Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: gustono on February 22, 2012, 04:59 pm
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What is to stop a buyer from recieving the product, saying that it never came, and getting a partial refund or perhaps even full refund through escrow?
I would never do this, as I appreciate the great service and risks vendors go to, but I'm sure the amount of selfish asshole buyers outweighs the amount of selfish sellers so this surely must be a problem?
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Its a big problem, many scammers around!
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From what I gather this isnt much of a issue if you use DCN#
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On the other hand, I find it perfectly understandable that when ordering large quantities and your ordered product didn't arrive, it kinda suck that you just lost a lot of money.
And also for the buyers, there is risk (though smaller), you don't know who you are buying from, and you have to give the money in advance (in escrow). Also, you just give out your address to people on the internet for illegal stuff (most of the time).
But yeah, it sucks that many people ask for refunds when they did receive the product but what can we do about that... On their profile page, vendors can see this information and can decide on their own...
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From what I gather this isn't much of a issue if you use DCN#
You must provide your ID in order to use a tracking number (here in Europe), so it's not a brilliant idea to use it, if one of your packages get caught and there are registers of 100 more packages you have done goofed up.
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i think thats why there is a buyer rating. The better it is the more vendors trust you. i dont understand how someone can have someone send you something and keep up their end of the deal then turn around and fuck that person over. Doesnt make sense to me
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Well I'll be sure to be a good addition to the buyer community :)
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It's evident where the seller's risk is as far as product delivered and disputed.
But what about new buyer's? I see "REQUIRED early finalization" for new buyers. and most keep saying just check the seller's feedback to see if they'll burn you. What's to keep a seller from using separate accounts to buy from themselves to give bogus "early finalizing for trusted seller" feedback.
Is this something that buyer's and sellers can negotiate prior to transaction? Has any new buyer been able to utilize the escrow system as it's intended to prevent being burned with an early finalization prior to shipping?
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If you're a new buyer, you take all the risk by finalizing early. The finalizing early is something you shouldn't really do, but unfortunately quite a few new buyers have taken advantage of the escrow system and screwed people over, so now the legit buyers have to carry that burden. If you don't want to finalize early, you can choose to buy from a new seller (who has the same issue and has to build a rep as well) or buy from one that seems trusted (so finalizing early will only screw you over if the package genuinely doesn't arrive - this doesn't happen that often, from what I read in the forum).
How do you know a seller is trusted? Somewhere in the forum someone posted a nice overview. But basically research the seller! If a lot of people vouch for him in the forums, including one or two guys with more than 50 posts, it's more than probably legit. The feedback system is useless if only a few people have left feedback, as it could have been easily himself. Take into account though: only higher priced items count towards the feedback score (I believe items above $10). This means that a scamming seller would have to invest a few dollars to get his fake rep up. Knowing this, you can assume that if ~20 people have left feedback it's probably legit.
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Screw the buyers rating, they just buy 1000 lottery tickets thats it,
i got another question regarding this issue, i bought a bigger listing, the vendor is a bit new, has some good ratings though.
What if i dont receive shit, or what if the product i am receiving is not near that quality that it should be.
I wont finalize, but what then?
i wait 28 days? and after that? If he is a proven scammer by that time i can get back my whole money right?
if not? 50% ?
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It's evident where the seller's risk is as far as product delivered and disputed.
But what about new buyer's? I see "REQUIRED early finalization" for new buyers. and most keep saying just check the seller's feedback to see if they'll burn you. What's to keep a seller from using separate accounts to buy from themselves to give bogus "early finalizing for trusted seller" feedback.
Is this something that buyer's and sellers can negotiate prior to transaction? Has any new buyer been able to utilize the escrow system as it's intended to prevent being burned with an early finalization prior to shipping?
Hi,
As a New User you have all the options , pick a vendor that has a good rep and has been here for a while .
Even if they have built multiple profiles and left fake feedback they would get trashed in the forums.
As a new user you can get another ID in seconds with no cost .
Even if a vendor asks you to finalize early and it all goes wrong they still wouldn't want you bad mouthing them so they MAY still offer compensation . look at their T's n C's , check the forums but beware if it goes wrong you may lose your money . I've lost count of the number of ppl that have tried to scam me ,
THIS , was the latest
re:order 2 grams auto ak
Finalizing early but shipment came to me devastated with 90% empty content!!! You use a very dangerous method of packing(the second order for you where was a hole!)! I will have a problems if the post office became aware that they go to my address illegal shipment!!! I was unblocking your escrow before getting the shipment, but in this situation demands immediate refund(at least 70% of 8.00 BTC! ), otherwise I will have to update my feedback(negative).
Regard
P.S at this moment i gave you: ,,Leave feedback here.'.
jackii never ordered anything from me .
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There is a private messaging service, so PM any vendors you're interested in dealing with, ask them questions and get to know them like that. Thats what I did when first signing on, and come the time I was coined up, the local vendors I was looking to buy from all knew me, had a small level of trust and we're happy to send to me!
Some vendors are very receptive and others are just dicks who think all questions are wasting their time. PM other members to see who they would recommend!
If you're truly paranoid that a lot of the vendors here will scam you, I advise you to shut down your computer, get in your car and drive to the local slumbs, hit up some meth head dealer on the street, come home and reflect... Which wouold you prefer? Anonymous dealing with a risk of scamming or Face to Face with the chance of being beaten, robbed, raped or arrested on the spot?
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As a seller I have had two buyers report their packages have not arrived. Both were US to US orders. Unless it is a high dollar amount I just affix postage and let it go... I don't like to go in the post office since they have cameras there and I am sure they could match a receipt to a time and place and have my picture within seconds.
When I started I thought I would just be able to eat the losses and refund the customers 100% but after a few 'expensive' lost shipments I have had to rethink my refund policy to a 50/50 policy. I hate to do this but I cannot afford to eat all bad shipments... I would be out of business in a short period.
So this leads me to ask the following question: as a buyer, what is an acceptable refund policy for you if a shipment is interdicted or lost?
Based on the business as it is I think both seller and buyer should assume a certain amount of monetary risk...
what says you?
Thanks!
TJ
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As a seller I have had two buyers report their packages have not arrived. Both were US to US orders. Unless it is a high dollar amount I just affix postage and let it go... I don't like to go in the post office since they have cameras there and I am sure they could match a receipt to a time and place and have my picture within seconds.
When I started I thought I would just be able to eat the losses and refund the customers 100% but after a few 'expensive' lost shipments I have had to rethink me refund policy to a 50/50 policy. I hate to do this but I cannot afford to eat all bad shipments... I would be out of business in a short period.
So this leads me to ask the following question: as a buyer, what is an acceptable refund policy for you if a shipment is interdicted or lost?
Based on the business as it is I think both seller and buyer should assume a certain amount of monetary risk...
what says you?
Thanks!
TJ
+1
As a buyer online and a dealer OTS, i use respect as a big factor in who i choose to deal with, however I know I gotta respect my clients as well! Respect is mutual and IMO i think the risk is also mutual... I'm happy, should it ever happen, for 50/50! So far no bad experiences, just tardy postage!
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i think thats why there is a buyer rating. The better it is the more vendors trust you. i dont understand how someone can have someone send you something and keep up their end of the deal then turn around and fuck that person over. Doesnt make sense to me
Addicts will be addicts.
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So this leads me to ask the following question: as a buyer, what is an acceptable refund policy for you if a shipment is interdicted or lost?
Based on the business as it is I think both seller and buyer should assume a certain amount of monetary risk...
what says you?
I'd say 50% refund is fine. As a buyer I would of course like 100% refund, but I can get that it makes it way to easy for people to screw you over. I suppose that after a couple of sells there would be some sort of mutual respect, which would open up the possibility for higher refunds. Just don't advertise it as such. That would definitely keep your customers happy and returning even more (they'd also probably won't mind a higher price later on, which is an often used business model).
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thanks jochem... I started a separate thread on this subject as I deem it worthy to get a lot of feedback to help us sellers determine the best refund policy.
TJ
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From what I gather this isnt much of a issue if you use DCN#
I thought so too but now I have some jack ass saying it was 'under weight' and wants partial refund. such bullshit cause I always weigh over.
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I feel you TL... i always over way all my weed ships by several grams just to 'make sure' the buyer is happy...
sellers are very vulnerable on this site and I would like to see that change somewhat but I don't see a good way to fix it.