As our streetwear scene grows, we see new players cutting their teeth into the foray, slowly building their collection bit by bit. However, some enter this game with bad intentions of earning a profit by scamming others which is definitely the wrong way to go about doing business. As they say, prevention is better than cure, so we’re here to look out for you and your hard-earned money. Here are three golden practices that you should take note before proceeding with your transaction and losing a big chunk of that dough.
Background Check
You see a steal, so you try to act fast before someone else takes the cop of the year away from you, but by the time the euphoria settles down, you could have already been scammed or if said in a nicer way, doing ‘charity’. We’re not saying every steal on the marketplace is a scam but it runs the risk of being one based on the simple fact that if it’s too good to be true, it usually is. Before you proceed with a deal, always check the reseller’s account before agreeing to commit to the deal.
Check out for his/her amount of friends, photos and whether they have been active on their profile. If he has around under 100 friends, it’s a high chance he’s a scammer. Profiles with only a few photos uploaded are red flags so be cautious and look out for other signs that would tell they are active on their account. Another way to ensure he’s a legit seller is to have a ‘legit check’ on him/her in your respective groups. The community is friendly, and will more often than not assist you in verifying the seller, but you should still be cautious as some scammers may have a few accounts, or will ask their friends to help provide fake feedback about their legitimacy just to make sure the scam happens.
Knowledge
A scam may include receiving fakes (due to lack of knowledge to legit check) or items which are not as described by sellers. This is where knowledge is proven to be king where you are able to check the legitimacy of any item you’re keen to purchase. The replicas produced by China factories are improving day by day, and some even managed to produce pairs that look exactly like a real pair and can only be proven a fake if compared with a retail pair side by side. The sneakers that China factories are replicating usually consist of the most expensive ones in the market as people are not willing to pay exorbitant prices, and would rather purchase an alternative which only cost a fraction of what it’s being sold for in the secondary market. Since you’re reading this, avoid any sellers who use terms such as unauthorized (UA), original copy, Godkiller, 1:1, AAA, and more. If you come across pages who offer full-size runs (FSR) for hype sneakers at a rather steal price or below retail (Google the shoe and find out its retail price), avoid at all cost as it is most likely a scam whether or not you receive your sneakers.
You might want to spend some time on Youtube or sneaker forums to gather some knowledge by watching real versus fake comparison videos, shoe reviews, collecting pointers from other people in the scene on what to look out for, keeping up with the fake pairs currently available, and more to list. The ignorant are the losers in this case, so start gathering your knowledge before you start flexing fake products.
Method Of Payment & Reputation
In Malaysia, we usually use bank transfer to purchase a product which could be risky, as the seller could and most probably will instantly block you after receiving your money, without so much as a trace and no signs of getting your cash back. We highly suggest using Cash On Delivery (COD) method so that you may inspect your products whether it’s real or in the condition which was shown beforehand before passing the seller an enormous amount of money. For overseas transactions, do keep in mind that Paypal is your best bet as they usually protect the buyers more than sellers, with one condition, that you pay that extra 4.5% invoice fee as insurance in case anything goes wrong (fake products, wrong item, condition not as described). Sometimes, we are left with no choice but to trust a seller to post out your purchased items after transferring money into their bank accounts. Before you proceed, ask your peers in the scene if they have heard, come across the seller or even dealt with them before just to be sure.
Post a ‘legit check’ post about the seller if you need to and do not feel bad about it because it is your right to feel confident to commit to a deal if you’re going to transfer them a large amount of money. Sellers who have a reputation or have no bad history of transactions are not afraid to be legit-checked as the post will create awareness to other potential customers that they are legitimate and safe to deal with while sellers who are afraid to be legit-checked or tries to guilt trip/pull out from the deal once its mentioned, are red flags as they know once the post is up, they are being indirectly called out which will further tarnish their reputation. It was once a small community, where a callout equates to immediately identifying who the scammer is, and subsequently gets hit with the ban hammer, but that’s no longer the case, as the community grows day by day. Best to take precautions before committing to a transaction especially when sellers start using other reputable sellers name to convince a buyer that their product is legitimate.
For now, these are some of the things that will help you along your journey in the streetwear scene. Keep up with this post as we will continue to update it with pointers to prevent you guys from getting scammed.
