PSA: Less than honest Forum dwellers

Afternoon all,

After years on STW and many excellent transactions I’ve been stung twice in a few weeks by new(ish) members.
This is a PSA to keep an eye out and not use Paypal Gift.

Jamiewright99
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ipod-classic-or-similar
Item never turned up! Fortunately I paid with normal Paypal funds so I’m hopeful of seeing some of the money back.

Action Jackson
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-clearoutsramxtmiddleburn-1
Sold an item listed in Good condition that doesn’t actually work! The lever is borked.

Neither are responding to polite emails to rectify the issues so if I were you I’d avoid and future activity with them.

Tim

Lot of it going on now Tim I will only bank transfer now as you have to pay if you send as a paypalgift! 😯

Postie – yeap, it’s not like the old days were you could trust a STW member. I’ve had so many good experiences but I absolutely hate being done over by someone for a few quid. Fortunately there are still some forum names I recognise and trust.

TBH I would not buy or sell to someone who did not have some history on here.

Action Jackson does though. 5 Months worth.

Jamie didn’t hence not paying with a gift.

Never really thought of it but with more bad shizzle seemingly happening, I think I’ll be checking users history a bit before buying anything. Although that doesn’t seem to protect you either.

compare this history with another

I wouldn’t buy off anyone who has more classifieds posts than chat/ bike.

I wouldn’t buy off anyone who has more classifieds posts than chat/ bike.

I also wonder how many of these ‘classified only’ poster also bother with the stw donations?

I’ve been lucky not to fall foul of any scammers on there but I reckon something needs doing. As a non subscriber how about making it subscription only, that way STW could say “he lives here, sort it out yourself”, STW doesn’t have to do the policing just help you out a bit if it ever goes tits up.

Maybe take a vote on it from the front page?

thomthumb – I can be accused of being on the classifieds more than on the chat though. Doesn’t make me a bad apple does it?

And bank transfer is safer than paypal gift……nope

Can I just say on a completely different slant that MountainMutant is a great seller and restored my faith in STW purchasing.

Don’t let one or two bad apples spoil the cartload!

It would help if people put feedback – positive or negative – on the threads that they’ve bought from.

People could put a note on each classified ad they have got someting off, with a bit of feedback (positive or negative) I think it would go a long way to help… then if people did do a bit of checking they could see how things went.

TBF i have bought and sold a lot on here, all went smoothly, although i will do a bit more checking in future…

edit – rondo +1

A Bass forum I’m on has a system whereby a feedback thread is created by someone who’s just made a purchase/sold something. When the next person deals with a user they just search for the feedback thread and everything’s there and you just add a post to it. A feedback forum perhaps?

thomthumb – I can be accused of being on the classifieds more than on the chat though. Doesn’t make me a bad apple does it?

ha. I did initially look at your profile, but decided against it and linked postierich’s instead. I wouldn’t buy off someone with your history. – I know you’ve been around for yonks and so actually would buy off you

of course it doesn’t make you a bad apple – never implied that. But having been stung myself – part turned up but was unsafe to use – those are the criteria i apply.

😀

Half the problem (IMO) is that there’s far more people using the classifieds than the main forum. I can’t see the informal “feedback” style system working for that reason (it has been mentioned over and over again for quite a while now). Maybe it just needs to be accessible to Premier members only? I can’t see antyhing else working. Would STW really want to start handing out peoples details and dealing with disputes??? I don’t think so.

What about some kind of feedback thread?

edit#### whoops got distracted mid post

Use common sense?

PayPal (not gift) + Credit Card (not Debit) = two options for reclaiming if screwed over.

Cash on collection?

Acquire their full address and landline telephone number – and ring it to confirm!

I wasn’t stung myself but offered a tough phone to free ‘to a good home’. One lad leapt at the chance, exchanged emails blah blah, agreed to donate “whatever you think it is worth” to my favourite charity instead of selling it to him, charged it, boxed it and sent it off the next day. No response, no thank you and when I went to chase it up a week later to make sure he did recieve it ok and I wasn’t even able to email the guy. Yeah, serves me right, I let it go for nowt as it was of no use to me anymore and serves me right for expecting the same level of common decency that I’d show if the roles were reversed (apologies for hijacking the thread. As you were).

jonnyrobertson – this is what happens whenever you offer something for free – our local freecycle had an issue back along with a prolific user hoovering up all the good stuff and flogging at the car boot.

Just so people are aware Pete Gratwick is back iwth a new username.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-xtr-m970-rings

“Admirableable” took a Paypal Gift off me for some Oakleys 5 weeks ago…
No sign of them yet, no response to polite emails, no sign of a refund ?
Shame really as its the first bad experience I`ve had dealing with people from STW.
He may be away on a Long holiday ? but with no communication I have no Idea 🙄

shame really, i cant remember the last time i even looked at the classifieds

too many scam stories combined with incredible second hand prices and that ever nagging feeling that the part used to be on someones pride and joy and is now stolen, stripped and sold on, means that im buying from known friends and brand new these days

real shame as it was a great community a few years ago

amazing how quick greed takes over.

Just so people are aware Pete Gratwick is back iwth a new username.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-xtr-m970-rings

That’s interesting cause he had a WTD thread before the weekend and had some photos from me about some XTR 970 cranks I took of my old bike, never heard anything back – now I know why, he obviously found some somewhere else he could flog on and make a better profit…

Just post on thr threads of people who have bee no good. thats all it takes so when someone is looking to buy they can check the post history.

neg feedback won’t work as long as usernames are easy to change/create – positive would work but somebody with too much -ve would just rejoin

It almost seems like there are two different forums on STW these days. The bike and chat forum with the usual members and then the For Sale forum where I am lucky if I recognize 1 name on a page.

Pretty sure a couple of years ago it wasn’t like this? I haven’t bought or sold for ages from the classifieds, partly because I don’t really need anything, but also because of the hassle and distrust. Tis a shame.

Not sure if it’s of any use but if you search Facebook with Action Jackson’s email address (from his profile) it does come up with a paricular profile. Although I suspect you probably have his true name = contact details already?

Jamiewright99 his Facebook page = http://facebook.com/Jamiewright99 Could obviously not be connected but I think there is a strong chance that they are the one + the same Jamie Wright.

Any idea whats happening on this one? http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/marzocchi-bomber-z150-fr-sl-adjustable-air#post-2801702

Facebook? What’s that :O)

I’m too old/long in the tooth/not bothered to go on there but thanks for the heads up.

If Paypal don’t sort me out with Jamie then maybe I’ll join and go fishing. Action Jackson is just a low life. Jamie at present is a thief.

I have email addys and that’s it as I was buying from them.

I got a wonderful rear mech a few weeks back which was virtually useless.

So, use the classifieds with caution kids.

I reckon a basic feedback sticky in the classified section could work quite well, nothing complicated, simply post up the user name and a brief description of the transaction and how it went i.e: “item as described, fast dispatch, fair price” or “Thieving scum bag, kill on sight!” that sort of thing…

the thread would be searchable simply by user name, no new or fancy changes to implement to the forum there and you could build up an idea of peoples trustworthyness from any posts relating to them, if there is no feedback against a username well you’re in no worse position than at present, but at least you know your taking a flier.

It would provide a bit of an incentive for people to do good deals and build up positive feedback (and keep the same username too), it also makes the Mods lives a touch easier as they only really have to watch 1 sticky thread for persistent Classifieds offenders rather than the sporadic Whinge threads that pop up all over the forum…

Obviously it wouldn’t be a definative solution, but surely a bit of an improvement over the current state of things, and very easy to implement…

…..or if you see something thats ALWAYS popular in the classifieds at a great price from a new seller use some caution?

I ALWAYS collect unless I know the person. OR they have to email me from their work address.

On the latter..That way if I get ripped off from someone new I know where to hang around/go to to get my money back.

Feedback system is pointless as it wouldn’t take long for a bright young teenager to build up a number of posts on all forums before a payday or in a feedback system create multiple users who leave good feedbac kand then say ‘but my item was good’ when approached by a aggrieved party.

What’s up with Pete Gratwick? I’ve bought off him twice and both items (cranks – SLX and XT) have been fine. Bit “well used” but in same condition as shown in the pics.

Never had any issue with him and he’s been good to deal with.

I agree that sometimes the classifieds might seem a bit like the Wild WEst in comparison to other forums, but the answer is simple- if you want to use it, buy and sell according to how risk averse you are, same as anything else you do in life.
Paying by paypal gift is akin to sending cash in an envelope- for the few percent extra that it would cost to use paypal correctly you can’t blame anyone except yourself (and the seller of course) if a transaction goes wrong. In the same way, if you’re selling something it costs 60p for recorded delivery for low value stuff, and a photo of it’s condition before sending costs nothing.

If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Tbh it is not just here that is seeing a rise in this. Last 2 items I sold on eBay the buyers opened disputes claiming the items were in poor condition and demanding partial refunds despite being as described. Suckscr

What’s up with Pete Gratwick? I’ve bought off him twice and both items (cranks – SLX and XT) have been fine. Bit “well used” but in same condition as shown in the pics.

Never had any issue with him and he’s been good to deal with.

It becomes a STW trader issue though. Business/Trade sellers should give money to STW as they are profiting/running a business effectively.

If your selling at a similar (or less) price than what you paid for it -its not profit/business-driven.

Pete Gratwick has a reputation for

a) being a professional trader – he buys and breaks bikes regularly – and thus not in the spirit of the classifieds

b) becoming elusive in the event of a problem.

A motorcycle forum I used to frequent would only alllow you to post in classifieds once you’d posted IIRC 8 posts elsewhere. Seemed to keep it as a resource for forum members rather than chancers trying to avoid eBay fees. Either that or a time embargo eg. Can only post after being a member for a week could be managed technically and would cut down on dubious ads