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Jay sank ye.

Posted on November 12, 2005 6:23 pm by John LeBlanc

Note: I started this post two days ago when I received via a third party a copy of Jay Sankey’s “Boycott Penguin” letter. I subsequently sent a note to Jay Sankey requesting permission to reprint the original letter in its entirety here, but I still haven’t heard back from him. Just got permission, so I’ve updated the post below.

Sean Murphy’s rear end must be on fire right now. Better known as Maxwell Murphy to the teaming fans of the online magic store most identifiable by its waddling mascot, Murphy and his techno-light bearer Acar Altinsel were the subject of a note sent by Jay Sankey to Sankey’s newsletter subscribers. Given the subject matter and the general tone — not to mention the “we told you so” aspect of all of this — the letter found its way across the Internet.

And oh what a scorcher it was.

If you haven’t seen it yet, take a moment to read the entire thing here:

To all of you who, over the past two years, have warned me about doing
business with Penguin Magic…

…YOU WERE RIGHT!!

Actually, I’ve had growing suspicions over the past 16 months, but I was
still really hoping I would never have to write this e-mail. I was really
hoping that Acar Altinsel and Maxwell Murphy at Penguin Magic would be
willing to be team players. But no matter how hard I’ve tried to make
things work with them (and believe me, I’ve busted my butt!)in the end it
seems they are only interested in one team: THEIRS.

I remember once reading, “How relationships begin is often how they
continue.” I also remember how, when I first began doing business with
Penguin Magic a few years ago I received literally dozens of e-mails from
concerned magicians and mentalists around the world warning me about “the
Penguin Magic business tactics.” Even seasoned magic dealers warned me
about “those Penguin guys” and how they have a tendency to sell knocked-off
versions of other people’s magic products.

At one of my earliest meetings with Acar and Maxwell, I remember telling
Acar about the warnings and asking him, “How do I know you will never steal
from me?” He replied, “Because we don’t steal from our friends.”

I now can’t help but wonder if I was ever really “their friend” or just
someone else they planned to rip-off from the very beginning.

Silly as it may sound, at first I believed Acar and Maxwell. I believed they
would be honorable business people. I guess because I wanted to believe.
That’s just the kind of person I am. I want to think the best of people and
it takes a lot before I finally come to distrust them. But as the months
went by…

They replied to fewer and fewer of my e-mails and phone calls.

Advertisements they promised to place in magazines never materialized.

The agreed upon hotlink from the Penguin website to my site suddenly
disappeared.

Checks began arriving later and later.

And all the while, I would receive at least a few e-mails every week from
magicians complaining about the disrespectful service they got from Penguin
Magic.

Then another strange thing started to happen. Penguin Magic started to order
much smaller quantities of some of my most popular products and in some
cases completely STOPPED ordering them…and yet they still advertised them
on the home page of their website! For example, over a year (!) went by
without them ordering a single “IN A FLASH,” yet month-after-month it was
listed as one of their best-sellers. Hmmmm…

I started to have some very dark suspicions. After all, what could be
easier than having a printer punch holes in packs of cards and toss them in
baggies? And keep in mind that at this point they were the world’s only
seller of Sankey Magic!

Then a few months ago, when I asked them if they were interested in joining
my newly formed world-wide network of authorized dealers, they jumped at the
chance. But AGAIN, almost from the very start there were clear signs that
they had no intention of playing by the rules…

For the first few weeks of September they posted many of my products at
lower-than-agreed upon prices and undercut all the other authorized dealers
they had just agreed to work together with!!
(In fact, up until the time of this e-mail, if you go to the very first page
of the “Jay Sankey Store” on their US website, you’ll see that they CONTINUE
to advertise “Three Ring Circus” for $30 -instead of the agreed upon price
of $40 that all my other dealers are selling it at!)

And then in late September of this year, after they agreed to remove a
collection of “Free
Jay Sankey Downloads” (which I had produced as a way to thank my wonderful
customers) I received news that they had put them back up “behind the
scenes” on the Penguin website! (For all I know they are STILL UP!)

And in even just the last few days, the Penguin boys have pulled yet another
“fast one” and posted a parade of slashed prices on their UK website for
several of my newly upgraded products with the instructional dvds. Again
without my consent and in outright violation of the agreement they entered
into as an authorized dealer earlier this fall!

The list of Penguin Magic’s transgressions and violations goes on and on and
on…

As I said at the beginning of this e-mail, I was realy hoping I would never
have to “go public” with this information. After all, a business
relationship is like any other relationship: there are private sides to it
and it can sometimes take everyone a while to work out the kinks and
overcome misunderstandings and miscommunications.

But recently, when I received yet more e-mails from some of you complaining
that you had in good faith ordered from Penguin Magic some of my newly
upgraded products and then received in the mail some of the OLD and
OUT-OF-DATE products (!!!)…well, I knew the time had come to expose the
boys at Penguin Weasel for who they are. I just wouldn’t feel right if I
didn’t warn you, especially after all you have done over the past few years
for me, my wife Lisa and my son Mason.

I’m also extremely serious about honoring the trust given to me by all the
other dealers in my recently formed world-wide network of authorized
dealers. Unlike the unethical cowboys at Penguin Magic, many of these
dealers have families to feed and long-term ties to the magic community.

I hate talking badly about other people, but there was simply no way I could
remain silent while Penguin Magic continues to pull the crap they have have
been pulling for way, way too long. If I did that, I would feel like I was
letting down far too many honest people.

With that in mind, I would like to ask you to consider boycotting Penguin
Magic. Despite their clever web-marketing, they are still nothing more than
cold-hearted, flightless birds who have only got as far as they have by
riding on the coat-tails of other far more honest and creative people.

As a creator and manufacturer of magic products I have the final say in who
markets my products. But as the all-powerful CUSTOMER you in fact have the
final say in who will sell any products at all.

By finally going public with all this information, I’m trying to do my part.
No I hope you do yours. Vote with your wallet and let’s all work together to
make Penguin Magic extinct today.

Thanks very much for your help!

Yours sincerely,
Jay Sankey

PS. The fast-talking boys at Penguin Magic have only purchased a mere 25 of
each of my newly upgraded products with the instructional dvds. If they
continue to advertise these products for sale for even just another week or
so…I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Essentially, the contents of Jay’s letter support the opinion and suspicions of the non-Penguin fans. It’s unfortunate, it’s sad, and it’s pathetic to read what Jay says he’s been through — but it’s not surprising to me. At least Jay mentions he was warned about consorting with the Waddling One.

In a way, it reminds me of the guy who woke up one morning shocked — shocked! I tell you! — that the woman he married from the brothel is a whore. Holy cow. Someone alert the media.

In the Genii BBS thread, Pete Biro notes:

Way to go Jay.

My reply to that?

Which way is that? The long, circuitous, ignore-what-nearly-everyone-told-you way? Yeah, I suppose that’s one way to go.

Live and learn I suppose. I don’t know Jay outside of his books and DVDs (well, pre-Penguin Magic, anyway) so I’ll lean towards giving him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to entering into a business arrangement with Penguin.

It might have been instructive for Sankey to have read all the messages that lead up to Sean Murphy’s comments in Penguin Magic’s forum almost a year ago (October 24, 2004 3:44 a.m.) when the subject of “What’s the deal with Magic Makers Inc?” came up for discussion. It became a long, meandering thread taking up several pages listing a number of products Penguin Magic sold that some customers called knockoffs.

Of course, Jay would have to have read the thread before Penguin Magic deleted it off the system. But, since I saved a copy of it to my hard drive, I visit it every once in a while to remind myself why it is I don’t do business with Penguin Magic.

Allow me please to provide my favorite of Sean’s responses:

The Time Machine - People have been gimmicking watches to perform this effect for many years. Various custom manufacturers have made it available in the past. Collector’s Workshop was the first company to mass produce this item. Later, Bazaar de Magia came out with a version. Collector’s was upset at Bazaar de Magia when they came out with it, and Bazaar de Magia had the audacity to be upset at Magic Makers when they came out with it. The truth is that it’s been around for many, many years and anyone who wishes to manufacture it has every right. We used to carry the Bazaar de Magia version, but it was more expensive and the mechanism didn’t work as well. Hardly anybody bought it, and we eventually discontinued it. The Magic Makers motor and mechanism are unique to Magic Makers. The motor and mechanism are patented by Magic Makers. Magic Makers has now released five versions of the effect.

I think I did a pretty good job here of showing why that is a load of crap.

Over the Sal Piacente’s Expert Card Magic Lecture Notes DVDs, Sean went on to call Michael Close a liar, and stated it wasn’t the first time Close attempted “to do public damage to others by misrepresenting the facts in his column.”

Remember to “Magic Mints” fiasco? In his response on october 24, Sean accused Colin Gilbert and Martin Breeze of extortion:

They attempted to extort more money by starting a smear campaign on various online discussion forums.

Jay — and anyone else — is free to do business with whomever they wish. As for me, that’s not the sort of attitude I want to see exhibited by people with whom I’m going to carry on a business relationship.

By the way, since much of this particular issue surrounds items manufactured by Magic Makers, Inc. and subsequently sold by Penguin Magic, it would do you some good to take a look at the “Magic Fakers” web page here. Please, take a moment to view it. I’ll wait.

Back already?

Notice anything? It’s not just a matter of “putting out a version of a trick that’s been in magic forver.” Compare the remarkable similarities between the versions. I hope this, then, helps clear the muddied waters some people seem to still be swimming in that obscures the difference between what is “a version” and what is “a knockoff.”

So, either Sean is incredibly ignorant when it comes to the provinance and/or similarities of the products he sells, or he’s a liar. I’ve given it some thought and I can’t find any middle ground there. Maybe you can and, if so, kindly let me know what I’m missing.

From Penguin Magic’s plebeian beginnings in its “warehouse” located in Willow Tree Gardens apartment A2 (off-campus housing used by University of Michigan students) there has been vocal opposition to Penguin’s business tactics. When it appeared they became the left-coast retail outlet of Rob Stiff’s organization, the bat guano really attracted itself to the fanblades.

Of course, not everyone vocalizes disdain for Penguin Magic. Steve Pellegrino still seems to be singing the “Penguin Apologetics” song. In past blog posts (they were in Magic Rants so I’m not sure they’re even available anymore) Steve has made a distinction between “apparent lack of ethics” and “just doing business” — giving deference to the latter in the case of Penguin. And, while obviously Steve is free to view this however he pleases, it never struck a pleasing chord to me to separate the two concepts, let alone allow that Penguin Magic was just doing “good business.”

But this goes back to the difference between “ethical and moral” and “legal” — two sets of terms that are, more often than not, mutually exclusive. Of course, they don’t have to be. It’s just that, these days, they’re so rarely seen dancing with one another in the same room.

And before anyone brings up the “well, so-and-so has done it, so why pick on Penguin?” — save your breath. Or hold it for a really, really long time. That holds no water. I put that argument in the same boat as the one Max Maven explained in his essay discussing ethics in magic:

There are particular comments that seem to surface early on in any discussion of ethics, much like crabgrass. To beat this analogy into quick submission, allow me to identify some of the statements which are fit for immediate weeding:

1. “EVERYONE DOES IT”

No they don’t.

Certainly many do. But not all. Besides, it’s a lousy argument. Your mother knew that when she said, “I suppose if all your friends decided to jump off the roof, that would make it all right for you to do it, too.”

How many times do I — and everyone else making this point — have to bring up the obvious? Magic is still, largely, a cottage industry. It’s small enough that what one guy does to screw another guy over reverberates throughout the kingdom. It affects everyone, like it or not.

It may be perfectly legal for the Rob Stiffs of the world to copy and sell a prop designed and marketed by someone else, but that doesn’t make it the right thing to do. It’s bad ecology in the world of magic. It may be perfectly legal for Penguin Magic to offer for free download the instruction to what is, arguably, the greatest card trick ever devised — Paul Curry’s “Out of This World” — but that doesn’t make it ethical to do so.

The effects of this sort of behavior is less about a magic creator having his intellectual property raped, or about him losing a few coins over it. The bigger picture takes years to get into focus, but imagine it will start looking like this: fewer and fewer of the really good new creations will find their way into the marketing channels because they will be sold to fewer and fewer customers. What the marketing channels will offer will be the magic equivalent of “The Aristocrats” — an inside joke buyers won’t even know that they aren’t getting. Take a snapshot of the magic market as it stands right now and ask yourself if you’d like for this to be where it stands for all time, no new stuff.

The real, important, vibrant world of magic and its creators is not a stone statue over which the tuxedo-wearing pigeons can continue to drop their fecal behavior.

Comments

"Escamoteur" is French for conjurer. "Tourettes" is a neurological disorder sometimes causing uncontrollable vocal outbursts. While I am descended from the French, like most I am only pop-culturally related to Tourettes.

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