To everyone getting scammed...

xv1_me

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

xv1_me wrote: »

Sephyr wrote: »

It's a shame that there still isn't a system in place that facilitates a better crown to gold trading system.

I think that’s the same reason they don’t refund people who get scammed. They don’t condone crown trading.

They do refund people who get scammed. I know it because it happened to me. I asked nicely (not demanding), it was the first time, I provided enough details and proof, and they refunded me. Stating they would only do it ONCE.

You probably begged them if they had to finally give in and say they will do it once.

I’ve never been refunded for anything dealing with gold, only crown store items I bought myself with gems.

I think most people know chances of getting a refund in their lifetime are slim. So they just move on and make more gold since it’s easy enough.

anitajoneb17_ESO

Amottica wrote: »

I would suggest that no one "needs" to buy crowns as you suggest. That is very much a "want".

You're correct. I used "need" because what I had in mind was the one time when I looked at the crown store and saw a costume I wanted, but it was a limited time sale that would be over in 3 hours. 3 hours is very short to find a seller via secure means. Hence the vocabulary : I "needed" the crowns because I "wanted" the costume. But it wasn't a matter of life and death, that's true ;-) (and by the way I was lucky enough that day and found a seller and got the costume ;-) )

Amottica wrote: »

And of course, most players are not scammers. However, how does one tell the difference between someone that is genuine and one that is not?

Well, the are a couple of things that can be done. None of them will give you 100% guarantee, but it can narrow down the risk.

1/ Look in crown exchange Discords. They maintain pretty accurate and real-time lists of reported and known scammers. The one time I got scammed, the scammer's ID was actually aleady listed there so I would have avoided the trouble if I had taken the precaution to check there in the first place.

2/ Be patient. Scammers are far more active when the demand for crowns is very high and people are impatient : that is, when a new DLC is released, when new crown store items are out, or when stuff is about to get removed from the crown store. Good timing and patience and using common sense helps reducing the risk.

3/ Group up with your seller/buyer and look up his ID , level and CPs. Scammers know they'll get caught and banned sooner or later, and their reputation ruined quickly. They don't use their main account, they use temporary accounts with low level characters and no CP or low CPs. If your seller has 1500+ CP, he most probably is genuine, because noone in their right mind will jeopardize a long-time account for scamming.

That's just a few tips & tricks. Again, it does not eliminate the risk, but it helps making a more educated decision towards said risk.

Amottica wrote: »

I have never seen a game that lacked a reasonably secure way to trade cash shop items. We should be able to purchase an item and sell it via the trading system. If someone chose to go outside of the trading system and "trust" a stranger then that would be on them.

I don't know about other games, but from what I heard, an official cash shop => gold system gives ingame gold the status of real life currency, which in turn has legal implications in numerous countries.

anitajoneb17_ESO

xv1_me wrote: »

You probably begged them if they had to finally give in and say they will do it once.

Not at all. In fact I did not even ask for a refund, I just wanted to report the guy so he gets banned and does not carry on scamming people.
Yet ZOS refunded me the gold.
I don't know what happened to the scammer since disciplinary actions are not disclosed.

anitajoneb17_ESO

xv1_me wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

xv1_me wrote: »

How is it bs? Don’t send first don’t get scammed. Easy.

It's BS because if everyone follows your advice (do not send first, let the other party send first), then no crowns-gold trading can take place at all. None.

That isn’t what I said. I said majority of legit crown sellers send first.

Which is BS too. Sellers have no more reasons to take the risk to "send first" than buyers, scams happen both ways, and it isn't true that "most legit sellers will send first".

Jaimeh

I usually buy my crowns from TCE because even with the higher exchange rate, there's no chance for scamming. However, I've bought crowns directly from guildmates and zone, and I've always sent gold first because to me it made sense: if I get scammed I lose fake currency, if they get scammed, they lose RL currency. Regardless, I'd always advice to trade with guildies or use a service like TCE.

xv1_me

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

xv1_me wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

xv1_me wrote: »

How is it bs? Don’t send first don’t get scammed. Easy.

It's BS because if everyone follows your advice (do not send first, let the other party send first), then no crowns-gold trading can take place at all. None.

That isn’t what I said. I said majority of legit crown sellers send first.

Which is BS too. Sellers have no more reasons to take the risk to "send first" than buyers, scams happen both ways, and it isn't true that "most legit sellers will send first".

You’re making this complicated lol. I’ve spent many tens of millions of gold and crown sellers send to me first every time. Usually when we aren’t even grouped they just send, and I return the gold.

xv1_me

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

xv1_me wrote: »

You probably begged them if they had to finally give in and say they will do it once.

Not at all. In fact I did not even ask for a refund, I just wanted to report the guy so he gets banned and does not carry on scamming people.
Yet ZOS refunded me the gold.
I don't know what happened to the scammer since disciplinary actions are not disclosed.

And I’m curious what happens too.

Say the guy scams you for gold. He has to know he will get reported. I figure he would send that gold to another account of his. But zos can see mail sent so how do they get away with it?

If they keep doing it there must not be any repercussions. That’s above my pay grade tho I just never send anything first unless I don’t mind losing it (in case I do get scammed)

Alucardo

One solution: allow crown sellers to convert their crowns into a consumable token that can be added to a special vendor/AH. Players can then buy the token for gold. Once consumed, it adds crowns to their account.

anitajoneb17_ESO

xv1_me wrote: »

Say the guy scams you for gold. He has to know he will get reported. I figure he would send that gold to another account of his. But zos can see mail sent so how do they get away with it?

My assumption is that this gold is "laundered" via sales and purchases in trading guilds.
Say X just scammed Y for 500K gold using account Xa. Xa buys a big bulk of dreugh wax for it. Which he sends to his other account Xb, to relist them in smaller bulks in various trading guilds...
I suppose it's something like that. Or more simply using a dozen friends. ZOS cannot ban 10 or 12 players / accounts for one scammer. Besides, while they sure investigate the cases, they don't put too many means into it and they aren't Scotland Yard.

jircris11

xv1_me wrote: »

Almost every legit crown seller will send crowns first, then you send the gold. If you can’t find one to agree to this right away, relax, crown store items are not life and death. You will find someone to accommodate you if you keep trying.

People will say “real money is more important”

Just tell them “no thank you, I’m not getting robbed today” and move on asking for someone else.

You WILL find someone.

Enjoy.

Sadly that goes both ways. Seen cases where ppl got crown items then vanished and vice versa. Eso needs a system like gw2 where you can trade gold for crowns and crowns for gold on a fluctuating amount that depends on supply and demand

Septimus_Magna

I only sell crowns to guildies, it reduces the risk somewhat but its always a gamble for at least one side. Last time I sold crowns the guy wanted to unlock a skill-line but that wasnt possible for his account, if he payed first he would probably have been very nervous while I was finding out why I couldnt gift him the thing he ordered.

Dagre2

I can't believe they still don't have a proper method to trade gold for crowns in this game. guild wars 2 does it right when it comes to this. simple panel where people buy crowns for cash and trade it for gold, anyone can open it up and pay the current going rate in gold for set amounts of their crown equivalent or vice versa.

its too simple to care about your playerbase just a little bit.

that said, you can be scammed either way. i'll stick to those that'll pay me first then i'll pay. at least i know i won't be scamming them. i won't be the one taking the risk. then again this would lead to nobody trading.

Elsonso

Dagre2 wrote: »

I can't believe they still don't have a proper method to trade gold for crowns in this game.

Simple. They aren't doing GOLD<->CROWN conversions as part of the game. They simply aren't standing in the way of players demanding gold for their "gift". I thought that would be obvious, by now.