Figure since I’ve seen an increase in disputes involving more-so bad business practices, and not necessarily scams, I thought it’d be a decent idea to give a quick how-to guide on conducting good business here on ECT! (Can also use this in every facet of life, but hey, when in Rome)
Quick introduction about myself here. I no longer really sell anything on ECT or Everquest. I was actually making a really good living on my own when I began selling. This became more of a hobby / an excuse to play EQ. I did this for roughly 2 years before my little hobby became too much work and not enough enjoyment for me. Over that 2 years I probably sold well over 100 accounts, and god knows how many random custom orders / power levels for people. I’d like to think of that “success” in this world came down to one thing. Good business practices. I know not all of us have experience in buying, or especially selling in-game merchandise. So hopefully this guide will help some folks out in the future. (If not, feel free to delete this @Teichou)
Let’s start off with a list of things as you, the buyer (feel like the majority aren’t sellers) should know about ECT that’ll help ease this process.
—BUYERS GUIDE—
02/03/2024 - READ -> I have recently noticed a trend in scams involving CashApp, and other Non-PayPal methods. AS A BUYER, if the seller refuses to use PayPal, has zero feedback, unverified, and is a recently created profile.... I'd be EXTREMELY careful in dealing with them. One in particular, conducts a couple of small-time transactions to build trust, then goes for the big take. Be careful, and always remember, PayPal Friends and Family is both the sellers, and the buyers safest bet. (In my opinion) Obviously, this doesn't pertain to the sellers here who have numerous feedback, good reputation, etc... But, keep an eye out. Cheers. EDIT: Just to add, in no way shape or form should this deter you from conducting business on ECTunnel, as the trustworthy sellers / buyers here far outweigh the very few scams we see. But, Feedback is king.
1. Be respectful.
- This is an easy rule yet one often forgotten about. Once you start dealing with folks who have the 100+ positive feedbacks, they typically know their stuff. An easy way to look at someone’s feedback when you’re concerned about trusting that seller is this… If they have let’s say 200 positive feedback as a seller, this means that if each of those transaction, on the conservative side of things, cost $10, this is a minimum $2000.00 that they’ve dealt with, and want to continue. (This game and others like it can be a good side-income for sellers.) What this tells you, is as the buyer, is you are purchasing something from someone who has infinitely more experience than you do. No one here cares how cool you think you are, be respectful the same way you’d be when making a purchase elsewhere.
2. Follow the sellers rules, until you have a legitimate reason not to.
- If a seller require’s Friends and Family via PayPal (about 99.9999999% of sellers here) this is non-negotiable. Friends and Family does 2 things here, one, it gives the seller some charge-back protection in the unlikely event that you as the buyer are planning to scam them. This gives them assurance you’re wanting to have a legitimate business deal. The second thing, is it gives them the EXACT amount of money they’re requesting for their items. Goods and Services charge the seller a fee, Friends and Family will charge you a fee. The reason that this is important is simple. If I’m selling 20 Krono at $10 a piece, this means I’m expecting $200 total for my items. It doesn’t make sense to send 20 Kronos and eat the fee that drops the prices of my Krono down to $8.50 a piece, which is lower than the average (On the low end) price here.
- Follow the rules until you have a reason not to. You have to use your judgement when making a purchase. Check the Sellers feedback, premium, verified, join date, etc… Chances are if it’s a brand new account created here, and they’re offering a deal too good to be true…. It ain’t. Most sellers with a lot of feedback here are very professional and timely in getting your product to you, they need more customers, not Drama. That being said, we do see a lot of these “brand new accounts” offering up that $600 account for $100, or Kronos for $7 a piece so just be careful with that.
3. Your responsibilities as the buyer is to submit payment, messages, Information etc in a timely matter to your seller.
- One thing that drove me nuts when I was selling, was messaging with a buyer who takes an hour or two in between responses. We get it, life happens, but that being said, it’s extremely frustrating to say “great here’s my paypal info, as soon as I receive your payment I’ll send the product.” Then I don’t hear anything for 12 - 14 hours. This has happened a few times in the past, I receive payment 12 hours later and I‘m nowhere near my computer and get a “Dude I just sent your money, where’s the info?!” Luckily when this happened, the buyer understood hat the cause of delay was on their end, and not on mine. But still, it’s a good rule to follow. Be prompt, and don’t give the sellers any excuse to think you’re trying to pull something, which leads me to my next point on this rule.
- If your seller has an issue on their end, DONT MAKE IT ON YOUR END. If you do everything “by the book” then anyone in the dispute forum will take your side, easily. If you stray from this, it’s very hard to take the word of a brand new guy whose trying to make their own rules compared to someone whose been here for the past decade. Do the right thing, and leave it up to the seller to do the same.
4. MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL INCLUDED INFORMATION ON THE FOR SALE POST!!!!
- All caps to show importance, but seriously, if a post states “NON TRANSFERABLE ACCOUNT” or “REGISTERED AS AN AUSTRALIAN ACCOUNT” or whatever, and you don’t read through it, it’s entirely your fault as the buyer for not reading through the original post. I remember selling a few accounts that were clearly marked “ON FV SERVER CANNOT TRANSFER TO ANY OTHER SERVER” and folks would get upset that they couldn’t transfer. It’s like anything else, read the fine print.
5. Understand that not EVERY seller will want to make a deal with you.
- Sellers have more customers than just you. If you don’t purchase those 10 Kronos, there’s someone in line right behind you to purchase them. I always felt this was an analogy to this… Imagine going to an Apple Store when the new IPhone comes out and wanting to purchase it for below the asking price. They’d say no, and you can make a fuss about “good luck trying to sell it then”, but just know there’s 100 people in line behind you willing to pay full price. Typically (unless you’re a longtime ECT member) we have a pretty big turn around rate on new buyers. Sellers take caution on who they’re selling to to avoid losing their product (and in essence, RL cash) so take the conversations you have with them as professional and respectful as you can. I’d rather sell to someone whose friendly and courteous than someone who thinks they’re the cool guy handing out charity.
—NEW SELLERS GUIDE—
This is super simple.
1. You are a store. Consider yourself a store.
- You have a boss, a job, a professional work environment. Buyers can file complaints, decide who they purchase from based on professionalism, friendliness etc… ESPECIALLY if you are a brand new seller. People get to “know” each other here after a while. You don’t want to be the guy who no one particularly likes, and this is a small community, so word travels fast. I got a lot of business from people just because they couldn’t stand “so and so”. Always remember this. You’re offering a product, and a service all in one. This is actual money that actual people had to actually earn. It’s not something to play with. Consider yourself a store.
2. Be respectful.
- This goes both ways for both buyers and sellers. Every conversation should be a professional one. If you’re having an off-day, or not 100%, don’t sell that day. It always seems to lead to distrust and anxiety for your buyers which is never good for repeat business or reviews. You can cut jokes with your regulars once you get to know them. Before that however, it’s best to keep things professional, and business like.
3. BE PROMPT WITH DELIVERY IF THE BUYER HAS BEEN PROMPT WITH PAYMENT.
- One of the most anxiety inducing things here as a buyer is this, having an almost instant message conversation back and forth with each other, sending someone you don’t know your money, then that person disappearing for a few hours. Even if you have every intention of delivering the product and not scamming someone, again consider this a store. You don’t hand the cashier $200, then watch them walk to the back of the store with your product for a few hours. You receive your product as instantly as you can. I understand some things happen in real life, but if you’re about to make a sale to someone, it’s completely irresponsible to have the “eh I’ll send those Kronos out later”. This is an express lane to the dispute forums.
4. Do the right thing the first time, not after it lands in the dispute forums.
- Unless it’s something outrageous and outside of your control, your goal here as a seller is to completely AVOID your name popping up in the dispute forums. Again, if you do everything right, this should never happen. When I was selling I’d probably check the dispute forums at least 2 - 3 times a week just to ENSURE my customers were happy. I always wanted to get to them before they could get to anyone else. (Luckily my time selling here was always smooth, but still, it’s good to check.) To tell a quick story about this, I accidentally changed the password on an account I sold, back to my own. Out of those 100+ accounts I sold, one of the customers didn’t change their email to their own. This eventually lead to, months down the road to me thinking it was still a for sale account. I didn’t see it in my excel sheet of sold accounts, it was still registered to my emails, etc… Mistakes happen. As soon as I logged into the account and saw the Cleric that I KNEW I sold to someone, I searched my emails, messages here, etc to link up with that buyer and get the account back into their hands. They had actually quit playing the game so I offered a refund as well but they just wanted the account. I then messaged one of the Moderators here to inform them of what was going on and included them in our private conversation. All of this, was just to give more reassurance to the buyer that I wasn’t trying to be a scum bag. Professional first, always.
5. Be available post-transaction for various questions that might arise.
- A lot of the times you’ll get some customers who don’t hold the same level of knowledge about the game as you do. Here recently in my 4th retirement sale, I’ve had several people asking things such as “What would be a good ADPS for ______ group?” Or, “Would a Bard, or an Enchanter be better for ______ group?” These might seem like non-trivial questions to an experienced player, but to new people who are wanting to try out new things, or new compositions within the game, these questions are your bread and butter. Keep in mind though, honesty goes a long way here. Don’t try to sell a horrible LvL 105 Zerk in old group gear claiming it’s going to boost your groups DPS exponentially. I’ve noticed that with these questions, people are usually wiling to spend a tad bit more money to get exactly what they want, rather than make a quick buy. Suggestions for this might include, answering basic questions about classes / compositions. Sending over your custom MQ2 INI files for that specific class if so desired. Recommending good spots to bring these newly acquired box armies. And anything in between. Some of my best repeat customers are because of my constant availability to answer their various questions. Remember, you are selling a product, AND a service all in one.
- General Information for both parties...
These are just some general ideas I'll add to as time goes on.
1. Keep transaction conversation to EC Tunnel's PM system.
- This one might sound ridiculous, but, keep your transactions strictly here on ECT. We all use Discord, Emails, Texts etc... for all sorts of business at some point in our ECT careers which is all fine and good. However, there is no way to have anyone go back and re-check your conversation on any of these other outlets. Once the deal is getting close to being made, take it back to ECT PMs. This will give yet another small safety-net on your transaction by allowing the Moderators here to go back through your PMs to see exactly where the dispute happened.
2. Use a middle-man service for your larger transactions.
- So this is a toss-up. Using a middle-man service for a major item transaction, such as a large quantity of Kronos, middle-man services could absolutely be worthwhile. The way this works, is the seller sends the Krono to the middle-man. Once he receives said Krono, he will tell buyer to send payment to Seller. Once Seller verifies he’s received payment, the middle-man will send Kronos to the buyer. These types of 1 shot back and forth transactions is a perfect example of where middle-man is a perfect, non-flawed idea. This becomes slightly more convoluted once you get into account selling though. Middle-man services when it comes to accounts DOES NOT ENTIRELY PROTECT BUYER FROM ACCOUNT YANK-BACKS. Using middle-man services / escrow when it comes to accounts will do a few things, one, it enables a 3rd party to verify the contents of the account / information set on account before you make the final purchase. This is awesome when it comes to un-sure, or first-time buyers here on ECT, or when purchasing from an account seller you‘ve never done previous business with before. HERE IS THE ONLY WARNING WHEN IT COMES TO MIDDLE-MAN ACCOUNT TRANSACTIONS. IF information is already set and purchasing an account from a brand new seller, you still need to be wary when it comes to yanking the account back. I won’t discuss the specifics of how scams take place, or how it’s done, but, I typically recommend the following formula when purchasing a new account.
If no Information is set, but it’s a brand new account seller. - Safe to utilize middle-man services to verify what you’re purchasing you’re actually receiving. Once you change account information to your own, it’s next to impossible for sellers to go back and change any info. This means purchasing an account with no email verified, no SQA set, no phone number / credit card, etc… Once you set this information, the account is yours.
If no information is set, and it’s a reputable seller here. - Usually Safe to purchase. I’m not sure middle-man would provide much of anything, given we’re talking about these big-name sellers. You probably already know the names of the ”BIG” account sellers here. The sellers you see with 100+ feedback, been here for a few years, etc… These Accounts are typically safe to purchase (BUT STILL USE YOUR OWN GUT FEELNG) Typically the only thing to worry about within these transactions is the potential of the account getting flagged / potentially suspended for being purchased. I’ll say this, in the 100+ accounts I’ve sold / logged into over the years, not one has had an issue with this. BUT, I also make sure new customers are aware of the risks associated with purchasing accounts that’s outside of our control. This is where you can discuss the potential of this happening. I usually offer a full refund if the account has any negative thing happen to it while we’re in the middle of swapping information. But, if the seller makes it known in advance that if this occurs, you only get the 50% refund, you probably want to know that. Just another good thing to discuss.
If Information IS SET - This is where things get tricky. I’ve sold several accounts that I am the original owner of that had information set on them, and I’ve never had any issues selling these, however… I’ve also been here for a few years now. I know myself, and my reputation. Most buyers / sellers who have been here long-term know that about myself as well. I say this not to ”boast”, but to give you this…. IF INFO IS SET ON AN ACCOUNT, YOU HAVE ZERO PROTECTION AGAINST HAVING THAT ACCOUNT SCAMMED BACK. This is crucial to understand, because instead of relying on your own information / credit card / whatever to secure the account, you’re now including the trust of a person you don’t know. Check Feedback, check tenure, check reputation, check whatever. Be careful with this, even while utilizing middle-man services. I won’t give a running list of who I trust and who I wouldn’t. (Anyone who I didn’t trust is luckily no longer a member here) but this is where you have to use your own research and mentality to decide if the purchase is worth the risk or not.
If information IS SET, AND ITS A BRAND NEW MEMBER HERE - Be wary. Use your own judgment. Middle-man services protect you in the sense you’re going to get what you purchase…. Whether you get to keep it or not, is up to your own instincts. I also don’t want you to think that any brand new member here is some scumbag, that’s not my intention. I just notice the going trend on account scams typically have the same two things going. Information has already been set. The member selling the account is brand new to ECT. I mentioned it earlier, but again, IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE…. IT AIN’T. Be safe!!!!
All of that word-vomit said this isn’t a super difficult procedure. When selling something, consider yourself as the buyer, when buying something, consider yourself as the seller. This entire RMT is strictly based on trust of both users. If you’re not willing to give that trust in order to receive it, you probably shouldn’t be purchasing something via PayPal / Everquest either way.
Cheers!! And Good Luck!!!
Change Log:
02/03/2024 - Recent Scam Warning Added
04-13-2022 - Updated Seller’s / General Information Tab
04-03-2022 - Updated General Information Section
Quick introduction about myself here. I no longer really sell anything on ECT or Everquest. I was actually making a really good living on my own when I began selling. This became more of a hobby / an excuse to play EQ. I did this for roughly 2 years before my little hobby became too much work and not enough enjoyment for me. Over that 2 years I probably sold well over 100 accounts, and god knows how many random custom orders / power levels for people. I’d like to think of that “success” in this world came down to one thing. Good business practices. I know not all of us have experience in buying, or especially selling in-game merchandise. So hopefully this guide will help some folks out in the future. (If not, feel free to delete this @Teichou)
Let’s start off with a list of things as you, the buyer (feel like the majority aren’t sellers) should know about ECT that’ll help ease this process.
—BUYERS GUIDE—
02/03/2024 - READ -> I have recently noticed a trend in scams involving CashApp, and other Non-PayPal methods. AS A BUYER, if the seller refuses to use PayPal, has zero feedback, unverified, and is a recently created profile.... I'd be EXTREMELY careful in dealing with them. One in particular, conducts a couple of small-time transactions to build trust, then goes for the big take. Be careful, and always remember, PayPal Friends and Family is both the sellers, and the buyers safest bet. (In my opinion) Obviously, this doesn't pertain to the sellers here who have numerous feedback, good reputation, etc... But, keep an eye out. Cheers. EDIT: Just to add, in no way shape or form should this deter you from conducting business on ECTunnel, as the trustworthy sellers / buyers here far outweigh the very few scams we see. But, Feedback is king.
1. Be respectful.
- This is an easy rule yet one often forgotten about. Once you start dealing with folks who have the 100+ positive feedbacks, they typically know their stuff. An easy way to look at someone’s feedback when you’re concerned about trusting that seller is this… If they have let’s say 200 positive feedback as a seller, this means that if each of those transaction, on the conservative side of things, cost $10, this is a minimum $2000.00 that they’ve dealt with, and want to continue. (This game and others like it can be a good side-income for sellers.) What this tells you, is as the buyer, is you are purchasing something from someone who has infinitely more experience than you do. No one here cares how cool you think you are, be respectful the same way you’d be when making a purchase elsewhere.
2. Follow the sellers rules, until you have a legitimate reason not to.
- If a seller require’s Friends and Family via PayPal (about 99.9999999% of sellers here) this is non-negotiable. Friends and Family does 2 things here, one, it gives the seller some charge-back protection in the unlikely event that you as the buyer are planning to scam them. This gives them assurance you’re wanting to have a legitimate business deal. The second thing, is it gives them the EXACT amount of money they’re requesting for their items. Goods and Services charge the seller a fee, Friends and Family will charge you a fee. The reason that this is important is simple. If I’m selling 20 Krono at $10 a piece, this means I’m expecting $200 total for my items. It doesn’t make sense to send 20 Kronos and eat the fee that drops the prices of my Krono down to $8.50 a piece, which is lower than the average (On the low end) price here.
- Follow the rules until you have a reason not to. You have to use your judgement when making a purchase. Check the Sellers feedback, premium, verified, join date, etc… Chances are if it’s a brand new account created here, and they’re offering a deal too good to be true…. It ain’t. Most sellers with a lot of feedback here are very professional and timely in getting your product to you, they need more customers, not Drama. That being said, we do see a lot of these “brand new accounts” offering up that $600 account for $100, or Kronos for $7 a piece so just be careful with that.
3. Your responsibilities as the buyer is to submit payment, messages, Information etc in a timely matter to your seller.
- One thing that drove me nuts when I was selling, was messaging with a buyer who takes an hour or two in between responses. We get it, life happens, but that being said, it’s extremely frustrating to say “great here’s my paypal info, as soon as I receive your payment I’ll send the product.” Then I don’t hear anything for 12 - 14 hours. This has happened a few times in the past, I receive payment 12 hours later and I‘m nowhere near my computer and get a “Dude I just sent your money, where’s the info?!” Luckily when this happened, the buyer understood hat the cause of delay was on their end, and not on mine. But still, it’s a good rule to follow. Be prompt, and don’t give the sellers any excuse to think you’re trying to pull something, which leads me to my next point on this rule.
- If your seller has an issue on their end, DONT MAKE IT ON YOUR END. If you do everything “by the book” then anyone in the dispute forum will take your side, easily. If you stray from this, it’s very hard to take the word of a brand new guy whose trying to make their own rules compared to someone whose been here for the past decade. Do the right thing, and leave it up to the seller to do the same.
4. MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL INCLUDED INFORMATION ON THE FOR SALE POST!!!!
- All caps to show importance, but seriously, if a post states “NON TRANSFERABLE ACCOUNT” or “REGISTERED AS AN AUSTRALIAN ACCOUNT” or whatever, and you don’t read through it, it’s entirely your fault as the buyer for not reading through the original post. I remember selling a few accounts that were clearly marked “ON FV SERVER CANNOT TRANSFER TO ANY OTHER SERVER” and folks would get upset that they couldn’t transfer. It’s like anything else, read the fine print.
5. Understand that not EVERY seller will want to make a deal with you.
- Sellers have more customers than just you. If you don’t purchase those 10 Kronos, there’s someone in line right behind you to purchase them. I always felt this was an analogy to this… Imagine going to an Apple Store when the new IPhone comes out and wanting to purchase it for below the asking price. They’d say no, and you can make a fuss about “good luck trying to sell it then”, but just know there’s 100 people in line behind you willing to pay full price. Typically (unless you’re a longtime ECT member) we have a pretty big turn around rate on new buyers. Sellers take caution on who they’re selling to to avoid losing their product (and in essence, RL cash) so take the conversations you have with them as professional and respectful as you can. I’d rather sell to someone whose friendly and courteous than someone who thinks they’re the cool guy handing out charity.
—NEW SELLERS GUIDE—
This is super simple.
1. You are a store. Consider yourself a store.
- You have a boss, a job, a professional work environment. Buyers can file complaints, decide who they purchase from based on professionalism, friendliness etc… ESPECIALLY if you are a brand new seller. People get to “know” each other here after a while. You don’t want to be the guy who no one particularly likes, and this is a small community, so word travels fast. I got a lot of business from people just because they couldn’t stand “so and so”. Always remember this. You’re offering a product, and a service all in one. This is actual money that actual people had to actually earn. It’s not something to play with. Consider yourself a store.
2. Be respectful.
- This goes both ways for both buyers and sellers. Every conversation should be a professional one. If you’re having an off-day, or not 100%, don’t sell that day. It always seems to lead to distrust and anxiety for your buyers which is never good for repeat business or reviews. You can cut jokes with your regulars once you get to know them. Before that however, it’s best to keep things professional, and business like.
3. BE PROMPT WITH DELIVERY IF THE BUYER HAS BEEN PROMPT WITH PAYMENT.
- One of the most anxiety inducing things here as a buyer is this, having an almost instant message conversation back and forth with each other, sending someone you don’t know your money, then that person disappearing for a few hours. Even if you have every intention of delivering the product and not scamming someone, again consider this a store. You don’t hand the cashier $200, then watch them walk to the back of the store with your product for a few hours. You receive your product as instantly as you can. I understand some things happen in real life, but if you’re about to make a sale to someone, it’s completely irresponsible to have the “eh I’ll send those Kronos out later”. This is an express lane to the dispute forums.
4. Do the right thing the first time, not after it lands in the dispute forums.
- Unless it’s something outrageous and outside of your control, your goal here as a seller is to completely AVOID your name popping up in the dispute forums. Again, if you do everything right, this should never happen. When I was selling I’d probably check the dispute forums at least 2 - 3 times a week just to ENSURE my customers were happy. I always wanted to get to them before they could get to anyone else. (Luckily my time selling here was always smooth, but still, it’s good to check.) To tell a quick story about this, I accidentally changed the password on an account I sold, back to my own. Out of those 100+ accounts I sold, one of the customers didn’t change their email to their own. This eventually lead to, months down the road to me thinking it was still a for sale account. I didn’t see it in my excel sheet of sold accounts, it was still registered to my emails, etc… Mistakes happen. As soon as I logged into the account and saw the Cleric that I KNEW I sold to someone, I searched my emails, messages here, etc to link up with that buyer and get the account back into their hands. They had actually quit playing the game so I offered a refund as well but they just wanted the account. I then messaged one of the Moderators here to inform them of what was going on and included them in our private conversation. All of this, was just to give more reassurance to the buyer that I wasn’t trying to be a scum bag. Professional first, always.
5. Be available post-transaction for various questions that might arise.
- A lot of the times you’ll get some customers who don’t hold the same level of knowledge about the game as you do. Here recently in my 4th retirement sale, I’ve had several people asking things such as “What would be a good ADPS for ______ group?” Or, “Would a Bard, or an Enchanter be better for ______ group?” These might seem like non-trivial questions to an experienced player, but to new people who are wanting to try out new things, or new compositions within the game, these questions are your bread and butter. Keep in mind though, honesty goes a long way here. Don’t try to sell a horrible LvL 105 Zerk in old group gear claiming it’s going to boost your groups DPS exponentially. I’ve noticed that with these questions, people are usually wiling to spend a tad bit more money to get exactly what they want, rather than make a quick buy. Suggestions for this might include, answering basic questions about classes / compositions. Sending over your custom MQ2 INI files for that specific class if so desired. Recommending good spots to bring these newly acquired box armies. And anything in between. Some of my best repeat customers are because of my constant availability to answer their various questions. Remember, you are selling a product, AND a service all in one.
- General Information for both parties...
These are just some general ideas I'll add to as time goes on.
1. Keep transaction conversation to EC Tunnel's PM system.
- This one might sound ridiculous, but, keep your transactions strictly here on ECT. We all use Discord, Emails, Texts etc... for all sorts of business at some point in our ECT careers which is all fine and good. However, there is no way to have anyone go back and re-check your conversation on any of these other outlets. Once the deal is getting close to being made, take it back to ECT PMs. This will give yet another small safety-net on your transaction by allowing the Moderators here to go back through your PMs to see exactly where the dispute happened.
2. Use a middle-man service for your larger transactions.
- So this is a toss-up. Using a middle-man service for a major item transaction, such as a large quantity of Kronos, middle-man services could absolutely be worthwhile. The way this works, is the seller sends the Krono to the middle-man. Once he receives said Krono, he will tell buyer to send payment to Seller. Once Seller verifies he’s received payment, the middle-man will send Kronos to the buyer. These types of 1 shot back and forth transactions is a perfect example of where middle-man is a perfect, non-flawed idea. This becomes slightly more convoluted once you get into account selling though. Middle-man services when it comes to accounts DOES NOT ENTIRELY PROTECT BUYER FROM ACCOUNT YANK-BACKS. Using middle-man services / escrow when it comes to accounts will do a few things, one, it enables a 3rd party to verify the contents of the account / information set on account before you make the final purchase. This is awesome when it comes to un-sure, or first-time buyers here on ECT, or when purchasing from an account seller you‘ve never done previous business with before. HERE IS THE ONLY WARNING WHEN IT COMES TO MIDDLE-MAN ACCOUNT TRANSACTIONS. IF information is already set and purchasing an account from a brand new seller, you still need to be wary when it comes to yanking the account back. I won’t discuss the specifics of how scams take place, or how it’s done, but, I typically recommend the following formula when purchasing a new account.
If no Information is set, but it’s a brand new account seller. - Safe to utilize middle-man services to verify what you’re purchasing you’re actually receiving. Once you change account information to your own, it’s next to impossible for sellers to go back and change any info. This means purchasing an account with no email verified, no SQA set, no phone number / credit card, etc… Once you set this information, the account is yours.
If no information is set, and it’s a reputable seller here. - Usually Safe to purchase. I’m not sure middle-man would provide much of anything, given we’re talking about these big-name sellers. You probably already know the names of the ”BIG” account sellers here. The sellers you see with 100+ feedback, been here for a few years, etc… These Accounts are typically safe to purchase (BUT STILL USE YOUR OWN GUT FEELNG) Typically the only thing to worry about within these transactions is the potential of the account getting flagged / potentially suspended for being purchased. I’ll say this, in the 100+ accounts I’ve sold / logged into over the years, not one has had an issue with this. BUT, I also make sure new customers are aware of the risks associated with purchasing accounts that’s outside of our control. This is where you can discuss the potential of this happening. I usually offer a full refund if the account has any negative thing happen to it while we’re in the middle of swapping information. But, if the seller makes it known in advance that if this occurs, you only get the 50% refund, you probably want to know that. Just another good thing to discuss.
If Information IS SET - This is where things get tricky. I’ve sold several accounts that I am the original owner of that had information set on them, and I’ve never had any issues selling these, however… I’ve also been here for a few years now. I know myself, and my reputation. Most buyers / sellers who have been here long-term know that about myself as well. I say this not to ”boast”, but to give you this…. IF INFO IS SET ON AN ACCOUNT, YOU HAVE ZERO PROTECTION AGAINST HAVING THAT ACCOUNT SCAMMED BACK. This is crucial to understand, because instead of relying on your own information / credit card / whatever to secure the account, you’re now including the trust of a person you don’t know. Check Feedback, check tenure, check reputation, check whatever. Be careful with this, even while utilizing middle-man services. I won’t give a running list of who I trust and who I wouldn’t. (Anyone who I didn’t trust is luckily no longer a member here) but this is where you have to use your own research and mentality to decide if the purchase is worth the risk or not.
If information IS SET, AND ITS A BRAND NEW MEMBER HERE - Be wary. Use your own judgment. Middle-man services protect you in the sense you’re going to get what you purchase…. Whether you get to keep it or not, is up to your own instincts. I also don’t want you to think that any brand new member here is some scumbag, that’s not my intention. I just notice the going trend on account scams typically have the same two things going. Information has already been set. The member selling the account is brand new to ECT. I mentioned it earlier, but again, IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE…. IT AIN’T. Be safe!!!!
All of that word-vomit said this isn’t a super difficult procedure. When selling something, consider yourself as the buyer, when buying something, consider yourself as the seller. This entire RMT is strictly based on trust of both users. If you’re not willing to give that trust in order to receive it, you probably shouldn’t be purchasing something via PayPal / Everquest either way.
Cheers!! And Good Luck!!!
Change Log:
02/03/2024 - Recent Scam Warning Added
04-13-2022 - Updated Seller’s / General Information Tab
04-03-2022 - Updated General Information Section
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