Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: colorblack on March 31, 2013, 12:34 am
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Question, what's the good "mix" to look for in a vendor? For example, I've usually stuck to top vendors with a long history, stellar feedback, and all that. Occasionally I'll even pay a premium.
But what to do when you see a vendor with, say, 5 months on the road but only 8 transactions? (all 5/5s)? I see that, see very cheap price and think "hmm.. is this worth it?" Being a vendor 5months and only doing 1 transaction a month? I dunno.. just feels odd. But then, maybe they're just not very active and only vend on the side/have inconsistent supply.
I guess it's always a juggling act. If someones been a vendor a year and only has 2 transactions.. it's probably wrong to buy for all kinds of reasons from the guy. But what is the cutoff for risk vs. reward?
Sometimes theres a grey area and it's not just "NEVER FE, only buy from vendors with 5/5s". Theres just many more variables to it.
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this guys got a great idea ;) out these robbers
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=140308.msg957996#msg957996
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I think you kind of answered your own question. I mean besides obviously checking the forums and their history I think you just have to feel it out. Do they seem professional on their vendor page? I started out only ordering from top (100) vendors but then ventured out a bit, has been all good so far. Forums though. They oughta have a review thread.
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^^ This. I would never rely solely on feedback from the vendor's page. That is easy enough to manipulate/fake.
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yeh what about this then.least its from us buyers :)
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=140371.0
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Although I will say that just because a vendor doesn't have a strong forum presence doesn't automatically mean that they are a piece of shit scammer. TheBudFather is a good example. He has no presence himself and only a handful of reviews, but he is certainly a legit vendor. Never had even the slightest issue with him.
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Well yeah guys, thats the thing. Obviously good forum reviews is a plus. BUT, some rockstar vendors that I've had the pleasure to buy from have had no little to no forum presence, and just last week I tried this vendor who was literally nonexistant other then on his own page.. yet he was communicative, lighting fast, and even hooked me up on the order with an extra. So I guess it really boils down to gut feeling as well. I do feel like EVERYONE has to start from somewhere though. It's like a self fulfilling prophecy sometimes : a vendor is new/has not made many sales, therefore people hesitate to purchase from him.. which leads to him not making sales. You know?
First world problems.
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Remember that its free to make as many accounts as you want on forum. So take reviews with a pinch of salt and check the reviewers other posts.
Feedback can be faked on SR pages but at least takes a fair bit of time and bit coins to cycle round making fake purchases off yourself and fake feedback. Beyond a certain point you have to accept it as likely genuine. You have to watch for a suspicious amount of "never came got a 50% reship...what a great guy 5/5"
I think selective scamming is a much more serious problem than outright scammers. A vendor can easily just keep money from any newbies who FE, OR 50% of escrow customers money, and spin them out until their feedback recedes a few pages. This is why you should always mention in feedback if you got 50% reship even if you still give 5\5. Otherwise a vendor can say 'look, neither of us wants to fuck our stats by taking it to resolution, I'll do your 50℅ reehip but leave a good review' and you leave "few problems but helpful vendor sorted quickly....what a guy!"
But equally its hard for vendors to protect against scam first time buyers , which is why they get treated so harshly.,
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+1. Good point there. It definetly goes both ways. And what I feel you're saying is ultimately, its a giant grey area. It's never in black or white. Well, sometimes I suppose it is if the buyer has spent a million dollars and 0% auto finalize/refund rate and if the vendor has been vending since the first day this place opened and has 10,000 transactions and 5/5. But in any other scenarios both parties have to employ common sense +calculated risk.
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You, the buyer, has to have an 'acceptable risk' which you can set by yourself, by never gambling (spending) more than you're willing to lose. For an older working class American like myself, that acceptable amount is around roughly $50 to $100. - Of course if I'm losing this much on a monthly basis, I'm really doing something wrong.
Trial and error. Certainly following the best forum on your Drug of Choice is always a smart idea. One that took me the 1st half of my 1st year on here to learn.
It was during the outtage of early Nov 2012 around Superstorm Sandy, actually just after, where this site went dark for almost a week! And you guys piss your pants over 24 hrs!!!
Anyway, having nowhere to turn I took my 'newbie' ass over here and learned to communicate with my fellow man, be it in The Netherlands, South Africa, or the Good 'ol USA, there were plenty of
people all in the same darkness as I was, and we huddle together on here, as bits of news filtered in from DPR.
That was a blessing in disguise. Had that not happened, I wouldn't have been so inclined as to take a chance getting to know strangers on here. I'm grateful for that blackout.
If anyone's ever been through even the smallest of outage's, you realize how being deprived of our creature comforts, makes us all a little more humble than we were, and suddenly you're talking with that neighbor, whom you saw move in 5 months ago, and have been meaning to go over and say hi, but just never got around to it.
Having grown up in the Queens Long Island area, facing hurricanes and blizzards, I know this lesson all too well. The real heroes come through for you when times are tough.
We really haven't seen tough times yet, (most of us anyway).
Don't let it take a tragedy for you to get to know that neighbor. Or me. Or that person on forums whom you're dying to ask that question.
The worst they can do is to tell you to fuck off.
And if you can't handle that, you really shouldn't be on here to start with.
Chances are, that's not going to happen, but there's always a few screwballs out there to prove my point.
Live and Learn! - But most importantly - LEARN!
peace 8)
jagfug
ps As far as FB goes, There are other more rogue sites, where you can purchase a SR account with FB already built in, and just appear out of nowhere. I can't prove this, but I have seen evidence of this. - It's the exception to the rule, as it's 3 times more expensive than the honest way, but it IS doable. In the end - Buyer Beware.
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1. Communicate with the vendor a few times. Gauge their credibility from their response time and content.
2. Search the forums and find reputable members (100+ posts, positive karma) that have bought and reviewed from that vendor. PM them a question or two and see if you can't learn something about the vendor that that member doesn't want to publicly post on the forums.
3. Give some credit to negative reviews on SR. Vendors (especially new ones) may go out of their way to fake positive reviews for themselves, but rarely will a competitor create accounts to sink another vendor's rating. If that does happen, you may be able to read about it in the forums.
4. Start with a small order from a new vendor.
5. Don't spend money you can't afford to lose.
lelmeriodici
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Yeah lelmeriodici!
That's what I was trying to say! ::)
You managed to nail it with less words.
I'm one of those 'artist' types. So we tend to get all wordy and creative, and I don't mean a bullshit artist, though I've been accuse of it! :P
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ps As far as FB goes, There are other more rogue sites, where you can purchase a SR account with FB already built in, and just appear out of nowhere. I can't prove this, but I have seen evidence of this. - It's the exception to the rule, as it's 3 times more expensive than the honest way, but it IS doable. In the end - Buyer Beware.
really? :o
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ps As far as FB goes, There are other more rogue sites, where you can purchase a SR account with FB already built in, and just appear out of nowhere. I can't prove this, but I have seen evidence of this. - It's the exception to the rule, as it's 3 times more expensive than the honest way, but it IS doable. In the end - Buyer Beware.
really? :o
Yeah, I've seen them. That's another big reason to not FE and make sure your vendors history looks consistent. Suddenly trying to get lot's of people to FE? RED FLAG. Though I tried a new guy recently and it worked out. Everyone needs a chance.
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I think if you just do a little research and always use the seller rank option I think you will never have a problem, thats what Ive been doing and I havent had a problem yet with a vendor, also never FE early
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Just because an account is 5 months old, it doesn't mean that's how long they've been vending, they may have just upgraded to vendor but it will still say "member for 5 months"
Also if a vendor account lies dormant for a few months then all the past feedback and ratings are wiped :)
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yeah my account says ive been a member a year but ive been a member 2 years2 months.
X)
nomad
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new vendor here. although I understand why people may not want to try out new vendors, you could always stay in escrow when ordering them, and finalizing for them when your item arrives :)
Haven't had very many orders so I just wanted to pop that in here for ya guys :)
P.S. I always stay in escrow ;)
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new vendor here. although I understand why people may not want to try out new vendors, you could always stay in escrow when ordering them, and finalizing for them when your item arrives :)
Haven't had very many orders so I just wanted to pop that in here for ya guys :)
P.S. I always stay in escrow ;)
What's your vendor name? mclovinflakes didn't return any results. Might want to put a link to your vendor page in your sig.
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Oops. It's fakes, not flakes. Gotcha, I see it now. Still the link would be a good idea.
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Although I will say that just because a vendor doesn't have a strong forum presence doesn't automatically mean that they are a piece of shit scammer. TheBudFather is a good example. He has no presence himself and only a handful of reviews, but he is certainly a legit vendor. Never had even the slightest issue with him.
TheBudFather has an excellent rating and volume because he runs a damn near perfect business.