I haven't spent much time on the BST section of SR and I'm already getting aneurysms. Shouldn't there be codes of conducts or something? I've dealt with online transactions for the longest time, and never have I dealt with people so frustrating. This is from another forum but I reworded and summarized it so even 12 year olds can understand. Hopefully this will make things smoother during transaction because watching kids deal on SR is nerve wracking because 90% do not know what they're doing.
#1: Identifying Dishonest People
There's already a small thread on this but I want to clarify some more. Before dropping off your precious V2i at the UPS center, read this.
a) Always check feedback.
Check, check, check. Use the search button. I've seen countless people on SR complaining about getting scammed on the daily and you can easily avoid that if you click the search button, inputting the guy's username, and seeing if there are any threads on them. What if there are no threads? Try Google. Perhaps they are infamous on another forum. You never know. Do your research.
b) I found a thread about _____.
Great, now READ. Does this person ship late? Does this person ship on time? Are there any problems? REMEMBER: Always check WHO'S writing the feedback. Was the seemingly "good" feedback written by a brand new account with 1-5 posts? Be wary. Some people create fake accounts in attempt to leave themselves feedback. Look at the time the feedbacks were left. Sometimes people will create multiple accounts to bump their threads and give themselves feedback. There will be a lot of feedback from “unknown” users in a very short period of time. Ask about this person. Don't be afraid to ASK. Always do thorough research about a person to ensure you both have a solid transaction.
NOTE: People who say stuff like "I have feedback on eBay/this other scooter forum/this BMX forum/fingerboard forum" STOP. This person can be LYING. Let's say on eBay there is a username by the name of "EllieScooters123" with 350 positive feedback. I can easily create a "EllieScooters123" on SR and claim to be the same person on eBay. Thus I can pretend I have those 350 positive feedback, make you send/pay first and bam, you get scammed. So, if there is someone claiming to have feedback on a different forum/eBay make sure you message their accounts on THOSE websites, to verify that those dealers are actually the people you've been talking to.
#2: Responsibility
Make sure you establish responsibility. Unfortunately, not all transactions have a happy ending. When that happens, someone needs to take the blame, as bad as it sounds. A package gets lost in the mail. Who follows up? This happens frequently during cash-in-mail transactions. Who's fault is it when the envelope is lost? The seller doesn't send the package with delivery confirmation and it disappears. Who is responsible? Remember, talk things out with the other person and agree on something before anything is sent to each other.
#3: Basic B/S/T Etiquette
Cool! You finally see the deck you've been looking for. Or, maybe there's a guy wanting to buy an iPod touch you happen to be selling! You decide to post on their thread instructing the seller/trader/buyer to PM you. NO. Do you understand? NO. Do not do that. First of all, it is fucking rude as hell. PM the person and see if you can work things out. If you are trying to sell a product, PM the person with a description of the said item, include pictures if you want. Type in proper grammar. "i got a nic addict deck do u want" First of all, no. That is annoying. You are not in 1st grade. Also, if the person says "no trades", respect that.
#4: Paying
a) Paypal
Safest, most efficient way to pay. If you can, do it. If you don't have a bank account, then well, try and get one. Trust me when I say PP makes EVERYTHING a whole hell of a lot easier.
NOTE: NEVER EVER SEND AS A GIFT. I repeat NEVER SEND AS A GIFT. But Liz! Paypal charges me if I send it regularly! NO. DON'T DO IT. If you send as a gift it will always be IMPOSSIBLE for you to get your money back if the whole transaction goes wrong. It's worth paying the 4% to ensure that if stuff is screw up you can get your money back. Think of it as a mini insurance.
b) Money orders
MOs are decent. Make sure you ask for a postal money order, therefore you can cash it in. If someone sends you a Western Union/Moneygram, be wary. There are a lot of fake MOs floating around, and if you put it in your banking account without knowing it's a counterfeit, YOU ARE HELD LIABLE. Potential legal action will be held AGAINST YOU. Safest way is to ask for a POSTAL money order. If WU/MO is your only option, make sure it clears (2-3 weeks) before shipping your things out.
c) Cash in mail
Sigh. This is really risky. If it's $10, then it's decent. But you have no bank account, and you have to do this.. sigh. If you are sending more than $50+ over the mail, get a USPS Priority box and put the money in there with something heavy, like a book you don't want or something. That weighs it down. Send this box with TRACKING. Sending cash in mail is especially dangerous because you don't know if the person you are dealing with is honest. You have no tracking. You don't know when it gets there. What if it "never got to their house"? The other person can just claim it got lost in the mail, and just keep your money. So, remember, if you want to send money over the mail: ship it in a small flat rate priority box w/ delivery confirmation. I use to do this. I've done it over 100 times, it never got lost.
d) Checks
Checks can bounce. It can be edited. Try to avoid it if you can.
#5: Shipping
Please agree on a shipping method. Do you ship USPS? UPS? Fedex? Let the other person know. Sometimes a person living in an apartment has a really hard time accepting UPS and Fedex shipments, I know I do. Are you shipping first class or priority? If you can, never ship in a padded envelope. Things can break, things can bend, the envelope can rip. If you can, put your items in a box and ship it like that. Pad it up. Use old grocery bags, bubble wrap, paper. Pad your shit up, because if it comes broken to the other party, YOU will be held responsible.
NOTE: When using the priority boxes with the glue label (like the small flat rate), they just let you close the box with the sticky side. Make sure you wrap tape around it. I've heard of too many instances when the box just opens during transit and the contents get lost. Do NOT be the person losing out.
Five more things:
1) Do NOT message a person if you're not ready to pay. DON'T message them, finalize a deal, and message them saying "it'll take me a week to get the money." It's rude, and they're probably not going to save it for you.
2) Do NOT LOWBALL. If a lens is $250, okay, offer $230 or something but $200 or $150? Don't expect them to sell them to you for that low.
3) Do NOT message someone about something that's not on their BST.
4) IF YOU FINALIZE A DEAL, DON'T BACK OUT. And if you REALLY have to (sometimes money issues come up, I understand) but message the person about it instead of just ignoring their PMs. I know A LOT of people who do that.
5) If a person say NO TRADES, they mean NO TRADES.
quoted from YYN:
"Conclusion - So you've sent the money, the payment, the item, and now you're waiting for what's yours. Be prepared to wait a while, depending on where the item was shipped from. The shipping conformation number should provide you with hours of fun to sit and watch it travel from state to state, country to country. You could look at pictures or reviews of the item to hype you up.
I. It's not here! If the other party did not give you tracking, and you feel that something might be wrong, PM them. If you feel anything could be awry, express it to the other party. Keep solid communication. DO NOT flip out and make a thread saying that the other party is a “no-good ruffian” who “pinched” your “dough”. Give it a while, probably a couple of weeks, maxium. If there person is keeping contact, you can relax a bit. Sometimes things go wrong, and you just gotta roll with it. You want to start worrying only if the person is no responding to any messages and it's been a good while with no package. Then you'll probably want to make a thread in the trader feedback forum calmly alerting the community of the problem, but that's a whole 'nother bag of worms. Hopefully, the item arrives safe, sound, and as awesome as you hoped.
II. Misrepresentation: So, you've got it, and it's not mint at all. There's a scratch or a knife wound something. If it's anything other than what they said, or if you just feel it's so, message them, tell them so, tell them why. See what they do. Contact, once again, is very important. They might offer cash back to make up for it. They might offer to take it back (they should pay for everything, the price, the original shipping, the new shipping). They might offer to replace it. Make sure it is what YOU want, not what they want. Sellers should have correctly represented items, and if it is anything other than such, it falls squarely on their shoulders to rectify the situation. Make sure you leave happy, no matter what. If they offer to do nothing, there's not all that much you can, other than feedback, maybe a thread.
III. Feedback: Don't forget to leave feedback! Unless something really bad happened, it should be positive. Negative is reserved for item/money stealing and misrepresented items that are not corrected. Remember, what you write helps other decide whether or not to trade with this person."
So have fun. I dunno. Stuff like this should be said. Think of it as a really messy sorta guide. I've dealt with online transaction for the past three years so I know what I'm talking about. Enjoy.
#1: Identifying Dishonest People
There's already a small thread on this but I want to clarify some more. Before dropping off your precious V2i at the UPS center, read this.
a) Always check feedback.
Check, check, check. Use the search button. I've seen countless people on SR complaining about getting scammed on the daily and you can easily avoid that if you click the search button, inputting the guy's username, and seeing if there are any threads on them. What if there are no threads? Try Google. Perhaps they are infamous on another forum. You never know. Do your research.
b) I found a thread about _____.
Great, now READ. Does this person ship late? Does this person ship on time? Are there any problems? REMEMBER: Always check WHO'S writing the feedback. Was the seemingly "good" feedback written by a brand new account with 1-5 posts? Be wary. Some people create fake accounts in attempt to leave themselves feedback. Look at the time the feedbacks were left. Sometimes people will create multiple accounts to bump their threads and give themselves feedback. There will be a lot of feedback from “unknown” users in a very short period of time. Ask about this person. Don't be afraid to ASK. Always do thorough research about a person to ensure you both have a solid transaction.
NOTE: People who say stuff like "I have feedback on eBay/this other scooter forum/this BMX forum/fingerboard forum" STOP. This person can be LYING. Let's say on eBay there is a username by the name of "EllieScooters123" with 350 positive feedback. I can easily create a "EllieScooters123" on SR and claim to be the same person on eBay. Thus I can pretend I have those 350 positive feedback, make you send/pay first and bam, you get scammed. So, if there is someone claiming to have feedback on a different forum/eBay make sure you message their accounts on THOSE websites, to verify that those dealers are actually the people you've been talking to.
#2: Responsibility
Make sure you establish responsibility. Unfortunately, not all transactions have a happy ending. When that happens, someone needs to take the blame, as bad as it sounds. A package gets lost in the mail. Who follows up? This happens frequently during cash-in-mail transactions. Who's fault is it when the envelope is lost? The seller doesn't send the package with delivery confirmation and it disappears. Who is responsible? Remember, talk things out with the other person and agree on something before anything is sent to each other.
#3: Basic B/S/T Etiquette
Cool! You finally see the deck you've been looking for. Or, maybe there's a guy wanting to buy an iPod touch you happen to be selling! You decide to post on their thread instructing the seller/trader/buyer to PM you. NO. Do you understand? NO. Do not do that. First of all, it is fucking rude as hell. PM the person and see if you can work things out. If you are trying to sell a product, PM the person with a description of the said item, include pictures if you want. Type in proper grammar. "i got a nic addict deck do u want" First of all, no. That is annoying. You are not in 1st grade. Also, if the person says "no trades", respect that.
#4: Paying
a) Paypal
Safest, most efficient way to pay. If you can, do it. If you don't have a bank account, then well, try and get one. Trust me when I say PP makes EVERYTHING a whole hell of a lot easier.
NOTE: NEVER EVER SEND AS A GIFT. I repeat NEVER SEND AS A GIFT. But Liz! Paypal charges me if I send it regularly! NO. DON'T DO IT. If you send as a gift it will always be IMPOSSIBLE for you to get your money back if the whole transaction goes wrong. It's worth paying the 4% to ensure that if stuff is screw up you can get your money back. Think of it as a mini insurance.
b) Money orders
MOs are decent. Make sure you ask for a postal money order, therefore you can cash it in. If someone sends you a Western Union/Moneygram, be wary. There are a lot of fake MOs floating around, and if you put it in your banking account without knowing it's a counterfeit, YOU ARE HELD LIABLE. Potential legal action will be held AGAINST YOU. Safest way is to ask for a POSTAL money order. If WU/MO is your only option, make sure it clears (2-3 weeks) before shipping your things out.
c) Cash in mail
Sigh. This is really risky. If it's $10, then it's decent. But you have no bank account, and you have to do this.. sigh. If you are sending more than $50+ over the mail, get a USPS Priority box and put the money in there with something heavy, like a book you don't want or something. That weighs it down. Send this box with TRACKING. Sending cash in mail is especially dangerous because you don't know if the person you are dealing with is honest. You have no tracking. You don't know when it gets there. What if it "never got to their house"? The other person can just claim it got lost in the mail, and just keep your money. So, remember, if you want to send money over the mail: ship it in a small flat rate priority box w/ delivery confirmation. I use to do this. I've done it over 100 times, it never got lost.
d) Checks
Checks can bounce. It can be edited. Try to avoid it if you can.
#5: Shipping
Please agree on a shipping method. Do you ship USPS? UPS? Fedex? Let the other person know. Sometimes a person living in an apartment has a really hard time accepting UPS and Fedex shipments, I know I do. Are you shipping first class or priority? If you can, never ship in a padded envelope. Things can break, things can bend, the envelope can rip. If you can, put your items in a box and ship it like that. Pad it up. Use old grocery bags, bubble wrap, paper. Pad your shit up, because if it comes broken to the other party, YOU will be held responsible.
NOTE: When using the priority boxes with the glue label (like the small flat rate), they just let you close the box with the sticky side. Make sure you wrap tape around it. I've heard of too many instances when the box just opens during transit and the contents get lost. Do NOT be the person losing out.
Five more things:
1) Do NOT message a person if you're not ready to pay. DON'T message them, finalize a deal, and message them saying "it'll take me a week to get the money." It's rude, and they're probably not going to save it for you.
2) Do NOT LOWBALL. If a lens is $250, okay, offer $230 or something but $200 or $150? Don't expect them to sell them to you for that low.
3) Do NOT message someone about something that's not on their BST.
4) IF YOU FINALIZE A DEAL, DON'T BACK OUT. And if you REALLY have to (sometimes money issues come up, I understand) but message the person about it instead of just ignoring their PMs. I know A LOT of people who do that.
5) If a person say NO TRADES, they mean NO TRADES.
quoted from YYN:
"Conclusion - So you've sent the money, the payment, the item, and now you're waiting for what's yours. Be prepared to wait a while, depending on where the item was shipped from. The shipping conformation number should provide you with hours of fun to sit and watch it travel from state to state, country to country. You could look at pictures or reviews of the item to hype you up.
I. It's not here! If the other party did not give you tracking, and you feel that something might be wrong, PM them. If you feel anything could be awry, express it to the other party. Keep solid communication. DO NOT flip out and make a thread saying that the other party is a “no-good ruffian” who “pinched” your “dough”. Give it a while, probably a couple of weeks, maxium. If there person is keeping contact, you can relax a bit. Sometimes things go wrong, and you just gotta roll with it. You want to start worrying only if the person is no responding to any messages and it's been a good while with no package. Then you'll probably want to make a thread in the trader feedback forum calmly alerting the community of the problem, but that's a whole 'nother bag of worms. Hopefully, the item arrives safe, sound, and as awesome as you hoped.
II. Misrepresentation: So, you've got it, and it's not mint at all. There's a scratch or a knife wound something. If it's anything other than what they said, or if you just feel it's so, message them, tell them so, tell them why. See what they do. Contact, once again, is very important. They might offer cash back to make up for it. They might offer to take it back (they should pay for everything, the price, the original shipping, the new shipping). They might offer to replace it. Make sure it is what YOU want, not what they want. Sellers should have correctly represented items, and if it is anything other than such, it falls squarely on their shoulders to rectify the situation. Make sure you leave happy, no matter what. If they offer to do nothing, there's not all that much you can, other than feedback, maybe a thread.
III. Feedback: Don't forget to leave feedback! Unless something really bad happened, it should be positive. Negative is reserved for item/money stealing and misrepresented items that are not corrected. Remember, what you write helps other decide whether or not to trade with this person."
So have fun. I dunno. Stuff like this should be said. Think of it as a really messy sorta guide. I've dealt with online transaction for the past three years so I know what I'm talking about. Enjoy.
