Silk Road forums

Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: soyoutookmine on July 11, 2011, 05:44 am

Title: Scam Attempt?
Post by: soyoutookmine on July 11, 2011, 05:44 am
Hey All,

I've had some luck with Silk Road in the past but now I've run into an issue.  I'm wondering if anyone can help me determine if I'm being scammed.  Here's the story so far:  I place an order with a new seller, no feedback.  They claim to send me my order but I do not not receive it.  Next the seller provides me a USPS tracking number that confirms a shipment to my zip code.

I was thinking that this only shows something was delivered to my zip code, not to my address.  But that seems like an odd scam.  No package has arrived though.

What do you all think; scam attempt or something else?
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: rake on July 11, 2011, 05:51 am
It's hard to tell, as it is a new seller.  You could name the vendor in the rumor section and ask if anyone else has had the same issue.  Do you know how new they are?  If they are only a week old it may pay to wait as long as you can before the auto-finalize kicks in and then send it to the resolution center.  It could be that more people come forward and say they are missing shipments from the same seller which would increase your chances of getting all your money back or if you are the only one then perhaps you come to some 50/50 arrangement or similar.

Old timers on this site would probably chime in here and tell you that the good established trusted vendors normally would re-ship but it appears we have a load of new sellers who run tight margins and treat this site like ebay.
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: diablo on July 11, 2011, 02:19 pm
Hello. I am the seller that you are asking about on this post. I must say it makes me feel a little bit better that you took the time to make a post regarding this situation, rather than just flat out trying to deny me the payment I am owed. Perhaps something beyond my control did go wrong.

It's true, I am a new seller. But everyone on SR with great ratings started out as a new seller. We must start somewhere, as am I.  I approached being a new seller on SR with the philosophy that I would give lightning fast shipment, good product, very low price, and hope this would help me on my way to having a big number next to my name.

Then my first order comes along and "this happens".  I can assure you after our communications, your package was sent promptly and in good faith.  Great care was taken in the packaging and handling.  I even included "extras" to win you over as a customer...  I am after all a 'newbie' without a number next to my name.

As discussed, your package was sent by USPS Priority Mail with delivery confirmation. Your package was delivered within 4 days of your order.  After I confirmed deleivery of the package on the USPS website, I sent you a message on SR asking if you were satisfied, and if so, asking for your feedback rating.  I heard nothing back from you for 9 days. Every day I checked to see if you finalized the transaction... and could only be left to assume that you were going to let it auto-finaliaze, or worse...  contact me saying you "didn't get it".  So when you asked me via message last night where it was...  man did I cringe.

I sent you the tracking number.  You obviously checked yourself on the USPS web page and confirm the delivery. You would not see that if the package wasn't delivered.  And no, I didn't send some bogus piece of mail with delivery confirmation on it, to some other address in your zip code just to come up with a bogus confirmation!...   doesn't that seem like a lot of effort to try and rip somebody off for a net gain of fourty bucks, just to potentially but likely have my name trashed in the forums and not be able to repeat the model to make it sustainable?..  doesn't make sense when you think about it.

The P.O. delivered the package.  Do you live alone?  Could someone else have it and not told you yet? Do you live in an apartment building? Would a large PM envelope fit in your mailbox?  If not, where would the post office have left the envelope?  Could it have been stolen before you had a chance to pick it up?  Does anyone else know about your experience receiving 'goodies' via SR? Could they have intercepted it? Who knows what happened?  All I know for sure is that I sent what you ordered, and the USPS itself has confirmed the delivery.

So now what?.. I would like to say that in good faith, I will re-ship the item.  My concern is that if it didn't make it into your hands the first time, what reason is there to believe that it would the next time? You mention you have "had luck" with SR in the past.  Have you called attention or scrutiny to what you receive in the mail perhaps with your past transactions?  I'm not exactly expecting answers from you, as my questions are more rhetorical than anything else, but I am hoping you'll understand my position.  I fulfilled my end of the bargain and in good faith.  The proof is the on the USPS website -- and this is EXACTLY WHY I opted to use PM with DC...  $6 in shipping - just to make sure.

Bottom line--  I want you to be happy.  So tell me what you think is equitable?

-diablo

Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: soyoutookmine on July 11, 2011, 05:38 pm
Rake, thank you for the rumors tip and the rest of your advice, much appreciated.


Let me confirm everything diablo has said about the USPS delivery confirmation.  I wouldn't want to tarnish anyone's good name without reason.

I mentioned that it would be such an odd scam precisely because of how convoluted and little sense the situation makes as a scam.  To get at the mostly rhetorical questions, I'm rather confident that if the mailman had the package and left it at the address given, that I would have it.  The higher risk situations mostly don't apply, though some are irrefutable possibilities.  Theft could've happened, I just find it unlikely.

Thus, I also don't know what happened.  From what I can tell the package never arrived.

Since this is getting a bit off the original topic I'm going to take the rest to PM.
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: phubaiblues on July 11, 2011, 10:11 pm
This was really a refreshing thread...obviously both of you have good will, and are trying not to 'blame the other one' when all too many people on here are too quick to immediately blame the seller/buyer as running a scam or something...we lost a good seller recently to just such a misfortune, and he made it all good, but was a bit embittered by it all, and I can't hardly blame him...I myself now operate on the theory that I release funds quickly to sellers that I trust, and if something like this happens, either take the loss myself, since seller obviously shipped, or--if there is doubt about what happened--split the difference, and send seller half the btc, or expect him to send me 1/2, or a partial refund of product... 

We're all kind of in the same boat, and need to share the bad lumps we all take at times here.  Much of what I see is just misunderstanding...very few out and out ripoffs...
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: diablo on July 12, 2011, 01:17 pm
Thanks phubaiblues for your words of encouragement. The seller and I are working things out...as clearly this was just "one of those things", with really bad timing. There's little doubt that we have entered the transaction and handled things in good faith. This by the way is the only way SR will thrive.  It is an incredible venue, but will take people working together to provide a sustainable operation.... without this- everything else will crumble in time.  Be good to each other - life is full of enough challenges!..   - 'diablo'
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: RickyRango on July 12, 2011, 06:15 pm
Shipping an empty package to another address in your zip code is an old ebay scam.
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: rake on July 12, 2011, 09:15 pm
Thanks phubaiblues for your words of encouragement. The seller and I are working things out...as clearly this was just "one of those things", with really bad timing. There's little doubt that we have entered the transaction and handled things in good faith. This by the way is the only way SR will thrive.  It is an incredible venue, but will take people working together to provide a sustainable operation.... without this- everything else will crumble in time.  Be good to each other - life is full of enough challenges!..   - 'diablo'

Don't you mean "buyer and I are working things out..."  Considering the anonymity of this site, forgetting who you are can be a problem.
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: diablo on July 12, 2011, 10:49 pm
Don't you mean "buyer and I are working things out..."  Considering the anonymity of this site, forgetting who you are can be a problem.

DOH!.....  you're correct on both points  :o
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: soyoutookmine on July 19, 2011, 09:59 pm
I get to end this thread on a fully positive note.  Not only have the seller and I worked things out, but I've received my order in full.

If anyone's looking to this thread wondering if diablo is a scammer, I am wholly of the opinion that s/he is not.
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: Kind Bud on July 19, 2011, 10:09 pm
oh good!
non-delivered shipments are EXTREMELY rare,
If the seller knows what they are doing non-delivery is way way way under 1%
New seller and non-delivery, even with full refund is very suspicious -glad this one worked out.

edit: fixed buy/seller mistake right after reading above mention of mistake
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: phubaiblues on July 19, 2011, 10:11 pm
Well done: we were just saying on another thread how there should be some way to send newbies on SR over to the forums, as they will learn a lot on  here, and threads like this one show that problems can be worked out. 
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: redtide on July 20, 2011, 04:22 am
Well done: we were just saying on another thread how there should be some way to send newbies on SR over to the forums, as they will learn a lot on  here, and threads like this one show that problems can be worked out.

+1
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: RedRocket on July 20, 2011, 05:15 am
Riveting Tale Chaps
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: mracid on July 20, 2011, 03:02 pm
i was hoping that you were gonna start with the 'yo mumma' insults, but this was good none the less
Title: Re: Scam Attempt?
Post by: Coast2Coast on July 20, 2011, 06:57 pm
Diablo is a great benefit to SR
Skillfully handled