I’m writing this blog to not only inform you about trading and buying, but recently, I’ve had several Snipers that have gotten ripped off and it’s intolerable.
Within the passion of collecting bobbles, we trade and buy offline. I’m a huge fan of trading. I can’t make it to California and Minnesota to Snipe so I trade. Everyone trades and buys off of Ebay. It’s part of collecting and it ultimately helps everyone out. Now, there’s a HUGE trust factor when buying and trading. Let me break this down. When you buy from Ebay, you’re covered regardless. When you directly send money through PayPal and use “Friends and Family” you are not covered if something arrives damaged or the item isn’t even sent! When sending money through PayPal using “Goods and Services” you are covered if anything bad happens. Yes, using Goods and Services you pay an extra small fee which is worth it just in case.
Recently, a few Snipers set up several deals to buy some bobbles from a seller on Instagram. They made a mistake. They paid through Friends and Family and the seller never sent the bobbles. They got juked out of their money. The dude won’t even respond to messages. Now, when I first started trading and buying directly through PayPal, I always used a simple method. When I trade with someone we BOTH box, bubble wrap and print out labels. Once a picture of both shipping labels are sent to each other, then we hand it off to the mail carrier. This way, we both know that the bobbles are shipped. Now, when I send someone money and I don’t really know you, I send funds through Good and Services so my ass is covered. NEVER and I mean NEVER send money through PayPal using Friends and Family if you don’t know the person. This shit is happening way too much and people are getting ripped off.
When you deal on some Facebook groups they typically have a Good to Go (G2G) list in which the person is reliable. That is something you can trust 98% of the time. Instagram has recently developed a large buying and selling community and some of the sellers are not trustworthy. I personally have developed such a trust factor with so many other Snipers that I rarely have to worry about getting scammed. But for most of you, you have to use Goods and Services. You just can’t trust people that you don’t know in this day an age. It’s worth playing the extra $2.00-$3.00 so you’re covered. Lastly, I would even be a stickler and ask the person to box, bubble wrap and print out label prior to sending any money. Many sellers will not approve of this but it’s worth asking. And whenever a seller on social media says please pay through Friends and Family, recognize that something isn’t right.
Protect yourself when trading and sending money directly through PayPal. You work too damn hard to make a living and the last thing you need in your life is to get fucking scammed by some dip shit trying to make an extra buck.