City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Quick question about safe trading

Fulmens

By Fulmens,
Posted on: 2011-02-10 20:53 in The Market and Inventions

 

Posted

OK I am looking to buy an IO that is about 3 billion ... There is no safe way to do this it seems. The buyer has to take all the risk also which really sucks, but makes sense I suppose. Will GMs do anything if that person just takes your cash and logs off or does not trade you the promised IO?

"I have always been a fan of science fiction. It all started when my parents forced me to go to church when I was a child."

 

Posted

Its been said that if you are cheated when making this type of transaction that you can file a petition. It's been posted people have gotten things corrected this way. I however haven't had to do this myself, so cannot guarantee it.

But I will say if you trade with someone who has a good reputation, you are normally fine. Actually in all the times I've traded inf or transferred inf for folks back before it was universal email, I've never had anyone try and cheat me outright.

Most folks are nice and generally honest about it. Though of course that does not come with a "guarantee".

Over the hills and through the woods.

 

Posted

Do you have a link or anything? I think you are the person I am trying to trade with lol.

"I have always been a fan of science fiction. It all started when my parents forced me to go to church when I was a child."

 

Posted

If there's a third party you both trust, you can both give stuff to them and they'll give it appropriately*. Otherwise, yeah, there's no safe way I know of.

Having said that, I've put myself at risk on a few big-ticket exchanges and not gotten burned.

* Disclaimer: I used to be in the infamy-to-influence exchange business, 10% fee, and a lot of people on the Market forums gave me money and got 90% of it back on the other side. I'd do the transfer if asked, but at some future point I might put a fee on it if I get busy.

Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.

So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.

 

Posted

One way is for the seller to put up additional items as collateral. In your case, for the first transaction you would put up a billion inf, while the seller would put up one or more items with a total value of roughly one billion. Repeat for the second transaction, while for the third transaction the seller would put up the desired item while you would put up the last billion plus the collateral. This method requires the seller to have surplus valuable items lying around, but it is safe at every step of the trade.

Another possibility is for both the buyer and seller to make the initial 'handshake' here on the forums, then post the results after the trade is completed. It's not a guarantee against a scam, but it could act as a deterrent if both parties stake their reputation (to a degree) on the outcome.

I'll say this much: for the small number of off-market trades I've made, folks have been completely honorable. CoH has one of the best communities of any MMO.

I'd still like to see both the inf cap and the maximum trade cap raised though.