If you ever find yourself involved in dramatic buying or selling conversations online, you can always send the screenshots to the curator of the account. You never know, you might end up getting featured! However, we don’t live in an ideal world. No matter how many rating systems and layers of verification you introduce, you can’t fully avoid wannabe scammers… or just plain oddballs who don’t quite get social cues. If the item you’re selling is rare and in demand, you’ll still get a lot of potential buyers, sure. But if you’re not their only option, the odds are that the customers will opt for the most reliable-looking salespeople with good ratings (and proper grammar!). Naturally, not every buyer will have gotten an A+ in reading comprehension. You will—almost inevitably—end up repeating the same information that you’ve clearly written out elsewhere. So, a dash of patience is always a good thing to have. Writing errors are inevitable, no matter how skilled a professional you are (everyone makes mistakes). However, their frequency hints at your character as a person. In this day and age, with so many free grammar check programs easily available to the wider public, it feels silly to leave major mistakes in your texts. The speed of your response is a virtue, sure. But an even bigger one is sending a direct message that is relevant and easily understood. The best defense against scams is to learn to stay calm under pressure, ask for other people’s advice, and familiarize yourself with some of the most common and newest scams out there. Usually, if your gut tells you that a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. And in this day and age, there’s not much urgency to be found when it comes to buying things. Sales happen so frequently that you only need a tiny bit of patience for the next one. Meanwhile, unless the item is a rare collectible, if the thing is currently out of stock, just wait a while: don’t buy it for a huge price when the supply is low. “If you have been contacted by someone and you’re suspicious, searching for unique-sounding phrases they use will show if the script has been used publicly before.” Meanwhile, Google is a huge asset for you. You can use it to check a seller or business’s online reviews and its location (if it lists an address). How often do you buy or sell things on the internet? What do you do to avoid scammers? If you have a spare moment, share your thoughts in the comments. Follow Bored Panda on Google News! Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda! Please use high-res photos without watermarks Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
