Are these Vloggers just a scam? SOL or Shmee etc? (Vol 2)

[anonymous-user]

akirk said:

Don't think so...
If you go to: https://www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart there is an interesting drop down list of areas which might be scam investments (some I had never considered!) now, cars are not in that list - but wine is, and perhaps there are similarities - so fill in the questions and it says that Wine is not regulated, yet that is presumably a similar 'investment' product sold to retail customers - so presumably it is quite possible to have unregulated products sold in this way...

The investment per se isn’t regulated but I believe the fundraising is. They are using a white label crowd founding platform which in the small print shows them as acting as an introducer for and which is regulated for the purposes of raising the money.

It’s not a scam but it’s an example of how YT and social media in general is a great way of parting the aspirant followers of social media figures from their cash.

[akirk]

Brooking10 said:

akirk said:

Don't think so...
If you go to: https://www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart there is an interesting drop down list of areas which might be scam investments (some I had never considered!) now, cars are not in that list - but wine is, and perhaps there are similarities - so fill in the questions and it says that Wine is not regulated, yet that is presumably a similar 'investment' product sold to retail customers - so presumably it is quite possible to have unregulated products sold in this way...

The investment per se isn’t regulated but I believe the fundraising is. They are using a white label crowd founding platform which in the small print shows them as acting as an introducer for and which is regulated for the purposes of raising the money.

It’s not a scam but it’s an example of how YT and social media in general is a great way of parting the aspirant followers of social media figures from their cash.

That makes sense - however the SIC website does state that your money is not protected - which suggests that perhaps this is a very grey area...
It has been interesting over the years to see how crowd funding has been used - for some very creative purposes - this one is a purchase of a company share, with the company set up purely for the holding of an asset... I am only surprised that they didn't try to look for EIS on this (though it is presumably a non-qualifying trade - dealing in goods otherwise than in the course of an ordinary trade...) but it seems to normally be the hallmark of businesses looking for investment without a decent business plan...

It does sound as though the fundraising is ring-fenced (which I presume the platform does by default), so agree, that stage is safe - just far too many warning flags on the rest of it...

[dannyDC2]

roystinho said:

What was the village near with the speed camera though? Didn’t recognise it... often see one on the road between Menwith Hill and Otley... you know, just as a precaution

Dacre iirc

[anonymous-user]

akirk said:

That makes sense - however the SIC website does state that your money is not protected - which suggests that perhaps this is a very grey area...
It has been interesting over the years to see how crowd funding has been used - for some very creative purposes - this one is a purchase of a company share, with the company set up purely for the holding of an asset... I am only surprised that they didn't try to look for EIS on this (though it is presumably a non-qualifying trade - dealing in goods otherwise than in the course of an ordinary trade...) but it seems to normally be the hallmark of businesses looking for investment without a decent business plan...

It does sound as though the fundraising is ring-fenced (which I presume the platform does by default), so agree, that stage is safe - just far too many warning flags on the rest of it...

Agreed.

It all looks remarkably fanciful.

One assumes that the owner of the F40 which is being paraded around to attract punters despite not yet having been purchased is getting paid for the time and expenses incurred too.

[roystinho]

dannyDC2 said:

roystinho said:

What was the village near with the speed camera though? Didn’t recognise it... often see one on the road between Menwith Hill and Otley... you know, just as a precaution

Dacre iirc

They must use that road quite a bit then... not surprised, my friend flipped his 360 spider on that road, it’s a great one for blasting down

[BlackLabel]

johnwilliams77 said:

AJB1971 said:

There’s a good write up on Supercar Investment Club here -
https://bondreview.co.uk/2018/02/27/supercar-inves...

My personal opinion is that classic car prices are overvalued at present and there will be a correction, but I may be wrong.

The launch of these type of 'innovative' schemes just confirms my suspicions. They are often marketed at less experienced investors at a time when more experienced ones are looking to cash in.

Exactly. I doubt this is the sort of investment someone with a reasonable sum of spare disposable cash would ever consider. The mid-late twenties who think's its a cool idea for a 500 quid flutter who listens to TGE - more likely.

Shmee - please don't lower yourself to SIC one!

The worst thing about it is that I bet even TGE thinks it's a st idea but because they've paid him to promote it he'll happily lie and claim it's a great scheme etc etc.

[johnwilliams77]

BlackLabel said:

The worst thing about it is that I bet even TGE thinks it's a st idea but because they've paid him to promote it he'll happily lie and claim it's a great scheme etc etc.

The video has over 10% dislikes which is may more than usual so not all the viewers are total numptys - just most of them.

[Shmee]

johnwilliams77 said:

The video has over 10% dislikes which is may more than usual so not all the viewers are total numptys - just most of them.

To be honest, the dislike ratio is nothing like as bad as I would expect from the reaction here. It could easily get 10% dislikes just by being a less interesting video than usual for the channel.

[jon-]

Shmee said:

johnwilliams77 said:

The video has over 10% dislikes which is may more than usual so not all the viewers are total numptys - just most of them.

To be honest, the dislike ratio is nothing like as bad as I would expect from the reaction here. It could easily get 10% dislikes just by being a less interesting video than usual for the channel.

I wonder if that's partly due to the fact it's actually a good video.

If you ignore the SIC promo, and look at it as Tom walking around an F40, he shows good knowledge and passion for it. I actually enjoyed the video more than I thought I would. He even did a good job selling SIC.

[TheAngryDog]

Interestingly it seems that over 50 comments have been deleted. There were over 315 comments earilier.

[Beefmeister]

Still 7 pages just like it was for me.

Is the tin foil hat comfy?

[TheAngryDog]

Beefmeister said:

Still 7 pages just like it was for me.

Is the tin foil hat comfy?

I don't need one, I was commenting on the subject of the moment. I was on about tge's video, where 50 comments appear to have been deleted.

[Burwood]

My only comment is to Tim. Only you know your risk profile. If you promote something that burns people it could be very bad fir your image. Rusk/reward

[InitialDave]

Shmee said:

I think generally speaking and keeping it to a very low level, it's simple: if money hits the bank account then you tick the Paid Promotion box.

The trick seems to be to tick the box later. Take advantage of the Pareto distribution of views from the "dedicated" viewership camp so it's not shown as paid promotion when seen by the people you're most likely to get to buy something on your recommendation, while still nominally obeying the rules by declaring it as such... after it has passed the point of being a potential negative for you.

[jon-]

InitialDave said:

Shmee said:

I think generally speaking and keeping it to a very low level, it's simple: if money hits the bank account then you tick the Paid Promotion box.

The trick seems to be to tick the box later. Take advantage of the Pareto distribution of views from the "dedicated" viewership camp so it's not shown as paid promotion when seen by the people you're most likely to get to buy something on your recommendation, while still nominally obeying the rules by declaring it as such... after it has passed the point of being a potential negative for you.

Youtube will log this behaviour, I'm actually surprised they even allow it. I wonder if it sets flags in the backend for further investigation.

Tim, did Archie have a run-in with the ASA at some point last year?

[InitialDave]

jon- said:

Youtube will log this behaviour, I'm actually surprised they even allow it. I wonder if it sets flags in the backend for further investigation.

Maybe if the ad revenue tails off.

[e30m3Mark]

jon- said:

Shmee said:

johnwilliams77 said:

The video has over 10% dislikes which is may more than usual so not all the viewers are total numptys - just most of them.

To be honest, the dislike ratio is nothing like as bad as I would expect from the reaction here. It could easily get 10% dislikes just by being a less interesting video than usual for the channel.

I wonder if that's partly due to the fact it's actually a good video.

If you ignore the SIC promo, and look at it as Tom walking around an F40, he shows good knowledge and passion for it. I actually enjoyed the video more than I thought I would. He even did a good job selling SIC.

You have to wonder what checks he did on SIC, if any, or whether the lure of the F40 blinded him to potential pitfalls? The F40 content was fine, although I ignored most of the SIC crud. Both he and AH are perfectly capable of making decent videos, it's just a shame they don't do so more often, but I guess if people like watching them titting around it's hard for them not too.

[e30m3Mark]

v15ben said:

A break from TGE's dodgy dealings for a minute, but I'm really enjoying Seen Through Glass' LA content at the moment.
I'm not a massive viewer of UK YouTuber content (except DannyDC2!), but have enjoyed STG's recent stuff.
More a Roadkill or Petrolicious fan myself.

Same. Watch Adam Ivell and lust after his little red Honda, which he's building into a cracking little track car. In fact, have been looking at far more JDM stuff thanks to Danny and Adam in the main. Both also have M3 of course, which it has been said I'm quite partial to.

[dannyDC2]

roystinho said:

They must use that road quite a bit then... not surprised, my friend flipped his 360 spider on that road, it’s a great one for blasting down

Christ! Must have been motoring on some... any pics?

[aji621]

e30m3Mark said:

Same. Watch Adam Ivell and lust after his little red Honda, which he's building into a cracking little track car. In fact, have been looking at far more JDM stuff thanks to Danny and Adam in the main. Both also have M3 of course, which it has been said I'm quite partial to.

Cheers dude! Civic's nearly done now, going to be an awesome little car to drive again as its been 2 years now!

Just a disclaimer; I really like TGE, I've not met him but I think he's really funny to watch, think its cool hes made a lot of money from hard work & just getting on with whats needed! I also really like the London Muscle brand, it looks great!

But I just think its a shame that most of his audience will be kids growing up thinking all that matters in life is having the most exclusive super car, or the most expensive watch, or the flashiest bags.

I cant say I'm in a bad position financially but i try to keep that as the last thing i ever show on Youtube, I'm 28, own my own brand new house, own my own company which is doing great, director of the family business which is a great thing to be apart of & all of this takes a lot of hard work & a lot of stress , but for me i just try to push that you can have fun with any type of car no matter what the cost!

Hurts my soul that there will be a huge number of kids growing up beating themselves up or feeling down because they cant get a Lambo, or a Ferrari.

I'm about 2 months away from finishing a 5 year project on a £2000 Honda Civic hatch back that I picked up as a rust bucket, its one more bodyshop visit away from being borderline finished.

I've just picked up a £300 Mazda MX5 off some lady that it hasn't moved in 4 years. I'm doing pure budget build on it which i will eventually be giving to my Mum & Sister to use whenever they please & I can honestly say I'm more excited about doing this little car up than I am at doing anything to my Bmw M3.

I really hope I can pick up a younger audience in the long run and show that you can have fun with a few hundred quid & a group of friends just messing about on the cars. Because when you're just focused on what you cant afford you're simply just wishing away your life.

I also understand if the older generation doesn't like my Essex enthusiasm or my jokey nature, but that's who I am, I just do Youtube as a hobby & It doesn't matter to me if my channel ever takes off or not. I just have fun doing what I'm doing & Hopefully my audience who tunes in will enjoy it with me too