Should I be mad about this?

I was searching on eBay for discs when I came across a bunch of them being sold about 10 minutes from my apartment. While looking at the auctions I noticed that two discs that were being sold look exactly like once I lost last year and this year in the pond at my home course of Mt. Pleasant, MI. I put my name and my phone number on the discs so I wrote the seller asking him if there was one. He replied with "Yes there is a name and number on both. Shawn Welling is the name." When I told him that those were my discs and I would pay him to end the auction plus some for his trouble of diving in the pond to find all of these discs he replied with "I would rather not end my auctions sorry." Should I be mad that he is selling my discs? He did go down in the pond to get them but I did have my name and number on them. I know I can always buy more but one of them has personal value along with it.

What is the legal dealings with that anyway? I am not going to take any action because well, it's a couple discs, but just pure curiosity because it is on CMU's campus which I believe would be state property, plus they were mine to begin with.

Anyway, what does everyone think. Is it ok to not contact the owner of a disc and sell it or should you always contact them?

[Shawn Boucké]

I wrote him the other day asking if it was another disc with my name and phone number and he responded back with "what's the difference?" I have already contacted eBay and told him I would appreciate it if he sends me the disc before the eBay action goes any further. I also noted that I had looked for the disc for weeks diving in the green pond to find it, and did not just leave it to be taken.

[Kyle Jacob Smalling]

TAKE A BASEBALL BAT TO HIS CAR!

[Ken Long]

Shawn,
With all the answers to your discussion...I was wondering..."what would you do?". Call or keep.
Ken,

[Shawn Boucké]

I've gone swimming in the pond, and anything with a number, I call. Everytime though I have either gotten a "I don't care about it anymore, you keep it." or they give me a few bucks to compensate me swimming in the water/muck.

[donnyv]

Damn, what are the odds! I wonder if any of my lost discs landed on e-bay. I just try not to lose my fav discs and throw my lessers on water hazards. It usually leads to a worse throw but I still have my more fav discs.

Back in the day I lost my money-shot disc. I just happened to write TOOL on it a few days before. Low and behold I saw a kid using it the next week at the same course. I politely asked if he found a neon green disc with TOOL on it. He said yeah, and I explained where and how I lost it. He gave it back and I gave him $10 for being cool and all with that.

I guess there are some decent people still out there.

[Tuffi]

So, you didn't want your discs, but don't want anyone else to have them?
If you had wanted your discs you would have gone into the water and retrieved them.
I'm sorry he didn't call you. If the disc had been lost in another place (and not the bottom of the pond) he may have called you, but I bet he figured that you'd already said goodbye to them.

I say walk over to his apartment, knock on the door, introduce yourself, and work something out. If he's then unwilling to work it out, say goodbye and next time, go into the pond yourself and get them.

I hope you won't stay mad. Maybe you're mad because someone is making money of your lost merchandise and it can be "maddening" when someone else has a way to do this.

Hope this helps. If not, don't be mad, k? Thanks! :D

[Shawn Boucké]

I have a reason to be mad now that he has written back gloating about the money he made off the discs. I am still waiting for eBay to take action, and I wrote the buyer. I told the buyer he can keep the disc, for he paid for it but just to let him know he has stolen items. the buyer said he would leave bad feedback. we'll see what happens from here.

[Kyle Jacob Smalling]

Well, first of all I would like to say to these morons who keep saying you don't want your discs because you don't get them

SOMETIMES YOU CAN'T GET THEM RETARDS! SOMETIMES, YOU CAN'T SEE THE DISC BECAUSE THE WATER IS DIRTY, SO NEXT TIME, THINK BEFORE YOU TALK JERKS.

In our creek, it is pretty much a health hazard if you have open cuts to go in for a disc. So personally if I lose 1 and I can't see it and don't have an idea of where it went in, I do NOT get in to get it.

[Noah Brooks]

I look at it this way. It is common courtesy, if you find a disk and it has a name and phone number on it... return it. If it has no name or anything... then it is your lucky day. I always return discs to their owners and if I see poor souls searching for a disc I ALWAYS stop to help them. You would want the same thing from anybody else. People need to have respect for their fellow players. There is no reason to be selfish and an asshole about this sport.

[Tuffi]

We should think before we call other disc golfers jerks and morons. And, if a person doesn't want to get dirty chasing their disc into the water, and someone else does get dirty getting those discs, I still think the person who risked their life and could have left a wife and children behind because they were courageous and then had to go to the doctor for a checkup should get to keep the disc and sell it on eBay or at the same course they found it in. Of course, many will still disagree, but if the person who risked their life hadn't retrieved the disc, that disc would have rotted away and went to disc paradise. That's my two cents worth again, and if you disagree with me, that's okay, but there is no need to call me names. :) Have a nice day.

[Gary Burdick]

One of the biggest disc thieves out there in disc golf land is John Botamer. He goes around the USA going to disc golf courses that have water holes. He is in the water early in the morning, 6am. Before anyone comes to the courses. He has a set of waders that go up to his neck. He has a pole that has a rake on the end and he does a through cleansing of the water holes. In hole # seven here at Tuscawilla Park Disc Golf Course he had 89 discs on the bank of that pond. Over 60 of them had names and phone numbers in them. He says that this is his gas and meal money. He is a non-player, non-pdga member, so the PDGA will do nothing to this dam thief. He is also the drunk that puts out disc golf cd movies that he takes at tournaments and then tries to sell them. He is making money off the players playing our favorite game. He drives a teal colored pickup with a camper on the back. Last I knew he had Arizona plates on it. Beaware of this scumbag.

[John McMullen]

I have to agree with Tuffi, if it's lost in water, and you don't go in and get it ... it's fair game. That is, if the person who goes in and gets it calls you, great ... if not, too bad.
IMO, someone [me] should design a poster that clubs can put up on DGC Kiosks that explains "why" people put their PDGA number, name and phone number on their disc. A lot of the people who find discs are not inclined to call the number because, well heck ... They found a cool disc for free!
I've run into people playing with discs I've lost on the course, and only once did I ask for the disc back [long story] because it was a unique disc with a Dr Dye job ... I really wanted it back, and my name and number were on it.
Sometimes I enjoy seeing people throwing discs that used to be mine! Especially if the person is really enjoying the disc.
BTW, if I loose a disc that's really, really important to me, and I think it "can" be found ... I've been know to look for that disc for hours ... doesn't matter what else I'm doing ... I'll find the darn thing.
In a tourney, I'll always take a few discs that I don't mind loosing for water shots or holes that are high risk of loosing one.