Getting scammed investing in tea

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Bok
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 3:26 am

This is not fresh news, but I have not seen it posted on here and not everyone might have heard of it yet…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvmF_QwsDSA

To summarise – it’s a clip of Westerner, basically getting ripped off by that Teaparker guy, or at least it looks like that is what is happening. In any case it is entertaining to watch.

Few thoughts here:

What really went down in the end is a bit hard to be sure of, without having more facts about the exact teas in question. No matter how it looks, he might or might not have ripped off that guy, but it might also be the opposite and the old guy scammed him, by telling him the tea is not worth the price he thought it’d be and made a good deal himself…

One sentence of course stands out and has become a meme on its own: “he should have done more research”. You don’t just invest in things you have no the faintest idea about…

Still odd that anyone would attempt a scam while being filmed… ?
Andrew S
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 7:01 am

Thanks; I hadn't seen that. "Entertaining" is probably the best description.

For my part, I certainly wouldn't buy an expensive aged wulong on a TV show from someone who has no reputation to protect and doesn't know anything about the tea, let alone a retired analyst who claims that he was "putting together deals".

It seems a bit like a person on holidays thinking that they'll sell that bottle they bought at a high-end Paris wine store for a handsome profit back in their home country.

Andrew
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Bok
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 9:09 am

@Andrew S yeah the whole concept is odd. But it’s curious to see a semi-known person seemingly caught in the act of ripping someone off…
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pedant
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:05 am

thanks for sharing, bok.

surely i'm not the only one experiencing schadenfreude here, though?

i mean... the arrogance of this guy thinking he's some hotshot investor that can just jump into anything and make a quick buck without any research. without perseverance, either -- he self-imposes time constraints for each trade venture. of course this guy is getting ripped off. good thing this is just for TV :lol:
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 1:07 pm

He had it coming. :lol:
faj
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 1:11 pm

pedant wrote:
Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:05 am
i mean... the arrogance of this guy thinking he's some hotshot investor that can just jump into anything and make a quick buck without any research. without perseverance, either -- he self-imposes time constraints for each trade venture. of course this guy is getting ripped off. good thing this is just for TV :lol:
To a large extent, entertainment works precisely by depicting people doing the opposite of what a reasonable person trying to achieve a happy, honorable and prosperous life should do.

It is a two-step process actually: create a sympathetic underdog, then in the end have the underdog prevail against all odds. Or, more common nowadays : end on a sweet a sour note, with more excitement coming up next season.
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LeoFox
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 2:09 pm

Would anyone forward the link to Stéphane Erler of teamasters? :lol: :lol:
.m.
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 7:55 pm

I'm starting to like this Teaparker guy. :lol:
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Bok
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 8:12 pm

If I am watching this right though, the tea he tries to sell to that old guy is the one he got on the farm, not the one from Teaparker.

Which is of course a 100% guarantee to be ripped off if you try to buy directly from the farmer. In a way he was lucky to get at least real Gaoshan and not Vietnamese or Thai imported tea. Which yes, is sold at the farms in Taiwan in some places.
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Tue Nov 02, 2021 8:13 pm

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Baisao
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Wed Nov 03, 2021 1:55 am

Bok wrote:
Tue Nov 02, 2021 8:12 pm
If I am watching this right though, the tea he tries to sell to that old guy is the one he got on the farm, not the one from Teaparker.

Which is of course a 100% guarantee to be ripped off if you try to buy directly from the farmer. In a way he was lucky to get at least real Gaoshan and not Vietnamese or Thai imported tea. Which yes, is sold at the farms in Taiwan in some places.
I was thinking this. Also, there’s a reason the farmer had tins of gaoshan from the previous “year”. Things can go wrong. I suspect nearly everyone involved took advantage of the situation. His tea adventure is from a travel guide: first stop Wistaria, second stop some obscure farm, and third stop Tea Parker.

Considering the price that Tea Masters sells Tea Parkers aged oolongs, I am inclined to believe that Tea Parker acted in earnest. I believe that he believes they are that valuable.

As for a high demand for aged oolong in Japan, well, that’s nutty.
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Bok
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Wed Nov 03, 2021 2:12 am

That is another odd part: he has the customers, even the contacts, but would rather sell via some obscure foreigner he just met and will inspire very little confidence in Japan – I mean he would not even be able to deliver any credible sales pitch to the Japanese, without understanding what he is selling… to protect his reputation??? Makes no sense, as he would still be the source of the tea, or mentioned as such to the potential customers.

Baisao wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 1:55 am
As for a high demand for aged oolong in Japan, well, that’s nutty.
As to no market in Japan – there definitely is a market for Taiwanese teas in general and some do also show much interest in aged Puerh, so it would not surprise me that there is a market for aged Oolongs. Some high profile tea teachers(actually respected ones, haha) have opened tea houses and shops in Japan, which have certainly influenced market demand for this kind of things.

Most of the better known tea makers and teachers have followings and students in Japan. Before the virus hit the world, quite some shops have been making good money from Japanese tourists as well.

The cultural links between Japan and Taiwan have been and are running deep historically(going both ways).
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aet
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Wed Nov 03, 2021 9:44 am

I think if he came to Yunnan for tea, the locals would have sold him a tea from 2000y old tree from Bing Dao ;-)
The movie would get a real vibe then ;-D
I'm also surprised that he didn't get cheated with jade. Generally buying folks run around with torches and examine the stone quite long time before make a decision even for half price of the product he paid.
The price also comes from the jade purity , as I've learned in Ruili time ago ( the serious wholesale trade is actually happening there , as it comes directly from Myanmar ) . Like behind the market there are laboratories with microscopes for detailed observation of the stones.
Anyway, good video, I really enjoyed!
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Baisao
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Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:26 am

Bok wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 2:12 am
That is another odd part: he has the customers, even the contacts, but would rather sell via some obscure foreigner he just met and will inspire very little confidence in Japan – I mean he would not even be able to deliver any credible sales pitch to the Japanese, without understanding what he is selling… to protect his reputation??? Makes no sense, as he would still be the source of the tea, or mentioned as such to the potential customers.

It looked like his only sales pitch was that the tea had been in an auction. It was interesting that Tea Parker got uncomfortable when asked why he doesn't sell to Japan, because, umm, he he working on a book.

Being 'reality' television I doubt we'll ever know what truly happened though it is clear that the host felt scammed by Tea Parker before edits were made.
Bok wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 2:12 am
Baisao wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 1:55 am
As for a high demand for aged oolong in Japan, well, that’s nutty.
As to no market in Japan – there definitely is a market for Taiwanese teas in general and some do also show much interest in aged Puerh, so it would not surprise me that there is a market for aged Oolongs. Some high profile tea teachers(actually respected ones, haha) have opened tea houses and shops in Japan, which have certainly influenced market demand for this kind of things.

Most of the better known tea makers and teachers have followings and students in Japan. Before the virus hit the world, quite some shops have been making good money from Japanese tourists as well.

The cultural links between Japan and Taiwan have been and are running deep historically(going both ways).
Would you say it was a high demand market like Tea Parker was pitching in the program? :D

I think another take away is that, like many of the people I have talked to before this, the Japanese enthusiasts he met didn't feel TP's aged oolong was that precious.
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Bok
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Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:44 am

@Baisao I think the white chap selling it was probably a big factor to not trust the whole deal… I mean who in his right mind would buy this kind of pricey tea from a guy who doesn’t know about tea?
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