Buying / Selling equipment - best practices

[sean]

Hello,

This thread has been posted as a guide to using the classified system on this site to buy or sell gear. The goal is to make users more aware of some best practices as well as common scams.

• Always check to see if the user has a history on the site. You can do this by checking out their post history as well as checking out other ads they have placed. This will help give you a feel for the individual.
  
• This thread contains some member recommended ‘good guys to by sell from ‘ :
• You can also search this list for a more up to date history of buyers/sellers:
  
• Be wary of using Money orders and certified checks and don’t except company checks.
  
• Many people recommend using PayPal for payment as they have a dispute resolution process.
  
• Always use tracking numbers! This is very important in any dispute resolution process.
  
• Save all correspondence and try to use the sites private message system.

If any issues arise during the process of buying or selling some gear, please contact a moderator or myself as soon as possible. We have helped successfully resolve every issue between members so far. Please PM me if you have any other advice that you think should be added here.

Thanks,
Sean
GSBB Admin

[sean]

So I've had several reports of the same individual sending members the above emails regarding classified ads posted on our site. I initialy heard about this several weeks ago and banned the member, but he's still emailing people. So far no one has been ripped off but we're letting everyone know about it anyway.

All emails have come from jm.crabown@yahoo.ca

The message body contained the same message:

Hello

i am interested in this item and i will like to know if you you mode of payment
is by check(personal or cashier's) or money order,if yes do send me your final
asking price as well as your full contact details (your full
name,address,city,state and zipcode)where you want the payment to be sent to as
well as your phone number.

Regards

A follow up email reads :

How are you doing today ..thanks for the info i want you to that payment is been processed to be sent to the address you gave to me by my payee..i want you to know that i have a reputable transporter who will be coming for the pickup of the item when due...payment to be sent to you will include my transporter's charges. it wont cost you anything all you have to do is when you get there payment take it to your bank and when it clears i shall tell you what to do and how my transporter will be coming to pick up the item you have decided to sell to me.

i await your urgent response about this

Regards

The scam here is that banks often clear checks and money orders and then later realize that they are fraudulent. However it might take a couple of weeks for them to realize it. When they do, the bank reverses the deposit.

This guy was also going to send his own courier. I bet it's a courier that doesn't use tracking numbers so you'll be unable to trace the package.

If the buyer/seller seems to have weird requirements and is an unknown member on the board with no history, be very wary.

Never ever accept payment for your stuff unless it's paypal. People searching for alternate payment methods like this guy are fishing for trusting people who will be duped into accepting a counterfeit money order or a fake 'certified check'.

According to this site, these methods of payment have been used by scammers:

* QChex
* US Treasury Checks
* Traveler's Checks
* Corporate Checks
* Personal Checks
* Walmart Money Orders
* US Postal Money Orders
* International Money Orders (MoneyGrams)
* Electronic Checks from Payment Centers (ACH).


Using paypal is way safer and offers both sides a dispute resolution process.

Thanks,
Sean