ChristmasCracker's thread full of help! (paypal/scams/vouches)

Written for all Sythe members, new and old, by:
ChristmasCracker

1. Paypal
a. Disputes
b. Avoid disputes
c. Win disputes

2. Vouches
a. Check 'legitness'

3. Scams
a. Avoid scams
b. See a scam a mile away
c. Get potential scammers banned

4. Account trades
a. Account recovery
b. Avoid account recovery

5. Player Auctions
a. What is PA?(Player Auctions)
b. Is PA Safe?


1. PayPal

a. Disputes
Paypal is always spammed about people getting scammed from disputes. A dispute is a payment that is "revoked" or "reclaimed" by the original sender.
A dispute can be "Unauthorized" or "Item non-receipt"
- Unauthorized is always hard to avoid, check B to see, and you usually lose them, unless you can supply enough information.

b. Avoid Disputes
To avoid disputes, you should always check the payment that they use.
If you request a gift, it does NOT give an option to chargeback/dispute! (payment owed also works, I believe ALL payments under "personal" work)

To check if they DID send as a gift, check the payment. It they DID NOT send as a gift, it will give you an option to "Print shipping label"
Check to see if they are on an ip changer. (Request to view their screen via TeamViewer, or Skype, check their network settings + check for icons for well-known ip changers[vps])

c. Win Disputes
Be sure to picture EVERYTHING.
Have the buyer send you a pm of their:
Msn Address | Paypal Address | Game name (To deliver goods on RS) | Total $ price
Take a screenshot of that. Save it.
When you give the item, take a picture of the second trade screen + a pic after accepted: (DO NOT BLOCK OUT ANYTHING WHEN SENDING TO PAYPAL, OR THEY WILL CALL IT "TAMPERED EVIDENCE")



Now when they are sending a payment, have them include a "note" that says they are paying for virtual goods. Make sure it's sent as a gift, check 1B.
If they dispute as non-receipt OR unauthorized, post a "Report a Scammer" thread in the proper section. Once the scammer is BANNED. Take a picture of the PM that they sent you (Make sure their username is included in the picture, with the "BANNED" under it)
Send that picture to paypal, as well as the two pictures showing they received the items (posted above)
Unauthorized disputes as always hard to win.
Check the date of the payment, and compare it with the date of the dispute.
Example(Happened to me):
Payment: Dec 23 2010
Dispute date: Feb 25 2010
Took 2 months for them to dispute an unauthorized transaction.
Call paypal and tell them "The payment was 2 months ago, when you send a payment on PayPal, PayPal will send you an email saying that you've sent money. Why did they dispute it 2months later?" That usually works, and will usually get you your money back.
Don't expect much cooperation from PayPal.


2. Vouches
a. Check "legitness"
b. Check quality, and quantity

a. Check "legitness"
Easy, but it's also easy to fake vouches. To check the "legitness" you need to go to their vouch page: http://sythe.org/showthread.php?t=977255
Find a vouch, or check them all if you want, and click on the little ">" sign next to the vouch, what that does it takes you to the thread/link where the vouch was posted on.

If the vouch was posted on the vouch page, check what the vouch was for. If it was for gold selling/buying account buying/selling, check if they even had a thread related the vouch. If not, then it may be fake. But not always. Check their posts they made, and see if they vouched another user for the same thing. And check what threads they posted on.

b. Check quality, and quantity
Check what the vouches were for.
Not necessarily the amount of vouches they have, but what they are for.
Some people can have 100+ vouches, yes that looks good. But if you look closer, many of them can be for small amounts (Few skill levels, few $.)


3. Scams
a. Avoid Scams
b. See a scam a mile away
c. Get potential scammers banned, before you get scammed

a. Avoid Scams
Check the impostor list
http://sythe.org/showthread.php?t=1013088
Don't go first, unless you receive a pm and it's from a trusted person. Check their vouches make sure they are legit. Google their MSN address, AND THEIR PAYPAL ADDRESS. I googled someones msn (He was going to buy off me) and I found enough information to find out he was a hacker. So he might have been paying with a hacked paypal account.
Proof: http://sythe.org/showthread.php?t=1017115

b. See a scam a mile away
VERY simple.. Ask for a pm if they claim to be trusted/staff.
Ask how much they want to pay/sell for. If the price is over/under the market value(Or what "shops" are paying), it's a scam. (check prices in the correct section)
If they are "newcomers" and they "WONT GO FIRST, WONT USE OMM, YOU FIRST" Then it's a scam, no doubt.
If someone says they don't trust a OMM, they are scamming.

c. Get potential scammers banned, before you get scammed
To do this, is very easy.
If you can tell it's a scam, go a long with it (Without getting scammed) and take pictures of everything. Get enough evidence and post a "Report a Scammer" thread.
They will be banned if you supplied proper evidence.
Why do you go a long with it, you ask? To get more evidence.


4. Account trades
a. Avoid account recovery

a. Avoid account recovery
There is NOTHING you can do to prevent people from recovering their account. But there is some stuff you can do to help, which includes having all this information:

IP
Name
- First and last
Phone number
- Including area code
-- Call the number. Make sure it's real.
-- Google the area code, make sure it will match with the same "area" as the address/zip code
Address
Zip Code
Email
- BOTH
- When you sign up, you're asked to put in a email. And you can register an email[When doing a recover, and it asks for email, in same spot you put zip code, that is the email you used when you signed up on rs, older accounts])
Present + Past Recovery questions + answers
First password (Second + Third as well)
Membership details
- If a pbp/sms pin, you need the pin number used + date
- If CC/Debit card, you need the last 4 #'s on the card + the cardholders name+exp date + payment date
ISP (Internet Service Provider)
- The people who give you internet, RoadRunner, TimeWarner, Suddenlink, Comcast, etc.
Account creation date
- Year + Month

Also, never buy an account with recovery questions or an email attached.
Need to remove recover questions? Follow this guide, written by xX Sean
http://sythe.org/showthread.php?t=919736

To remove an email, sign into the RS accounts email section, and request a new email on the account.
Jagex will email the current email with a link + a code.
Have the email owner read it + do what it says. It will remove the email address and instate the new one.


5. Player Auctions
a. What is PA?(Player Auctions)
b. Is PA Safe?
c. How does PA work?

a. What is PA?(Player Auctions)
PA is basically a middleman in everytrade. The seller does not get his money until AFTER both (buyer and seller) say the trade was completed.


b. Is PA Safe?
PA is the safest method for all traders.

c. How does PA work?
PA is simple, but annoying at times.
You begin by going to their website, and creating an account. Once you input all your information, you're good to start a post.
https://www.playerauctions.com

Once you created an account, go to the top right, hover over "sell" and click whatever you're trying to sell (For examples, I'll be using 'In-game currency')

Confirm Your Trade Settings
- Do not lie. Enter all legit information, may be needed later if someone claims non-delivery.

Select Product
- Select what you're selling, example will be Gold

Select Market
- They do many games, we'll be using RuneScape

Duration
- How long do you want your "For-Sale" offer up?
-- 3 Days 7 Days 14 Days 30 Days

Set Currency Offer Details
- Difficult to understand, yet simple.


With the information in the picture, you are selling 100mil gold PER ONE unit.
You are selling 100 units.
You are selling a TOTAL of 10,000MIL gold.
Select a price for them to pay PER UNIT
(100mil gold in 1 unit, price should be around 100$[1$=1m])
Please remember that PA has FEEs. So always charge a little more, if you would like your full price (but the buyers will have to send more)
-- I believe the PA fee is 5%-10% PLUS $1.99

Detailed Offer Description
- Copy/paste your sythe thread

Delivery Guarantee
- 20 Minutes 2 Hours 24 Hours 48 Hours 20 Days 40 Days Hours Customize by amount
-- YOU MUST DO WHAT YOU PICK!
--- You WILL get bad feedback, you WILL get charged! (I owe 14$ because I moved when I put the post up, and failed to give the gold)

Delivery Method
- Face to Face, only option for Gold.

Coordinate The Delivery In Advance (Optional)
- Enter your RuneScape name + meeting location(s)

For Your Own Protection
- Read it over.. then accept if you agree.

Once you post, someone will order off you.
Find the order, read it over.
Meet the person in-game.
Take a picture of the 2nd trade screen + the screen RIGHT AFTER you BOTH accept (Where it says "Trade accepted" at the bottom)
-- You will need this, to prove you gave the gold to the right person, IF they say they never got it


PlayerAuctions is used by many of the "big" gold-traders on Sythe.


Got scammed? Got proof of a scammer? Post a new thread here:
http://sythe.org/forumdisplay.php?f=253

​

Feel free to use this "guide" anywhere you want. I don't care. It's here to HELP people.

 

Very nice effort here

 

Thanks. I tried.
Tired of people asking questions that could have been answered easily. (Or moreorless common sense)
Hence the "guide"

 

Really interesting, one question about paypal cause im really scared of those "chargeback".

What does happens if the guy Chargeback as " Unauthorized transaction " but you proof with the screenshot and everything you really sold the gold.

Is there a chance of getting money back?

 

Yes, request to have PayPal do an ip check, and have them check the "geological" locations of the IP's used on the account.
If the ip that was used to send you $, was in the same "area" it's not enough proof that it was unauthorized.
However, if the ip that sent you money was from another state/country, then PayPal has enough evidence to give back the person their $.
Unless you call and "complain" about how PayPal has a faulty system, allowing people to send $ from other people's accounts.

EDIT: Plus, you can always check if they are on an ip changer.

 

Thanks for writing this. The dispute help section helped me alot as i'm a new seller here on sythe. So i'll be using the tips you offered.

Thankyou

 

Not a prob OfficialT, glad I could help

 

nice guide, quite helpful with the paypal bit. however, it doesnt give me the gift option for paypal. i tihnk its because im in New Zealand, but im not sure

 

I believe that is why.
I believe the "Personal" payment options are ONLY for USA

 

i cna do personal payments, just not Gift, i always use payment owed instead

 

Ah, yea.. That does work as well.

 

Thanks for the advice mate.
Was looking all over to check how to check the legitimacy of a vouch
Thank-You again

 

Thanks ChristmasCracker, very good summary of everything to look out for

 

Great guide, especially on account trades - they're always so messy!

 

Great Guide, Sythe can be full of scammers.

 

Thanks for the guide. I'm going to be more active and start selling gold soon, so thanks for this.

 

Which would be safer, a personal payment or a regular payment with claim and cancel?

 

Advice on people who can no longer than use personal payments?

 

Should be stickied. A Playerauction tut would make it perfect as that seems to be becoming a common topic/question

 

Very useful guide, any ideas how i can prove that i bought an account, and it later got recovered?