I was scammed the first deal I made on these forums. This is because I felt the value of the item wasn't worth paying a Middle-Man for. I was wrong.

Here's some tips before you buy, sell, or trade on the Black Market.

1. Go to Search>Type in your buyer or sellers Sythe name, and check their threads and posts. See if they have any open claims of being a scammer. See if anything looks fishy. An example would be if they're buying a game code from you, and they just created a thread 4 hours ago, claiming to be selling game codes.

2. Google their Sythe name. Google their email address. See if you get back any hits. You can find their same email address that's registered on other boards, where they may have been scamming, or attempting to scam.

3. Don't trade with someone who can't complete a full sentence.

4. Don't trade with someone who didn't post in your thread, stating they're contacting you. Most of the time, if they don't, it's because they're attempting to keep their Sythe name anonymous, while using junk emails to scam your through Instant Messengers.

5. Don't trade with someone who refuses to use a Middle-Man, especially if you agree to pay for it. The only reason to refuse a Middle-Man, with you paying for it, is it really hurts their chances of scamming you.

6. Don't use Paypal. This might be ok for smaller purchases or sales. Something like $10-$20. Anything over puts you at risk for charge backs and open disputes, which locks your Paypal account, and freezes your funds. Try Google Checkout. Also don't accept credit card payments. Again, especially for large purchases or sales. The buyer can charge back his purchase simply by calling his bank, and requesting it. This is valid for 180 days. Make sure to call Paypal, and request how the buyer paid for your item. If he used a Credit Card, make sure to refund the money. Of course, do this before you send him any items.

7. Don't do business with someone who is over eager to hand you money. Most of the time, this is because the person you're dealing with will pay you with a stolen Paypal account. That person gets away with your items, and you're left to deal with the original owner of the Paypal account. Who of course, will open a dispute. You have no choice but to refund the payment. Paypal can tell if the payment was authorized by the true owner of the account or not, so you will be definitely out of luck.

An example would be someone who takes you on your offers, asks for your Paypal, and sends you money before you even do some talking. These people usually have an extreme lack of handle on the English language.

8. Use common sense. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. Don't take unnecessary chances with your hard earned money or items.

 

all true, but an smart persone just should know this from the beginning

 

This is the wrong spot for this, but it's pretty good and i think everyone should read this. Especially new traders. It wouldn't hurt to sticky this... i recommend.

 

Nice, i think there's already a guide like this stickied somewhere though.

badluck on getting scammed too .