With the recent scamming of RG members. I felt it would be helpful to repost my post from 28 August 2013 to help both newbies and long term RG members on ways to protect yourself from being scammed and to ensure a smooth transaction with the seller, buyer, and traders.

Below is the RG web link dated 28 August 2013 along with the post.

Hopefully it will be helpful.

http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.ph...ctive%20newbie

I have been a member of RG since December 2009. I became a VIP RG member about 2 weeks after I joined RG in December 2009. For those of you who are not a VIP, I recommend you sign up ASAP to become a VP as it money well spent and it helps to pay for the costs to run RG web site

Below are my comments and thoughts on what I have learned the past 4 years buying and trading rep watches, straps, and rep and gen watch parts on RG along with some ways to protect and prevent yourself from being scammed and to ensure a smooth transaction with the seller and or trader..

Due to the nature of this hobby, scammers both sellers and buyers will always target us and we need to be diligent to root and weed out those scammers.

Likewise; we need to be respectful to the long term RG members who are honest, fair, and have integrity who are selling and or trading watches on RG.

Many of the below points I have made can also be used by the seller to help them from being scammed and or help them sell or trade their watch with a respected RG member and or newbie.


BEFORE YOU BUY OR TRADE

The first basic thing you should ALWAYS do is get a feel for whether or not the seller is a respected and trusted RG member I use the following criteria:



  • Buy the seller not the watch. Never buy the watch based on emotion and or need from a seller without checking out the seller.
  • Check if RG members left feedback for the seller and the seller has left feedback for the buyer. I never buy or trade with an RG member who has zero feedbacks, low feedback score and or a low post count.
  • Is the RG member a VIP? If no, why are they not a RG VIP? If they are not VIP and have a high post count and high positive feedback, I will consider buying or trading with them.
  • The amount of time the RG member has spent on RG. Did they just join RG, are they a long time member of RG (in my book it would be at least 2 years).
  • The number of posts the RG has posted and the quality of the posts.
  • If the seller's posts are basically consisting of "nice watch" and "LOL" and “TTT” and “BUMP” posts? Or are they quality posts that are helpful and contain information that is informative?
  • Where is the seller located? I tend to not buy from sellers overseas (I am based in the USA) with the exception of a few countries and highly respected sellers to avoid problems with customs and etc.
  • What have they sold in the past on RG?
  • What have they bought on RG in the past?
  • How active are they on RG. If they have not been active on RG for say 3 to 6 months and they are suddenly selling lots of watches, and etc.; it leads to the question why are they selling and why they have been inactive on RG.
  • If you are purchasing a brand new rep watch, purchase the watch from a trusted and approved RG dealer.




These are the first basic steps I use for due diligence before I buy and or trade a watch.

However; often they are not sufficient and more due diligence is required on my part, as scammers can still spend time building up their post count and feedback score to scam RG members.

If the seller and or trader are unknown to me and are selling and or trading an expensive rep watch (more than $500.00). I take the following steps:



  • Check whether or not the seller has sold or bought anything before on RG that is a franken watch, higher quality rep watch, and etc for more than a $500 transaction. Ask the seller how did these transactions go? If you can tell who has done transactions with this member in the past, I recommend you send other RG members a PM asking them how the transaction went with the seller and or ask the seller for references.
  • Ask the seller for reasonable evidence that the seller can be trusted, such as, for example, their eBay username or evidence of good trades in another rep forum.
  • Ask for the details of established members who can vouch for the seller and can provide a reference. If the seller is reluctant and not well known on RG and they object to this request, don’t purchase the watch from them and or trade the watch with them. Better to be safe than sorry.
  • Ask for a telephone number and a home residence address. Have a chat with them over the phone if necessary. Verify the telephone and home residence address. If the seller is reluctant and not well known on RG and they object to this request, don’t purchase the watch from them and or trade the watch with them. Better to be safe than sorry.
  • Ask for a personal and work email address. Send them an email to those email addresses. Verify the email address. If the seller is reluctant and not well known on RG and they object to this request, don’t purchase the watch from them and or trade the watch with them. Better to be safe than sorry.
  • Ask them for their name, Google their name. If the seller is reluctant and not well known on RG and they object to this request, don’t purchase the watch from them and or trade the watch with them. Better to be safe than sorry.
  • Also, be suspicious if the seller makes unusual requests via PM and or email (e.g., asking for different payment methods, etc). For example, if you pay me via PayPal gift, I will give you 10% to 20% discount off the purchase price. For example, the seller says I am going on vacation the next 2 weeks, can you pay me today, when I return from vacation, I will ship your watch.
  • I never pay via PayPal gift payments. Bank transfers should be frowned upon if it's not the only method accepted. I am skeptical if someone insists on payment methods other than PayPal for goods and services
  • Always read descriptions of the watch for sale and or trade very carefully and always ask questions whenever in doubt.
  • Be respectful to the seller especially sellers who are long time RG VIP members with a high “Informative” post count and feed back scores by asking questions via PM versus posting in the sales thread by asking questions such as will you accept a lower price than your asking price, why are you selling the watch, your asking price is too high. If the seller says in their sales thread “I am not interested in trades.” Do not ask them are you interested in a trade for my XXXXYYZZ super duper franken watch with genuine spring bars. If the seller says they will not sell the watch strap separately in their sales thread. Do not post, “nice strap how much are you willing to sell just the strap for.”
  • Understand and accept that the seller can sell or trade his watch with whomever he wants to. If you have a low post count and low feedback and the seller decides not to sell to you, don’t take it personally as the seller has the right to decide who they sell to.
  • Don’t post in the sale thread PM sent with intent to buy and than send the seller a PM saying I want to buy your watch at an low ball ridiculous low ball price and wonder why the seller does not respond to your PM.




AFTER COMPLETING A TRANSACTION BUYING OR TRADING

To help the RG community, I suggest that you always do the following:



  • If you and the seller or trader agrees to move forward with the transaction communicate with the seller promptly via PM and or email and please pay promptly.
  • Make a post in the sale thread as soon as you send the seller money, to prevent others from doing so and potentially getting scammed and or somebody else being scammed.
  • Always post a feedback for the seller once the transaction is complete and share your experience, whether positive or negative. Ask the seller to leave feedback for you.
  • Honor your commitment - when you pay for the watch the sale of the watch should be considered final NO IF’S AND BUT’S. A sale is binding once the funds have been sent by the buyer and received by the seller. If you pay for the watch and have buyer's remorse and demand a refund from the seller and the seller say no, please do not take offense against the seller by processing a PayPal dispute against the seller. Sellers are not like a Home Depot and or the big box stores in the USA where you can return what you purchased 3 months ago and demand a 100% refund.
  • If you have a dispute with the seller, contact a RG admin and or modded first before you start a new thread pissing and moaning about the seller.



LAST BUT LEAST

Use common sense. If something seems too good to be true on RG, it often is. If in doubt, don't buy! For example, If the seller has low post count and low feedback and posts in a sales thread I need to raise funds to fix my car and or house and I am selling my holy grail franken watch with gen spring bars which I have $1,200 in costs for $600. BE CAREFUL dealing with the seller.

Never approach a RG member via PM and or email for a back door sale transaction.

Never buy or trade a watch on impulse. Often times you' will run into the situation to be temped by an impulse buy, simply because you're afraid of the watch slipping away to another buyer. Those situations happen to the best of us sometimes, and from time to time, we'll end up regretting a few of those purchases. The "Rep Game" is an addicting one, so I would advise you to use good judgement and caution on where you spend your cash. Only buy a watch if you truly want it and plan on wearing. If you don't buy a watch to wear it, it will easily become a safe queen.


I am of the humble opinion that RG moderators can only help us by communicating with the seller and buyer if and when things go wrong; however the RG forum and moderators are not responsible if you get scammed. It is your responsibility to ensure you protect yourself and help protect fellow RG members from being scammed.

Hopefully the above is helpful for seller and buyers.

I do not expect everyone to agree 100% with my above comments and they are intended to help both the buyers and sellers, long term RG members and newbie’s.


Happy selling and buying and trading to all of the RG members whether or not you are a longtime member or a newbie!

Remember we were all newbie’s at one time on RG and we are all here to help each other out.