Hi everyone,

This is just another reminder to exercise caution when performing cross-site trades. Remember that we cannot guarantee trades that occur between sites, because we have no control of the other side. Today marks an unhappy milestone in Mycena Cave history: our very first site-ban, for scamming people in cross-site trades.

In this instance we were lucky: the other website(s) involved were extremely responsive and helpful, rolling back the transaction on their end after we reported the issue to them, so the Mycena Cave user who got stiffed got their stuff back. However, had they been unresponsive or uncooperative (as is entirely within their rights), the user in question would simply have been out of luck.

So, when it comes to cross-site trades, remember to be cautious:

1. Exercise extreme caution if one of the accounts you’re trading with is fairly unestablished (i.e. few forum posts and/or pets, etc).
2. See if you can find a user that you trust who can vouch for whoever you’re trading with.

Remember, a great deal is only great if you actually get what you are promised.

Sincerely,
glitch

P.S. One other thing I’d like to say: I think it says a lot about a community that it took almost a year and a half before we’ve had to ban anyone. So thank you for being a wonderful bunch of people <3

Sorry to the person who ended up being scammed, they also tried to get a lot of currency off of me. I cross trade a lot & have been doing it for years. I’ve only ran into issues twice (both were luckily fixed) & this is the first time anything like this has happened on here for me.

Tips on avoiding being scammed:
1. Make sure the user is established on both sites (look at profile, posts, threads, etc.)
Do they have nice pets? Customs? If they have a lot, they’re less likely to scam you. Besides checking pets, you can look through their posts and/or threads to see if there’s anyone complaining against the user (or to see if they’ve successfully traded with others). Looking over posts has saved me from being scammed before. When did they join? If they’re new, especially to both sites, you should ask them to initiate the trade.

2. Know when to go first/how much you’re “willing to risk”.
Cross-site trading is a gamble because you can potentially lose your earnings. There are sites that will work with you when you’ve run into an issue (e.g. aywas) and ones that won’t (e.g. flightrising). If they’re asking for a lot or have never traded with them before, ask them to send their portion first. If they’re asking for smaller portions, it’s generally okay to send your portion first. How much you’re willing to “risk” is up to your discretion, but if they’re asking to trade for a small amount, I personally don’t mind sending my half first.

3. Always conduct sales on site.
What I mean by this is to never agree to make sales off-site (e.g. aim, skype, another site that has nothing to do with the sites you’re trading). You want administration to be able to dig up any conversation(s) you’ve had with the user that shows the agreement between both parties.

4. Know what administration will do on a site if you are scammed.
Another thing that is important is to know how a site handles scams & what they’ll do for you in case you are scammed. As stated before, some sites like Flight Rising make it publicly known that in the event that you do get scammed through cross-site trading they will not return anything. With these sites if you don’t want to risk anything, always ask the other user to initiate the trade before sending anything.

In this case, the user asked to trade 250 GP:250 gems. After checking both profiles, I noticed they didn’t have any posts & only one pet. I found it odd they were asking for a 1:1 ratio (Juney & I trade at 2:1) and how they had composed the message, so I asked them to start the trade here to “prove” they had the 250 gems & I would send them 500 GP (the ‘correct’ amount) after. After I sent the message, I noticed they were online and not responding after a while.

If scammed, contact the administration on both sites. Screenshot the messages between you and the other user and any other proof you have. Just be sure to give the other user enough time to actually send you the currency before reporting them.

This person also contacted me. I spoke to Juney asking what the proper trade value was because she is someone i trust. Thank you Juney!