How do you "vet" a prospective seller on EBay, BST etc?

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There are some knives I'm interested in buying for quite a lot of money. Then my paranoid personality disorder got me thinking: "what if this guys a fraudster trying to rip me off?"

How do you guys determine if a seller is the real deal? What precautions do you take in these kinda deals to make sure you not about to be ripped off?

At the end of the day there must be something more than blind faith? Or isn't there?

All of this being said - I always live by the motto "if it sounds too good to be true it IS too good to be true" - and these knives just sound too good to be true!!

So what to do?
 
I've done faith transactions with reputable members but when in doubt just do the sales and goods transactions through paypal. Preferably with a clear invoice of what you are paying.
 
Communication prior to sale, recommendations from others. Gut feel. Lot's of gut feel. I must be able to afford to get scammed.
 
Thanks. I thought Paypal only provided protection through vendors not an "ordinary" money transfer.

Gut feel is a big one that's why I'm askin! I can afford to get scammed but wouldn't enjoy taking the hit...nothing worse than damaged pride!
 
The minimum post count requirement here helps a bit with vetting people who post on B/S/T. But you can also search and find their intro post (if they made one) and other posts to see if they look/ seem like regulars and/ or stand-up people. And as indicated above, pay with PayPal, but not the 'friends & family' option... For double protection, use a credit card through PayPal, vs allowing the money to be transferred straight from your bank account.

Chances are the seller(s) will want to vet you as well, sine it seems you are looking at a couple knives that are worth >$2k. Sellers can be nervous about sending high-value knives to members they have not seen much.

Good chance a phone call (or Skype) between you and the seller can help you both feel comfortable.
 
The minimum post count requirement here helps a bit with vetting people who post on B/S/T. But you can also search and find their intro post (if they made one) and other posts to see if they look/ seem like regulars and/ or stand-up people. And as indicated above, pay with PayPal, but not the 'friends & family' option... For double protection, use a credit card through PayPal, vs allowing the money to be transferred straight from your bank account.

Chances are the seller(s) will want to vet you as well, sine it seems you are looking at a couple knives that are worth >$2k. Sellers can be nervous about sending high-value knives to members they have not seen much.

Good chance a phone call (or Skype) between you and the seller can help you both feel comfortable.

Thanks Wildboar. That's really helpful advice. Tried having a look at the seller's minimum post count and that's what made me nervous: for that kind of money seemed easy to join forum for a month to build up a bit of trust and then reel in the victims once 50 post minimum is reached. Also looked through post history etc. which didn't build the confidence.

In the end I do think it's just paranoia on my part but your suggestions re Skype etc are very sound advice.

Seems my hesitation has made me miss the boat on the knives anyway so discussion is purely academic now
 
I just went and looked/ searched, and understand why one would be cautious (and no offense to the seller here, I am just trying to cover the basic question here from the OP). The seller has not been on KKF long, although he seems to be pretty knife savvy so good chance he may have spent time on another forum or two before coming here. So in an instance such as this one, I would ask if there are other forums where the seller may have a buying/ selling history, so you can do a quick spot-check. And it doesn't even need to be kitchen knives -- could be cars, cameras, watches, etc. And also he may have a history on eBay that you can check. And also he may be friends with one or two of the more established members here at KKF, and you could reach out to them through PM for some assurances.

I haven't seen much in the way of dishonesty here on KKF B/S/T, but I have definitely seen it in other places out there on the WWW. So when in doubt always spend a little time performing some due diligence. On some of the watch forums, many sellers want to be payed via wire transfer, which is a whole 'nother level of scary to a buyer. (but they do that due to buyers scamming sellers a lot)
 
I was scammed once on a used film camera worth of 400€ (I wanted it too much and ignored my gut feel). I payed via PayPal ans then the seller (from UK, I was ib DE) stopped any communication. I filed a claim with PayPal and got my money back within 4 weeks

But I have heard nasty stories where sellers (often via eBay) got scammed by buyers who filed a faux claim that the goods arrived damaged or not according to the description and got their money back and of course kept the goods. So one needs to see also the selller's point of view when considering a purchase.
 
I hate how people can so easily request a chargeback on their credit card..

Once sold something for about 400usd on ebay.. sent it and then the buyer requested a charge back with their credit card. Paypal instantaneously took the money out of my account without even an investigation..

so in the end I got screwed over. Just saying, you can get screwed over even if you have proof that it was mailed/delivered
 
In my time here I'm not aware of any fraud or other intentional rip-off on bst. There have been misunderstandings, one member's "pristine" may be another member's "beater" but even those are few and far between.

Now there is a guy(?) who pops up occasionally in response to WTB ads and he'll send you a picture of the knife you're looking for. I assume he's scamming and he's banned as soon as he's discovered but don't know anyone who has been separated from their money by him.
 
I remember a few years back when a knife forum member (I think it was in ITK on KF) took a bunch of money from people for tea, and then disappeared. And there was the issue with Eamon Burke with the knifes he was to produce using blanks made by Will Catchside. In both instances the members had been around for a while and were trusted. Neither were not B/S/T rip-offs, although the tea one was pretty close. In both cases the guys had been around more then long enough to have good reputations -- especially Eamon.
 
My understanding with the Eamon issue was that he took prepayment, bit off more than he could chew, got snowed under in financial issues and disappeared. Not good but different. And has happened to a few other makers in my time here as well.

And is why I am always hesitant with prepayment for ordered knives. Especially with long wait periods.

Ultimately you have to realise any purchase carries risk, you just have to find where you draw your line on the risk vs reward vs cost scale
 
A most interesting thread. I get the jitters selling sometimes because of the ease with which someone could say something didn't arrive or got damaged. I've never had jitters buying because of PayPal protection. I hope I'm not overstepping my inference here with the OP but there is a contextual element too. I am from South Africa, and the art of the hustle and the scam is taken to rarified heights there and you have to do so much due diligence in the face of very little protection, so much so that I can understand a higher threshold for trust. When that threshold is recalibrated against the common sense and gut feel you get from time spent on the forum you'll feel more comfortable. This forum runs on a reputational economy, so it's worth asking around for sure while you feel it out.
 
+1 to all of the above.

Also, look at the seller or buyer's contribution to the forum. If they really care about this forum, they also care about their reputation. Those that do not are best avoided.
 
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