How scammers ruin the Community?

Hello friends.

I’ve been part of the community for about one and a half years soon, not active for all of it, but still been in here since mid 2016. One thing I’ve noticed along the way to this date is that there are a lot of scammers coming into the community that kind of ruin the reputation of ’Newcomer’ rank and few of the other early ranks aswell. I’m gonna go on a limb and say that majority of the accounts being banned almost on daily bases are part of the first three rank groups, being ’Newcomer’, ’Member’ & ’Active Member’ but thats just my guess. I, and probably many others who are part of these ranks have experienced the same: People purposely avoid trading these members or even ignore them completely. Sure, it is clear to me that nobody is here to just throw money around for good will, but there are some good individuals out there aswell. You have to start from nothing on here afterall.

When I first joined, it was to sell a RuneScape account. I was bumping my thread for months with near to no offers at all. I gave up and came back few months later and tried again. The same happened again. After a while I came back but with a different intention this time; I was looking to buy an account. Not too long after I had bought myself a nearly maxed pure account and that was my first ever trade on here. After that I kept trying to sell my account and finally after lowering my expectations for what I thought I could have got for my account, someone bought it. By that time I had bumped my thread enough so that I was an ’Active Member’. Maybe my expectations for my account were too high? Or maybe nobody just cared to even bid because I was new on the site.

All I am trying to say is that everyone deserves a chance. Have I been scammed on here? Of course I have, but that doesn’t mean that I have completely lost faith in everyone on here that have the rank ’Newcomer’ under their name. As a matter of fact most of the accounts that I’ve purchased from here are from people that were just starting out in their account selling business or whatever you want to call it.

But as they say: ’One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel’

If you made it this far, I would like to ask you guys what is your experience with trading on the site and how did you overcome the struggles of your early ’career’?

Thanks for reading!

 

I was never big in the market areas of Sythe, just random "I gotta get rid of some gold" posts once in awhile. The stigma of newcomers being scammers or ban evaders is undeniably there and I believe a way to overcome this is by positive community involvement.

People with intent to scam tend to steer away from community engagement as they just want a quick buck. I thoroughly believe that people with heavy community involvement tend to be more trusted than others (in my opinion) solely because they care - and put time into the site.

 

That's what the whole community consists of. When I first joined I noticed how rude everyone is, just like you realise now. What made me go through it is proof them wrong. I'm sure that alot of people get encouraged to scam aswell because they're already considered scammers when they just joined the community. Especially I had knowledge about forums aswell, so that only adds up to it. I have yet to be caught for ban evading, aswell as scamming and I can assure you that'll never happen. What keeps me going here is the motivation to keep on proving people wrong: not everyone is rude, not everyone is a scammer. Sure it's a road without an ending, because even notable members end up scamming, but it is what it is I guess.

I'd rather be a small glance of happiness in someone's life than a miserable trail of scams.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. That is why ever since I joined I’ve been striving to join the Sythe PR team since I’ve got experience in video editing and such. I applied the first year, but back then I was too new of a member to be accepted. I will for sure be applying again and in other ways too be a more active part in the community - not only in the market areas!

 

I don't necessarily assume the worst out of newcomers in general, but I'm always cautious. Particularly, what stands out the most to me are newcomers that show market knowledge or understand certain norms on here that usually take a bit of time to pick up. I only deal with RS name sales, but it's very noticeable in that market. Names are a bit tricky as it is, so newcomers with knowledge is always a big red flag to me.

But to answer your question, yes I've bought/sold from plenty of newcomers. I guess it's a bit different with account sales though, I see that as likely having a lot more risk with people recovering their accounts.

Soooo yeah, being a "newcomer" alone doesn't really make me automatically assume they're a scammer or vader, but the way they present themselves in the community does. I've met a newcomer on here (who is very inactive now) that I've since trusted with several valuable names, including a personal one that I'd never sell. Goes to show that not everybody is bad, just need to use your best judgement.

And yeah, everybody has to start somewhere. I think newcomers should understand that nobody is going to trust them right off the bat, but it's not impossible to work your way up.

 

Proving the doubters that they were wrong is one of the things that is worth achieving and definitely worth the wait.

 

To what degree? I'd think the very first thing you'd do when jumping into a new market of any sort would be to do your research and try to be as knowledgeable as possible before you do anything. How do you tell apart a newbie whose done their homework from someone who knows everything because they're a frequent thief?

 

I reckon name sales have their downsides aswell, but yes, I feel like for account sales its a different story. It’s a lot harder to feel secure about your purchase, since even weeks after the purchase there is the chance of something going wrong so to say.

 

As @Gen said, I think it is easier to trust someone whos actually putting in the effort and not just trying to make ’quick money’. That usually just makes the person more convincing overall. Of course there is no knowing what the persons intentions are even if they might seem legit, but atleast for me I would much rather do business with someone who seems to know what they are doing rather than someone who just did everything as quickly as possible just to get it out of the way.

 

When I first joined it wasn't really that tough at all because I wasn't really involved with the market. I was mainly here to find league duos and tips on becoming a better player lol. Over the months though, I did find out that trust was a big thing in the community due to all of the scammers and I worked on it so I could be able to buy/sell whatever I wanted. Despite me not experiencing rude members on Sythe, I can say that I have seen it a lot. The way I usually combat this is by treating all newcomers equally and with respect. I'm willing to help each and everyone of them until they are proven guilty and are banned.

 

I appreciate this kind of mentality. Its just a matter of finding the right people.

 

Knowing too much as a newcomer usually flags you as a ban evader :/

 

I had the same issue. Honestly, I think perseverance and community presence are key to success here. As mentioned before, scammers usually only tend to stick to the market. Then again, there are reputable users who have only used the market.

In the end, it's all a leap of faith, is it not? Even the most trusted user can scam, while the least trusted would never.

 

Yeah, thats the thing. Whos to know if even a trusted person gets bored and decides to take advantage of their position to scam.

 

Why take the risk when buying from a newcomer who has nothing to lose, when many established businesses are selling accounts, services and of course gold for about the same price with literally 0.00001% risk?

 

You have to take into account that these ’established businesses’ were once Newcomers aswell. Imagine if back then everyone thought like that, market would’ve been a ghost town.

 

You can still trade, like many have, by selling gold and services and going first. Many of these businesses (including us) did this, and have committed on the site by donating and being active.

 

Everyone starts somewhere.

 

I've yet to get involved with the Marketing area i have only done 2 services as it stands and spend most of my time browsing the site more than being in the market area. I intentionally joined to build up an account shop in the RS market but sheared away as i couldn't get the prices worthy of the accounts i wanted to build due to being new on the forums. Maybe one day ill get involved with the market but that would only ever be to sell and not buy so the new comers to me don't affect me at all. But again to you're post the new comer rank is very true if i was intending to buy something i always find someone with to much to loose, When helping people join/find a service on the site i always avoid the new comers or dodgy looking people and find someone with to much to loose for there and myself safety of trading purposes. But new comers if they are determinate to build a shop on here they are always pushed in the right direction of how to build more easy vouches and how to get involved with the community. Personally for the time being i am happy browsing the site. Finding people to join the site who need its purposes and overall being apart

 

As you said it is really hard to actually get the kind of money out of your accounts that you’d expect to get at first. I had to let go of most of my accounts for a lot lower price than originally intended, but hopefully the vouches I got from those will help me build my account store and get me a decent reputation on the site.