Well you’ve seen something that you’re interested in and you’ve never used the bst. How do you start? How does it work? You are feeling a bit leery, is it safe?
Safety:
There can be some risk involved when using the bst, especially your first time. You most likely don’t know the person you want to deal with and they probably don’t know you.
There is a difference between taking a risk and gambling. If you choose to deal with someone that has a history of poor feedback or if the deal just doesn’t feel right, that’s gambling. Don’t gamble! Choose to deal with someone that has great feedback and is super helpful, especially your first time.
Look at the username of the individual you want to trade with. Check Traders Feedback for any existing feedback on this person. Below the username you will see “trade count (number of people that have left feed back). Clicking the red number will open the member’s feedback. Read these carefully, especially the most recent. You can also access the member’s feedback by viewing their profile.
Read the members last several posts and see if the person appears to be helpful, hurtful, a troll, or just a lurker. This can help you feel more comfortable or warn you away.
If you have questions regarding someone’s feedback, contact the member that left the feed back via pm.
Your first time it is often a good idea to deal with an individual that is an established member of the community. For example: a forum expert, a moderator, someone with a great deal of feed back. These individuals have accepted a responsibility to represent the forum and/or have been here a long while and most likely won’t disappear.
Getting Started:
See something you are interested in.
It’s OK to ask questions in reply to the topic, as others might have the same question, and answering it there answers it for everyone.
Contact the individual via pm. Make your offer. Be clear so there is less chance for misunderstanding later.
Since this is your first transaction you will most likely be asked to ship or pay first. This is normal if you have less feedback than the person you’re trying to deal with. This is a good time to ask for email addresses and/or telephone numbers. If you feel comfortable with everything, exchange addresses.
If you are uncomfortable with anything, anything at all step away from the deal.
When you have exchange addresses the deal is considered made. Make certain that the details have been worked out before this step; not doing so can cause you to receive poor feedback.
After the transaction has taken place leave the appropriate feedback. Remember to contact the member you are dealing with when you have received your item.
While this is one of the best guides I’ve read, let me also state that trading in person is NOT the same as trading over the Internet. Trading in person lets you take a close look at what you are trading, which allows a more satisfying transaction. Also, if you trade anywhere other than this site, then don’t tell the user to leave you feedback here. I’ve seen numerous times when someone has traded with their “friend” and told them to make an account to leave feedback.
What are possible courses of action if you follow all the steps above but still end up getting scammed? (i.e. you send payment for a yoyo and never get one in the mail or vice versa.) What are possible courses of action to mitigate the loss? (Is paypal safer than other payment methods? I’ve heard people can “make a claim” with paypal although I have no idea what that means.) Thanks!
Second ^ this. I would also like to know, as i think this may have happened to me and the seller has yet to reply about lost/missing shipment investigation request.
The only problems I’ve had occurred on eBay. Usually able to resolve with a responsive seller after filing a claim (easy process). In the one case where the seller ghosted me, PayPal refunded the purchase. So my experience has been pretty good
Which btw, to me basically says “I don’t care enough to really look at this all the way before selling it to you to give you an accurate picture of what’s going on, but if there’s a tiny little mark I’m gonna cover my a$$ by saying NMTBS”
@SR1 while in some cases i woud tend to agree with you, so i don’t use that term (i prefer NM no damage if I’m not the first owner or if it’s well played), there are several people i know within the community that are extremely reliable that use the term, it’s just kinda worked it’s way into the lexicon. BUT, that’s because there is no ‘official’ grading system that’s caught up with the standards of the throws of today. to that end, when discussing nmtbs, i posit these questions:
what does ‘Near Mint’ mean?
does NM mean essentially without damage?
if NM does mean ‘essentially without damage’, isn’t NMTBS moot?
I believe that NMTBS is often used as, “I don’t personally see any damage at all. However, I know that someone will say there is something wrong, even though I don’t see or feel it. I don’t want to lessen the value of this mint yoyo by saying near mint, so I’ll say nmtbs, sounds better.”
Advanced process/metallurgical engineer. I don’t actually have access to an SEM, though. I’ve tried convincing my director to buy one but it’s “tOo ExPeNsIvE”.
