Here are some tips on researching a seller and determining their reputation. Please keep in mind that these factors should be considered all together.
The Seller
- How long ago did they join Black Hat World according to their profile? Whilst our marketplace staff do their best to vet a seller, a new seller means that there hasn't been as much time for other members to report any suspicious activity.
- How active have they been since they joined? If they joined a couple of years ago, but all of their posts were made in the last couple of months, this should be considered a red flag.
- Does their sales thread link to a website? How established does this website seem?
- Does the seller only respond to positive feedback and ignore negative feedback?
- Does the seller respond professionally to negative feedback?
- How do their sales thread descriptions and policies sound to you? How do they handle disputes with buyers in their sales thread?
- Does the seller respond to inquiries?
- How does the seller respond to service inquiries?
- What do other people say about them when you search for them on the web? Do they only seem to exist here on Black Hat World, or do they have an established business? Does their business seem to have only been set up in the last couple of months?
The Sales Thread
- Is the price too good to be true? A reasonable price doesn't necessarily mean that it's legitimate, but an unbelievably good price should raise red flags. Bear in mind that your purchase doesn't just include the product and service, but it includes the customer service as well.
- How do they expect payment from their customers? Is their PayPal account verified? Do they request, or even insist, that you pay via PayPal's "Friends and Family" feature, Venmo, Zelle, or Bitcoin? Know that these options will void your buyer protection.
- Check their sales thread and see if there is anything that doesn't make sense. If something they say in their ad copy makes you go "huh?", then proceed with caution.
- Are they creating an urgency to buy from them (fear of missing out)? Do they try making you feel stupid for asking questions about what they offer? These are clear signs that you should just walk away
- Do they accept any payment methods with buyer protection, or are all of the payment methods they accept non-refundable/disputable?
- What comes up when you search for their Skype ID in Google? Have they been banned from any platforms? Additionally, before finalising a payment, search their payment e-mail in Skype and see what comes up. If another Skype ID comes up, search for that Skype ID on Google and see if they've been banned from any platforms.
Keep in mind that whilst black hat internet marketing is not inherently bad, the industry does attract bad people from time to time. Here on Black Hat World, we do try our best to remove scammers from our platform and we most definitely do not want anyone to get scammed. The moderators in our
https://www.blackhatworld.com/forums/dispute-resolution.31/ do try to help victims of scams get their money back, but there is no guarantee that they can do this.
At the end of the day, it's up to you, the buyer, to do your own research and use common sense when dealing with sellers online.
