Vendor Protection Against Scam Attempts
A user has kindly posted on Reddit a short guide for dark net market vendors to help them avoid getting scammed. See the post below, the original post can be seen here.
I can always fully understand and sympathize for all the hard work and business management they must go through.
Albeit these instances are less common, they still do happen and pretty much any vendor whose been in the game long is more than likely to have any of the following occur.
Buyer disputes order stating that it is not what they expected or item did not arrive even though it did
As I stated, there are far more awesome and honest buyers than bad apples.
But sadly, it does happen mainly with either low life’s, or kids thinking they can pull a fast one.
I cannot stress this enough, when creating a new listing be sure to give as much detail as possible.
This will prevent any confusion and if a dispute occurs, you can refer the buyer and staff telling them that sold product is in accordance with the description.
Plus, when you have 50 customers before them saying they were satisfied with the item received, you will have much higher chances winning a dispute.
When a buyer claim the package is a no-show, make sure you do either of the following to prevent this.
Place tracking on all of your items that you ship. For security, try not to give it out unless it is necessary.
This is great proof to show staff that you did indeed ship out the item.
If you do not use tracking, make sure it is known in your profile that this is the case and you cannot give refunds on lost packages.
It would be to the buyers discretion whether or not to order.
Buyer Threatens to Leave Negative Feedback Unless Given a Refund
I’ve actually had this happen to me.
This was a plain and simple case that he was looking for free stuff and wanted to be an ass and go this route.
It really frustrated me because I was very nice and polite to the dude and he decided to pull this shit on me.
Well, I handled it in a professional manner and backed off.
This is what I did and what you can do too in this situation.
I basically called his bluff.
I explained to him that I have 40+ customers before him (which is true) buy the same product and every single one of them was completely satisfied.
Given that information, I told him that I wasn’t going to give him a refund, and to go ahead and leave the negative feedback if you wish.
If he had left the negative feedback, I would’ve retorted that this customer was just a troll looking for free stuff, and given my positive track record with this item I did not feel a refund with in order.
He never did leave the feedback and released the escrow, which I’m happy 🙂 Also, depending on your market, staff will remove negative feedback if it was unjustified.
Just report to staff and see what they say.
I actually know a vendor who was in the same situation.
He actually refunded the buyer and the asshole buyer still left negative feedback.
Man, did that vendor throw a fit.
Thankfully the staff took care of it.
Competitor Attacks
Occasionally, who will have a unethical and disgruntled vendor that is jealous of your booming business and wants to do something to sabotage it.
A lot of the times they will make multiple buyer accounts, buy the cheapest product you sell, and then turn around and either call you a scammer or the product and service was bad.
If you are a victim of this, report it to the staff and your customers as soon as possible.
Let them all know about the situation and given your track record, they will be understanding.
Most customers can determine if you have either a troll or competitor attacking you and will not think bad of you with the given false feedback.
Often staff will recognize the attack and ban the shill accounts and remove the feedback.
It’s sad to see vendors sink that low to do such an attack.
Trolls/Disgruntled customers
Often times you will come across these when when discussing products and prices about your product.
What generally happens is that you’ll get a buyer that is not happy with your price and then offers some low-ball figure, or you can have buyers that want a freebie tossed their way.
You tell them no and the price stands as is.
Most are understanding of this, while you do have some that act like children and throw a temper tantrum because they cannot get their way.
They end up going to the forums and posting false statements calling you a scammer and that your service is terrible, blah, blah, blah.
To handle this, just politely and professionally explain the situation that you never even done business with this clown and how on earth could you be a scammer when no coin was exchanged? Also explain that their behavior is ridiculous and just wanted something cheap or free.
Then everybody will realize what an ass this buyer just made of themselves and will easily join your side on this situation.
Well that’s all I have for right now. If any vendor would like to add on and share any of their experiences, I would love to hear them.
Thanks for reading and stay safe everybody 🙂