Tiki Trader - What's Your Thought?

I was talking to a couple of people at Da Show this weekend, and they told me they had made purchases from a Tiki Trader; they then said they either never received their merchandise or were ripped off to some other degree.

At the time, it didn't ring a bell, but now I think I remember a number of members complaining about this Tiki Trader.

Didn't he/she screw over a bunch of our members?

For all we know, he/she may be preying on decent TC folks still under another company name?

Even more than likely, has attached itself to TC as a lurker or poster (?)

The business that has been brought up in discussion before was located in Ventura for a period of time and then relocated to Hawaii. Several folks here claimed to have been the victim of poor customer service or non delivery of product. Not sure if you are speaking of the same one.

Where's SCD when you need him? Oh, yea, slaving away at the farm.
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=634&forum=1

Monkeyman,

I did a TC search and it seems it is the same fly by night company. I read a post by BigBro that said Tiki Trader basically burned his bridges in California (must have been a Cali local), and hightailed it to Hawaii to start a new scam.

As if the mainland didn't inflict enough malady on the islands...

:music: He aint heavy,:music: Oooohh! :music:
He's my bruddah! :music:
Just kidding, don't know the wank.

On 2004-06-22 13:30, Unga Bunga wrote:
:music: He aint heavy,:music: Oooohh! :music:
He's my bruddah! :music:
Just kidding, don't know the wank.

Hey Unga, liked your attempt at pidgin posting "bruddah"!, just like ...

I tried buying some things thru TikiTrader YEARS ago; and even back then I got the run around. I kept getting the "I'll get back with ya" answer to my questions about items. Luckily I never actually gave him a dime. Funny, you'd think he'd at least try to take my money.

On a whim, I tried looking for the website last month and found big, fat nothing.

-Z

he doesnt have a website any longer.

i shopped at his store in ventura.. weird vibe. i did buy a Ku statue, that he cast and glazed. its nice.

Monkeyman and Bigbro made reference he relocated his business to Hawaii, huh?

I still have a few colleagues that are skilled at finding out what failed businesses morph into.

[ Edited by: Tiki_Bong on 2004-06-23 10:03 ]

He was last seen on ebay doing business as "hawaiianstyle55." If you check his record, you'll see he is no longer a registered user, lasted only 6 months, and had 18 non-positive feedbacks out of 131. It would have been 19 if I had bothered to leave feedback from my transaction with him!

Actually our very own lanikai's website http://www.tikitv.com which sells tikis, mugs, and clothing to the trade has the e-mail address [email protected] associated with it. Could lanikai and Tiki Trader be one and the same? I have never had dealings with either, just an observation.

Kanaka

On 2004-06-23 06:04, Kanaka wrote:
Actually our very own lanikai's website http://www.tikitv.com which sells tikis, mugs, and clothing to the trade has the e-mail address [email protected] associated with it. Could lanikai and Tiki Trader be one and the same? I have never had dealings with either, just an observation.

Kanaka

So Kanaka, Lanikai is the infamous "Tiki Trader"? I never would have suspected (?) Lanikai was such a nice chap too! I'm going to miss him...

Ingenious investigative work! :lol:

But wait, I was under the impression that he was Hawaiian... :-?

[ Edited by: Kono on 2004-06-23 10:22 ]

Hmmmmm, in little over a month, he's managed to amass almost 200 posts with comments on everything from spelling corrections to slippery sellers. Where's his comment on this?
Here's another "vintage" thread. He dosen't look it, but I also thought lanikai was Hawaiian.
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=2111&forum=1

Great picture of Lanikai and Mike in your thread Laney!

[ Edited by: Tiki_Bong on 2004-06-24 18:21 ]

you're a super sleuth, laney!
thats the guy i remember from the store, he's gained some weight and is more tanned.

hm. weasels tan? :)

On 2004-06-23 13:32, laney wrote:
....He dosen't look it, but I also thought lanikai was Hawaiian.
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=2111&forum=1

Well I'll be...!

Well, as far as I remember from what he told me, Allen actually spent his early years in the islands, before he moved to Ventura. That's where his love for the culture comes from, and so although he is not a native, it obviously seems to be his homeland of choice.

This connection also explains lanikai's (often well founded) criticism of modern Tiki schlock, years ago Allen wrote an article for the Honululu Advertiser that universally blasted all modern Tiki interpretations, but without drawing a line between vintage Polynesian Pop (which he was still dealing with) resulting in a very mixed message.

I said it before and say it again: His love for the subject matter is genuine (as evidenced by lanikai's posts), but his way of conducting business with it seems to have put him beyond redemption. He was always clean with me (and many other people), but even my girlfriend has a story how he sold her (and her then boyfriend) Hawaiian stuff under the pretense that it was vintage, or exclusive, and it turned out to be mass-produced.

I really thought lanikai was adding a nice and qualitative perspective to Tiki Central. Sigh.

On 2004-06-22 13:43, Tiki_Bong wrote:

On 2004-06-22 13:30, Unga Bunga wrote:
:music: He aint heavy,:music: Oooohh! :music:
He's my bruddah! :music:
Just kidding, don't know the wank.

Hey Unga, liked your attempt at pidgin posting "bruddah"!, just like ...

in light of the recent revelations, did you know something we didn't Tiki_Bong???

Wow this is interesting...now it kinda makes sense....at one point Tiki Trader was telling me really bad things about myself and my old store CRUZ / ALOHACRUZ.COM talking about a bad deal when we had never had a deal or ever spoken to each other at all....I recall one time buying something from him on ebay and then getting an ugly email about f-you...f*** your show...this and that...then another email apologizing for having a "beer moment"...I would agree that the Love for Tiki & Hawaiian is there but the business ethic may be questionable.

I’m impressed how he continues to post here, as though he’s oblivious to the whole situation.

Hey Unga Bunga I am in no way a doctor of any kind but I really think there is a bi-polar issue...bottom line with some people it is a cash and carry kind of business....everyone has a reputation they create for themselves, not one that is created for them...just goes to show you cant run from who you are....
Lanikai I wish you well...
Maybe it is nest we all drop this post since it kinda goes against the "Aloha Spirit" seems everyone has been warned or informed if you wish...

On 2004-06-26 14:01, Unga Bunga wrote:
I’m impressed how he continues to post here, as though he’s oblivious to the whole situation.

Oblivious and still pretending to be a native Hawaiian!

This post is neither here nor there, but I do know this: do you know what would happen to some white guy that started talking pidgin with a group of kanaka's, say on the Ewa side of the island? Take a guess (and it wouldn't be a big aloha).

Since he always seems to be re-inventing himself I thought I would feed him into this High Tech Anagram program and see what we get for results. Here's a few of my favourites.

Tiki Trader:
A RED IRK TIT
TARRED TIKI
RAD TIRE KIT

And the best one, RETARD TIKI