I got scammed/ripped off by a guild trader, how can I prevent this?

marshill88

There are some weapons and armor I have noticed that look "normal" but when you pick them up only then do you realize they are basically empty shells, worth 0 gold. For example, a level 39 sword worth 0 gold. These things give virtually zero inspiration when deconstructed. I know I have a useless item when the value is 0.

So I went to a guild trader and I saw some level 50 swords being sold for 80 gold each. It seemed like a nice way to gain some easy inspiration, I like to do this sometimes when I find good deals on traders. So I spent about 400 gold on these items and to my dismay, when I claimed them out of my email, they were all worth 0 gold. I felt so ripped off. Other times I will buy regular level 50 items from a vendor and they have >0 worth and break down with good inspiration.

How can I tell when browsing a trader if the item is worthless? the guy selling a worthless "0" item on a guild trader really feels like I got ripped off, or maybe I'm just ignorant and it was my mistake.

BlueRaven

I am not sure if it’s possible, but can you see the vendor worth of the items on the trader? Next time look for that to make sure it’s not zero?

Anyway I would not bother buying anything like that to level your trade skills up if it does not have the inspiration trait associated with it.

Ackwalan

Never buy common (white) gear from a trader for deconstruction. The only time it is safe, is if it is an intricate trait. The person selling them was intentionally scamming, but you should have been paying better attention.

bmnoble

Probably a small time crook no real trader has need to waste trade slots for scams like that, every now and then you see people trying to sell high value set pieces which are under level for the same price as max level gear keep an eye out for that when looking to buy overland sets.

If it does not have the inspiration trait don't bother with it, at most for non jewelry intricate items you should be prepared to pay a max of 200 gold per item but you will often find gear cheaper, for jewelry its 500 gold and up.

You can use the search options in the guild store to select the trait of gear you are searching for.

Most of the random gear you see on traders is being sold for trait research rather than inspiration.

If your short on cash your better off joining the dolmen circuit in the alikir and deconing your loot.

That or look into thieving you can get anywhere from 5 - 10K when your starting out from fencing white/green/blue items more than enough to get a reasonable number of intricate items.

spartaxoxo

Look for the intricate trait when looking for decon gear.

Never buy gear that has no trait at all.

marshill88

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Look for the intricate trait when looking for decon gear.

Never buy gear that has no trait at all.

I normally do but I figured that with inspiring trait at 300%, an 80 gold lvl 50 item would be worth it because i could get 3 of those for less than a single inspirational item.

I just had no idea some dingbat would run a scam like that on a major trader outside of Vivec city, they are rich enough. So lame.

Brrrofski

Honestly, if someone is seeling them for 80 gold, I doubt it's a "scammer". Like it's not much of a scam and not worth the effort.

Probably someone who doesn't know that they're worthless.

Danikat

Brrrofski wrote: »

Honestly, if someone is seeling them for 80 gold, I doubt it's a "scammer". Like it's not much of a scam and not worth the effort.

Probably someone who doesn't know that they're worthless.

That's my thinking too. I recently ran a new character through the tutorial, where of course I picked up a lot of level 1-3 items with 0 vendor value and I noticed some of those had prices listed on the Tamriel Trade Center addon, meaning someone was trying to sell them. It was never a lot, I think most were under 50g.

On PC EU it's not uncommon for social PvX or PvE guilds to have a trader sometimes, and I've seen people who join those guilds encouraged to sell anything they want to get rid of through the trader, because it's more profitable than selling to an NPC merchant and helps the guild out. It wouldn't surprise me if people giving that advice to new players forget to explain that some things really aren't worth selling because they're pretty much useless and very easy to find.

EllieBlue

Brrrofski wrote: »

Honestly, if someone is seeling them for 80 gold, I doubt it's a "scammer". Like it's not much of a scam and not worth the effort.

Probably someone who doesn't know that they're worthless.

Exactly this one. A lot of players, especially new players, don't know the value of in-game things. The same concept usually applies when you see Diamond listed for 5K in the guild store. Like no, it is not Tiffany's diamond! Or white grade food or drinks. Like what the others said, don't buy anything white grade that doesn't have an intricate trait. Just not worth it.

SirAndy

marshill88 wrote: »

How can I tell when browsing a trader if the item is worthless?

Mouse over the item in the trader menu and look at the item card.

It shows you the base item value, which in your case would have shown 0.

markulrich1966

play a public dungeon for 1 hour, and you should have 10-20k gold just from the gold that drops and the gear you sell to ingame merchants.
This gives you some financial independance so you would not think a minute about a botched 400 gold deal.

Apart from that the comment above about running dolmen is the right approach.
Playing the game to reach achievements instead of trying to buy them.

I hope that my advice does not sound rude, I just had to laugh reading the post, made almost a million the last 2 days participating in the current "Markarth furnishing plans" hype in The Reach. (the plans are new and rewarded for daily quests in Markarth with some luck).

Watchdog

Do these "worthless" items have any traits on them?

Maybe they are worth something to players who need to research the traits?
If they are set items with traits, maybe people would buy them for their sticker books?

VaranisArano

You need to be paying more attention to what you buy. This is a common problem with Potions as well, because some of them have the same names despite having different effects. It can also be an issue with set pieces where players will list lower level items for high prices hoping that someone will buy it without looking (okay, now they might be selling it for the stickerbook, but that practice long predates the stickerbook).

For example, would you catch the difference?





Also, I think this was mentioned, but if your goal is to deconstruct the gear you buy, just save your gold for gear with the inspiration trait. I've speed-leveled several crafters by mass-deconstructing inspiration trained gear and it really is worth it compared to anything else.

SeaGtGruff

Yeah, it stinks that you got "tricked" that way, although I'm not certain whether the seller deliberately tried to trick buyers or was just kind of clueless themself.

Personally, I often pick up (loot) 0 value gear and deconstruct it. Occasionally it will yield a mat or a style mat, but usually it yields nothing. But I would never buy it, and definitely would never sell it.

Some new players, though, try to sell every piece of trash they pick up, and have no clue whether it's actually worth anything; I'll often see them asking in zone chat if such-and-such is worth anything. If the guild they're in doesn't usually have a trader but got lucky and won a bid on a trader this week, the guild master may have posted a MOTD encouraging everyone to fill up their guild store sell slots so there'd be lots of stuff for players to buy from the guild trader. I can't imagine that a guild master would specifically encourage the guild members to sell trash, because that just makes the guild look bad.

Sangwyne

I think the bigger issue is not whether someone was trying to scam you out of 80 gold, but rather why these items with zero gold value that can't be deconstructed for materials even exist. They clutter up your inventory and are completely useless; no value whatsoever when sold to NPC merchants, no one wants to buy them on guild traders, they give literally nothing when deconstructed, why do they exist? ZOS could quite easily just remove them from the game, I guarantee that they will not be missed by anyone. Feels like they only exist to make the crafting bag more appealing.

Voidheart80

Me personally I've never had to resort to buying gear to decon. My bags fill up fast enough from from running normal dungeons, or if I want to farm furnishing plans I'll head to a public dungeon

I get tons of intricate armor that likes up. Don't forget doing daily writs will give you some intricate armor as well

No one really should have to resort to guild traders for decon. Don't forget you get more inspiration from crafted gear as well just use a higher level alt if you think you need to do that, but I've only used this method for Enchanting leveling only because I've never had a problem reaching level 50 by farming dungeons for Blacksmith/Cloth/Wood Working. Jewelry might be harder if you don't farm dolmens just head to Alik'r desert for jewel crafting

Lady_Galadhiel

The only times I bought something from trading guilds to decon was white jewelry with intricate trait.

madrab73

The only 'trick' I see is not reading the listing properly. Have done it myself before and learned the hard way.

madrab73

Top tip though. If you upgrade the item to green you will benefit from deconstruction.

AlnilamE

Sangwyne wrote: »

I think the bigger issue is not whether someone was trying to scam you out of 80 gold, but rather why these items with zero gold value that can't be deconstructed for materials even exist. They clutter up your inventory and are completely useless; no value whatsoever when sold to NPC merchants, no one wants to buy them on guild traders, they give literally nothing when deconstructed, why do they exist? ZOS could quite easily just remove them from the game, I guarantee that they will not be missed by anyone. Feels like they only exist to make the crafting bag more appealing.

When the game first came out, there were pieces of gear spread out around the world, on armor stands and behind merchants, and they could not be interacted with.

People complained that this was immersion breaking, so ZOS made them interactable, but made it so that they were worth nothing, so you could spend your days gathering gear and selling it.

When the justice system came out, the gear that could be stolen had a value, and gave good inspiration, so people started stealing gear to decon. Then ZOS came in and made that gear give low inspiration until it was laundered.

Most of this was way before the craft bag.

Alurria

AlnilamE wrote: »

Sangwyne wrote: »

I think the bigger issue is not whether someone was trying to scam you out of 80 gold, but rather why these items with zero gold value that can't be deconstructed for materials even exist. They clutter up your inventory and are completely useless; no value whatsoever when sold to NPC merchants, no one wants to buy them on guild traders, they give literally nothing when deconstructed, why do they exist? ZOS could quite easily just remove them from the game, I guarantee that they will not be missed by anyone. Feels like they only exist to make the crafting bag more appealing.

When the game first came out, there were pieces of gear spread out around the world, on armor stands and behind merchants, and they could not be interacted with.

People complained that this was immersion breaking, so ZOS made them interactable, but made it so that they were worth nothing, so you could spend your days gathering gear and selling it.

When the justice system came out, the gear that could be stolen had a value, and gave good inspiration, so people started stealing gear to decon. Then ZOS came in and made that gear give low inspiration until it was laundered.

Most of this was way before the craft bag.

This is true. Because the single player games like skyrim you could interact with everything. So if I saw a particularly beautiful vase for example I could pick it up and take it with me. Most of the player base were elder scroll fans especially those who were in beta. Because the single player games were so rich in lore and content, interaction in the MMO should be the same way. I don't think you were specifically targeted to be scammed. Perhaps the person didn't know and just wanted to make some gold.

Dojohoda

You can tell if white quality gear is worthless if it has no trait.

The Intricate trait is useful when trying to reach level 50 in crafting. The rest of the traits are useful for trait research.

tc91101

I doubt it was a scam. Probably a new player that didn't know the value of trading spots on a trader. Just look for the inspiration symbol and only buy those at preferably 150/160 level. Don't buy a level 1 inspiration item. They are pretty worthless as well. Also, if you need to research, some white items have traits.

Nisekev

Ackwalan wrote: »

Never buy common (white) gear from a trader for deconstruction. The only time it is safe, is if it is an intricate trait. The person selling them was intentionally scamming, but you should have been paying better attention.

I blame ZOS for creating worthless equipment pieces to begin with.

dvonpm

You could look up the guild finder and find the GM, if you remember what guild it was.

The seller was probably not trying to rip anyone off, but if they are then the GM has at least been given a heads up and may remember if future incidents occur, or even keep an eye on their sales. It's a dumb scam if so, they could have made that looting barrels for 3 minutes with no listing fee lol. But if it was someone being a turd, chances are they'll only get worse.

jssriot

I agree it's likely not someone looking to scam anyone. There are a lot of players who don't realize these sorts of things, novice traders and such, and there are always experienced traders who sometimes goof and list things they didn't mean to list or list them for dumb prices (like I did last night--congrats to the person who snagged my horribly underpriced alchemy mats before I could take them down).

Just be very, very careful of what you buy. Look over the item--level, trait, tooltip--before pressing "purchase If you're buying to decon for leveling up, always buy only intricates and only the highest tier.

SeaGtGruff

madrab73 wrote: »

Top tip though. If you upgrade the item to green you will benefit from deconstruction.

I was thinking of mentioning something like this-- that trash gear can be improved and enchanted, then used if it happens to be better than whatever you've currently got.

Obviously this is more helpful for new characters who can't craft their own gear yet, or can't yet afford to buy or commission a nice set of gear, and who are still leveling up. In fact, it's the standard way that new characters will acquire most of their gear while playing their way out of the tutorial-- unless it's an already-established player who has the banking assistant and either has some old gear in the bank from their other characters, or an alt/friend/guildie who can craft them better gear for the new character, etc.

But it can also be handy if you don't have a particular weapon on you-- say, a sword and board-- and need to temporarily swap to that weapon for a group role, but don't have any in the bank that you can grab quickly from your banking assistant. The gear itself might not be nearly as good as higher-quality, enchanted, and traited gear from a set, but at least it will let you slot and use skills that require that type of gear. There's usually enough trash gear of various types lying about in delves and dungeons that you can find just about anything you might need.

Or you can pick up a piece of trash gear and start temporarily using it just so you can acquire the skill line for it (again, most often done while starting a new character).

Not really pertinent to the OP-- but trash gear isn't always complete trash, depending on your situation and perspective.

marshill88

Sangwyne wrote: »

I think the bigger issue is not whether someone was trying to scam you out of 80 gold, but rather why these items with zero gold value that can't be deconstructed for materials even exist. They clutter up your inventory and are completely useless; no value whatsoever when sold to NPC merchants, no one wants to buy them on guild traders, they give literally nothing when deconstructed, why do they exist? ZOS could quite easily just remove them from the game, I guarantee that they will not be missed by anyone. Feels like they only exist to make the crafting bag more appealing.

I completely agree. I hate that they exist, it is really annoying. They are completely useless. And people sell them for up to 200 gold each on their guild traders. What scammers! You have to really be a piece of work to put that garbage up for sale. People like me who look for cheap items on traders simply to level up crafting can easily be tricked by it.

WhereArtThouVampires

marshill88 wrote: »

There are some weapons and armor I have noticed that look "normal" but when you pick them up only then do you realize they are basically empty shells, worth 0 gold. For example, a level 39 sword worth 0 gold. These things give virtually zero inspiration when deconstructed. I know I have a useless item when the value is 0.

So I went to a guild trader and I saw some level 50 swords being sold for 80 gold each. It seemed like a nice way to gain some easy inspiration, I like to do this sometimes when I find good deals on traders. So I spent about 400 gold on these items and to my dismay, when I claimed them out of my email, they were all worth 0 gold. I felt so ripped off. Other times I will buy regular level 50 items from a vendor and they have >0 worth and break down with good inspiration.

How can I tell when browsing a trader if the item is worthless? the guy selling a worthless "0" item on a guild trader really feels like I got ripped off, or maybe I'm just ignorant and it was my mistake.

Sounds like it was your mistake.