SCAMMER ALERT! 2 FOR ONE SPECIAL

While it'd be nice to have new mods, it's never going to happen. These discussions have occurred ad nauseum since the "shutdown" announcement over a year ago, without any changes.

If someone wanted to start a new forum, there's nothing stopping them. There's a near infinite number of free forum templates and learning resources available. Hosting a site with such low traffic would be pennies each day. Current bandwidth costs for this site right now are only ~$22/mo. It wouldn't be difficult for a novice to have it up and running in a weekend.

 

you sound like an old member yet you joined yesterday O.O
i think the cost is what stops most people.. and the liability

 

I don't suppose the cost would be too terrible, since we also have several members willing to do a monthly donation. Among the active members, two dollars a person would cover it.
The main thing to me would be that it would be a pain to start a new site, and I'm not 100% sure what it would fix. What extra security measures would a mod be able to add? Unfortunately, blocking IP address won't work. Proxies are a dime a dozen.

 

Alright so I opened a ticket of category "Item not received", then this asshole took the ticket to paypal and told them this bullshit:

"This item has been shipped to the address that was listed by the buyer on Reddit.Endicia shipping information and payment: http://prntscr.com/jie30b Address as listed by the buyer on Reddit: http://prntscr.com/jie3f7 The tracking number is: 9405510200829731951834 (via USPS)Here's the conversation between us doing the transaction: http://prntscr.com/jie4jzIn which the user confirmed the payment for the product. If any further information is needed, please contact me."

Now PayPal has resolved this issue and I can't reopen it, but that tracking shows that it was just shipped to him... Not sure what to do now

 

Also having the background information on if it gets super hairy to have conversation logs or something perhaps? Being able to potentially get the scammers and having their emails and stuff that they signed up with.. although I'm sure they have scam emails they make but still..

 

Call PayPal and explain the situation, they will reopen the case if you can provide more details and show that the tracking number is falsified

 

I am looking into some forum hosting / website opitions that we can set up. If I get something off the ground I will post more.

One idea I had in mind was restricting access to BST until a credential leveling was giving by a moderator. Ideas on this are open to discussion of course.

I think buyer education is just as important as seller regulations.

A buyer status could be obtained after taking a mini quiz regarding safe purchasing practice. 1. Also pay via PayPay goods/services. 2. Receive a photo with a current newspaper date and seller signature etc.

I believe photo requirements with pictures that are time stamped and signed are needed to even post in the b/s/t.
Just a few ideas.

 

I am playing with permissions systems on a createaform. It may be generic for now, but if anyone is interested in moderating and can show me a history of trust, or ahs formum experience please PM me.

I may set up a discord for this as well.

 

Just to add to this, I too was caught up in the scam by Lavender Fields.

Luckily I took precautions after Zaphora's post a little while back regarding scammers and some of the suggestions about safety a few members made in there, so I wasn't duped too badly and have already got my money back from Paypal. Much better than if I'd lost the two toys she was looking to trade with me.

After a lot of suspicious back and forth - offering different toys, changing the deal, etc. It ended up with me just purchasing a Large Bumblehooves via paypal. She tried to get send money via Venmo, but refused and said I'd only deal via Paypal. Ended up providing me with a paypal address - a tracking number was provided, the package for which was then delivered to you guessed it - Wisconsin. That's when the penny dropped.

I feel really bad about the person who's paypal account was used (haven't seen them post anything on here that I recognise) but I did every thing I could on my end. In the paypal notes I detailed what the payment was for (purchasing a Large Bumblehooves), who the payment was for (Lavdender Fields) and where it was being shipped to (my address in Australia). In the end I had to guess either the person who's Paypal it was, wasn't careful enough to check the notes/shipping address - or it really is an account linked to the scammer and they tried to lie to paypal about what happened. Either way, I documented and screen shotted everything and provided it to Paypal and they decided in my favour.

I'll definitely warn others of shipping to Wisconsin in the future!

 

Oof, this is making me feel a bit nauseous. I'm finalizing my first sale here. Everything's packed and ready to go, and I'm pretty sure everything will go according to plan. But still, reading this is worrisome.

I might want to sell one other toy and I've been eyeing few toys to buy but if I'm this anxious now then oh boy I need some sedatives later on :S. From the point of view of a first time seller, a some sort of "seal of approval" would also ease my mind in that regard that the buyer could be confident about things going smoothly and that would lessen my own insecurities. If that makes any sense. Now I'm basically scared that what if I fuck up.

 

Maybe ask your buyer for references?

 

I sympathize with you. I plan to sell my xl pretzal soon and dealing with a more expensive and heavy toy makes me nervous. But I'm going to double check everything with PayPal and the person matches up and pray it goes well.

 

All that you need for Paypal seller protection is to mark the payment as "goods/services" and ship to the confirmed, provided address with valid tracking. Sending/requesting a Paypal invoice takes two minutes and is a little bit of extra protection. If the item is over $750, signature confirmation is also required, but that won't apply to most sales here. If Paypal ever doesn't decide in favor of the seller with these criteria met, simply call directly, explain the situation to a representative, and request for an appeal. If one representative tells you there's nothing they can do, call again and speak to another representative.

Just last week, someone purchased one of my laptops, claimed it had the wrong software, and shipped back an obviously different and damaged model. Paypal initially sided with the buyer, as there's no way to prove what I shipped them or what they returned. It took several followup calls to different representatives for an appeal, but they reversed the decision within 24 hours. I have over fifteen years experience selling online and can't recall the last time I didn't eventually win a dispute after making some noise.

Like a previous post said, user education is the most important factor in all of these cases. it's shocking how many people go along with scammers changing their story or making odd last minute requests. Most of you are well-meaning and are just trying to accommodate your buyer, but scammers specifically look for these traits in order to exploit your kindness. If something seems off about a sale, you're not obligated to complete the transaction.

 

By reference you mean who they have sold to or bought from before? I saw one seller including that information about their previous customers that I found a great idea.

 

Relatively close knit community. Shouldnt be too hard for most people to get references.

 

What about a testimonials thread where people can post their good (and bad) buying experiences to. Have it stickied up at the top for easy reference. Maybe something like that could help?

 

I think this is the best idea, given the fact that old sales posts get pushed back and rooting through someone’s post history is kind of tedious. Could have a seller feedback thread + testimonial volunteers, like when you post your feedback of a seller, you can offer to testify for them from there on out.

Should also be a buyer feedback thread I think, so if there’s any troublesome buyers we can know. Not as important as seller feedback, just quick “this was my experience with so and so” posts from sellers, maybe even only post if the exchange was notably negative.