Silk Road forums

Market => Rumor mill => Topic started by: Hamburgler21 on June 04, 2013, 08:02 pm

Title: Questionable Vendor - Scam? Your Thoughts?
Post by: Hamburgler21 on June 04, 2013, 08:02 pm
So im dealing with this new vendor (ive never used) called "The Thirteenth Step" and aside from the fact that I just get that "scam" vibe from him, there are some strange anomalies with the account that don't make sense...

First off  he introduces himself in his into and says "I have been on SR for awhile now and taken up the opportunity of helping everyone out with what I offer" As if to say "I just started selling but have been around a while" Right? Well according to the stats he has been a vendor for over 2 years... I find it a little strange that he wouldn't say "Ive been a vendor over 2 years"

Item 2 - Stats say he is 100% perfect feedback with 17 reviews. Well he only has 6 reviews left and they only date back 2 weeks, no record of anything in the past 2 years and where are the 11 other reviews?

Item 3 - One of his recent reviews says the "order was discarded in transit" but he ONLY ships first class, so how would anyone know an order was "discarded" in transit as opposed to simply scamming people? The reviewer leaves a 5 star rating and promptly says hes looking forward to ordering more!. Excuse me but If Ive never ordered from you and my first order is mysteriously "discarded in transit"  I'm calling your bluff, and not praising you for NOT getting me my order...? weird...?

Item 4 - Vendor claims he ships Same Day "Otherwise next day". But puts a 48 hour window on shipments only "for emergencies only". Well my order didn't mark as shipped until after 48hours, big surprise... Well Guess what? it never arrived, never had a problem with a shipment not arriving to my address but it "mysteriously disappeared" in transit it seems...

When I questioned the vendor about it after he claimed that USPS has regular long delays and problems, a few days later he says "I dont have any idea where or what happened to the shipment, and since Im out that particular product.  I can offer you a 50% refund and think that is more than being fair". 

I don't know, I seem to have radar for the scumbags on SR but since I don't have large buying stats the reputable vendors wont do business w/me... Does it also sound like this guy is trying to take advantage of my low buying stats to you? Either way stay away from this POS, something if definitely off.

Title: Re: Questionable Vendor - Scam, LE? Your Thoughts?
Post by: Auguest West on June 04, 2013, 08:13 pm
to answer the first two, if he has been on for 2 years, then he was around when all buying account were vending accounts, u just requested it and it was free.  Two if there are only 6 recent feedbacks then thats because the others are way old, like after 3 months i believe sr no longer shows feedbacks.

other than that i cant answer your other questions
Title: Re: Questionable Vendor - Scam, LE? Your Thoughts?
Post by: SOUTHPAW on June 04, 2013, 08:19 pm
So im dealing with this new vendor (ive never used) called "The Thirteenth Step" and aside from the fact that I just get that "scam" vibe from him, there are some strange anomalies with the account that don't make sense...

When I questioned the vendor about it after he claimed that USPS has regular long delays and problems, a few days later he says "I dont have any idea where or what happened to the shipment, and since I happened to be out of that particular product.  I can offer you a 50% refund and think that is more than being fair".  Well he still has that one and only particular product listed on his items he is still selling, so he is obviously full of shit and lying like a catholic school boy...


This is the most important statement, imo, which is enough reason to take it to resolution. Did you FE? If not take to res and report to admin. ???
Title: Re: Questionable Vendor - Scam, LE? Your Thoughts?
Post by: CUPIDO on June 04, 2013, 08:23 pm
Trust your gut.

You can always wait and see how new feedback looks.

I have never been denied an order for my buying stats, and I am just starting out. Just message a vendor before you place an order, and start small.
Title: Re: Questionable Vendor - Scam, LE? Your Thoughts?
Post by: Hamburgler21 on June 04, 2013, 08:31 pm
to answer the first two, if he has been on for 2 years, then he was around when all buying account were vending accounts, u just requested it and it was free.  Two if there are only 6 recent feedbacks then thats because the others are way old, like after 3 months i believe sr no longer shows feedbacks.

other than that i cant answer your other questions

So everyone that was around that long, their account was automatically turned into a vendor? Didnt know that about the FB, strange that they have a time frame cutoff rather than a # cutoff...

He says its just USPS shipping slow and so I will wait some more time... I dunno, I just think that's code for "I didn't ship when I said I would, but now that your a PITA im going to send it out soon to shut you up!"

This goes back to my #1 must aggravating thing about vendors, Marking in transit early!
Title: Re: Questionable Vendor - Scam? Your Thoughts?
Post by: Arahant on June 04, 2013, 09:12 pm
Also i want to point out, that i believe you can have tracking numbers created online, for instance in canada we have canada post, im pretty sure you can set up an account with canada post and have tracking numbers assigned to packages that you havnt actualy dropped off at the post office yet, and you just print what they give you and put it on the package, and then they scan it when it gets there. I recently made an order and got a tracking numer the next day, was great, but the tracking number didnt work, finally after about 3 days it starts showing up information, first piece of information is already a ways from where originated. Well, to be fair i dont know where it originated but it never got the piece of information for when it gets scanned in the first time, i don't know for sure if the seller created the tracking number before dropping it off in this instance but it got me thinking that it IS possible to do so.

All in all my situation is fine atleast its shipped out and he got back quickly, this whole comment was directed to your remark about marking in transit early. Also i wanted to mention that im working with very reputable vendors(from what i can tell) BUT seeing as i have almost no history they are requesting FE, i know its supposed to be against the rules and the newbie thread says not to do it, but i can see where the vendors come from, think how easy it is to make a newbie acount brand new, make an order, then say it never got there and not finalize it. make a new account and send the money there, its almost impossible to track. the other option is to do an expedited shipping, called different things in each country but its the one with a tracking #, i think these are reasonable things to ask of newbie users, you don't have to order from them, if they have good history it seems fairly legit.

Sorry to hear about your situation, hope your order eventualy comes, i know for sure that packages coming international can sometimes take forever, i once order naltrexone from an overseas vendor, it got stopped at the border, i eventualy got it 3 months later after thinking i was scammed but it was just held up by the border.
Title: Re: Questionable Vendor - Scam? Your Thoughts?
Post by: Hamburgler21 on June 05, 2013, 04:00 pm
Sorry to hear about your situation, hope your order eventualy comes, i know for sure that packages coming international can sometimes take forever, i once order naltrexone from an overseas vendor, it got stopped at the border, i eventualy got it 3 months later after thinking i was scammed but it was just held up by the border.

Thanks, Tracking is very common , but for the good vendors. I think any true reputable vendor would at least offer tracking, this one however ONLY offers first class mail and NO tracking. That's just another reason IMO to be suspicious...

One thing I was thinking about recently is that even if someone has 100% positive feedback, that doesnt mean that feedback couldn't be faked... I mean whats to prevent a scammer from creating many fake accounts to place fake orders with,  and then leave great feedback, and looking like a super hero??