Beware non members trying to buy from sales forum

Beard&Owl

Beard&Owl

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Had a few custom slipjoints up for sale in the sales forum yesterday and had a fella trying to claim one on my business page. I don't sell knives or any of my personal knives from there.

My interactions from the get go with him seemed shady at best, but I was honestly more worried about my dog at the time (been sick and was needing help covering some vet bills). When I asked why he didn't claim it on BF he simply stated he wasn't a member (yes, lesson learned, I knew better). In the past I've sold from other avenues without an issue, but upon further investigation I decided to back out and refund money as I have enough going on as it is.

Just wanted to make everyone aware of my experience and hopefully keep someone else from getting potentially taken. Have a great Monday
 
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A slight downside of linking to your business page here. I wouldn't change that though. Even with other stuff going on you went with your gut, asked the right questions and made a good choice.


For others to prevent outside folks contacting you, DO NOT put your email address or phone number in your sales ads. Anyone on the internet can view it and reach out.

Have the other party send you a PM to contact you privately. If they do not have PM privileges, then the onus is on them to put their info here for you to contact them. It can and should be erased after private contact has been reached.
 
benchwarmer380 said:
A slight downside of linking to your business page here. I wouldn't change that though. Even with other stuff going on you went with your gut, asked the right questions and made a good choice.


For others to prevent outside folks contacting you, DO NOT put your email address or phone number in your sales ads. Anyone on the internet can view it and reach out.

Have the other party send you a PM to contact you privately. If they do not have PM privileges, then the onus is on them to put their info here for you to contact them. It can and should be erased after private contact has been reached.
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Definitely some good advice here. Thanks and I'll be sure to act accordingly in the future.
 
kreole said:
So he didn't actually do anything wrong, and you refunded just off feeling? I'm not sure I follow 100% and am not sure what the warning is
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He posted it for sale here, but the person reached out to buy it from his website. Said person is not a member of Bladeforums. With that, (and possibly other factors included) he got a funny feeling and decided not to deal with them.

The warning is if you feel something is off, go with your gut and don't go through with the sale.

Also, with someone outside the forum contacting you, there is no way to vet them to see what kind of person or buyer they may be.
 
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kreole said:
So he didn't actually do anything wrong, and you refunded just off feeling? I'm not sure I follow 100% and am not sure what the warning is
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Yes, running off my gut feeling. His profile on an external platform had no profile pic and no posts, only a handful of followers. He couldn't contact me through the messenger on said platform either and was contacting me through the comments on one of my posts with the same knife in the pic wanting me to email him. After I emailed him and a few messages sent back and forth, he sent funds. Afterwards, I noticed the email said something about my conversation with John Smith, not the persons name I would be shipping the knife to. After thinking about it for a while my instincts kicked in and I realized I knew absolutely nothing about this person and "if" they contested the payment, I would be out a knife and money at a time where it would not be a good situation for me. Maybe I'm paranoid, maybe not. Better to err on the side of safe in my opinion. Nobody is out anything here, but time. The knife in question ended up selling to an actual member in good standing.
 
kreole said:
So he didn't actually do anything wrong, and you refunded just off feeling? I'm not sure I follow 100% and am not sure what the warning is
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For me personally, if I get a bad feeling, that is enough for me to NOT do business with someone. If there is one thing I've learned in a long career of dealing with many people every day, it is to trust your gut-level instinct. Sure, maybe I've lost out on an opportunity that would have turned out fine here and there, but better that than trying to extricate myself from a situation that has turned much more dire.
 
benchwarmer380 said:
He posted it for sale here, but the person reached out to buy it from his website. Said person is not a member of Bladeforums. With that said, (and possibly other factors included) he got a funny feeling and decided not to deal with them.

The warning is if you feel something is off, go with your gut and don't go through with the sale.

Also, with someone outside the forum contacting you, there is no way to vet them to see what kind of person or buyer they may be.
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If someone wants to buy here, they can create a free account. One reason they might not do that is if they have been banned in the past.
 
r8shell said:
If someone wants to buy here, they can create a free account. One reason they might not do that is if they have been banned in the past.
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Exactly my thoughts as the situation progressed. I would never back out of a deal and this is not something I've ever done before, but considering the shadyness of my interactions, I felt it was the right thing to do in protecting myself.
 
To clarify further, his email was some spyderco model name, so, no real name. When it said something about my conversation with John Smith in the email details, I was spooked because I was supposed to be sending it to a completely other name. Red flags galore if you ask me and I know my part in the situation, I should have just declined from the get go, but like I said before, I've been dealing with a sick dog so I was not all there in my thinking.
 
kreole said:
So he didn't actually do anything wrong, and you refunded just off feeling? I'm not sure I follow 100% and am not sure what the warning is
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It's just a chancier deal. Non-members can see our sales threads. It could be a guy just looking for a knife he wanted or it could be a scammer looking for some easy money. Since he is not a member there is no way to get any idea which and the forum can't help if there is a problem.
But as pointed out it doesn't take much to become a member, which is why I don't like dealing with members that have a join date of today-can't really tell much about them either.
 
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Redbeardo said:
Exactly my thoughts as the situation progressed. I would never back out of a deal and this is not something I've ever done before, but considering the shadyness of my interactions, I felt it was the right thing to do in protecting myself.
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Sure, you don't want to make a habit of backing out of deals, but I don't think you have to apologize for trusting your instincts on this one.

Best wishes for your dog, by the way.
 
r8shell said:
Sure, you don't want to make a habit of backing out of deals, but I don't think you have to apologize for trusting your instincts on this one.

Best wishes for your dog, by the way.
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Most definitely, something I hope I never have to do again, but I felt justified in the situation. Thank you, so far he seems better, I appreciate that
 
I've seen several cases of Gold members who advertised here, but were not contacted in the thread. They did the deal offsite via email and had subsequent problems with the buyer. In such cases there is little that BF can do to help the seller.
 
benchwarmer380 said:
He posted it for sale here, but the person reached out to buy it from his website. Said person is not a member of Bladeforums. With that said, (and possibly other factors included) he got a funny feeling and decided not to deal with them.

The warning is if you feel something is off, go with your gut and don't go through with the sale.

Also, with someone outside the forum contacting you, there is no way to vet them to see what kind of person or buyer they may be.
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Exactly. Kind of surprised that it needed to be explained, honestly.
 
For what it's worth, I do often include an email link (coded some way) so that I can be contacted by other than PM - BUT - I always ask for the person sending me an email to identify by his/her BF name. Then I have the option of checking their BF creds before getting into a transaction. I don't sell or advertise outside of BF other than a very occasional bay listing. So far so good.

Ray
 
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