I was just wondering if anyone else is flustered while surfing throught the costume ads. I think it might be helpful to make your search more detailed, like the partner search. Make it so you can choose a size, color, or even price range to narrow your search. Right now, I think they have it set up to add any new costumes to the front of the list. But what about thoes that posted a while ago. I know I am not going to surf through 37 pages of latin dresses at one time. So the people a the end of the list don't get much exposure of their dress.

Also, if you are able to sort it by size, I know exactly what dresses I can consider buying.

I just wanted to post this idea in hopes that this part of the site could be change. I welcome any other comments about this issue. Maybe the more they get, the will consider doing it.

I've sold six dresses off this web site. It's great, but I do agree that a "search for size" and "search by color" feature would be cool.

Ronald, watch out for scammers who want to send you a certified check for many times the price of your dress. It's a check forgery/money laundering scheme. Do not do it. Only accept payment for the exact amount plus shipping. Try to use the web to do "due dilligence" on someone before you sell, and/or use an escrow service.

Laura,

Good news for us, bad news for scammers...

Take a look at the ads. You'll notice that the email addresses have been replaced by a link to "contact this person". This takes you to a form which is then converted to an email. Hopefully this new system will deter the scammer(s) in the following ways:

1. It records the IP address of every person sending an inquiry. An IP address is far more useful to the FBI or IFCC than a temporary hotmail account.

2. It can block email addresses and IP addresses. Once you're blocked, there's no way to email the sellers on the website.

3. Now included at the top of every single email is a warning message about this particular scam. It's kinda hard to scam people when a warning about your scam is the first thing they see in your message to them.

4. The obvious and most important benefit: Your email address stays private. So along with scammers, I've also hopefully diverted spammers!

Let me know if you receive any more of these propositions from this point on. Each time I block an IP address, I make it a little bit harder for them to prey on our users.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Hi
I recently received your email newsletter regarding SCAM costume sales so looked on here for further info. I think I have been a victim of one of these SCAMS. The buyer was in London and I am in Australia. They sent me an International Bank Draft for mush more than the dress cost with similar correspondance to what you have listed as your "example emails". I have sent my dress away but havent tried to cash the bank draft yet. Should I be expecting it to bounce?? and do you have any advice for me??
Thank you
Sheree

I'm sorry to have to say that your chances of getting any money are slim to none. But you should try to deposit the check anyway, just to be sure. I hope you didn't wire any additional money to this person.

In the future, I strongly urge you to use escrow (paypal, escrow.com, etc). There is absolutely no disadvantage to using them, and you won't have to worry about becoming a victim of this or any other scam.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

You probably won't get any money, but if you contact the shipping company there is the slightest chance they might still have the dress in their possesion.

I discovered when first creating the costume search that a search by size and color is a far more complicated matter than it seems. It would have tripled the time and effort it took me to finish the project, so in the interest of efficiency I scrapped the idea and kept it simple. I figure one of these days I'll hunker down and elaborate on it, but right now I have a few too many things spilling off my plate.

Just to give you an idea of the difficulties, take a look at the way people describe the colors and sizes of their costumes. If you search for "pink", you'll miss all of the salmon, fuschia, and melon dresses, not to mention all of the white dresses with pink accents, pink with crystal ab stones, etc. Dress sizes are also described in various ways, and even the numbers don't tell the whole story: One person's size 2 is another person's size 0. Men's sizes are measured differently than women's, shoe sizes have a whole different measuring system, and then you have to account for the english vs the metric system.

I have some pretty good ideas of how to make it work, but the project will be hefty. It's not a simple matter of adding a search box which connects to the "size" and "color" fields in the database. It's much more involved, and not something I have time for at the moment. But as with everything else, it will get done eventually.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

This thread got me looking at the costume ads, which I haven't for a couple of years. Lo and behold, there's a gown I sold to a lady in Canada, who never finished paying for it! I've emailed her and asked her to either complete the payment (another $200) or return the dress.

You just can't monitor every dancer worldwide.

I love looking at the gowns for sale, it inspires me to want to dance more.

All the best,

Lee Ann