Warning - be careful of con artists and scamsters

[Silver]

Hi all

Just a reminder to all members on the forum

When you purchase anything, make sure you are dealing with a reputable party and someone that you trust.

When in doubt, we suggest you only deal with well-known retailers or in the case of the Classifieds, a member with a longer history on the forum.

The Admin & Mod team have been made aware of a few instances where members have been taken for a ride. I.e. Have paid their money and the person vanished without sending the goods.

There is not much we can do after the fact in these situations. You buy and sell from each other at your own risk. What you can do is take precaution and do your checking beforehand.

Discussing potential purchases with other experienced forum members before you buy is a wise move - especially if you are dealing with an individual that is not well known or if something makes you feel a bit uncomfortable.

Take care and vape on

 

[rogue zombie]

Can we not make scammers known? List somewhere?

I know it's a bit extreme, but hey it could save someone some money.

 

[hands]

if your first post is in the classifieds and you couldn't be bothered to even update your profile you should not be selling anything to any member not willing to take the risk of being scammed. i have used the classifieds to buy a few things with total success. i do make sure that the member is a good contributor of the forum first.

 

[Sharrivz]

@Gizmo is there no way to implement a rating system like Carbonite does for the classifieds?

Another idea that I have seen on other forums is that newbies are blocked from posting in classifieds etc until they have made a certain number of posts - they are only allowed to post in a new members section for a little while?

 

[rogue zombie]

@Stroodlepuff the iTrader system on a gaming forum works well.

The moment you go into the sales pages, the iTrader rating is under your name. So we would see right away who had negative records.

 

[dannler]

Yea itrader system
Works well. Maybe a sticky of guys that scammed other guys.

user name
Real name
And contact details.

But before it gets posted on the sticky, proof of the fraud must be sent to the mods. For them to post the details

 

[Derick]

Here's a chance for an enterprising young person to step in and offer an escrow service: Money is paid to mr escrow, he confirms to the seller that he has the money, the seller sends his product to the buyer, the buyer confirms to mr escrow once he received his product and mr escrow releases the money to the seller.

 

[Riddle]

I think @Derick has a good idea. However that will prolong the selling process slightly if payment is done from different bank accounts.

 

[Derick]

I think @Derick has a good idea. However that will prolong the selling process slightly if payment is done from different bank accounts.

Definitely, but Buyer can chose to use it - especially if seller is unknown - or take the risk and pay seller directly

 

[TylerD]

IMO do not buy something from someone before they have at least 20+ posts.

 

[Riddle]

Definitely, but Buyer can chose to use it - especially if seller is unknown - or take the risk and pay seller directly

That can definitely work yes. To be honest I prefer buying from someone who I can meet personally and see them if they aren't retailers. Even the retailers if they aren't reputable I refrain.

 

[johan]

Yip please take note as per the OP and that should include SELLING, especially when a member send you a pm with a "soft soapy story" - I was taken for close to a grand by a "member" on this forum who suddenly, after he received the goods, conveniently disappeared - not all members are honest.

 

[Tom]

Sales here go mostly thru various FB groups that are only for sales. But there is another group, a "Blacklist" where scammers end up. Maybe consider a thread as a Blacklist....

 

[Marzuq]

@Gizmo is there no way to implement a rating system like Carbonite does for the classifieds?

Another idea that I have seen on other forums is that newbies are blocked from posting in classifieds etc until they have made a certain number of posts - they are only allowed to post in a new members section for a little while?

im not the biggest fan of this system. creates a superior and inferior cloud. one of the reasons i like this site so much when i just joined was the fact that there was no limits. but just my opinion

 

[Silver]

Hi all

Just a reminder to all members on the forum

When you purchase anything, make sure you are dealing with a reputable party and someone that you trust.

When in doubt, we suggest you only deal with well-known retailers or in the case of the Classifieds, a member with a longer history on the forum. This applies if you are buying or selling.

The Admin & Mod team have been made aware of a few instances where members have been taken for a ride. I.e. Have paid their money and the person vanished without sending the goods. Or, there are situations where the purchaser says they have paid, but the money does not actually clear.

There is not much we can do after the fact in these situations. You buy and sell from each other at your own risk. What you can do is take precaution and do your checking beforehand.

Discussing potential purchases with other experienced forum members before you buy is a wise move - especially if you are dealing with an individual that is not well known or if something makes you feel a bit uncomfortable.

Take care and vape on

 

[Eequinox]

Hi all

Just a reminder to all members on the forum

When you purchase anything, make sure you are dealing with a reputable party and someone that you trust.

When in doubt, we suggest you only deal with well-known retailers or in the case of the Classifieds, a member with a longer history on the forum. This applies if you are buying or selling.

The Admin & Mod team have been made aware of a few instances where members have been taken for a ride. I.e. Have paid their money and the person vanished without sending the goods. Or, there are situations where the purchaser says they have paid, but the money does not actually clear.

There is not much we can do after the fact in these situations. You buy and sell from each other at your own risk. What you can do is take precaution and do your checking beforehand.

Discussing potential purchases with other experienced forum members before you buy is a wise move - especially if you are dealing with an individual that is not well known or if something makes you feel a bit uncomfortable.

Take care and vape on

there is no better tool to prevent scams by applying a bit of common sense if you can't meet and see the goods in a safe place just don't do it unless you know or other people can vouch for that member rather safe than sorry unfortunately not all "vapers" are trustworthy thats just plain human nature

 

[MJ INC]

It's a sad fact of life that this will happen. I know sites like Carbonite and sagamer have an Itrader rating to help steer people towards people who are trust worthy and to always watch our for guys who gave never traded before but that might be a lot of hassle to setup, I'm not very clued up on Web site development

 

[Cave Johnson]

It's a sad fact of life that this will happen. I know sites like Carbonite and sagamer have an Itrader rating to help steer people towards people who are trust worthy and to always watch our for guys who gave never traded before but that might be a lot of hassle to setup, I'm not very clued up on Web site development

I also think the iTrader system works. Being able to see exactly who submitted ratings and short comments gives the potential buyer a decent indication of the individual that they dealing with.

 

[wazarmoto]

I know it can be a pain, but @ SAGamer we have a system where you need to have 50 posts or higher to get into the marketplace sub forum. As a mod it's a pain in the ass to deal with people who try to weasel their way in. We encourage people to participate in threads and other discussions and become more part of the forum in general.

 

[gertvanjoe]

quick suggestion. when posting a classified a handwritten note with the username and date of the user must be in the photo. Not foolproof but works against most scams. Reddit works like that a LOT

Sent from my GT-I8190 using Tapatalk

 

[rogue zombie]

iTrader is the answer. Scam someone once, and it will be the last time that person operates on the forum

 

[gertvanjoe]

can work. But then for those of us who maybe buy a random thing here and thereit will make life hard. I hate scammers

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[rogue zombie]

For example I haven't been to SA GAMER is years, but I have a perfect iTrader record there. So if I go there now to sell a game, someone will be willing to deal with me just because of my iTrader record.

 

[gertvanjoe]

ah ok.

Sent from my GT-I8190 using Tapatalk

 

[MJ INC]

I know it can be a pain, but @ SAGamer we have a system where you need to have 50 posts or higher to get into the marketplace sub forum. As a mod it's a pain in the ass to deal with people who try to weasel their way in. We encourage people to participate in threads and other discussions and become more part of the forum in general.

I thought they changed the rules so new users had to give your beard a tug before they could use the classifieds