked down upon by everyone in this thread then how come when anyone posts supporting mike or trying to look at the situation from both sides they get pretty much the same treatment mike gives people?

Im not saying that I am on Mikes side. He definitely handled this extremely poorly. I just have a hard time seeing why he would throw away years of work for like 9 grand or something like that.

I understand why mike is not well liked here. It seems like since his antics on this forum, he has gone on to do mostly positive things. I know for a fact his youtube videos have helped friends of mine get into paintball.

I seriously hope that this is resolved very soon and everyone gets what they were promised.

Lol That's like saying yeah Michael Vick ran dog fights and facilitated pit bulls mangling each other to death, but look how many kids he inspired the way he ran around the backfield.

It's not hard to imagine him scamming people when he is already doing it, myself included, see below;


1) Why has he not addressed his airsoftbids scam? Why didn't he relaunch the site like he promised? Why didn't this customer receive his items?



Mike was also 3+ months behind on his other penny auction site "airsoftbids" back in July of 2015, what is the excuse for this one? Why didn't the customer receive their items?


http://www.airsoftsociety.com/forums/f1 ... re-119541/






2) Why did he cease having his site audited? What was there to hide? Why didn't he replace the site auditor?




3) Why did he wait so long to try and settle up with his 20+ customers he is behind on shipments over 3+ months? Why did it take this thread to get the ball rolling, which, we don't even know if it is because according to him, only 2 of the cheaper guns have even sold!!!


4)Why did he shut down his sites forum where we were having dialogue with him and discussing this current situation? What did he want to hide?

I feel like I am getting dumber and dumber every time you respond, let's try this again;


1) WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE AIRSOFTBIDS CUSTOMER AND WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO IGNORE THE QUESTION???


2) WHY DIDN'T YOU REPLACE DALE FORD AS A SITE AUDITOR, SIMPLY HAVING A SITE AUDITOR AND THEN NOT REPLACING DUE TO TRUST IS COMPLETE BULL****!


3) SERVER COST REASON TO SHUT THE PAINTBALLBIDS FORUM DOWN? ANOTHER LIE! YOU SHUT IT DOWN AS SOON AS YOU SAW MY POST EXACTLY LIKE YOU THREATENED TO DO SO IN YOUR PRIOR POST IF WE CONTINUED TO VOICE OUR CONCERNS!


4) REGARDING THE 3+ MONTHS, DID YOU EVER SHIP THE ITEMS WHEN THEY CAME OUT????? NO! IT IS 3+ MONTHS AND EVEN LONGER FOR THE AIRSOFTBIDS CUSTOMER!!!


5) WE ARE NOT GOING AWAY MIKE NO MATTER HOW YOU TRY AND DISCREDIT US WITH YOUR LIES AND PROPAGANDA, WE WILL USE EVERY DOLLAR WE HAVE AT OUR DISPOSAL UNTIL THIS ISSUE IS RESOLVED, HAVE A NICE WEEKEND AND PLEASE DO NOT SPEND ANY OF OUR MONEY!

Does anyone know Dale? He might want to know Mike is citing him being racist and a confederate as the main reason they parted ways

Y'know, an integral part of a scam is that the scammer usually benefits, at the victim's expense. Mike's sites are down, he's not doing any business, he's selling personal property, and has no money in the bank account. Sounds like a whole lot of benefit on his end, doesn't it?

You guys all want to ignore the initial chargeback guy. He supposedly received his stuff, and then took his money back and kept the stuff. That's an example of a scam, since some of you aren't aware of what a scam is. And in turn his customers are paying for it.

OP is all over the place. First he claims he's one person representing all the other MB patrons, then he says he's all of them. He initially won't accept donations to buy another News Up. Then he turns around and accepts donations from the other MB guys waiting on stuff for another News Up.

OP insists he just wants the products he's owed. Then he flips and says he's gonna do a chargeback, and wants the other MB customers to do the same. And that brings up a few questions.

Do you want a refund for the bids you used, or a refund for the product you're owed? If it's the bids, I imagine you agreed to terms when you registered on the site that says bids are non-refundable. If it's for the item, would you like a refund for the price you paid or for what the product is worth? If it's for what it's worth, and you didn't pay that much, it sounds like you're trying to profit at Mike's expense. Sounds a bit like a scam.

A chargeback on their site is grounds for termination of your account. Which, I imagine you'd be done with his site anyway. But, a chargeback could probably screw over all the other guys waiting on their stuff. Pretty much every other MB patron that came on here and stated that they were owed products sounded pretty confident that Mike will take care of them. You appear to be the only one with any actual investment in this yelling scam.

And, lastly, you still haven't proven that you are actually owed anything by Mike. You make all these claims that he would retaliate against you, which doesn't make sense. If you've done nothing wrong, what could he possibly do to you? If he were to retaliate, it would be checkmate in your favor. Based on your actions, it is precisely what you want to happen. It sounds like you have a reason to hide. That, and Mike appears to have been relatively diplomatic about the whole thing thus far, even if his communication leaves a bit to be desired. You also quote everything he says and say he'll delete them and go back on his word, and he has yet to do anything of the sort.

TL;DR It sounds like OP is more concerned with smearing Mike than getting any issue actually resolved.

GREAT! While you continue to preform autofellatio on yourself for making it seem like you are trying

We will continue to keep you honest and apply pressure until we receive our items because it's the ONLY thing that has worked!

They suck to use, and they suck to own! LOL I can tell you this first hand!
Wait, so why have you been running them?

I would be embarrassed if my children grew up to turn into this. But that's just me...

Not with your history for most people


I personally don't give a rats tail.


To the op. Using penny auctions sites are like trading with someone with negative feedback where you ship first

Things need to be fixed, there's nothing to deny there. Excuses don't matter to the human population, results do.
Now that the REAL side of the LCD story is told, there is part of it. Next is getting people what they paid for or refunding the money entirely.

I would agree if mike had not used it as a defense/explanation.

you are sorry you know that? You wait 3 months then decide to do this. Someone who deserves to be applauded is someone who puts the stuff up the second they realize there is a problem after gee idk maybe 2 weeks? Maybe 4 tops? You waited 12. You are getting what you deserve

because he doesn't want anyone else to be in the situation he is in. This is not silly at all to me. It's not "silly" to want what you rightfully paid for. He wants his stuff and the fact that he gave you a chance to make it right and you chose not to then he makes a thread. You still don't make it right, I completely get why he doesn't want anyone to deal with you. What effort have you really made, if that's anyone real business owner he is selling those guns after the beginning of December not the *** end of January

LOL in order for this kind of guerrilla marketing to work, I would have to register lots of domain names with stars


The REAL agenda, is personal harm towards me. This is ultimately what everyone is hoping for. Me being at a field and getting attacked by someone, someone damaging my home or my car, someone attempting to injure me at an event or something

Let's be honest, this is what the OP is hoping for, and many people here on PBN. They would love to see their posts contribute to whipping someone up into a frenzy, so they injure me somehow when I least expect it.

That's the goal here.

Or use it, as some sort of way to damage my ability to provide for myself or my kids in a job/career somewhere.


So let's be honest - no one gives a **** about elbow pads, or a loader. People here want to see me hurt, they want to see me homeless, that's the goal here.
Up to this point I just thought you were piss poor at managing a business/cash flow/basics of accounting principles.

If the above is how you really feel and not a planted post in hopes of baiting a response to take to the authorities in hopes of garnering a restraining order, seek help, you have a real mental health issue.

i don't have a dog in this, but I do have a suggestion. The simple answer to all of this is to just act like a responsible business and a decent customer.

For Mike, just own it. Don't write some half*** apology that you clearly don't mean. Just own it. Don't deflect it. Mean it when you say you screwed up. It's okay. Mistakes happen, in life and in business. I run a branch of a large company, and I can tell you first hand my clients don't care who's fault it is when it comes to getting what they asked for. They just know that something went wrong, and I'm the face of the company, so I'm responsible. It comes with the turf. You already explained the situation, which was good and totally understandable. A real apology for not handling it the best way is all you can do. Then lay out a timeline of what you're doing to fix it, how you're working on fixing it, and keeping a real line of communication open. Your company finances are not the problem of the customer's who did nothing wrong. You know that, as does anyone who operates a small business. At the same time, all you can do is let them know when they're getting what they are owned, how, and when you'll make it right. It's just being professional. Anything short of that is asking to get reamed. If you lay out how it's getting fixed and when, anything that the customer feels like throwing at you really won't hold any weight.

To the OP, I was with you until you went into the personal life stuff. Frankly, it's not your business or anyone else's. Posting pictures of a guy's kids online really, really isn't cool. I don't care what you think of the guy, dragging his daughters into it isn't right. You'v definitely made your point, and it sure seems like you have the right to demand public communication. That's easy enough to do. Demand the public communication of the plan to fix it, a timeline, and follow ups. That's not hard to do, it's not at all too much to ask, and it's not just bashing someone for the sake of bashing.

This reminds me way, way too much of airsmiths that took money and bailed. I'm not saying that Mike would do that. Too much of his life seems involved in the sport, both in good and bad ways, to think that he's cutting and running. But we've seen that before too. The only ways that have seemed to get a neutral (because it sure isn't happy) ending to all of these situations seems to be open public communication. It seems like this went from legitimate complaint to personal attacks on both ends, and both sides could use to step back and act with a level head.

I wonder if mike make the thread in the first place to draw traffic to his site.... like easy advertising since his site is banned from PBN
I think it's safe to say that's not the case. Please keep the far reaching theories out of here. This thread is about settling a debt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by simonbarsinistr View Post
Why does it matter how much he spent?
This. So much this. There are a lot of people here that are being easily distracted by details that are truly irrelevant. The OP came here to declare that the MB site was not filling orders that were paid for months ago. Mike confirmed this claim. There's nothing left to discuss with regards to the OP's credibility.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmiller88 View Post
Cause it's slander till he proves he has something involved.
It's not slander given that Mike said it himself, the orders haven't been shipped.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MB-Mike View Post
LOL in order for this kind of guerrilla marketing to work, I would have to register lots of domain names with stars


The REAL agenda, is personal harm towards me. This is ultimately what everyone is hoping for. Me being at a field and getting attacked by someone, someone damaging my home or my car, someone attempting to injure me at an event or something

Let's be honest, this is what the OP is hoping for, and many people here on PBN. They would love to see their posts contribute to whipping someone up into a frenzy, so they injure me somehow when I least expect it.

That's the goal here.

Or use it, as some sort of way to damage my ability to provide for myself or my kids in a job/career somewhere.


So let's be honest - no one gives a **** about elbow pads, or a loader. People here want to see me hurt, they want to see me homeless, that's the goal here.
Mike I think this has gone far enough. Nobody cares about you, your perceived reputation, or your site traffic. Nobody benefits from you getting attacked as you suggest. You'll survive the alleged sucker punch, make a video somehow blaming PbNation for it, and try to turn it into an international incident to garner more attention for yourself the same way you have every other time something didn't go your way. There's no way to damage your ability to provide for yourself or your family when you said it yourself that you already had to put beds for your children on a credit card and sell guns to pay for outstanding auctions.

As for suggesting that PbNation staff encourage this thread to stay up to get traffic, let's cut the crap, shall we? Moderators are volunteers that don't get paid for traffic. 0 views or 10 million, we receive $0. When views go up, that only means we have more work to do. The only person in this conversation that gets money for traffic is you - be it YouTube money, including the video posted in this thread, or revenue from your now defunct website.

While you're here, I'd like to give you the opportunity to answer questions to set the record straight. Given the range of views here I think everyone would benefit from direct answers. For everyone else here, please do not speculate on the answers. Give Mike a chance to answer this in his own words.

1. Have any orders been shipped since the PayPal claim?
2. If nothing has shipped since the claim, how come you haven't sent individual items one at a time and worked at bringing down the outstanding balance? A loader here, elbow pads there, you get the idea.
3. Did you sell any of your personal belongings to raise money for this issue before this thread was made? If so, what did you use that money for? If not, how come you waited until now?

It doesn't matter if he was a customer. This is a distraction meant to deflect responsibility. Mike confirmed the real problem this thread was made to share. Saying that this thread would be deleted if it were targeting a moderator is silly. No moderator owes thousands of dollars to over twenty players and that would make the basis of the thread a fabrication. It's one thing to expose a problem. It's another to fake a problem that doesn't exist. That's the difference here. Beyond that, nobody cares enough about Mike or MB to spend over $100 of their own money to expose this nonsense. That alone should make it clear the OP is a victim.

Answer the questions Mike. You're deflecting this to avoid giving direct answers.

Right, so you used some of that income to pay for shipping the personal items you just sold. We all know that. I'm asking what MB items you shipped using the income from those sales.
I'm still in the negative. I can't ship product, until my account is positive

It's currently negative $700+

I can't order anything from my vendors (ANSGear, Planet Eclipse, Dye, Bob Long, Smart Parts, Ninja, Immortal Air, Virtue) with a card that is just going to get declined.

If I can sell my Automag RT, or my Belsales Autococker, It'll go positive and I get some of the product out.

But the account is negative. I can't use my Paypal Debit card to purchase goods, it just gets declined

He isn't required to. he entered into a contract when he purchased the bid packs. Mike has failed to deliver on his end of the agreement. What those who upheld their end of the agreement, including the few thousands of dollars worth of outstanding bid packs, do or not isn't of concern.

The ball is in Mikes court to deliver, period.

Charge back, go after Mike personally (he has admitted to using personal funds for the site corporate protection is now gone), public display of the fraud committed, all are acceptable options. People seem to underestimate the consumer protection laws.

mike appears to be trying to do the right thing and get people their product. minions are trying to figure out who the OP is for suspect reasons. OP's original concerns appear to have been well founded.

Mike Phillips from Tech PB has not been allowed on PbNation since 2004 because he distinguished himself as an online detriment to paintball. He has repeatedly:
Made false claims about paintball being dangerous. (see below)
Attacked all paintball players for simply playing paintball (see below)
Made false claims about fights at paintball tournaments (see below)
Posted grotesque porn numerous over a dozen times and often starting new threads for porn with misleading titles. (see below)
Flamed new players and anyone who didn't agree with his opinions. (see below)
He has never been banned for posting any type of review, positive or negative. We have never received a complaint from a manufacturer about one of his reviews.

Two pages back...

Recap:

Gather 'round children and listen close to a story from a bygone age of Phillips asshattery.

Well, I'll try to keep this in more of the short story format.

So around the time Mike was posting up gay porn up on PBN, he also had a few YouTube videos up as well. SNAPE's son, who was pretty young at the time, stumbled upon one of the misleading threads Mike had posted up on PBN that lead to pictures of gay porn.

SNAPE found out about it, then found Mike's YouTube channels and started harassing Mike through the comments section on his videos... Anyone who's ever been on YouTube for more than five seconds knows not to really bother with the comment section in the first place because it's just full of vitriol... Well Mike, being Mike, took SNAPE's bait, hook, line, and sinker. The bickering in the comment section goes back and forth for a while and then Mike takes it a step further.

Mike ended up calling SNAPE's cellphone, stating he had a "huge file on SNAPE, all the way down to where SNAPE's son went to school." SNAPE, being the no-bull kind of guy he is, told Mike to kick rocks or grow some and step out from behind his electronic shadow. Mike, in a not-so-Mike fashion, actually did it. Mike drove up into the middle of SNAPE's front yard, rang SNAPE's doorbell, then ran back behind the safety of Mike's car door and threw on his high beams.

They exchanged words for a little bit, then SNAPE motioned with his fingers into a gun shape, aimed his loaded fingers at Mike's head and said, "come onto my property again, I'll kill you." Well Mike, suddenly feeling much less safe behind his car door, promptly left. Shortly afterwards Mike took SNAPE to court to try and put a restraining order on him, even trying to use his "fame" as a "paintball celebrity" to sway the decision.

Well SNAPE brought everything to the court, all of it, all the way down to Mike's gay porn threads. After being humiliated by the overwhelming evidence against him, in a last ditch effort Mike actually started crying and saying that he feared for his life... When he was the one who investigated SNAPE, drove to SNAPE's house, and threatened SNAPE on SNAPE's doorstep. Needless to say the judge laughed in Mike's face and threw out all of the charges.

SNAPE, if I missed anything feel free to chime in, you too Mike.

**********.com is a Florida Corporation, founded and wholly owned by Michael Phillips of ****** / Youtube fame. Michael Phillips is one of the most well known, & recognized paintball players in the world. He began playing paintball in 1988, played his first tournament in 1991. He has been heavily involved in the paintball scene since the early 1990's, and rose to massive fame in 2008 with the launch of the ****** Youtube Channel. With over 147,000 subscribers, over 900 videos, and over 55 million video views, Michael Phillips is one of the most recognized faces in the industry.

********** was originally founded in September of 2010 as a way for Michael to sell his used equipment he used in his videos, without having to deal with the hassles of forums, or the massive costs of Ebay. Since then, the website has grown into a massive community of over 38,000 registered users, and has sold over $2,000,000 in items since it's launch in September of 2010. ********** operates much like a "raffle", one person wins, everyone else loses their money. The idea of the penny auction business model, is to spread the cost of the item across multiple bidders, while giving the winner of the auction an amazing deal.

Our greatest promotion is the offering of "FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING" on all items we sell. No additional hidden fees, no additional costs, you pay the item's final price and your item is on the way! We regularly shipped items to Germany, Russia, South America, Mexico, Hawaii, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Australia, England, Norway, Sweden, Hawaii, and anywhere else paintball is played. We currently spend over $30,000+ per year in shipping costs to our patrons.


Michael Phillips has resided in Tampa, Florida since 1996. He has an Accounting Degree from the University of South Florida, and takes great pride in running this business legitimately. While many other paintball penny auction websites have come and gone, ********** continues to be the standard by which they are all judged. We think you'll find this website to be an extremely fast paced, exciting, and addicting way to buy paintball gear. Buy some bid packs, and enjoy yourself!