An idea to reduce scamming

This is kinda controversial, but I feel that it would reduce a lot of the scams that happen on this site. A lot of people get scammed because they go first to people with no rep in the hopes of getting a pin for $2 or something like that. Scammers often get people to go first to them by offering deals that are too-good-to-be-true, like "Selling 20m junk, $.75/m, you go first". Kids who don't know any better think this is a great deal and go first and get scammed.

Having a rule that "Members with no vouches may not ask others to go first", or something similar, would prevent a lot of these types of scams. On the downside, this is infringing on a member's rights. I feel that it would be for the better good of the community, but regardless of what I think, I made this thread to hear what other people have to say about this. Like/dislike, go ahead and post it

 

or users with with no vouches arent allowed to trade without a middleman, staff could fix free mms for ppl with low vouches.

 

In theory, it's a decent idea but it's just too hard to implement that. Pretty much every trade takes place over MSN and we can't moderate what goes on in those conversations.

 

Its hard to actually force people to only with a middleman.. and middlemen become middlemen to basically earn money for themselves so making them free for people wouldn't be very ideal because people prefer to have no vouches as they save money when trading then (the mm fees).

 

If no-vouchers were forbidden to ask people to go first on sythe, they could be reported for asking the same thing in an msn convo. My point is that almost every single instance of a no-vouch member saying "you go first" and refusing an mm turns out to be a scam. Just allowing this as grounds for a scammer report would reduce a lot of these scams

 

Well the only problem is that people that come here to do legit business have no vouches but also don't want to be scammed. When I came here I had no intentions of scamming, but I also had no vouches and didn't want to be scammed.

I think it will just cause problems

 

This is pretty much how we all started, but I think if we didn't want to be scammed, we would use a middleman, right? I think the idea could be tweaked, and a few things cut out, such as the free mm part. (If they really wanted to make the trade happen they would pay a small fee to ensure their safety) I think it's a decent idea, but it could use some work, we'll see.

 

Your first vouch came from plznate, and I'm positive that you went first to him. After establishing yourself as a legitimate buyer, someone bought a bot auth from you and went first.

This idea isn't to prevent new people from trading at all, it's to stop them from asking other people to go first. There's nothing wrong with new people going first to others or using middlemen

 

I think this is a horrible idea.

When i came to this site like 2 months ago almost i was selling pins for $1.30

Now look where I am i went first to 98% of my trades, and i still do sometimes (even to leechers). So now i have 30+ vouchs, i never need a MM for my trades and if its perferred i let the buyer pay for it.

 

If you feel like going first to someone, that's up to you. The idea is just to prevent new members from forcing you to go first. This isn't to force people to use mm's (I think I've used an mm for about 1% of my trades), it's to prevent untrusted members from forcing others to go first to them. If anything, you are further proving this idea's message. By stating that, as a new, untrusted user, you went first to people and now you have a good rep, you're showing that untrusted people don't always face the risk of scams by going first

 

Its the buyers decision if they want to first or not, nothing should be enforced.

I hate using a middleman, it makes the trade take way longer then it should.

 

I think people would abuse it such as the leechers that sign up and do a skilling service for vouches to gain quick trust and seem legit would use that against no vouchers. But then again they can use an MM. Its just a grey area and not easy to implement for various reasons. Although maybe the idea could be extended a bit into something that would be better

 

Great Suggestion, support

 

Good idea except that would increase spam because people would post more useless crap to get that high post status. Scammers will always find a way :/

 

This is not advocating post count as trustworthiness, trustworthiness would be judged by vouches

 

The thing is, I can easily get a $2 pin trade vouch. Then turn around and scam someone $200 because of this. It's too hard to tell most of the time. Trading will almost always be a combination for a gut call and common sense.

 

They should just use a middleman, several staff members (myself included) will happily oversee a trade for free.

 

That's not fair to the non-scamming members.

 

Well what if people were smarter and just didn't go first to them and if they wont trade with you then dont trade it is obviously a scam.

 

This seems like it would also cause an issue with new legit users who come to the site getting scammed easier, as they have to go first to even attempt a trade. I really don't think this issue is the website's place to regulate.