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Warning to Posters on this Forum: TRIANGLE SCAM

As for the accusation of being a scammer, I am a bit offended. I may be dumb sometimes, but I'm not that dumb
I got RL stuff going on that has left me frustrated and not always in a good state of mind
Also, I've always been the one to be picked on over the years, so with all that, it was easy for me to jump to conclusions. Apologies
 
tech58761 said:
As for the accusation of being a scammer, I am a bit offended.
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I don't think anyone meant to even imply that YOU were a scammer. I'm sorry if what I wrote gave you that impression.

I got RL stuff going on that has left me frustrated and not always in a good state of mind
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Sorry to hear that. I've been there and I know how it can affect you.

Also, I've always been the one to be picked on over the years, so with all that, it was easy for me to jump to conclusions. Apologies
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Understood. Knowing your own problems is half the battle, as they say. I'm glad there are no hard feelings on both sides.
 
Just a heads up that people still seem to be trying to run this scam here; beware newcomers who have a "friend" who just happens to have the item that you're looking for.
 
Having had suspicions raised once again by certain recent threads, I'm half-tempted to do something slightly different and post honeypot requests for things that never existed (or that aren't realistically for sale) in the hopes that it will draw out scammers who claim to have what I'm looking for. For that reason, a request: if you ever see me say on here that I'm looking for a Knowledge Navigator, a Xerox Dynabook, a Mindset III, a Difference Engine, or a WOPR, just let it slide --- you're in on the joke. The minute someone tells me that their buddy has one in the basement that they want to get rid of, the mods can swoop in...
 
I think it might make sense to increase the barrier to entry for buying and selling on this forum. Maybe there's a cost involved and a pre-screen of sorts done. Just some thoughts on that. We as a community really need a safe place for these types of transactions that's not some behemoth like ebay. Any money made can be donations back to VCF, the data collected can be used for archiving and even price tracked. I have backend programming experience and would be happy to jump in on such a project if there was interest.
 
There was a website just for selling that spun out of here, Vintage Computer Marketplace, but it died off.

I don't think there is a safe method of screening people, just using a safe method of payment for when things go south (Paypal using default shipping address and not friends and family).

Most scams use payment methods with 0 safety for non-shipment. Anytime you set up a dedicated website for selling with prescreening and other guarantees of safety you are opening yourself up to legal actions when somebody does get scammed. Plus, you have to collect taxes on sales.
 
You might be jumping several steps ahead. Nothing is a guaranty however it would be a step up from posting in a forum directly, and I think the comment regarding taxes might be a stretch. I am not an accountant but I believe the taxes would fall onto the parties involved and not the service.
 
Well, I learned something new. I just looked it up following our discussion and it appears that there are Marketplace facilitator laws that are in effect in most states, interestingly spawned by actions by Amazon relating to 3rd parting sellers. This doesn't explain though why Facebook marketplace is exempt since I have not seen this practice in place for sales on that platform and much of what I was basing my understanding on.
 
I don't think Facebook marketplace gets any money from sales, they just charge the sellers a small fee to post items in marketplace and have setup feedback methods.

Actually, I think they charge you a small fee per order if you use their shipping and payment system, but local stuff is mostly cash and no fees. I never sold or listed anything on it, but have purchased some computers locally from one seller. Anytime I do a search for electronics they have the local stuff and "will ship" for sellers outside my area who are probably using Facebooks payment and shipping services.
 
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In that case VCF having a market place should also be exempt in theory. Any "fees" involved I would assume be to support the service. I guess I'm seeing such a service as a co-op, run and supported by members of VCF.
 
But there is already a marketplace here. Generally, 0 posters show up and join just to flog some items they have for sale after doing a search and finding information on those items here (and then never show up again if they even bother to answer questions).

The marketplace seems to work better between established members.
 
A forum is not a market place IMO. I'd be course to know what the community as a whole would feel short of only our two opinions. ;-)
 
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