Check iTrader This is perhaps the most basic of all tips but you'd be amazed to find out how many people still get scammed despite the information being in the scammers iTrader. Read through their posts If a person doesn't have any iTrader then reading through their posts might provide valuable insight into what they are like. Look for things such as poor grammar or poor english, as quite often scammers tend to have poor grammar and poor english, based on my own experience at least, allthough this may not always be the case. Also look at how they behave on the forum, are they always arguing with other members? or replying negatively? or are they mostly annoying other members? if yes to any of those then it's probably a good idea not to do business with them. Google their username/email adress (if available) This is also a good idea to do along with checking their iTrader and see what comes up. Are they scamming on other forums too? don't jump to conclusions All to often you see people here complaining about being scammed if someone doesn't respond to you within 24 hours it doesn't always mean they've scammed you and done a runner, it may simply be they have other things to attend to. Give sellers the benifit of the doubt for a few days, perhaps something came up at home? members here do have lives outside the forums you know , must of us anyways lol If you do get scammed leave negative iTrader If you get scammed don't go complaining about it on the forum, leave a negative iTrader explaining in breif what happened, this will help other members - something breif yet descriptive like "promised service but did not deliver after payment, avoid them" Don't just let rip on the forum calling them every name under the sun, your post will probably be deleted and you will earn yourself an infraction. Mods cant edit or remove iTrader Remember that mods can't remove or edit iTrader if for example negative iTrader was left in error or if you mistakingly thought you were scammed. Just be careful when your submiting your iTrader to make sure this doesn't happen. report any false iTrader Ratings If someone leaves you a negative iTrader and you have not made any deals with them and ONLY if, then report it using the report icon () under options in your itrader profile. This will only save mods from telling you the exact same thing after you post your thread about it.
Very good points. Been covered elsewhere I'm sure but it's nice that you've taken the trouble to consolidate them. The point about jumping to conclusions is very valid - too many people claim to have been scammed without giving the 'offending' party the chance to sign back in and pay their debt after the work has been completed. Remember people are in different time zones!
Very good tips Electric-Shadow. This post can be make as sticky as people will surely come here and keep babbling that they had been scammed by new member with no iTrader.
Thanks and yeah some people get pretty ratty about people not signing on for hours on end but as you said you should always allow for timezones.
I had someone phone me at 4am in the morning because I hadn't replied to an email he sent at 1am. He felt 3 hours was long enough to wait for a response. He was 7 hours behind, and just assumed everyone was in the same timezone as him.
I would suggest this for a sticky. It consolidates it all into one thread and makes a good job of it as well. No muss or filler just the way the rules and tips should be. Good Job ES! Shawn
Very good post, there are many people that will create a new user account just to come to the forum and bash some other person so everything that you read is not always the case. I am not sure if I agree with you on the bad English or bad grammar as there are many here that English is not their first language, which does not make them a scammer or a bad person.. There has been way to many people getting scammed here, and you should look to see how long they have been a member of dp, as well. Here is another thread focused on web host but still a good rule of thumb to follow. http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=762254 Thanks for the info. ~Aimee
Thanks yes I agree, not everyone with poor language is a scammer and you will have to judge people for yousrelf sometimes, but it doesn't take a lot of brainpower to figure out whos a scammer and whos legit. These tips are just here to give people a helping hand. They've just got to put the work in themselves
Excellent tips! But it would be unfair for us, outside US, that would not really be good in English grammar. Anyway, nice tips!
Very nice post mate! Sometimes I just wish to bully and force those newbies who ignore the rules and FAQ to read such quality informative posts like yours and other who took time
Hi I apologise if any parts of this guide seemed unfair in any way, it's just meant as a general guide and of course, won't apply to every case -ES-
I'd like to add one more - ask the person to give you his/her paypal email and try to send a $0.01 to this account, before you click "confirm" it will show you the account details. Look for the similar link Non-U.S. Verified Personal Member (5) http://pcstore4you.com/images/1.jpg I only deal with those who are 1. Verified 2. Have their account created not yesterday. 3. Have at least some reputation and not = 0.