BUYERS BEWARE - RE: SWAPD METHODS

I recently opened a ticket with a guy who said I could use ANY profile picture to verify an Instagram profile with Meta Verified.

However, the method he sold me requires you to upload faces in each corner of the picture to trick meta into thinking it’s a human. This, by definition, does not allow me to use ANY profile picture. i.e. If I have a logo, I can’t just upload the logo. I would have to alter it with faces and then upload it. No serious brand or creator will photoshop a random face into the corners of their avatar in order to verify their account.

Furthermore, I was already aware of this method and publicly wrote about it (which I showed both the seller and admins). Additionally, before I accepted the ticket, I stipulated certain terms to protect myself in case this was the method the seller was selling. I ONLY bought it because he said I could use ANY profile picture, which peeked my interest because I wasn’t aware of any method that allowed that - just the one where you have to upload a face into the corners of the avatar.

Despite this and having terms to protect me, a Swapd admin sided with the seller because they don’t allow you to dispute “methods” … However, Swapd’s own updated terms around this contradicts their decision IMO

Info below:

Seller’s Public Listing:

Ticket Title:

Additional terms:

Swapd implementing new rules around the mentorship category to provide safety to buyers

Proof that Swapd advocates for Buyers and Sellers to create clear terms

Swapd actually prohibits E-Books/digital guides, so the seller shoulnd’t have even been allowed to sell this:

Conclusion:

Seller scammed and Swapd did not step in to take appropriate action. Any real person can easily see that he lied and misled me.

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You are so right I agree with you brother…
Thank you for sharing this information with us.

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:laughing: :slightly_smiling_face:

That’s actually crazy, lol. How are you not allowed to dispute methods? What if the seller just gives you something that he didn’t promise at all?

Admins have been really bad lately on disputes IMO. You don’t even get the time to defend yourself and do a solid dispute before the ticket is already canceled, refunded, or paid out. I’ve heard multiple complaints about this (on and offsite), and some sellers even decide to stop selling on Swapd because of the lack of protection.

I would advise the admins to pay more attention to their sellers and buyers, and I’m especially talking about @alpha and @brant here. We signed up to this site because, in the past, you always made the right, logical, and ethical decisions in tickets, and @swapd seemed to be really good at that. Since he left the picture in tickets and support, it’s been going downwards.

I can see you’ve received multiple reasons why we’re supporting the seller. Please edit your topic, and if you’re willing to share this publicly, make sure to include all the information, @GOAT.

The 7-day buyer grace period is to review and ensure that the method you’re purchasing meets what was promised by the seller.

Regarding this, all disputes are reviewed by multiple staff members and require approval before any outcomes.

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I just feel like you have been moving very quickly lately and have been very decisive without taking both buyer and seller into consideration.

I’m not sure what changed in your working methods, and I’m not looking for an explanation. I’m just looking for admins to consider both buyer and seller whenever we close, refund, or dispute a ticket. Ask both buyer and seller if they are okay with it and give them a fair amount of time to defend themselves and express what they want to do.

These are generally not small amounts of money we are talking about.

I agree that you should point out some info that you pointed this out beforehand too. You probably knew this was going to happen so I’m sure you set up strict terms. You should show us the terms of the ticket.

Before starting a dispute, we have a problematic ticket where buyers and sellers can discuss the issue. If they are unable to resolve it, we escalate the ticket to a dispute status. After reviewing their final statements, we proceed with an outcome based on the terms and statements provided.

Please feel free to DM me to discuss why you feel that way, and I’ll look into it

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Goat :joy:

For me, it was because my buyers couldn’t provide the necessary information in time, which made the ticket overdue, and they were able to get a refund without my consent. In this case, it probably wasn’t a problematic ticket yet, which made it so harsh for me because you just refunded them right off the bat. We’ve already discussed this in private, so I’m not looking to bring the whole discussion back up.

However, after I pointed this out to some other sellers here and asked their opinions, they told me they’ve had many similar situations where they completely disagreed with the outcome, and the admin ignored it and went straight to the solution without consideration (I don’t have exact examples, they just said yeah happened to me lot of times before etc.).

I understand you can’t make everyone happy in a dispute, and in my case, there wasn’t even a dispute yet. However, it seemed to happen really fast, and the ticket was closed within minutes without me even noticing it. That’s why I pointed you and alpha out since you were very direct and almost ‘rude’ about it.

I won’t share examples of other sellers and I was probably negligent with making sure the buyer provides the information in time and I didn’t set the right terms for it, but with the stories I heard, and my personal experience. I just had to point it out.

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I sent you a DM about this.

The outcome is being made with a final decision, and it cannot be changed. That’s why it’s being closed immediately.

Thanks.

I apologise for generalizing and pointing you out, especially @alpha, since he wasn’t even involved in my ticket lol I mistook him. It’s just that my case really seemed not fair and I was cut off.

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Hey @Brant, I included all the necessary information (but in full transparency, I’ll attach a pdf of the entire ticket thread. It doesn’t reveal any private info or data that isn’t already publicly available on Swapd).

I was told I can’t dispute the ticket because it’s a method, which contradicts Swapd’s updated grace period policy. Additionally, I was informed that buyers and sellers can’t make terms that supersede Swapd’s terms, which is completely false. I was also told that since I didn’t try the method, the seller wins. However, I wasn’t given the opportunity to try the method because it contradicted what the seller publicly advertised. That’s why the ticket was in dispute from the moment he sent the PDF.

I tend to agree with @teal regarding the status of disputes lately. The seller clearly scammed me, and I’m confident that if Swapd personally reviewed it, the outcome would be different. The seller publicly advertised that I could use ANY profile picture, but his guide stated otherwise, and he confirmed this in the ticket. I don’t understand how anyone, especially the admins, could decide in his favor. It makes no sense at all.

For the record, I’m not here to debate the specifics in an attempt to change your mind (even though I believe the decision should be reversed). I’m simply issuing a public service announcement to caution buyers in this category. If I can get scammed, anyone can. I take extra precautions to protect myself with clear terms agreed upon in advance by both parties. However, it seems these terms are invalid, despite Swapd’s consistent advice for buyers and sellers to establish additional clear terms. And even without those terms, the seller lied. So none of that should even be a consideration.

PDF of ticket

b889b98a-69fc-4181-974d-3dc22af9120b.pdf (21.5 MB)

Seller’s listing:

Honestly, personally I think the topic is somehow misleading, and admins didn’t really take a deep dive into your POV. As the first two dispute outcome reasons of alpha don’t really make sense.

But you could have easily avoided this conflict by asking if this is the method involving photoshopping four heads into the corners, as you probably knew this was going to happen. It looks like you were just looking for some commotion in some sense. Not saying this puts you in the wrong, but it’s just simply stupid and annoying.

I understand the admins’ decision, and I don’t think this seller is a ‘scammer’ or acting in ‘bad faith’ either, as they were unaware of you already knowing about this method and in some sense, you can use your desired pfp (as alpha stated in his third dispute outcome reason).

I didn’t want to fully divulge that method to him ahead of time. However, I did show him a post I made here on Swapd to confirm I was already aware of his exact method. So at that point, he could have acted in good faith and said “Since you already were aware of this method AND because I misled you, I agree to cancel”

This is from April 10th

That does makes sense, but I still don’t understand this:

Why not? So you could be sure to not get any trouble.

I didn’t feel like I needed to because he publicly advertised that I could use any profile pic. If you have to edit pic (A) which then becomes pic (B), then you can’t use pic (A). Therefore, you can’t use any profile pic.

I agree with you @GOAT And I would totally be upset with this too. It’s clear that the seller didn’t want to be open with you on how he was going to achieve it. I hope the admins resolve this in the correct way. Now the only reason why I am feeling the need to leave a comment on this post is because i think this coincides with my frustration and im sure you guys will relate. This week alone I’ve had 5 tickets running now for two weeks, 4 of which came to completion today 3 of those 4 were extended another 14 days from the beginning of the term, with every single one, not completed and most likely all going to fail.

I’m stating this because I think there’s an ever growing problem here on Swapd that is going to, make a lot of of the people start leaving the platform or not be as active. I think it stems from the fact that the admin are clearly letting anyone offer services with no real accreditation under their name and these brand new sellers will say 95% success rate when they only probably only ever complete 1 job out of 10. They just want to get funds into escrow and start the ticket while they run around for 14 days trying to figure out all these stupid methods that are all getting patched day by day, and when the deadline is coming to an end, they ask for an extension of 14 days, and then when that comes to close, they say oh im really sorry, all the while us as the provider to the client look horrible and affects our name and business in the real world.

I think that this is an ever growing topic that needs to be discussed more here on if Swapd really wants this platform to successfully grow. I know that I’m not the only one thinking this as i talk to guys who used to be on swapd daily who dont use it anymore because of this.

I do know that it is in our hands to pick the right sellers to deal with but there has to be some sort of process here instead of just letting any kid who’s never completed one job successfully open up a ticket and promise 90% success rates and waste 28 days and cost us real money but more importantly our reputation and credibility in the real world.

This is super frustrating and im willing to help come up with something because i know the platform is not going to be perfect but i do think admins have been pretty fast paced with a lot of things instead of taking the buyer and seller more into consideration on putting their selves in our shoes. Sorry for the vent, just wanted to see if anyone is feeling the same way.

Would appreciate your opinion and input @Teal when you get time

Why though, where was the seller not open and clear about it?

If I remember correctly, @SWAPD is working on a success rate % counter that will show on sellers their profile. Not sure if it’s coming soon.

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