Some people may not want to accept payment via paypal due to the stupid fees that are attached onto some paypal accounts like mine, paypal charges me 5% of each transaction, I prefer money order, but will take paypal if the buyer agrees to cover the paypal fee of 5%, some people are sending me money orders, some are paying the fee.

Money orders aren't free. If you prefer money orders due to PayPal fees, just ask the buyer whether they'd be happy to cover the fee. It may be cheaper for them than buying the money order!

Especially if you are from Canada and buying a US money order. It's about $5.00. One of my first clix purchases online was the Ultimate Hulk from the Ultimates set. I won him on E-bay for $18.00 US. At the time I didn't have a Pay Pal account, but the seller accepted money orders. After paying the fee for the money order, the excahnge rate from Canadian to US, and paying for the shipping, the final cost was about $38.00 More than double the purchase price.

Anyway, great points in the original post. In the end, be vigilant. If the trade doesn't feel 'right', trust your gut instincts.

Since a certain old scammer seems to have been trying to make a comeback I may as well bump this thread to the top again.

One thing I want to add: If you suspect someone might be out to scam people, let a moderator know - preferably me or KitsuShel (or both) since we are responsible for the trading forum. This time, the scammer was exposed (hopefully before anyone got scammed for anything big) because a number of concerned members got suspicious, did a little legwork, and then contacted me with their suspicion. Acting strange in a single trade isn't enough to brand someone as a scammer, but when the pattern is repeated with a half-dozen people or so, then I get suspicious.

Another reason this was exposed was because a few other helpful members had saved the adresses they had sent their end of a trade to, and was kind enough to share them with me. Not in any way required, but definitely helpful - in this case it speeded things up a lot.

I'm very new to posting (as you can see), but have visited this site frequently. I want to trade for a chase figure, but I don't have an established "cred" to really do this 1-on-1. How can I accomplish this with the use of a third party?

I've been here about as long as the site has been around, and *I've* been scammed in a trade involving a chase. (If anyone in Hawaii is feeling gregarious, tell "serioussam" that he's still not past the statute of limitations for mail fraud, and that the Honolulu DA still has my info on file.) And in my case, the guy had a decent iTrader rating as well. As my story is just one of a good number that you'll see in these parts, a third party would be the best protection for both traders. Otherwise, you're sending off a bunch of stuff in the hopes that you'll get your end.

Check out this thread: http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=254701

Those of us on there would gladly assist. Basically the items and shipping funds and contact info would be sent to the 3rd party who then distributes to the correct persons.

bravo this thread deserves rep its about time. I'm almost blue in my face from saying "remember people do your homework before loosing your hard earnd cash.

just a friendly bump to everyone out there. Trades are starting to pick up with the new set coming out soon. I will bump it again once the new set comes out.

just went through this again to see if there was any info that needed to be added.
Couldn't think of anything.

bumped due to the new trading season.

Yay HOT!

A rep for the OP, a pretty good thread for the new traders to review and even us older ones

I haven't traded squat in quite some time as I'm still pondering getting back into clix with HOT or unloading it and moving on, hardly any players left in the area and economy makes it hard to travel to a good game at Savage.

Best of luck to the traders, there are still some great honest traders out there.

Since a well-known scammer seems to be making a comeback here, this deserves a bump. This part in particular:
The moderators are fairly good at spotting this particular scammer, so he seems to avoid posting as much as possible, in particular in the trading area.

Feel free to ask the person you are dealing with to post a bump if they have not done so already though. It is easy to forget.

Another thing that is important to remember: The best way to communicate is through PMs on this very site. If someone contacts you via e-mail and claims to be a member of this site, they might be trying to trick you and avoid attention. Also, save all correspondence until the deal is done - i.e. when both parties have gotten what they wanted. It is sooo much easier for us mods to sort out what actually happened if we can see what was said instead of relying on a bunch of 'he said', 'no I didn't!', etc.

I don't know. I don't bump trade threads and I don't scam. Some people consider it a courtesy to bump, but in all honesty I think its a disservice to newer thread postings. It pushes the newer threads down giving them a less likely chance of being viewed. Some people say it's survival of the fittest as if people find a thread interesting it should stay on top, but what one person has in trades may be interesting to one, but unappealing to another.

In my opinion bumping should be used liberally by the person who started the thread. I don't know about the rest of you but I get sick of seeing the same old threads on the first page over and over, just cause someone decides to send them a PM out of the blue days after it was posted.

I never said all non-bumpers are scammers (heck, I sometimes forget to bump myself), but known scammers tend to post as little as possible - the more they post the easier it is for us mods to determine if they are fishy or not.
That said, it is not a requirement to bump a thread when you send an offer, just recommended.
To each his own, I guess. Personally, I find it annoying to see a person bump their own thread over and over, even though the list hasn't changed. It could be that people do not see the list, but more likely is that people aren't interested in what is offered.

Bumping the threads also gives you a way to determine how popular a certain thread is. If I see someone has gotten a lot of offers I am more likely to sweeten my offer a little extra... or possibly stay away from making an offer at all.