Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: thedragonfly on July 20, 2013, 07:06 am

Title: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: thedragonfly on July 20, 2013, 07:06 am
I just feel that one or two of my customers has been disproportionately personable and questioning... asking the best ways to go about finding a supplier to start vending, or asking what your best idea was to cash bitcoins out into the real world....easily searchable stuff.... Has this happened to anyone else?
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: sleeptight on July 20, 2013, 07:16 am
Probably just some newbies. Ignore them and state on your vendor page that you only read order related messages. I recently saw a vendor who wrote he is no tourist guide. Made me smile :D
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: Yoda on July 20, 2013, 09:27 am
I wouldn't call that being personable... I'd call that being lazy.  Not to mention inconsiderate. 
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: NW Nugz on July 20, 2013, 11:24 am
Many of my customers are friendly and I am suspicious of all of them.

Asking the best ways to buy or sell coins anonymously is pretty common and I don't really think the answer is easy to look up. I'm not so sure there even is a good answer a lot of the time. Not only is it hard to find good answers, I agree asking me (or any vendor) is not really a cool thing to do.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: danconia on July 21, 2013, 01:23 am
Just forward them to this forum or BitCoinTalk.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: bluedev1 on July 21, 2013, 02:55 am
the question is, are they really friendly on the day they receive your product?  if so, maybe they just high ;)
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: enpiping on July 21, 2013, 03:00 am
I am a bit of an over friendly customer, but that's because I don't have a lot of orders, so when I make an order I send a message along the lines of "Just wanted to say hi since it's my first order from you" and so on.  I like to establish a positive communication in case either of us end up having concerns.  I hope it doesn't make me seem suspicious.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: WhiteShark on July 21, 2013, 03:12 am
I get it all the time, I just tell them to turn to the forums
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: jackofspades on July 21, 2013, 06:38 am
Just forward them to this forum or BitCoinTalk.

I second this.

However, some of the vendors that i use repeatedly, i have had a ton of contact with and even exchanged non order related messages multiple times,
infact i would say i've made friends on SR (not to mention on here too) so there's always a chance some buyers are just trying to strike up a conversation or think you may be able to help them.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: schuldig on July 21, 2013, 06:57 am
I think you need to distinguish between customers being friendly and customers asking for unrelated things.
Do friendly customers who are nice to you and send one or the other nice message to make a personal connection annoy you? If the answer is yes, you shouldn't be in the service business. Of course not every customer wants to establish such a connection but most people, especially new SR users want to establish a positive connection with somebody they are about to trust with a big chunk of their money and possible jail time.
Customers who are asking about deal unrelated things can be simply redirected to different places in a polite way where they can find answers.
While SR has a great market and offers many possibilities I sometimes feel like some people don't even know the first things about business and customer relations, no offense I am mostly talking about users in other threads.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: thedragonfly on July 21, 2013, 07:14 am
Thanks for the insight everyone. I just had one of those "this suddenly doesn't feel right" moments and thought I'd ask and see if that happens to anyone else. Who knows, LE could be casually attempting to gain info through buying product and sending overtly friendly messages. But I think most of you are right.

I guess it's never wrong to be suspicious of something, as long as it's not security-detrimental paranoia.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: Isobetadine on July 22, 2013, 10:24 am
Just forward them to this forum or BitCoinTalk.

I second this.

However, some of the vendors that i use repeatedly, i have had a ton of contact with and even exchanged non order related messages multiple times,
infact i would say i've made friends on SR (not to mention on here too) so there's always a chance some buyers are just trying to strike up a conversation or think you may be able to help them.

I third it ;).
Send them to forum for questions that are a bit much.
When they blatently cross the line..you tell them and also why.
Especially when it is questions that could harm your security or theirs.

I'm very communicative with my first and main vendor on sr too.
And when i'm happy with a vendor ,i'm nice too:).
Just my personality plus i believe good service should be rewarded with all the positivity in the world.
I'm gratefull since these guys keep the road alive and that's how i express it.

Plus vendors i have a good report with are the ones i "trust".
I'm not very inclined to buy from those that have bad/unprofessional communication.
"fake" nice  is also easy to spot and a red flag in my book.

Basicly,communication is a way to feel out the vendor and see what kind of persons you are dealing with.
Which goes both ways btw.
Vendors will also get a sense of what kind of buyer you are.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: hogfan on July 22, 2013, 06:16 pm
Being a friendly buyer and relatively noob to btc and sr, I still don't rely on vendors to answer my questions not pertaining to a specific order. The amount of research I did before my first purchase was around 100+ hours. The only questions I ask the vendor are mostly can I escrow? I don't buy from a vendor that I can't find information about shipping times, stealth, product quality and overall experiences from their ratings or forum.

I'm friendly because I genuinely believe everyone on here is either trying to make money, trying to party, or both, just like me. Plausible deniablity - I don't want to know specifics about your operation.

Forums, terms of service, and feedback are the places to find answers to buyers questions. I don't want the vendor spending time answer noob questions when he could be concentrating on getting product out the proverbial door.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: MrChinoCat on July 22, 2013, 07:38 pm
It's funny you posted this topic/question because I have PM'd vendors friendly conversation just to let them know I was a good person who just wanted a steady and reliable connection, and wasn't out to f*** anyone over. Every time I have done so, I thought to myself "I hope they don't get suspicious because I'm being friendly". I have only made a couple purchases to date, and with the same vendor. I sent him a personable message before I ordered from him, and he sent me a message back that simply said he was reliable and a good businessman and a good person as well. That made me feel really comfortable, and is one of main reasons I chose to order from him. I agree with everyone else who says that buyers shouldn't be asking you direct questions about how you operate unless it pertains to their order, and is something they NEED to know. I guess what I'm saying is that if the message is just simply aimed at getting a feel for you as a vendor/person then it's probably in your best interest to message back with some comforting words, otherwise you should just ignore them. Also, being clear about what kind of messages you will respond to and not respond to on your vendor page should weed out some of the B.S.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: BTC King on July 23, 2013, 01:36 am
i wouldn't call that suspiciously friendly. however i've had customers ask for advice on how to buy btc and then buy from someone else so i won't be helping with that anymore. all the info is out there
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: NW Nugz on July 23, 2013, 06:28 am
It's funny you posted this topic/question because I have PM'd vendors friendly conversation just to let them know I was a good person who just wanted a steady and reliable connection, and wasn't out to f*** anyone over. ...
I am really friendly with customers contrary to the impression my comments in this thread might portray ;-)  That said, when a new customer tells me up front that they are "a good person who just wanted a steady and reliable connection, and wasn't out to f*** anyone over", I really start to wonder If I want to risk selling to them, lol..... I always do though :-).  I'm on here to sell stuff. Buyers don't need to sell themselves to me to be able to buy my stuff. If they have under $1k in transactions they will need to FE, so, they really don't need to convince me to accept their Btc, lol.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: silo on July 23, 2013, 06:43 am
Has anyone else had annoyingly dickhead customers?

ill swap you those for the friendly ones...
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: jonnybones on July 23, 2013, 10:33 am
hi I'm jonny......and i'm an over friendly,  borderline annoying customer...
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: enpiping on July 23, 2013, 05:38 pm
That said, when a new customer tells me up front that they are "a good person who just wanted a steady and reliable connection, and wasn't out to f*** anyone over"
I'd never put it like that ("I'm a good person, trust me."); there's definitely ways of making that impression without talking yourself up like that, which seems suspicious, at least to me.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: weather420 on July 23, 2013, 07:19 pm
I do not think there is anything wrong with establishing a positive business relationship. It is how the game works, you feel someone out before you make a connection.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: brainfreeze on July 23, 2013, 08:12 pm
Don't know if this is the same , but ive got a new one who has bought so much stuff from me,bought almost every different product ive got. Dude seems ok and says its for huge party
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: ukshroomsmail on July 23, 2013, 09:33 pm
most of my customers are pretty friendly to be honest, and plenty message me just to say thanks or let me know they had a good time etc. im more than happy to reply to these messages, and consider it part of the service really. but any in depth questions about me or my operation etc will be ignored. anyone with half a brain knows whats acceptable and what isnt round here!

as for having good/bad customers, i think it depends on what you're selling. most psychonauts are good as gold!
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: thedragonfly on July 24, 2013, 04:51 pm
I guess I should have clarified when I started the thread:

I had a customer (very friendly and cordial) over the course of about a dozen messages transition from simple friendly questions about my listings (Potassium Cyanide) to questions about where to find product and how to find contacts to start vending product (not cyanide but other drugs) and after one or two very specific and in-depth questions my suspicion meter went off and I just ended contact with the buyer in a quick professional manner.

No offense to the buyer if they read this. I am not suggesting you have some deviant purpose (or LE-related) but it just struck me as very odd, which is why I started this thread.

I was curious if any other vendors had buyer contact that made them feel as if they had been targeted for information in some way.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: bbbaac on July 25, 2013, 03:19 am
no one should be selling that one the road.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: hielonite on July 25, 2013, 03:48 am
no one should be selling that one the road.

Ehh... to each his own
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: bbbaac on July 25, 2013, 04:55 am
no because its not a suicide pill. i dont see why you would sell that. you are letting people kill themselves. thats fuked. heroin is different not everyone is taking it to OD. if your selling a suicide pill you should burn in hell. truth
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: NW Nugz on July 25, 2013, 06:37 am
i dont see why you would sell that. .. .... if your selling a suicide pill you should burn in hell. truth
Truth is, you don't see why people would buy such a pill for good reasons. There are good reasons. Death with dignity is something many must break the law to achieve. There is a big ongoing debate about and "movement" to allow it. I hope you will put more thought into this issue and any other one you think should lead to comments like "you should burn in hell. truth". If organized religion is correct, most all of mankind will probably burn for our many sins. I'm not so sure we "should" though.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: silo on July 25, 2013, 10:14 am
i thought it was ever floats your boat not sinks it?
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: NW Nugz on July 25, 2013, 12:00 pm
i thought it was ever floats your boat not sinks it?

I guess I should clarify that I don't support suicide due to mood swings, running out of real Xanax bars, teenage traumas, ...

Death with dignity is usually about terminally Ill people in great pain. I believe the laws require patients to stay in hospitals and suffer so insurance companies and hospitals ("the vampires") can suck every last cent out of entire families. The religious aspect of this dilemma is used by the vampires to leverage the political process to keep the status quo. The churches get to benefit in many ways including being more important to families who have a family member in this situation and to the family after they are destitute. My simplified viewpoint is not likely to be completely accurate, however, I think it gets to the gist of it.
Someone more knowledgeable than me about it might want to make a new topic about the freedom to end your own life. Sounds like it might be a hot topic that would help educate the masses?
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: hielonite on July 25, 2013, 04:06 pm
I love those people that have such high moral aptitudes that they become so consumed by their righteous, delusional, ideologies and everyone must pay the price of eternal damnation in hell. I feel sorry for you that you have your head so far up your ass that you can't help but sound like a complete preacheristic moron. "Well, I don't agree that a suicide pill should be sold BECAUSE I SAID SO!" That's basically what you sound like. Go take your control mongering self somewhere far, far away from here. SR is the quintessential representation of freedom and free market system. Don't try to stampede your fears on us.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: bbbaac on July 26, 2013, 02:35 am
it justs not right. im sorry if anyone acutally sells that on here, but the person who is mentally ill trying to kill themself honestly does not think about what other people are thinking and how this would effect friends and family for the rest of there lives..
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: PureEnergy on July 26, 2013, 09:56 am
Friendly is good :)
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: c13hqPX7d on July 26, 2013, 03:55 pm
Hey, I'd love to start a discussion in the philosophy section about this :)

back to topic:

I am also a very friendly buyer. Still I know where the lines are and I try not to cross them. I don't want vendors to be my new besties4life. I simply believe in positive communication, it's just nice to smile when you read a few lines from your vendor. And I rarely smile if it's just about business. Why not add some positivity to the moment?
There's a difference between being (overly) friendly and what your customers did. Asking such questions is simply not appropriate. Everyone who is serious about Silk Road would know that. So I think you made the right decision to stop contact, but I would have written them an explaination...

I don't think that LE would communicate with a vendor, at least not until they received the order. They would know it arises suspicion
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: Aoth14 on July 26, 2013, 06:13 pm
Its called kids on SR.  I rarely find the need to msg a vendor before a purchase. It feels wrong to waste their time and its the main reason I'm not a vendor, apparently people bug you 24/7 with pointless banter they feel entitled to.

Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: Frylexa on July 27, 2013, 06:01 am
Its called kids on SR.  I rarely find the need to msg a vendor before a purchase. It feels wrong to waste their time and its the main reason I'm not a vendor, apparently people bug you 24/7 with pointless banter they feel entitled to.

Bless you! I don't mind the occasional bit of banter, in fact, I try to make a habit of it unless we are bogged down with a particularly heavy load that day. We have one rule among all of us that negativity has no home in our business. It does suck when you get the occasional asshole, but killing them with kindness tends to disarm even the worst ones.
Title: Re: Has anyone else had suspiciously friendly customers?
Post by: c13hqPX7d on July 27, 2013, 09:22 am
It does suck when you get the occasional asshole, but killing them with kindness tends to disarm even the worst ones.

If just more people would think that way, this world would be a better place.