Trading and Facebook. Facebook and Trading?
Trading and Facebook? Now there is an oxymoron. As a collector sometimes you run out of traders on your regular trading boards. Well this happens to me a lot. I collect certain players and only need certain Transformers so my trading circle has gotten smaller and smaller. That and when folks find out who you collect in cards some traders expect more then what a card is actually worth. So I decided to Trade on Facebook in the hopes that I find more traders. Here are my experiences and advice..
My First group I went to was called Football Cards Rule. They have since changed their name. I made a deal with a guy named Shawn Welker. The guy ripped me off bad had me send first because he was a mod. With a trader rating of 12. A mod is a Moderator. They are in charge of the group. As it turns out what he would do is get new people that joined the group to send him cards and then Ban/Remove them while making up some BS about each trader. He had done it to 6 people before he did it to me. He has since started a new Group Fun & Affordable Group Breaks I guess Shawn has decided that stealing money is easier then stealing cards. Also as a Warning Paypal considers Group Breaks as gambling so your money is not protected if ripped off. I guess Shawn Welker has become a smarter Thief.
My second Group I joined was Hockey Card/Football Card/Baseball Card Drama Free Trading and Selling . To which I did another trade with another Moderator Anthony Tassoni. 12 Positives. Anthony Tassoni and I had agreed to a mail at the same time Trade. After the first spew with Shawn Welker I figured it might be better if I did it this way. Anthony Tassoni agreed to send at the same time with Dc. Well I sent out and Anthony received but then came up with an excuse for him not sending out. And the excuse grew to two more weeks of not mailing out. Finally I contacted another Mod who at first said he was going to look into it and then stopped responding. In the end I posted a post saying
" Mr. Tassoni I have yet to get your stuff. What's Going on ? "
Anthony Tassoni then went on a rampage and started using profanity and then quit the Group. So I lost out again. The other Mods in the group basically did nothing.
So in the end the Lesson learned is YOU CANNOT TRUST MODS on Facebook. First, each one of the Mods had Trader ratings of under 20 on main Sports forums like Sports Cards Forum they would be Must Send First Traders. Myself I have a trader rating of 298 on scf. Second, Mods on facebook will use their "RANK" to their advantage. They will try to bully you into trades that are in their favor. They will get you to send first and ban you to make you go away. Third, Mods will cover for each other. Both Mods in the Drama free group did nothing about Anthony Fassoni. Heck if you check the Trader Ratings of the Group HERE Anthony Tassoni Still has a rating of 14 positives and NO Negatives.
DON"T TRUST THEIR SCANS
On the stress Free Group I did a trade with a trader who has a scan of a card that was kinda distant. So I did a trade with the guy for that card. When I got it it looked like this:
Now as can be seen clearly it is damaged. I was never told this by the Trader. And when I brought it up he stated he received it like that from Listia. Now I have no idea how that would make it ok for him to not tell me it was damaged but I guess in his mind it does.
So don't trust their Pics ask questions.
DON"T TRUST THE OTHERS!!
Now I have done 2 Somewhat positive trades on facebook and both have had some issues.
Trader 1. Stated they would send at the same time with Dc and then didn't. They did send after they received. But still the whole starting with a lie thing was a bad start.
Trader 2. The Patch above guy. Sure he fixed it (and even then was only wanting to give me junk he didn't want to fix it) But to not tell a person a card is damaged when it can be clearly seen is just sad.
2. All Facebook folks seem to know each other. Which mean they will cover for each other. Both of those somewhat positive trades I asked around and got recommendations on both people from other facebook members. In the case of Anthony Tassoni 5 of his positive ratings are from his cousin William Maddalena. So it all falls back to who you know.
NO PROTECTION
In the end here is what it all falls down too. Which was said by a Retired Mod on SCF:
"Most of the Traders on Facebook Groups are banned members from SCF, Beckett, and other big name forums. "
Well it turns out this may be true. Now I learned the hard way that there is no protection on facebook groups. With major forums there is a process if you get jipped and usually ends with the other member getting banned. In facebook since they all know each other they just cover it up. So the crook gets to continue.
SO WHAT DID I LEARN
I learned that its probably best to stay on Big name forums. I plan on leaving the facebook trade groups. As I have found that there is more bad then good on them. Now what others decide is up to them. I have learned my lesson.
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