All,

Buying on the internet can be a good and inexpensive way to get second hand (and new) goods. Large numbers of people trade on this forum daily and the majority of transactions go well, however some do not.

As with all things there are a minority of people that will use this site to Scam people, or who will just be too lazy to send goods to you, and in some cases the postal system fails and the goods never arrive. So I have decided to write a guide to try and help people..this is a first draft so will hopefull evolve with time.

1) We are not Ebay..if something goes wrong with a sale, then the mod team will try hard to help you out, but we do not have the powers of a bank, or the ability to refund money like paypal/Ebay.

2) When purchasing/selling an item, check how many posts the user has made, how long they have been a user for, look at any feedback they have and have a look at some of their recent posts. New people who have little posts, and no feedback are obviously more risky than people who have been on the site for years and sell things regularly.

3) When purchasing an item, try an insured method of payment such as paying with a credit card via paypal. If the product does not arrive you may be able to claim the money back from the card company. This is especially important if the seller has little history on the site.

Its also worth noting that if you decide to pay direct into someones bank account there is normally a definate trace to a payee and so you may be able to get your cash back by going to the small claims court.

4) When selling ensure you are paid in full for the product before sending.

5) I advise all items to be sent via recorded delivery, and insured. If the item never arrives this protects both the seller and the buyer.

6) When buying/selling gather as much info about the other user as possible (name/address/phone etc) so you can easily contact them outside of the forum if needed.

7) Look out for the following signs of a dogy seller:

Little history on forum
Negative feedback
Will only accept payment direct to a bank account
Reluctant to let u pick the item out, despite claiming to live locally.
Prices too good to be true
Will not show proper picture of the item

8) If you think you are being scammed contact the Mod team ASAP. They can at least stop the user from scamming on here again, and maybe able to get more information to help you.

Hope this is of use, and will hopefully help reduce the number of scammers operating on this forum.