BE AWARE!!!!!!!!!!

[john turner]

Originally Posted by mjcoderre

I'm still realing from the issues from a payment I paid back in Dec 22, 2012. Do I have the instrument or the money? Nope! Have I made a claim? Heck yes! My dumb ass didn't know the cut off was 45 days for paypal to intervene. And I intervened at 44 days. How crazy is that?!

was this on talkbass?

[Feezelbum]

From the perspective of another 0/0, brand new, low post count member...

I can definitely see (and understand) the skepticism and cautiousness of the long standing TB'ers to have someone new come in and immediately throw down an offer on a piece of equipment (as is my case).

I recently found my way back to playing bass again, after about a 18 year hiatus. One day I came across my bass in the garage, after having been stored and neglected for soo very long, and it hit me. The desire to play again. Never owned or played a six string, as the bass was always my love. The metal was tarnished and rusted, and I wasn't even sure the neck was still straight or if the electronics still worked. I did some internet searches for info on my '82 Bullet B-30 as my bass was undergoing it's "restoration" in the shop, and found my way to some great posts here at TB.
I lurked for a while, reading up on techniques, equipment, set up, practice tips, etc., after all, I am essentially starting out as a new bass player. I read, I learn, and at this point (up until now anyway) didn't really have anything constructive to bring to the table (debatable whether this is even a positive contribution). I joined to be a part of a community that shares my desire, love and appreciation for the instrument I (want) to play.

We all have a reason for being here, and that is mine.

So, having said my peace, I would like to thank the seller of the bass that really caught my eye, and made me immediately say to myself "when I make the jump from my short scale to a big boy, that's the one I want". Thanks for having the faith, and trust in me to sell your bass to one of those 0/0, brand new, low post count members...

Salude!

[mjcoderre]

Originally Posted by john turner

was this on talkbass?

Unfortunately it wasn't...because I would want everyone to know. This was an ebay transferred to paypal...but still. You never know. You can think you're safe wherever but it's these random BS situations that embolden you to CYA, cover your ass.

[LOCOPELAND]

Hey mods, how about granting permission to send PMs after a certain amount of posts to weed out potential scammers. Like 10 posts, or something of that sort.

[Floyd Eye]

Originally Posted by LOCOPELAND

Hey mods, how about granting permission to send PMs after a certain amount of posts to weed out potential scammers. Like 10 posts, or something of that sort.

What do you mean? Since when are PMs not allowed? It's pretty easy to check someone's post count and join date, no?

[Vintage Guy]

The first time I did a transaction with a "0" feedback member it was a trade. I asked that he ship me his item first. When I received it and deemed it to be satisfactory I shipped him my item. Worked out perfect. Getting ready to do that again with a purcase from a new member.

[Floyd Eye]

Originally Posted by Vintage Guy

The first time I did a transaction with a "0" feedback member it was a trade. I asked that he ship me his item first. When I received it and deemed it to be satisfactory I shipped him my item. Worked out perfect. Getting ready to do that again with a purcase from a new member.

That's what I did as a zero feedback member. I shipped the item or the money first and then relied on the honesty of the other party to ship once they received it. So far no problems.

[PJRL]

I have seen lots of these scams on craigslist. I once saw one for a truck I was interested in ,Pic looked great and the price was right listed in my area. I sent an e-mail asking the usual questions and got something like, The owner lives in sush & such state (not mine, go figure) and the vehicle would be shipped / delivered to my address after all payment / paperwork was completed. When I asked them where it was they gave me the standard BS state / town. My reply to the that (knowing it was a scam) was...Oh great I just happen to be making a trip there in one week so we can make the transaction in person.... gee...Never heard anything back, ya think

[LOCOPELAND]

Originally Posted by Floyd Eye

What do you mean? Since when are PMs not allowed? It's pretty easy to check someone's post count and join date, no?

What I'm suggesting is that before a member can PM, there should be a minimum amount of posts made by that member in the forums.

Seems like most of these scammers have no posts or feedback. If a member is required to make 10 posts before being able to send a PM, that could definitely be a deterrent.

[franksgbass]

Originally Posted by 3NotesAbar

Isn't the Feedback rating for anything at all?

Interesting topic. Because it should. And I am happy to have over thirty positive ratings. But..... There have been a few occasions were I honestly feel I should have gotten a neutral, if not, even a bad rating. Of course I did have valid reasons, but instead the buyer opted to just leave no feedback. In turn, I also feel that I should have left negative feedback a few times. But as a compassionate person, I just left it alone. Basically, what I'm saying is, I feel this probably happens more times than none. And all the feedback really does is show the positive ratings. We all should try to be more honest with then, including myself. But overall, this is a great community, and because of talkbass I have been able to try countless bass's and effects that I would have had to buy one by one at retail prices otherwise. I also feel the best solution would be to communicate better. Exchange phone #'s and email for anything over a $100 deal.

[bunkaroo]

Originally Posted by Feezelbum

From the perspective of another 0/0, brand new, low post count member...

I can definitely see (and understand) the skepticism and cautiousness of the long standing TB'ers to have someone new come in and immediately throw down an offer on a piece of equipment (as is my case).

I recently found my way back to playing bass again, after about a 18 year hiatus. One day I came across my bass in the garage, after having been stored and neglected for soo very long, and it hit me. The desire to play again. Never owned or played a six string, as the bass was always my love. The metal was tarnished and rusted, and I wasn't even sure the neck was still straight or if the electronics still worked. I did some internet searches for info on my '82 Bullet B-30 as my bass was undergoing it's "restoration" in the shop, and found my way to some great posts here at TB.
I lurked for a while, reading up on techniques, equipment, set up, practice tips, etc., after all, I am essentially starting out as a new bass player. I read, I learn, and at this point (up until now anyway) didn't really have anything constructive to bring to the table (debatable whether this is even a positive contribution). I joined to be a part of a community that shares my desire, love and appreciation for the instrument I (want) to play.

We all have a reason for being here, and that is mine.

So, having said my peace, I would like to thank the seller of the bass that really caught my eye, and made me immediately say to myself "when I make the jump from my short scale to a big boy, that's the one I want". Thanks for having the faith, and trust in me to sell your bass to one of those 0/0, brand new, low post count members...

Salude!

See - a post like this goes a long way towards helping your cause. Now when someone looks up your history, they will find this and see you posted an articulate message talking about why you're here. That's a whole lot better than a 0/0 member PM'ing you with "hey i like ur bass where 2 send $$$?".

I have had a couple 0 feedback members who came across serious and professional right away so I had no problem dealing with them once we established identities and such. But much more often the 0 rating guys are flakes that take a week to reply to a follow up or always have some kind of special need with shipping or something like that. There are too many legit folks to sell to here to even bother with them.

[VincentGrim]

No judgement should be passed on someone looking to get involved with this forum until after some kind of phone communication can be had. Someone might have no feedback on here but stellar feedback elsewhere, or have real-world experience and all of the credentials in the world other than a reputation on here. Communication is key, and if someone is giving you vibes but you have no real indications that they are up to no good, you should politely decline to do business with them and keep it to yourself.

Not having feedback, or posts, and having a small hunch are no reasons to call someone out as a scammer. If you talk to them and they want you to do a bunch of wacky crap and are being just ridiculous, then yeah, go for it. None of us had feedback at one point.

[sleepy_monkey]

Originally Posted by LOCOPELAND

What I'm suggesting is that before a member can PM, there should be a minimum amount of posts made by that member in the forums.

Seems like most of these scammers have no posts or feedback. If a member is required to make 10 posts before being able to send a PM, that could definitely be a deterrent.

This actually is a good idea. A lot of forums require 100 posts before you can PM or start your own thread. It sure would cut down on repetitive threads.

The biggest thing is just to get involved on the board if you want people to trust you.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by HolmeBass

Checking for activity and participation in the forums is your only defense- it means they care about their reputation here and that will be your lever to get them to deal fairly. Checking out their purported identity through other means, FB, etc., is a great idea too.

With my reputation for posting sarcasm, I am amazed that anyone ever decided to do business with me, anyone who looked at my posting history would have figured this guy is a total wack job. Thank god I found a few guys who were so desperate to move a crappy pedal I managed to get the first couple of feedbacks.

Originally Posted by speak2planets

I thought that was already the case

It is, but you can buy goods with no SM and no feedback. And shelling out 20 bucks for an SM just means you had 20 bucks.

In reality, back in 2003 when I joined, I didn't really know anyone so I started small. Once you get a couple of decent buying feedbacks, it opened up.

I made sure I paid promptly and as agreed. Later, as a seller, I made sure I shipped the same day I got the cash. I did ask people to exchange feedback and if you are johnny on the spot on a transaction, they usually will and that very quickly gets to be your rep.

I have also sold 2 basses on a sales contract, with me holding a portion of the sale as a note. Both deals were paid in full as agreed. But both buyers had very deep feedback reputations and were pretty visible members of the community. And they weren't as sarcastic as me. This would rule Munjibunga out of a transaction, very likely. But he's got cash, so money talks and BS walks.

[BawanaRik]

I got a PM about sending a cab to this "Members" "agent". I've had several request to ship a 610 off shore. Not only can I not fathom the cost or logistics of shipping this but it must be cheaper to buy a new one by the time shipping is included.

[BawanaRik]

Please clear this comment a bit. I support catching scammers but don't grok the rest.

Originally Posted by LOCOPELAND

Hey mods, how about granting permission to send PMs after a certain amount of posts to weed out potential scammers. Like 10 posts, or something of that sort.

[Thor]

I think we may have just shared water, my brother. Thou art god.