Welcome to the next Question of the Day!
The Question of the Day is a way to facilitate community discussion to help members ponder the unanswered questions of the world that are somehow relating to the hobby. Questions are many times open ended and up to interpretation. Feel free to post your thoughts in as much or as little detail as you’d like.
Helpful Considerations may or may not help some people focus their answer, these are blurred to not bother those who have their own ideas.
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Today’s Question:
QotD: What are the red flags you look out for that vary per platform?
Helpful considerations: Feedback? Stolen pictures? Basic story? Sketchy linked socials? Who their friends with or following? Pricetag?
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I dont use many platforms but from what Ive seen I dont have many that vary per platform and tend to check everything first. My usual lookouts are grammar, mismatched data, price and valuations, and people who come off as fake. How many people “know nothing about pokemon” but have professionally taken photos and are eerily avoiding market price while still being close to market have we all seen?
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“My son really wants this card but I can only pay you at a discounted price”
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I dont really sell so its great to see a red flag from the seller perspective! But his birthday is coming up and all of his christmas gifts were in a fire that killed his dog, 50% take it or leave it.
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On any Japanese site there’s a lot of things I look out for. Lots of scammers looking to take advantage of foreigners using proxy services
- Low number of sales
- Positive reviews but mainly from accounts that have “[proxy service]” in their review or username. Why? This indicates that the seller is cancelling orders from actual Japanese residents but selling to the proxy services. This is because the proxy services automatically give good reviews and at that point the seller will be paid and there is little to no repercussion for the seller if the item is fake or wrong
- Sellers with items have many different backgrounds. This is my number one thing to check, if most of the items have different backgrounds the pictures were taken at different locations and probably don’t belong to the seller. Even more likely a scam if you see that there is another seller that has identical backgrounds and they match one of the items your seller has for sale
- The same item listed on different sites for different prices. If the price is lower than market value then the seller might not own the item and will send you a counterfeit. If the price is high over market value the seller might dropship the item to you and keep the extra profit.
If it’s too hard to tell which seller actually owns the item, don’t buy it
Too good to be true prices, combined with any of the above is an almost guaranteed scam imo
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If I’m browsing elsewhere and see WTB add without offer I usually btfo instantly, blessing or curse after using E4 too many years where it’s requirement ( and a real timesaver for everyone ). 
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When it comes to Pokemon it’s less about the red flags and more about the green flags. The default is danger. Bad sellers, fake sites, fake products, fake preorders, dropshippers, scammers, personal enemies, obfuscated misgrades, reseals, mystery products, desirable items in stock.
Any site that doesn’t involve 99% trusted individuals at management level is a red flag prior to the vetting process.
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For me when I’m looking to buy or just plain looking for the sake of looking (It’s weird how much I’ll look with no intent to buy) it’s anytime I see any listing that says “This is a must need for any collector” or anytime they talk how it’s their child selling cards
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The grand majority of my purchases are cheap ones so sometimes i skip the red flags and buy anyway, sometimes it has led to some great purchases but sometimes naturally not, the grand majority of my fails have been buying a card with a stock photo so that’s something i nowdays avoid even if i otherwise occasionally run fearlessly towards red flags
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