Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

View RSS Feed

SuperSteelerBlog

How To Be A Smart Trader (aka How To Win Disputes)

Rate this Entry
Lately there has been a rash of really bad decisions and really upset people because of their bad decisions. To that end I thought it might be a good idea to create a little "guide" on how to be a smart trader (and win disputes). These are the most common reasons that result in losing a dispute.

Keep Your Receipt!!
This is probably the single greatest "mistake" that i see. Something as simple as holding on to a postal receipt can mean the difference between winning and losing a dispute. By simply slipping it into you wallet or purse or putting it some place safe you can protect yourself from being expected to send something more if someone claims that they never received anything.

Personally, I have a little box that my bank checks came in sitting behind the computer monitor on my desk. When I get home from the post office I drop the receipt in the box. If later someone claims that they never received what I sent all I have to do is pull the receipt out of the box and scan it and Viola!! I have proof that I shipped.

For those of you that are wondering why I say keep your receipt and am not mentioning a Delivery Confirmation slip, the Dispute Team will accept a scan of a receipt as proof of shipping. So keep your receipt!!!

Safe Packaging Is A Must
This seems like a no-brainer but you wouldn't believe the number of disputes that I see where someone didn't put an extra 10 seconds of effort into safe shipping and they end up having to replace a damaged card.

A few tips for safer packaging:
* Don't use PWE. If you and your trade partner agree to use PWE then that is fine but you should be aware that you will be expected to replace cards that are damaged due to shipping in PWE.
* Tape the toploader shut. Packages get tossed around during shipping and cards slide out of toploaders and get bent and dinged in the package. By simply putting a piece of tape across the top of the toploader you can prevent this.
* Use extra padding. You can buy a roll of bubble wrap at WalMart for about $3 or you can reuse old padded envelopes to add a little extra padding to those hi-end cards and guarantee that they are safe from rough handling by the USPS workers.

Make MSF Traders Send First!!
Lately there has been an unbelievable amount of disputes in which veteran traders sent first/at the same time to Under 20 MSF traders and they get nothing in return. Let me say this as clearly as I can. If you ignore the MSF tag and send first anyway, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.

This may seem harsh but it is SCF policy. We put the MSF tag there to protect you. If you ignore it and send first anyway then you did it to yourself and you are on your own. We will not spend our time working to fix a problem that would not even exist if you had taken our advice and complied with the MSF tag to begin with.

I feel safe in saying that at least 90% of the scamming that happens on this site is done by Under 20 MSF traders. Protect yourself, make them send first!!!

Good luck in your trades and feel free to PM me anytime you have a question or concern.

- Duane

Updated 09-10-2009 at 09:14 AM by duane1969

Categories
Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Pheebs888's Avatar
    Permission to use this in the next magazine please Duane?
  2. GeorgehenryCollec's Avatar
    These things always don't work out in your favor. I did that in a recent trade. The trader never sent and when I did a dispute. The Handler said well the guy doesn't want to do anything about it so we can't do anything about it. So even though I was in the right the dispute was not won and I was out cards.
SCF Sponsors


About SCF

    Sports Card Forum provides sports and non-sports card collectors a safe place to discuss, buy, sell and trade.

    SCF maintains tools that will allow collectors to manage their collections online, information about what is happening with the hobby, as well as providing robust data to send out for Autographs through the mail.

Follow SCF on