Please see this thread and particularly post #30 from Lisa, a moderator on here.

https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-g...coobowner.html

and this post:

https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...vice-asap.html

This is our opportunity to come up with a workable system whereby scammers are discouraged from using Scoobynet and those that do are recognised by the membership at large.

What do you think?

Do other forums have an effective workable system?

 

i say just hunt them down and beat them

this method has worked for 10000s of years

 

I agree with you but at present that would be regarded as a criminal act.

I think you have been ripped off in the past or am I mistaken?

Constuctive suggestions please.
Some of us want to avoid a criminal record and anyway giving someone on the Isle of Wight a seeing to when you live in Glasgow is both expensive and not very constructive until you have your money back.

 

The publicity for scammed members is more accepted by the mods now, but a sticky thread to alert others to scammers would be a start. I had five 'scammed' threads at the top of my list of subscribed threads, I think that says it all!

The scammers beware thread I think should be based on this one on NASIOC ->

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=157

 

i brought a set of wind deflectors off a member on here, and when they turned up one was broken, and it short answer was basicly tough luck.

is there something the admin/mods can put into peoples stig, warning other users? but i have also seen on here the same scammers joining up with different user names

 

@ DaOne, the mods find it difficult enough dealing with the Far Eastern types pushing IPhone software daily on here, its an IP address thing. A mark on their sig would be a good idea, perhaps a swingometer that starts in the middle and as long as there are good sales, itll stay to the left with a fig for how many sales have gone through, and a scam moves the needle to the right, into scammer scum territory, only to come back when the dispute is settled to the satisfaction of all concerned, including the mods.

 

I'm not sure how this could be implemented, but I think sellers need to accept that paying as a gift though PayPal should not happen. If they are bothered about the PayPal fees, then that should be added to the cost in the first place to save any confusion.

At least that way, the buyer is protected. That should also encourage the seller to send items recorded to protect themselves too.

Another suggestion would be to have some sort of ecommerce function intergated into Scoobynet. The seller should be registered and verified (i guess through Paypal) that way Scoobynet has their contact details. The seller could then list the item for sale and they buyer could click the "buy" or "offer" button, it shouldn't be an auction. if the seller accepts, then the transaction can be formalised through Paypal.

Something along those lines anyway, I know its isn't a function that could be added overnight, but could still be an option nevertheless.

Andy

 

as as the person who got scammed in the link above i definately agree

 

I think that you should have some sort of verification process, and everyone should be payed members, that would put a lot of people off.
I also believe that sellers should always leave feedback, as this is another way of judging whether the person is a scammer or not. What is the point of having these things in place, if they cannot be bothered to leave feedback.

Richard

 

Here is another thread where ideas raised could be put into place.

https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...-scammers.html

This is more relating to advice for safe transactions, i.e. how to pay, what to look out for/what scams are out there.

Being a trusting soul, I'm not really totally clued up on scams. However, between the mod team and the members here, we could possibly come up with some decent 'how to protect yourself' guide.

As I have always said, nothing we do may stop every scammer, but in my mind if we can help, and together provide information to assist in that, then why not.

Anything we do, however, relies on members reading the info (many stickies for example seem to be ignored) and utilising tools already there (I-Trader feature).

I am more than happy to try and help cut scamming down, as I don't think anyone likes to come on here and see a thread about someone being ripped off, including the webteam. However anything we do does really rely on members heeding advice and supporting any measures put into place to help.

One thing that disappoints me a little, is the lack of interest in this thread. For so many complaints about scamming/members being ripped off I sadly see in other threads, I would have thought people would have jumped at the chance of putting ideas forward. Certainly more than have been so far. Ok, some ideas may be deemed unworkable, but this is a chance to have a voice, and anything that can be implemented, I am sure would be.

I will admit, I am not full of great ideas (I do support the idea of a safe transaction guide) so I welcome ideas.

 

I see what you are saying, but how do we force everyone to leave feedback (buyers and sellers should both do this)?

Even e-bay, whose purpose is trading unlike SN, can't force people to do that.

We have put the feature in place but we can't make people utilise it.

 

Lisa.
Exactly : When I posted the thread I wondered what interest would be shown bearing in mind the number and frequency of scamming complaints.
The feedback so far is very poor and on that basis members as a whole may not be that concerned. I work on the basis that you only get out what you put in and if the membership do not band together to come up with a workable system then perhaps this is not such a big issue.
Anyone scammed in the future should be pointed to this thread but if there is generally : I could not care attitude until it actually happens to you, well I think that says a lot. Why bother. Let the scammers get on with it.

Personally I think there should be a scammer alert section but it will be very difficult to manage and I have not thought it through yet.

Ian: You highlight the problem very well.
Plastic wind deflectors are a nightmare to send by carrier. Even with the best will in the world they are just too easy to get damaged in transit. I know because I have only sent one pair and these were apparently broken on delivery. The point is, this is nothing to do with scamming. It is damage that can take place in transit whereas scamming is a deliberate attempt to take money without providing the component, engine, gearbox or whatever. Also, claiming to send an uprated oil pump which is just your common or garden oil pump. That is scamming.
Anyone running a scamming alert section would have their hands full dealing with this sort of thing and he said/she said and so on.

Now to the membership as a whole, we have the opportunity to do something and it would be a great pity if that opportunity was ignored.

 

Isnt there some way of putting new members through a probationary period?

For example you cant sell something on here until you have either posted a certain amount of times or have been a member for a minumum period?

Say 6 months and 1000 posts for example?

Isn't there also some way of leaving each other tradering feedback via some sort of button attached to our posts?

I know nothing about running websites so appreciate these may not be workable or in fact crap ideas.

What about a seller register? before you can sell anything you have to sign up to a register which buyers leave feedback there but the seller can only view but not post?

 

but then you would just get spam posts and people post boosting all the time, the minimum peiod of membership is a good idea.

how about a security deposit to be a seller??? you have to pay £100 that is returned to you after six months...............

 

Fair point about boosting. I remember a seeing a thread a few years back where a girl on here was doing her best to up her posting total. Openly mentioning that that was her plan by saying something like

"I'm trying to hit 100 posts asap so I'm going to do-"

New post - - "This"


New post - - "and this"

New post - - "and this"


FFS Its embarressing

 

Harvey has hit the nail on the head...lets see how many members get off there ***** and contribute to these anti scamming threads?

We shall see.

For me it is
1. A dispute section
2. A blacklist user name section
3. And Anti Scamming stickies at the top of the relevant for sale sections

 

I'd put the for sale/wanted area private, just like Fight Club and the Adult Forum and allow it for paying members. That way you keep scammers away from seeing threads and PM'ing the seller.

 

Well you could have a pop-up each time they visit. i know it annoys the **** out of me when i get the double private message pop up! (I know it can be switched off and have now done that)

 

This is a good idea although it closes off the newbies from maybe buying their first scoob.


Minimum post count/minimum time on the boards is a good idea. Those that obviously post boost will be given warnings from the mods then 24/48/week/f*ck off - bans.

Trust system - OCUK uses a trust system.

AV Forums is rife with scamming. I sold my PS3 on there and got banned for while because someone accused me of scamming but then realised a true scammer was contacting them using my username but slightly changed.

A very clear obvious STICKY in each of the for sale sections given people warnings about how to buy and sell.

Make selling harder - only 2 posts per person. No bumping - no pretend bumping - no price drop within 24 hours but haggling allowed. Don't go into PM about the purchase until someone definately agrees to buy to avoid confusion.

If you make the actual sales process harder then the scammers might just bugger off back to ebay.

 

members only can post in wanted and for sale section only might be a good start , anybody selling anything should take into account paypal fees in the asking price.
best of all try and collect, i have driven miles myself to collect parts, i even try and get the buyer of anything i sell to come and collect that way you see what your getting aswell

 

Phil - we have done this. The sections are now locked down.

It also helps if people report threads that are trying to sell outside of the forums.

I've just removed one that several people replied to, even though it's clear the thread was in the wrong place.

A lot of the onus is on people to help themselves, we'll do what we can but it's a two way street...

 

I think there should be a section specifically to make a complaint about a member that has sold something, within that section there should be a sub section with a list of names of people that have known to take payment for items but not send them out.

it might also be worthwhilst sending some information in the "welcome" personal message you get when you first join scoobynet, something along the lines of when purchasing items through scoobynet, be sure to check out such and such and dont pay as a gift on paypal....

cant think of anything else.

 

i definately think that there is something more that paypal can do to stop people scamming other people i dont have any ideas sorry but there must be something they can do and on scooby net have a list of people not to deal with or something along those lines

 

yes i definately agree do not pay through gift

 

How about:

1) Must be a member for six months to post in the for sale/wanted section.
2) PM ban on new members for first two months.
2) A monthly 'latest scams' PM sent out by SN to all members.
3) Force people to read / scroll through a known scams page every time they post something in the for sale or wanted section (like you get on a software licence where you tick a box at the end to say you've read all the above). If the person chooses not to read at that point, more fool them.

Anders

 

not sure about the rest but number 1 sounds good , but make that an active member for 6 months

 

i agree with number the 2nd numer 2 and maybe number 3 and a list of all known scammers aswell

 

The feedback may be a bit poor at the moment, but in time I feel that there will be some good ideas. I agree that you only get out what you put in, and membership may have to involve an annual fee for people wanting to buy and sell on these pages. And a "Ive been scammed" section may be something to consider too. Title with the person who you feel has scammed you, and your side of the story. If the situation gets resolved, then the originator can edit the thread and all can see that the dispute has been resolved. If it doesnt then we can all see it and decide if we want to deal with the person.
Ive been scammed, more than once too. It hurts and you try to learn lessons from it when it happens, but when you see a "bargin" its hard to resist.

 

lol, I'm sending myself to primary school again.

 

Keep the ideas coming guys.

I have said earlier that I do like the idea of a 'scamming' section. Not just a name and shame, but a section to advise people what to look out for and how to help/protect themselves. As Kieran says, we can do things to help, but members need to help themselves as well, we cannot hold peoples hands.

As it stands (for clarity) the For Sale/Wanted area is for paying members only. If it were up to me, the area would be exclusive to paying members (starting threads and posting on them) as yet you only have to pay to post a new thread. I am also tempted to go as far to say lock the whole area down so people can't even see threads unless they pay. This approach would get alot of criticism as it would be viewed as 'money making' but believe me, that is not my intention. Many potential scammers would be put off having to pay to trade/ give out certain details by becoming a paid up member (as it stands) and it also would end the whole PM issue. That however also comes back to the issue of holding hands again.

We have a system at the moment whereby people have to pay to advertise, yet despite that and stickies informing users of that, people ignore it and advertise elsewhere, and despite the information as to why this was done, people still happily buy off those/show interest. This is as far as we have got so far, and yet just these rules alone are totally ignored by some. Contrary to the belief of some that it was done to generate revenue, we made it paid members only to cut down on scamming, to deter scammers, but members need to look at what is already here and stick with it. If people can't read the information already here, I fear any more would be ignored.