I was reading some of the trader feedback threads on here. Most of the scamming problems seem to be coming from young kids who really don’t understand consequences or have the maturity to handle their issues.
So my thought is that people are entering into sales contracts with minors on here and getting screwed over because of it. Is that even legal? I know there are many young people on here that are very honest, and I’m certain most of the kids here could out yoyo me any day, but it’s still a bit disconcerting seeing all these transactions worth hundreds of dollars go bad because of preteens.
So maybe there needs to be some sort of age verification before someone can access the BST section. I know people can lie, but it might help a little.
As a parent I wouldn’t want my kids giving out our home address online anyways, it all seems very dangerous for every party involved.
I wonder if there’s a way to make the BST accessible to people ONLY who’ve had an account on the forums for a certain period of time, AND have a certain post count. I’ve seen this done on other forums before.
I think that would prevent ALOT of bad things from happening. Who else agrees?
In the United States, you need to be 18 to enter into a legally binding contract, which technically speaking, a BST agreement is.
The thing is, what’s to prevent someone from forging a birthday? How would YYE verify this? One of those sketchy credit card check things? Even those aren’t perfect.
Really though, yes, bad stuff happens. We don’t hear about the good stuff because, well, it went down good and so there’s nothing to worry about. The bad stuff appears to be the minority. I’ve done over 30 buys, 1 trade and I think I sent out a few cards with nothing requested in return and have had zero issues.
I did have one guy who shipped late, but he warned me about this up front and we were both fine with it and there was great communication between us. Another one recently, the guy shipped and I received the item but couldn’t pay for a couple of days, so I felt like a jerk about that. In my pathetic defense, I was supposed to have taken home $1500 for an event, but when the headliner bailed and the show was canned(day of!! 2 hours before doors), I wasn’t the only one getting screwed that day unfortunately. Even so, I still felt like a jerk.
The BST is somewhat self-policing. When someone gets ripped, they make sure they inform the BST group to beware of certain traders/sellers.
If you’re responsible your parents would consent and it’s no big deal.
50 doesn’t seem like a bad number to start. But I’ve only been on the forums for a week or two. (still need to do my intro lol)
that would exclude way to many people.
I like to think of scamming in two different ways. Organized, and Unorganized.
what “Edmiester” did to a lot people was organized, what most young scammers do is unorganized. It is way to easy to tell scammers to have to do this, it would exclude way to many. it might be great for you guys, but it wouldn’t for the 100’s of members who aren’t of age.
There is no way around getting scammed other than not using the bst. We could put so many different rules and restrictions reguarding the bst but then the scammers would easily find a way around them. It’s a chance you will either take or not. Do your diligent research before trading or buying from the bst and just hope for the best. Also if it’s a member that has been here for a while you can pm me asking about their honesty. I can usually tell you if you should trust them or not but that’s not always the case.
But on the other side of the coin you seem to be a good kid who acts mature and doesn’t want to do people wrong. So wouldn’t your parents sign off on you trading with people?
His parents would have to go “along with the program” and as a parent, I really wouldn’t want my 12 year old trading stuff over the internet, especially expensive yoyos and/or cash. I wouldn’t want my 13 year old doing so either. Fortunately that won’t be an issue for a while. And that’s KNOWING what goes on. This is also my personal opinion.
I have done a few deals via BST with those under 15, and while it worked out well, it wasn’t quite so seamless and smooth as the parents required involvement to ship and stuff like that. Patience becomes key here.
As far as I’m concerned though, if both ends can come through, then it shouldn’t make a difference. There are parents who will go along with such programs, but there are some who won’t. Some kids unfortunately make deals without involving their parents, which is a recipe for problems. I think we “adult” buyers need to be able to make concessions when dealing with underage BST’ers, including MAKING a deal, and then having to have it fall apart and having to accept this problem WITHOUT posting negative feedback against the underage end.
It also appears that most of the underage BST’ers are in fact doing so with the knowledge and consent of their parents, parent or guardian(s).
Short of having a signed affidavit on file proving age and consent(if underaged), combined with a “hold harmless” statement to exclude YYE from damages, along with a waiver of liability, and then the nuisance to validate and verify everything, the system, as it is, probably won’t change.
Also, there’s more GOOD traders than bad traders on the BST, regardless of age.
