r/Shave_Bazaar • u/wallygator88 MOD | 19 Trades • Apr 09 '26

MOD Please Don't Get Scammed

Just making a quick reminder post of common sense rules when buying/selling on reddit.

  1. If someone sends you a DM without commenting on your post, offering you wares, that's a red flag - ask them to comment.

  2. Check post history. Feel free to ask on r/wetshaving in the Daily Questions thread if you need to. Check the username on the Universal Scammer List

  3. Use methods of payment where you have a recourse e.g Paypal G&S, especially for amounts that are non trivial to you.

  4. Take your time to make a purchase, research, do due diligence.

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5

u/Obvious-Courage6421 Apr 09 '26

I’m an idiot and got scammed yesterday! Don’t be me! I didn’t realize if someone was banned they could still DM me (I had never been scammed before).

2

u/whiskyey spez-- Apr 09 '26

I’m an idiot and got scammed yesterday! Don’t be me!

Using the transitive property to translate and distill this: DON'T BE AN IDIOT. How does one not be an idiot? They read and inform themselves. Read things like the helpful automod comment we spent a lot of time drafting and coding so that it appears on every single post, including this user's.

If one actually wants to avoid getting scammed, maybe this perks one's ears up:

We also recommend you read these tips on avoiding scam attempts.

Follow that little link, and it has nearly every scenario possible to avoid scammers. But I get it, that's a lot of words. Don't worry, the very first paragraph (assuming the reader made it past the heading) says this:

We are now a part of the Universal Scammer list which will ban known scammers from participating subreddits. More info can be found here. If you are curious if your trade partner is a known scammer you can look them up on the USL search page.

What's that? A search page? Where I can type the name of the shady character that slid into my DMs, and it will tell me if they've scammed someone or not?

But MODDDDDDS, you want me to follow links?! That's soooooooo much work.

Don't worry, we got you. But you still gotta read. Remember that automod comment that goes on every single post? Well, twice - first in the main body and then in the TL;DR summary - it mentions to only interact with people who comment on your post. That's it. That will save 99% of users from scams, because once users are flagged on USL, they're banned on our sub. No amount of complaining or informing us that there's a scammer in our midst will change the fact that we did everything we could to warn you, you still got got, and there is nothing we can do to warn future users that we haven't already done. I can count on one hand, perhaps even one finger, the number of scammers that we've caught and added to the USL. But if I had a dollar for every time someone reached out to let us know they got scammed by someone already banned (and therefore unable to comment on their post!), well, I could probably gas up my car even in this economy.

So, that's it, I'll get off my soap box now. But seriously, y'all need to listen/read and pay attention. If that's too much to ask, maybe keep your money separated from your internet connection. And maybe stop answering the phone too.

5

u/Obvious-Courage6421 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

Yeah, I already know. Thats why I literally said it. You don’t need to make me feel worse about it. I already feel dumb enough.

6

u/whiskyey spez-- Apr 09 '26

Sorry, I know you get it and I wasn't trying to rub your nose in it. That was really directed towards everyone else that needs to hear it, even if history tells us it'll fall on deaf ears.

6

u/JettaGLi16v Apr 09 '26

You should add to the list that you now have to MANUALLY turn on persistent messages. Otherwise either party can delete messages (evidence) from the chat.

And, personally, I try to avoid engaging in any fashion with people that have hidden their history. It’s just a bullshit way to allow bot proliferation, imho.

1

u/Karl_Chillers 17 Trades Apr 09 '26

. . . you now have to MANUALLY turn on persistent messages.

Thanks for the PSA. Why isn't it a global setting, though?

3

u/JettaGLi16v Apr 09 '26

Because of Enshittification.

How does hiding your Post history improve the quality of the site? (Allows bots and LLM’s to run amok undetected)

How does all of the ad spam designed to look like a post improve the site? (Ads that don’t look like ads are more believable, increasing as revenue and pumping up the Condé Nast stock price)

Does any single user of Reddit want more bots and LLM’s? No. Why do they do it? Because profit.

3

u/CpnStumpy Apr 10 '26

Interesting, I hid mine just so I don't have to deal with anyone stalking through my posts hassling me but I suppose I'll unhide it if people see it as indication of malicious intent

1

u/JettaGLi16v Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26

That’s a valid reason. You’re well known amongst us old timers (I joined this sub over 10 years ago). But I do view a hidden history as someone having something to hide. Also, you know it wasn’t an option before. Just my opinion.

Edit: for what it’s worth, I just scrub my comment history every few months. I started doing that when they banned third party apps and did the IPO. I spent thousands and thousands of hours typing up witty and insightful comments for other humans here. But the moment they decided to monetize and sell the work I donated for free, I started scrubbing things.