So unfortunately this needs to be put in a forum to prevent both experienced, and inexperienced players from falling prey to this preventable predicament. This is how I evaluate trades from my experience. Assessing Risks Trading in this game, always comes at a risk; either for you or the person your playing with. Assessing that risk starts before the trade even happens. There’s many tells of an account who is more likely to scam you, the first is complicated usernames. Ones with lots of numbers or i/I in it. That’s because it makes them more difficult to find in case of something happening. Secondly, go check their showcase. If it’s a small showcase and they have a lot of rare/valuable items, just keep it in the back of your mind that they could be ill-gotten gains. Lastly, you’ll want to glance at world chat; see if anyone called them out after posting their item for sale. Keep in mind all of the techniques mentioned above, DO NOT mean they are a scammer. Just something to be wary of. If said trader, is offering a deal to you that is too good to be true, it’s always a good idea to double check with a clannie or another trusted player. Protecting Yourself No matter what, the only person who can prevent you from being scammed or taken advantage of is yourself. This can be done in many ways, and is only a few seconds more of work usually. Single trades is by far the most efficient way of protecting yourself. This only works if both buyer and seller can fit the agreed upon trade items within the allotted 12 slots. Usually done with smaller trade items, but can be done with larger items if you have stacked charms. Now, say you only have loose charms and you would like to trade for a set that’s 5b max. You have a couple options. Assess the player first and foremost; often times you will know who is and who isn’t trustworthy based off the community. But for this example say they’re not. You can’t fit 5b max into one single trade, so you calculate and figure out the most you can send in a trade, and send that one first(Always safer for buyer to start trade, gives them final say to accept or decline the trade). So say you get 2.5b single trade, you as the buyer have to protect yourself and make sure that the seller, is putting up an equivalent 2.5b of value. Reject if they do not and reject as many times as it takes them to figure it out. Repeat these steps until trade is completed; always making sure you are protecting yourself. Insurance Insurance is often times a single or few items that have a much greater value than face value. They can be used to send to others when you cannot fill single trade requests. You send or receive the valuable item, and hold onto it until trade is almost over. Upon last transaction, or when a satisfying amount of the total has been paid, trade the insurance piece back. BEWARE: I have seen people get scammed before with insurance; aka fake insurance(something they said has value or really doesn’t), or one party refusing to send insurance piece back in the middle of the transaction. So always be aware of what you’re sending/receiving insurance. Change If you can’t afford to pay for something relatively close to the price but you still really want it, there’s a risk you have to take; and that’s trusting the seller to send change. Once a trade is over, it is not refundable. Often times players will send materials for small quantities, which is better than nothing. Try to get as close as you can to the agreed upon price to minimize risk. Whenever you’re in doubt, ask world chat or your clan. Over time trading, and just playing in general you will find out who to trust and who not to trust. Go with your gut. This is all from my personal experience and if you have anything to add please feel free. I hope this helps someone -Misery
common sense coming from a guy who has dedicated years of his life creating alts to seek attention 🤔 interesting