Trading 101 - Vouches, donor status and how you can stay safe!

I realise this is unnecessary for a lot of users here. Most people already adopt safe trading practices and take the right steps to operate safely. However, I thought I'd make this thread to benefit new users, as more scams result in more people leaving and the reputation of Sythe being further tarnished. Even if this prevents only one person from being scammed or encourages someone to tighten up their safety, that'll be a success in my eyes.

Firstly, vouches:

Nobody is denying a lot of vouches look good. As a general rule of thumb, you can often put more trust in users with a high amount of vouches. What you'd class as high, however, is entirely up to you. One thing that I would urge people to start looking at is the quality of a user's vouches, as well as how the trade went down.

Example: User A has 10 vouches. All 10 are for selling gold to big websites, in which they went first every time. Apart from not trying to imposter or anything, this shows no particular level of trust, as they went first and were selling to somebody else. However, user B has 5 vouches, all from selling gold yet again. This time they went second, with the buyers putting trust in them to deliver the goods once the money was transferred.

Who should you trust out of the 2 users? That's obviously open to discussion but common sense would suggest user B is your safest option. If you're going to be trading someone, especially for large amounts, take your time - look through their vouches. Has this user done any similar trades? How much have they been trusted with prior to your trade? Are they the buyer or seller most of the time? Do they often go first or second to others?

Second up, donor status:

Perhaps the most abused feature on Sythe when it comes to 'gaining' trust. I'll just make it clear now that donor status has no true weighting on how much confidence you can put in a user. Again, using common sense, it'd be reasonable to assume that donors wouldn't scam as much as users who haven't put money into Sythe, especially for amounts less than they've donated. However, the truth is that isn't the case; many people put their trust into donors because of this thought process, without realising how easy it is for people to abuse this.

Example: User X donates $200. User Y wants to buy $150 worth of gold from them via BTC. It'd be dumb for user X to scam as they'd lose $50, right? However, user X also has 2 other people on Skype willing to 'buy' the same gold he has up for sale. He gets all 3 users to send him $150 each, totalling $450. That's $250 profit, not to mention any money they made during their time trading normally on Sythe.

A large example of this was seen recently, with a user who lined up 6-7 people to scam at once. Whilst he was a $200 donor, his 'scam quit' totalled approximately 580m 07 GP, 675m RS3 GP and $50 in Bitcoin. Even with an incredibly conservative estimate, valuing everything at it's lowest 'dump' price, this is at least $630 worth of goods. That's a $430 profit from quitting alone, added to any money he made during his 2 months operating on Sythe.

Steps you can take to stay safe:

- ALWAYS request a PM from people you are trading with. This minimises the risk of being scammed by an imposter of a trusted user.
- Don't settle for poor quality PMs - make sure they include your Skype, their Skype, the exact details of the trade and a snippet of your conversation. For sending/receiving PMs, see HERE for what should be included.
- Don't be afraid to use/ask for a middleman! There are lots of trusted users who offer their services, often for free. Sythe's middleman forum can be found HERE.
- Do trades in increments. Especially with things like buying/selling/swapping gold - you don't have to trade everything over at once. Do half and half, or even more, whatever makes you feel safe.
- Don't trade if you're not comfortable. Is someone pestering you? Offering you a deal that's too good to be true? Walk away if you want. You don't have to trade, you don't have to use a middleman and you should only trade with users if you definitely want to.

Useful links:

:::IMPORTANT::: Useful threads, guides and common practice to avoid problems & scams

Beware of Skype Impersonators

Impostor List of WELL KNOWN and/or CREDIBLE members

Accounts are ALWAYS recoverable, even with a Middleman/Recovery Test!

List of Accounts NOT to purchase; click to report recovered accounts!

https://www.sythe.org/threads/known-skype-scammers-the-do-not-trade-list

Blacklisted Rental Accounts - DO NOT RENT THESE ACCOUNTS

WARNING! Private Server Staff Browse These Forums

Some useful information for staying safe on Discord!

What do I do if I have been scammed?

Post a scam report thread HERE. Make sure to follow the stickied threads in order to save staff time and make sure they can deal with your report as quickly/efficiently as possible. You can also report users who are evading bans, TWCs and DNTs HERE. If your Sythe account is 6+ months old and your scam report is valid, you may post HERE in order to be repaid evetually via the community repayment fund.

This wasn't intended to scare people off. The steps above are my own (feel free to post more below and I'll add them) and, by following them, I haven't been a victim of a single scam on Sythe. I just wanted to make more people aware that you can't always take people at face value, and you certainly shouldn't judge users by arbitrary things like how much they have donated. Incredibly high donors, as well as staff etc have scammed in the past, showing that you should only trade with people you have judged to be trustworthy yourself. Feel free to post any points to add below, PM me with any questions or provide any feedback if you've found this thread useful.

Happy trading!​

 

Nice thread love how you put it all so detailed in 1 post

 

A wonderful piece if literature, thank you very much!

 

Very nice thread sorry it didnt get approved in a more timely manner!

 

nice post. Very informative for new users

 

I would add not just whether the individual goes first in trades, but the amount for which he is trusted with . I would much rather trust someone who has 10 vouches with the person he trades with going first for $300 rather than someone with 300 vouches which are all for $5!

 

Great thread.

 

Good thread, just never under estimate the value of free middle man trades even if they have a low donor status/less vouches than the person you are trading with. Check out the forum and find an active middle man with some quality vouchs and request to use them even if a "Very trusted" person contacts you. This can prevent a scam quit from occurring on you because those who scam quit love to try and use their "trusted status" to their advantage by contacting you with a great deal but requiring you go first. This can stop them as a random middle man is very unlikely to be attempting a scam quit at that exact moment.

 

Great work, this thread should be included in the introductory PM that new users receive.

 

Agreed. @Sythe can you make this happen

 

Been waiting for a thread like this to be made good job

 

Great work kreaated, hopefully members can now avoid being scammed

 

Bork bork

What? I meant to say great thread. Even if it prevents one person being scammed (it'll help many more though no doubt), it was worth writing!

 

Put this shit in my signature :O

 

@Sythe ?

 

Thank you, this is helpful!