The FreeiPodGuide Forums

dmorris68 · Last edited by dmorris68 on Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:06 pm; edited 1 time in total

Due to the recent, rampant behavior of shady, unscrupulous broker traders, particularly the group of Asian brokers who have been repeatedly banned or trade restricted here, let this serve as your FINAL warning.

Referral brokering is defined as setting up a trade for a 3rd party to actually signup and green. Broker trading is only allowed if:

(a) You notify the potential trading partner up front. Not everybody wants to trade with brokers. If you do not disclose the broker status up front, then the terms of the trade are considered null and void. Even if you've gone green already, you are subject to not being paid, being trade-restricted, and possibly banned.

(b) You know the person personally who is completing the trade. You CANNOT broker referral to strangers, online acquaintances, or others that you cannot personally vouch for. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR BROKERED TRADES, as if you had completed them yourself.

(c) Referal "farming" operations, sweatshops, etc. are NOT allowed. If you are part of a business or other organized group of people whose entire purpose is to generate income by brokering referrals between each other, especially when taking steps to change IP's, use webhosts/proxies, create multiple accounts (here at FiPG as well as on freebie sites), or other attempts to hide your trail to defeat fraud detection, then YOU ARE A FRAUD AND A SCAMMER! You ARE NOT welcome here! I don't care if you manage to make a few greens stick, your intentions are fraudulent, your advertiser product interest is non-existent, and thus you are a detriment to the freebie industry as a whole. You are a chief reason for increasingly strict terms that hurt the honest traders. This has become a major problem lately with one Asian group in particular, and it will NO LONGER BE TOLERATED!

If you fit this pattern, you will be deal with swiftly and harshly. I'm tired of trade restricting, so from now on, you are banned. I apologize in advance if some innocent people get caught up, but it would have to be a pretty odd coincidence to innocently fit the patterns that have been well established. I also apologize if some traders get left in the lurch, but you also share some responsibility in verifying who you're trading with -- especially when they're a new member with 0 TR and no forum participation, who suddenly appear and attempt to trade for 10 sites at once, or who look to signup for the same sites multiple times. Do a little homework on your potential trading partner to see if they appear legit. Look for some meaningful posts if they don't have TR -- there is more to building a good reputation than simply TR. I realize this might make it harder for 0 TR people to get off the ground, but unfortunately a few bad apples screw it up for everybody.

There are some trading module changes being discussed that will automatically limit certain trading behaviors based upon a number of criteria. When these are implemented, it should help police this sort of activity as well, but until then you are all strongly encouraged to be careful who you trade with. If you have any doubts about a brand new trader, then stipulate payment on approval when you setup the trade. If you have suspicions and would like someone checked out further, contact a staff member (but don't expect us to have time to do background checks on every new member).

Likewise, if you're a new trader struggling to establish a reputation so that people will trade with you, then make yourself known and contribute on the forum.

EDIT: If you broker trades and comply with the above rules, yet still broker a large number of fraudulent referrals, your trading privileges will be revoked. I don't care if you are repaying for the reds -- referring fraudulent leads costs the industry money, as well as wastes trader's time and increases stress levels. There's just no room for it now. As noted above, you are responsible for the quality of your brokered trades, and if you cannot produce quality, reliable referrals, your trading ability will be revoked.

And one more thing: If excessive brokering of fraudulent refs gets out of hand, brokering may very well be forbidden for EVERYONE. Even proven, reliable traders. So stop screwing things up for everybody. This forum is not intended to be your cash cow, it's to help people get freebies for themselves. If you aren't going to broker responsibly, then you are not going to broker - PERIOD.

sandra habina · Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:21 am Post subject:

Thankyou for protecting us all. Great information. Plain and simple.

beth67 · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:54 pm Post subject:

Thank you for this! Very good idea, and it should help to cut down on the scammers. Exclamation

dmorris68 · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:06 pm Post subject:

Updated.

gambit00x · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:30 pm Post subject:

Thank you for staying on top of things dmorris. I've gotten burnt from brokers with "trustable" TRs, and I've seen it happen to many others. I won't blame you if you banned it altogether right now.

flhtth · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:36 am Post subject:

Excellent post.

russgardner · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:05 am Post subject:

Thanks for the Help!!!

Jack · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:38 am Post subject:

Thanks
I have had some dealing with brokers and it was not a good experience. Thank you for dealing with this.

Jack

miss edie · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:23 am Post subject:

thank you for being on top of things...
and protecting us

unknown uchiha · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:15 pm Post subject:

Holy crap I'm gone for a bit and... we're now in the phase of Asian farming? o.o

I can totally see "FreebieGreenMine.com" or something that also takes WoW gold payments -.-

adamo · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 4:12 pm Post subject:

Awesome !!! The sky is blue now.
Thank you so much.

flybygirl43 · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:09 am Post subject:

thanks for the information. I didn't even know brokering existed.

shawng31 · Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:55 pm Post subject:

it does exist and it is a shady business.. stop to think.. what exactly are the brokers gettin out of it?.. why would they have a militia of greeners and you pay the BROKER the full amount and the ref gets a percentage.. it worx the other way around in the real world.. it does need to stop.. but its just another form of scamming nowadays since it is like a needle in a haystack lately to find refs.. i dont see it happenin as much as it has in the recent past thankfully.. but the "i have a friend that can.." threads.. be leary of those as well.. i think.. hmm.. brainstorm/epiphone (sic) here.. if thats the case.. get the GREENERS paypal addy to send the money to and not the brokers.. but.. also multiple paypal accts. are there as well.. so.. i guess its safe to say.. do NOT trade with a "broker"

Shawn G.

Cat251981 · Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:40 am Post subject:

Interesting! I'd never even heard of brokering before.

simonsays · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 1:36 pm Post subject:

Some people are so greedy.

puppeteer · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:16 pm Post subject:

Asian brokers? lol Im not one of them...

KT412 · Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:48 am Post subject:

I've gotten a ton of PM's in the last week or so for shady traders who I think may be Chinese scammers - is there someone that we can forward usernames to so they can check their IP addresses?

butterflylady · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 7:34 pm Post subject:

I am not sure how you do it but Thanks for keeping it honest so we can all stay in business.

dakotajim · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 8:49 am Post subject:

BROKERING IS BECOMING RAMPANT I KNOW QUITE OF FEW TRADERS WHO GOT SCAMMED BIG TIME.ONE FOR OVER $200.
MAKES IT HARD ON EVERYONE BUT WHAT CAN YOU DO EXCEPT TRY TO CONTROL IT FOR THE HONEST TRADERS.

SO THIS IS GREAT!

GreenMachine · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 10:19 am Post subject:

Thanks for the great information!!! I've encountered this behavior before, but did not know that it was called "brokering". I'm new here and look forward to learning more about the forum!!!!

rampant5 · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 11:33 am Post subject:

Thanks for the info!!