I buy and resell rare air jordans and social media plays a big part in doing this. I am am ember of tons of shoe groups and there is 1 specific rule that every single one has adopted that I feel like would help seperate legitimate buyers and sellers from the people messing around wasting time. Ive been trying to sell my account on here for a while. Tons of people pm me asking me really the same questions ive already posted on my thread anyways if they would have just read it. Then after I answer a million questions or in 1 case payed my half of the non refundeable middleman fees then all of the sudden theres excuses and changing of minds and to me this is a sign they were never really gonna buy the account anyways they just wanna either window shop or see how easily they can scam access to the account. The rule im talking about is flaking. Now in the shoe groups flaking after a deal has been made is an automatic ban no matter what and idk if that would be best here but a new flaker title would seperate those people from those who are not trying to waste a bunch of other peoples time for no reason. Like i understand people get bored but if you are asking a bunch of questions about an account u had no intention of buying then what are you really trying to do? What do u guys think?
I just want to say that a non-refundable middleman fee sounds like absolute bullshit and borderline if not outright scamming. If no trade occurs then you have no right to charge people a fee for what, just talking to you? Pm me names of people who have been charging these nonrefundable mm fees please. In regards to your flaking idea, people have the right to back out of a trade for any reason but if you feel their behavior is suspicious you can report it and they might get a trade with caution (i.e. offering to overpay for your gold and then going afk/blocking you when you add a middleman to the conversation)
I believe the non-refundable middleman fee is in place because many times when people request you to middleman a trade one of the users will go afk mid-trade/back out, which results in the whole process being a big waste of time. OMM's and perhaps other middlemen have adopted this practice because they are tired of wasting their time with people who are just trying to scam or are being indecisive. If you and another user have a trade set up and planned out (who will pay fees, what type of payment to be sent, etc) then there should be no problem with the fee and one of you stopping the trade. The only instance I think a non-refundable fee isn't fair is when the actually middleman who is charging the fee has to leave for any reason, because then the middleman would have just wasted the other trader(s) time.
This is all just part of being a middleman and I stand by my statement that you can't simply charge people if you're not actually facilitating a trade. As OP mentioned, he loses money each time someone else flakes. This fee punishes people for seeking out trustworthy middlemen, which is definitely not something we want to be doing as a site for virtual trades
I still agree that at that point that youve already contacted the middleman and you back out there should be some type of punishment even if its a flaker title because it causes problems for everybody in the trade including the middleman. Too me it just encourages good trade practices
You could always check if the other person who backed out of the trade had a vouch page. If they do and they backed out right at the last second, or just seemed to want to waste a large portion of your time you could post about it on their vouch thread. I would save that for people who really did just intend to waste your time (Eg - waits until the moment they have to pay you after agreeing a trade and then leaves) . And don't post anything without posting proof of it too. If they back out when a middleman becomes involved in the trade (and you offer to pay the fees) then report them as that's usually worthy of a TWC title.
Time can't be measured at face value. In this case, middleman fees. We spend time doing everything. Should we expect to get paid for anything we do that involves effort? If so, that makes us greedy and in vain. On the flip side, the time middlemen spend on some trades shouldn't be taken for granted, and rightfully so, should earn compensation regardless of the trade status. It's really tricky since all situations aren't identical and should be looked at differently.
Realtors do not charge fees until their properties are sold and that is an extremely time-intensive job full of people who are "just looking" or otherwise back out. Just an example of how in the real world it's pretty nonsensical to charge a fee for doing absolutely nothing
I just bought a home and After an agreement is made neither party can back out without facing possible legal repercussions. At least in the state of Michigan. Nobody likes a time waster.
This is the kicker. MMs are supposed to help the two parties get to that point. Also, I'm pretty sure you can back out, but there's a small (in comparison to the value of the house) penalty. I've asked for staff input on some of video's comments here. Refusing to trade someone will never be a bannable offense, but if you think something fishy is going on, definitely feel free to contact a staff member about it or post a report a scammer report
I'm talking about middlemen who spend a lot of time for a trade that is unsuccessful (Handling/Arranging the product to be ready for trade). Define doing nothing, because I believe some trades do involve effort. I'm not excusing middlemen who take fees and haven't handled any product for x amount of time.
I don't know how many times I went 80% through a trade just to have one party back out. A non-refundable fee is justified in my eyes.
