Popular Post The Computer Audiophile Posted June 23, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted June 23, 2022 Thanks so much for the article @bluesman. There's no substitute for experience, but hopefully people can learn the hard lessons, the easy way by reading about them here. I'm continually surprised at the scammers who create accounts here and attempt to sell stuff. A couple things I look for. 1. Are the photos from another ad, somewhere else online? A quick Google image search helps with this. 2. Does the seller have any location details for the item? This usually helps because I can find information about the seller behind the scenes. When someone claims his speakers are for sale and located in Indiana, but he is accessing the site from India, this is a read flag. The people who are real, will always engage in a conversation with me about this and have reasons for this. Scammers always try to scam, and will come up with some excuse. 3. Serial numbers. These can usually be checked with the manufacturer. 4. Additional photos with EXIF data. If the seller actually has the item, he can take additional photos and the buyer can look at the EXIF data to see when and where the photo was taken gstew, Josh Mound, Nikhil and 1 other 3 1 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Popular Post The Computer Audiophile Posted June 30, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted June 30, 2022 I should also add to this discussion, the importance of the community in policing the bad sellers. I've been notified many times by people who spot an ad on AS that is sketchy. They see the same seller elsewhere or the photos have been reused etc... Once I am tipped off, it's pretty easy to research the seller with data available to me behind the scenes. The bottom line is that without the help of the AS community, we couldn't offer a classified section. You guys are amazing. Iving, austinpop, Uncoy and 2 others 2 2 1 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted September 15, 2022 Share Posted September 15, 2022 9 minutes ago, gstew said: Recent Seller/Buyer Red Flags, Not quite on topic, but consistent with a number of other responses... I just had a multi-day interaction with a seller responding to a "wanted" ad I posted. He joined AudiophileStyle the day before he messaged me. No other posts here. No info in his profile, just his forum name. I asked for a proof-of-life video on the item, which is one that has had an un-typically high number of failures over the unit's production lifes. He said he couldn't because of his phone, so I said a fully on static picture was ok. I gave him my EBay, Audiogon, and USAudiomart IDs so he could see my feedback. Even sent screenshots of mine. Asked for his 2x. He ignored, never even acknowledged the request. I suggested seeing posts he made on other forums would be helpful. Ignored. I asked for his PayPal ID. He said he didn't use PayPal, but I could send him $$$ via Zelle. After confirming that Zelle provides no buyer protection (PayPal is pretty loose, but better than nothing), I said I could only go forward with the info above (if it looked good) or using an escrow service or with PayPal. Ignored at 1st, waiting for his next response. So would you send about $400 to a person you only know by a recently setup forum name, no posts, no external feedback offered, only using a cash-payment service with no buyer protection? A hearty NO for me! Red flags upon red flags upon RED FLAGS!!!! Greg in Mississippi Absolutely right Greg. I encourage everyone to message me about this stuff. I expose all these guys information publicly on the site, so others can find their email addresses via Google search etc... Scammers have no right to keep their details hidden, so they can keep attempting the scams. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
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