Reply With QuoteThose of us that enjoy membership to The Bullingdon Club also have access to full background and financial records of other members so its very easy to sort the wheat from the riff-raff....
Hi Guys,
How do you decide if someone is trustworthy in the forum?
I'm asking because I'm fairly suspicious by nature and the older I get more more suspicious I become.
Recently I've exchange some currencies, twice, with a forum member who did not hesitate to wire me a fairly large sum of money with nothing more than my word that I will send him the equivalent in FX. Obviously his judgement was good, but I wonder what is the forum members' thought process when they have to put their hard earned cash in the hands of, let's face it, strangers.
I appreciate that it won't apply to folks who know each other in person or that have communicated for many years.
Gab
Those of us that enjoy membership to The Bullingdon Club also have access to full background and financial records of other members so its very easy to sort the wheat from the riff-raff....
I'd apply the same criteria to those people I meet in 'real life'.
What they've posted on the forum, what deals they've done and so on.
Fairly easy to build up a picture of someone with a bit of reading.
The list of those I wouldn't deal with is extensive.
I have done two deals on here, one for £1,250, the other for £800+. Both very significant sums of money, for me, -that I have just handed over to strangers who I have never (& still haven't) even met. Both transactions went like clockwork, both done with members with years of recorded dealing & loads of good feedback on the forum.
It's pretty crazy though.. when I told my friends/girlfriend they looked at me as though I was daft, as usually I am so cautious. When I think back on it myself, I wonder if I was a little mad at the time also!
F2F has always got to be preferable, but not always possible, - and if you've got your heart set on something...
Exactly this.Originally Posted by DB9yeti
If they post often in the Bear Pit this should give you a good idea of the person. I've dodged a sale purely on the basis of a horrible post they made on a controversial topic. If this can be done so flippantly what would happen if the deal would sour.
This is the only forum I've ever been on where I do feel I'd trust certain people. Never dealt with, and never likely to either but from extensive reading/browsing you get an idea of people. There are quite few here I think I'd happily trust enough to buy from etc. There's definitely a good community here and I'm glad I found it!
On this forum there is a very high level of trust involved, as there are no 'set rules' on how to engage in a transaction, other forums have these rules in place to protect buyers and sellers.
but this is kind of irrelevant, as the same rules should always apply,
buy the seller not the item
check sellers history
communication, good or bad?
is the seller willing to do a F2F? if not why?
how is money being exchanged? Bank Transfer only for me, that way there is a record of the transaction should it go south.
if you have any second thoughts or are unsure, ask for copies of driving licence/utility bill (not unreasonable at all for a genuine seller)
final for me - dont risk spending and losing what you cant afford.
there are others, but you get the drift, but at the end of the day, gut instinct is always a good measure as well, also the vast majority of people are good people, and can be trusted
I myself have bought and sold items on this forum up to around £5K, and never had an issue, touch wood.
Though there's some people in the bear pit I dislike intensely, strangely at the same time I would trust them financially.
I would start with real name and address then try Google.
On another forum lots of members posted actual pictures of themselves in a mug shot thread - strangely adds to confidence in dealing with someone- but it could be a fake picture!
This is me and the Mrs - we've had a bit of a tough time recently but I think it will work out - now can I sell you some $$$
Last edited by MarkO; 12th October 2016 at 22:46.
Nice Marko,but hard to trust anyone with that amount of hair gel/grease you can use the wife as collateral though.
I've just asked the other party directly, so at least I can get his point of view.
I always google the name of the person I'm dealing with, ask for a F2F even when is not feasible just to see their reaction, and check posts' history.
I think I'm overly suspicious here because I really enjoy the forum, and being burned would not just result in losing money but it would also affect my overall experience here.
Thanks for the replies.
Never once had an issue. For a deal that was £thousands asked for a shot of an ID card / passport and got it back immediately. Did also Google for extra background as like you, suspicious. Clean trade and top bloke. Always be careful, but this forum is about as trustworthy as it gets.
I'm the "member" referred to in the OP. First off let me say that Gab is a complete gentleman and 100% trustworthy, as have been all the other members I've had dealings with over the last year since joining the forum.
I do think this forum engenders a strong spirit of trust, probably because members buy and sell between each other some big ticket items, and because even relatively minor lapses of probity are flagged up by the self-policing membership.
I will say this is in contrast to certain other forums I used to post on where I received no support (indeed quite the opposite) when I had a sizeable sum of money stolen by another poster who really does deserve to be called
a "member".
Has anyone on the forum actually ever been conned for money or a fake watch?
It is a bit of a chicken and egg situation regards trust though.
How do you get any positive responses if nobody trusts you to do a trade in the first place? Catch 22
Also don't agree with Bearpit comment-someone with a strong opinion is no less likely to be trustworthy or not.In actual fact surely a conman would deliberately be nicey nicey before the sting in order not to arouse suspicion. I really can't see it going on in here tbh.
I was unknowingly given a fake Breitling Steelfish as a part trade. I didn't know it was fake until I tried to sell it back on SC 2 years later. The previous owner had brought it from a well know internet dealer who in turn had purchased it from a bricks and mortar dealer, so the watch had fooled 2 dealers and 2 collectors! I got my money back from the previous owner (who acted impeccably) who was also refunded by the dealer.
It just shows you should be wary even when dealing with genuinely trustworthy seller and even if the watch has apparently good provenance. It's good advice to "buy the seller", but you should also "buy the watch"!
Last edited by watchcollector1; 13th October 2016 at 01:16.
Sound advice dude.
As a member of Bullingdon and Glorious Inner Sanctum of Wider Circle I have access to members real photosI would start with real name and address then try Google.
On another forum lots of members posted actual pictures of themselves in a mug shot thread - strangely adds to confidence in dealing with someone- but it could be a fake picture!
This is me and the Mrs - we've had a bit of a tough time recently but I think it will work out - now can I sell you some $$$
Last edited by VDG; 13th October 2016 at 06:07.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Maybe those who I stay clear of in the Bear Pit are more trustworthy, who knows. I just would rather not be associated with someone like that (I'm not talking political views or anything, there have been some really disgusting things said on some of the threads).
Personally that is high on the list for me and as in the majority of cases another watch will turn up I'd rather be fussy on this point.
The forum has been great to me though, never had even a hint of any issues.
We had one or two names here in the past... I am sure are long standing members here remember the names. And those names were kicked out/banned. One at least 5 yrs ago. In total, a very low percentage of dishonesty on these pages, perhaps even lower than in the 'real world'. Eddie's 'threshold' and a ban on speed posting gives everybody a fair chance to assess the person you want to do business with. That, with the H&V pages, helps a lot.
About the address: I always google the address before I ship a parcel. Not always correct... I once shipped a Porsche ignition lock & key for repairs to a guy in Tulsa Oklahoma, hoping for the best, because on Streetview, his address was nothing more than a dump, but it turned out to be an old pic! Streetview's latest pic shows a brand new lock smith shop!
Menno
Last edited by thieuster; 14th October 2016 at 13:23.
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