When I first started here, I had awesome transactions on the bst. Now it seems no one communicates, follows up, or ships when they should. I’ve even been scammed recently and may be in the middle of another scam right now. What the heck happened to this community? I wasn’t gone THAT long.
Idiots and younger kids started appearing.
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The bst only gets worse when good traders leave. Something to keep in mind.
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I agree that the b/s/t is nowhere near what I remembered… I think that you just have to be more selective about who you trade with nowadays. If someone sounds ignorant, childish, sketchy, etc. then it’s probably not a good idea to do business with them. I think the problem is, there’s a lot of irresponsible people nowadays that don’t have fear of being held accountable for their actions.
If you are scammed, you have every right to report said person to the police, or if it’s someone younger get in contact with their parents over the issue. It’s assumed that you have said persons address since you’ve shipped them yoyo’s, so it shouldn’t be much of an issue to resolve things.
I do think there needs to be more accountability in the b/s/t though… Perhaps there should be a secondary method to verify if someone is honest other than feedback? I know that personally, having 0 feedback, it’s very hard to get started…
Perhaps, for people with lower feedback, you could start requiring them to give you their Phone#/Address/Name/Facebook, so if the trade did go awry, there would be some real consequence.
You’ll notice my trade count is “0”. I’ve never been much of a gambler and BST deals have always felt like a toss of the dice to me. This isn’t to insinuate there are a lot of low-lifes lurking in the shadows in BST, it’s just that quality evaluations are so subjective and are different from one person to the next. I am very particular about my throws. My Duncan Raptor is almost pristine, but right along the edge on one half you can see a tiny spot where the silver of the aluminum shows through. I remember well the day it hit the floor and that happened. I was so mad about it my eyes were redder than my yoyo. It’s a little tiny miniscule spot, you really have to look for it to find it. Yet when it happened I thought I had ruined it. Another player would look at that and say it’s practically brand new, to me it’s damaged. (I am just as particular about my books so I’m kinda slow to loan those out as well.) Therefore it would be almost impossible for anyone to send me something in trade and have me believe it’s in acceptable condition. One scrape, one spot where somebody sneezed on it hard and I would cry foul. So I don’t trade because I know I would be utterly unfair in my expectations.
Oh look, Gnarwhally had some good input while I was typing.
“Perhaps, for people with lower feedback, you could start requiring them to give you their Phone#/Address/Name/Facebook, so if the trade did go awry, there would be some real consequence.”
Now I think this information should be a requirement in every transaction. Otherwise you truly are doing business under a murky street lamp in the back alley of the complete unknown. I’m surprised you can execute transactions without supplying complete contact info. That just seems like common sense to me.
It seems to me if you find a throw on the BST at what would be considered a bargain price compared to brand new you would have to expect some wear. However it has been noted here before, some, either intentionally or from naiveté, have misrepresented their goods. We had a thread a few weeks ago about people calling their available-for-trade items “mint” and then they arrive all banged up. “Mint” to the some sellers apparently means the bearing still spins.
What specifically was your experience Waylon where you feel you have been scammed? There’s probably not much that the rest of the community can do for you if you have truly been ripped off by someone on BST, but we certainly are not above having you call out somebody’s name and alerting others of their genuine diabolical practices.
Caveat emptor everybody!
Its funny. Now on the BST, people aren’t trying to do fair trades, they are trying to get a deal in favor of them. Its annoying…
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Don’t really have anything I want to trade, but when I do look for BST deals, I only look at the ones I know are reputable. I know I don’t have feedback, and I wouldn’t mind shipping first as long as its to someone I know I can trust.
It does seem shaddy with beat around the bush standards and blow up doll slogans to pitch throws that are beat or mislabeled. Ive been thinking about it and it would be nice to have something to calculate vibe instead of just trusting someone’s word on that a throw is smooth or not. Like real numbers (I’m a numbers kinda guy). So, I’ve thought maybe there is a way to get a better idea on how “vibey” a yoyo really is. I take the yoyo. Throw it. Smooth it out on my finger to correct it. Then I start by pinching the string as close as I can get to the bearing and moving away until I feel no vibe on the string. And no vibe means NO VIBE. For instance. My magic t6 has about a 6 inch vibe, that is, I hold the string six inches away from the bearing and feel nothing. Of coarse this, like everythig else, is bound to opinion but it’s a start.
As I see it, there are a lot of people coming on only to use the B/S/T. They are not really part of the forum community, so to speak. Also, a lot of the complaints about trades that come to me involve somebody making a deal for something with a guy who’s been registered less that a week, and again his only posts are in the B/S/T. In that kind of case i would insist that they send first or the deal doesn’t happen. More than likely I wouldn’t even try a deal with the guy. On other forums I’ve been on the requirement to sell on B/S/T requires that the account be registered for a specific time and they have a certain number of posts. One I know of uses 30 days/30 posts, another 50/50.
Be careful out there, kids.
I like the 30/30 50/50 thing. A lot.
I lost cash. Not much but enough to tick me off. I have his real name and his Facebook and I’m motivated to try to locate its parents. I told him he has until Friday to give me my money or my yoyos. I paid and he hasn’t responded since. I got a crazy good gamble of a deal the week before and probably exercised poor judgement thinking id found another unbelievable deal. Ah well. Live and learn. If I don’t get something by Friday, I’ll make his name known.
Lol the yoyo mafia ^^^
I think it’s the fact that the “younger” generation relies in technology. Them being able to made trades/sales behind a computer screen keeps them “safe” in scamming. It’s totally selfish and they need to be shut down.
Careful who you deal with is all i have to say.
I only pay for throws from the b/s/t through paypal, and only the transaction method, never as a gift. I have to calculate the 4% if I pay the paypal fees, but at least I can file a complaint and there’s a better chance of getting my money back. I’ve not been scammed yet, and I tend to only deal with people who have higher feedback and I always check the profiles of the people who leave feedback and what they say. I’ve been very happy so far, but I see a lot more negative threads than positive in the traders feedback thread.
I myself haven’t been scammed, but I have had one yoyo be close to said condition.It had only one scratch, but it was already a good deal for me, in my opinion…It still playd great, it just needed response and bearing fix up, so I am not upset. I was surprised, when i first joined, I had only one trade rep on the “other” forum, with Paul Escolar. But apparently he left such a nice comment on the trade ( as I did for him, he was awesome to work with), that people trusted me…But I also posted on other threads and stuff before I even bothered with the BST…Might have been why. But now I have 8 good rep, and I have been here a while, so…yeah. Scam Artists are evil…do be careful.
I agree. I myself am part of the younger generation (I’m 13), but I am an honest and trustworthy person. I think the delinquent kids of today think it’s like cyber-bullying. They think they can get away with it. That they can’t get caught. That’s why you need to do a “background check” for any person you trade with. If they have negative feedback, I won’t trade with them. If they have less feedback, I make them ship first. If they have more feedback, I don’t mind shipping first. I don’t have a lot of feedback, but it’s all positive. And if you have a bad trading experience, don’t be afraid to leave negative feedback. My friend did a trade where the yoyo was as described, and the other person had all positive feedback. However, they started to make a deal one day, and the other person stopped communicating for about a week. My friend left negative feedback just for this. Bad communication.
A lot of people forget that no one is being forced to trade and instead of writing grumpy counteroffers, they should just not even bother. I’d rather be ignored than insulted any day of the week.When selling or dealing in currency, I will ask people to pay as a “gift” on Paypal, but it is by no means required and most of the time, people don’t seem to mind. Several people added the 4% and that’s perfectly fine. Sometimes I deal with repeat traders and it’s nice to have a relaxing and predictable trade with them. Obviously, I’m new to the BST on this forum, but have lots of positive feedback at others. I must say that I did receive my first ever handwritten note in a trade on this forum, and that was extremely nice. Seeing young kids doing it right makes all the difference in the world.
Welcome to the club. I still use the BST to sell, but I will no longer buy from it. Never been outright scammed but I’ve been very disappointed one too many times. Just too many people who either don’t know or don’t care how to be an honest, and trustworthy seller.
Follow your gut. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you have a bad feeling about the person, don’t do it. Also, pay attention to who their feedback is from. If its from a bunch of people you don’t recognize, do some research and talk to those people about their experiences.