[Resolved]

Hi @Searchy

You will need to respond.

@DakotaBC if you would be so kind, could you post the ToS of playerauctions here?

Thank you friends, have a good day

 

@Searchy

I need to know what you meant when you said: "It is a fact that no email accounts are alot harder to recover than normal accounts, that's the reason why almost everyone buys only no email accounts. I just gave you the recovery details, but i guess it won't work since you live on the other side of the world"

Please clarify what you exactly meant when making this statement. Also clarify how you deduced that @DakotaBC lives on the other side of the world and what you meant to say here.

 

Hi good friends, thanks for waiting.

Facts (in chronological order)
1. Searchy bought an account from RuneMetrix and listed it on PA
2. DakotaBC bought the account from Searchy via PlayerAuctions on September 4th, 2022.
3. This deal included a one month-warranty. DakotaBC did not buy any additional warranty
4. Searchy never disclosed to Dakota that he was not the Original Owner of the account.
5. RuneMetrix started his scamming spree in January 2023. Searchy was knowledgable about this scamming spree and was aware that his accounts were at risk.
6. In medio Februari 2023, DakotaBC contacted Searchy about locks on the account. Searchy's responses can be found here

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Questions

1. Considering that the trade happened on PA, the first question in this report is if Sythe is the competent court in this matter.
2. Which platform rules are applicable to this dispute? Sythe's or PlayerAuction's?
3. Sythe's rules concerning account policy can be found here. The question here is whether Searchy violated his duty to provide (unambiguous) account information (in the aftermath of the sale).
4. The final question is if DakotaBC is entitled to some form of refund.

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Ruling

1. In principle, Sythe pursues a one-lane policy. This means that when a situation is handled on (a limited number of different respectable) platforms (including real courts), Sythe will declare itself not competent to handle the dispute at matter.

The trade at matter happened on PA. A dispute on PA would have (in principle) lead to Sythe declaring itself not competent. However, in this particular situation, there was no dispute on PA. Furthermore, the report was brought up on Sythe and both parties are Sythe users. Thus, there is enough reason for Sythe to be the competent court.

2. One of Sythe's rules regarding account sales is that a seller must disclose whether he is the original owner of the account that he is selling. PlayerAuctions does not have this rule. Given that the trade happened on PlayerAuctions and given that the sale happened a long period before Runemetrix started recovering accounts, PA-rules apply to this trade. Having said that, for the context of future rulings, Sythe has a margin of appreciation to deviate from this path and apply its own rules to disputes. Especially when users choose different platforms to bypass the mandatory consumer-protection that Sythe gives and unfair situations arise, Sythe may rule that its own procedural rules are applicable.

3. Searchy did not disclose information regarding original ownership, which is in conflict with what Sythe requires. However, from "2." it follows that PA's rules are applicable to this situation. PA does not require its sellers to mention this info and therefore, Searchy will not be held liable for not disclosing original ownership information.

Furthermore, in the aftermath of the sale, Searchy is not found to have provided ambiguous information about original ownership. Him advertising the account as 'hand-trained' does not imply that he is the original owner of it.

4. PA has a mandatory 1-month warranty. The warranty period expired when a recovery was demanded by DakotaBC. Furthermore, PA gives buyers the option to buy an additional warranty period, which DakotaBC did not use. Of course the point can be made that DakotaBC trusted that no problems would arise, given the big reputation that Searchy has within the account-selling community. Nevertheless, PA does not offer any additional consumer-protection aside from what was mentioned. Therefore, I cannot hold Searchy liable for any damages. Any refund offered by him is at his discretion.

(5.) I would like to request Searchy and all other resellers of RuneMetrix products to remove their RuneMetrix products from any listing. These products are extremely risky and when found that a seller is currently reselling these products, he will be held liable. I would also like to ask Searchy to reach out to customers that bought any other RuneMetrix accounts from him and inform them of the likelihood of RuneMetrix recovering these accounts.

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I am sorry for your loss @DakotaBC

Thanks for reading everyone and have a nice day