Avoiding Bad Marketplace Transactions

Avoiding Bad Marketplace Transactions:

Be smart about how you execute a sale.

Take measures to find out if a seller has an established reputation for selling items or buying items. Take a look at a member's profile. See how long that person has been a member here and/or if that person contributes regularly. See if you find any complaints about said member with previous transactions done here.

If you are the seller, please be certain that goods are delivered in the time frame that was promised and that you represent your item in the most sincere and accurate manner possible. Take measures to describe any flaws or damage your item may exhibit. It is in your best interest to portray your item accurately.

We want to make sure all of you who use this forum to sell and buy merchandise do so in an intelligent manner. Do some research before dealing with a person you know little about. We don't want to see any of you involved in a bad trade.

Problematic transactions are very rare on our Marketplace Forum. Having said that, here are some general guidelines to stay safe:

**Never wire funds via Western Union, Moneygram, or other wire services. These services are used by scam artists across the Internet and are completely unnecessary for valid buyers and sellers. These services provide very little security and almost no recourse to those who might run into trouble.

**It is not difficult to fake cashier checks or money orders now days. Banks will often cash them and then discover weeks later that they are fake. In these instances, the bank will hold you responsible for covering the funds.

**We strongly suggest using electronic payment systems such as PayPal that are tied to your credit card. This provides two levels of protection for you. In the case of accepting personal checks, it is advised that you take it to a bank teller to deposit it and wait ample time for it to clear before sending the buyer the goods.

**CrackBerry is not involved in any transaction. We do not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification". Any claims of these things are false and should be reported to us immediately.

**Never give out financial information such as your bank account number, your social security number, etc. This is common sense.

**Avoid transactions involving shipping or escrow services. A great majority of these services available online are scams and will not protect you in the event of a bad transaction. Any claim that your transaction is "guaranteed" by some service or another is worthless.

**Research the seller: Has he been a constructive member of the forum? Has he been a member for a long time? Has he sold items or bought items on the Marketplace Forum before?

(Special thanks to John Yester from our sister website iMore for this summary.)

I am making an addition to the "be safe" list, mainly because with every service provider doing their version of the device "payment plan" most users have a financial obligation to their provider attched to their device. That means, if the device is locked to AT&T for example...unless the purchase contract is paid off in full, it cannot be unlocked...period. If you buy that device from another member without asking him/her if there is a financial lien attatched to it...you might be buying a "paperweight" that cannot be sold or traded by you. This leads to hard feelings and drama that we don't want or need in this community and on this forum.

Be smart. No matter if you know the other member offering the device for sale, no matter if they have been here for years...always ASK.