Manufactures Identifying stolen saddle

[KaBoom]

I just has a friend who might loose quite a bit of money on a saddle she bought on e-bay. The seller was quite forthcomming with the serial number of the saddle and had great feed back. The saddle traded by my friend for a different model to another buyer The Ebay saddle and was just recently was sent back to Schleese for refitting by the new owner and it was found to be stolen. My question is this. Could we as a group of consumers petition these major saddle makers of lovely expensive saddles to create a page on their websites to list the serial numbers of stolen saddles reported to them? I think this would be a win/win situation for everyone. Saddle company gets kudos from it’s customers knowing that serial numbers for stolen saddles are listed in a public area so that
#1 makes selling stoen high end saddles more difficult as prosective buyers are savey about requesting serial numbers as to saddles age, tree type etc and would make them more diffucult to sell if stolen numbers are listed

#2 buyers are aware that the saddle companies are making an effort to track and look for thier stolen saddles. Makes buying one for big bucks another selling point. I know that Reactor Panel saddles actually have a micro chip in them that can be scanned.

#3 private buyers can check the websites when buying from private sellers to make sure that they are not buying a stolen good. Lets be realistic here. What the saddle company states as fair market value and what the used market actually is and will support are about $1000.00 different IMHO>. What the saddle makers loose in reselling used saddles they make up for when the new buyer comes back for a re-fitting or for a new saddle down the road. If you have a quality product your customers will come back.

#4 There are many millions of eyes on the internet now. More eyes means more likely hood of finding stolen saddles quickly and makes stealing them really not worth the risk of getting caught especially with the speed the internet works. Even people who will fence them will not be able to re-sell as readily.

I really hope some of the High End saddle companies who monitor this forum will read this and implement some type of plan. If we all work together we can avoid heartbreack and financial problems for individuals in the future. And makes for a safer market place for the horse comsumer out there

The more people who chime in and agree or have a modification of this ideas the better.

Thanks for your time!

Would love to hear about any other ideas or thoughts other people have on this topic.

[Equibrit]

I doubt that saddle makers want to keep an ID number database up! How could you expect them to keep track of all the saddles they made that have been sold and resold.

[Zwarte]

Excellent idea

Schleese must have some source of information already - since they were aware that the saddle had been stolen. Seems like it would be a short step to list the serial numbers of stolen saddles online somewhere.

Equibrit - I have a Bates dressage saddle - would you suggest that I notify Bates in Australia if it were stolen?

[dressagedevon]

I think that is a brilliant idea, the should be a national/international database for stole saddle serial numbers. It would not be that hard to put together if started by an individual and would take minimal effort from the saddle companies. :lol: Good brain storm idea, sorry that it had to come from heartache.

[KaBoom]

Phone in your serial number

maufactures would not have to keep track of current owner. If a name brand saddle was stolen the new owner with a sales recipt and/or sherriffs report could call the saddle company and give them the description and serial number of the stolen saddle. The manufactures would then post this inforamation on a separate page of their website. Yes a bit of a hassle to update (could be deleated in a specified amount of time) but definatly a perk to owning one of these saddles.

[hoopoe]

our barn was robbed of many saddles about 3 to 4 years ago, some of them Schlesse. One was recovered a year later via eBay.

Some of my barn mates reported their saddles stolen to our saddler (who is an independent dealer, including Schlesse). He in turn reported numbers to the different vendors. The eBay buyer checked in with Schlesse to see about fitting her “new” saddle and they told the new owner the saddle was a stolen one.

Get this

the eBay buyer then went back to the seller and they returned her money. She had the money, she had the saddle.

so she sent the saddle to our sheriffs dept and the owner got it back.

It would behoove anyone shopping via eBay to get a serial number if possible and do their own due diligence. I would assume any saddle vendor would be happy to make connections. If they found out that the saddle is stolen, from their it is anyones guess how to proceed. The eBay fraud department must have something in place for dealing with fences.

personally I feel the theft and resale of stolen tack is a bigger industry than anyone wants to admit. I would wonder if the information that the serial numbers are listed on line was common knowledge, all the crooked seller would have to do is alter the number. It would be easy enough to do and a photograph sent to a prospective buyer would be easy enough to fudge.

I th

[jn4jenny]

[QUOTE=KaBoom!;4136894]
maufactures would not have to keep track of current owner. If a name brand saddle was stolen the new owner with a sales recipt and/or sherriffs report could call the saddle company and give them the description and serial number of the stolen saddle. The manufactures would then post this inforamation on a separate page of their website. Yes a bit of a hassle to update (could be deleated in a specified amount of time) but definatly a perk to owning one of these saddles.[/QUOTE]

It would be much, much easier to have a user-administrated web site where people could post the serial number of their stolen saddle for a very nominal fee, like a dollar or two, just to pay for the server space. Then people could consult the database on their own and contact owners as needed. It would also keep saddle buyers/sellers/theft victims from waiting for the manufacturer to update their individual sites. Time can be a crucial factor when it comes to theft.

If you feel passionately about this, maybe YOU could set it up. It seems disingenuous to pass the buck to manufacturers.

[KaBoom]

Just thought it could be a perk for the saddle dealers to let their customers know they care about them and thier saddles. I would love to set something up on a web site but unforturnatly if you read my posts I can’t even get spell check to work:winkgrin: much less create a data base. Just a thought and suggestion.

[lizathenag]

Devoucoux

Devoucoux has such a list on the front page of their site. or rather a link to the list.
here it is:
http://www.devoucoux.com/documents/stolen_saddles_us.pdf

[Boomer]

NetPosse has a “stolen tack” area on their website. It’s not a “enter a serial number” kind of deal, but at least there’s a place to post stolen items.

http://www.netposse.com/stolenmissing/stolentack.htm

[Maude]

Wouldn’t it just be easier if someone buying a used saddle other than from the manufacturer themself get the serial number and call the manufacturer before the purchase to be sure it has not been reported stolen? I do not think this is the manufacturers responsibility, but the consumers responsibility. I suppose some would be getting a good deal and maybe wouldn’t want to know if the saddle was stolen (not me, I’m too honest as most of us are). If a high end saddle was selling for cheap, I would research it. Some people actually have a leather brand and brand in their initials.

[Mudroom]

[QUOTE=lizathenag;4137075]
Devoucoux has such a list on the front page of their site. or rather a link to the list.
here it is:
http://www.devoucoux.com/documents/stolen_saddles_us.pdf[/QUOTE]

just as a test I googled the word devoucoux and the serial number of one of the saddles listed on their page (2116.06) and google took me right to their stolen saddle list.

A very basic list like Devoucoux has seems to provide the tool that anyone would need. I wish they all did that!

[narcisco]

Just FYI, I bought a saddle off of ebay and when it arrived, the serial number had been scratched off. I never thought to ask for the number beforehand.

[MILOUTE55]

[QUOTE=Maude;4137484]
Wouldn’t it just be easier if someone buying a used saddle other than from the manufacturer themself get the serial number and call the manufacturer before the purchase to be sure it has not been reported stolen?[/QUOTE]

Some people already do that actually! Most of the time everything is in order… but once somebody helped me find a brand new saddle! Someone had understood that one of our reps was getting regular packages with saddles and just decided to take one from her front porch and list the saddle on ebay!! Of course, the person thought we would blame UPS and that’s what we did at first… I was so thankful that the customer called us!!

First rule is to obviously never trust a seller who refuses to give a serial number.

What I do is usually post the stolen saddles in some discussions here… I believe it is more efficient.

here is our last one, it was stolen last week in Europe… who knows, they might think the American market would be a safer way to sell it:

17.5 TR 2C serial 1244/08

I like the idea of a adding the list on the website! I’ll suggest it to our CEO.

Have a good evening,

Amandine

[MILOUTE55]

[QUOTE=narcisco;4137704]
Just FYI, I bought a saddle off of ebay and when it arrived, the serial number had been scratched off. I never thought to ask for the number beforehand.[/QUOTE]

scratched serial number is not good at all… it is almost a guarantee of fraud… Why would anybody scratch the serial number off their saddle?!

This is not very common, people who steal saddles are often smarter and try to “change” the serial numbers in modifying the stamping. So look for “suspicious” stampings.

[graystonefarm]

Wow, I’ll never buy another saddle on ebay again without first checking the serial number with the manufacturer.

[HardHeadedHanna]

Are the people who steal the saddles horse people or are they just street thugs that aer hired to do the dirty work usually?

[egontoast]

Interesting. I would not have thought to notify the manufacturer if a saddle was stolen and I doubt too many people contact the manufacturer to check serial numbers when buying a used saddle. .

[patch_work_farm]

This is an interesting concept but in thinking about my Hennigs, they have my name (spelled wrong, but it was a good faith effort on their part) stamped in them so there is no serial number. Over the years I know I have had some with serial numbers and some without so I don’t know how a “system” could work but certainly contacting a specific saddle manufacturer is sounding like the right way to go. Glad I never bought one on ebay but I know lots of people who have and even more who have sold saddles on ebay.

[cloudyandcallie]

If you go to your local police department, you can ask one of the officers to run the saddle you are interested in on NCIC, there should be no charge as it is free to law enforcement. A saddle that has been reported stolen to the police will show up on NCIC, just as cars and tvs show up there.
Always good to be on friendly terms with your local police department or beat officer.