Playerauctions habits?

[Skook]

I went to Playerauctions site (my first time buying an account) and
after I bought an account with my cc, I got an email from PA, telling
me they were in the process of "checking out" the account, which
would take about an hour and then they would send me the login info
on the account.
I did get the info in the time slot they stated, and was instructed to
log in to the account and check it out myself, before they would
release the funds to the seller.
But the first time I tried to log in, I got a message "This account has
been banned!"
This kind of thing does not suprise me, but I was baffled at the fact,
that they supposingly "checked the account out" before sending the
log in info to me. What exactly did they check out for an hour without
logging in to the account, because if they did try to log in, they would
of got the same message as myself..."This account has been banned!"
The seller acknowledged the dispute I filed (this all took place in a few
hours), and PA has agreed to refunding my purchase.
During that time, I also logged in to the Sony account site, and it also
stated in there that the account was suspended, so I am really confused
as to just exactly what PA was "checking out". (They haven't replied to
my question either)

 

[Darg]

I wont use PA after the trouble they put me through in 2008. Almost the same exact senario...tried to buy an account and it was banned before my funds cleared.

Its safer to sell things here, no commission fee or waiting really.

 

[EverquestBB]

PA

I do not think actually log into the account at all, but rather I think they check out the account details at the station account level and make sure it actually has a character on it, etc. I have given them the info before and parked the toon in front of myself in the lobby and waited for it to pop up but it never did. They may have taken it to character select but I would be surprised if they even did that.

 

[Brano11]

I've used PA a few times and never had any problems. Key is to buy toons from people who already have some feedback there and not from a new person.

 

[EverquestBB]

Not sure I concur

I wont use PA after the trouble they put me through in 2008. Almost the same exact senario...tried to buy an account and it was banned before my funds cleared.

Its safer to sell things here, no commission fee or waiting really.

I have been scammed here several times and not once on playerauctions since the new system went live over a year ago. Like Brano said, it really comes down to the person you get the account from. PA has all but eliminated the overseas paypal fraud that used to plague the account sales game, but you will always have people who try to hack their accounts back regardless of where you get it. At least on PA you can buy insurance in case that happens. Around here the best you can hope for is that they get banned and, while that is somewhat satisfying, it does not recover your money or the account. As for buying a banned account, I personally doubt that the banning was a result of PA inspection. It more than likely had to do with something else unrelated (buying plat, PLing, hacking, etc.).

 

[DemonH2]

I prefer to sell here. Just buy/sell to someone who didn't post 10 useless comments on the board to get access. Of course their are exceptions but it's rare.

With PA's ridiculous fees you are 100% guaranteed to get robbed.

 

[kirbanmanaburn]

PA is like eBay if eBay trafficked specifically in goods that no-life losers like us sell and buy. Add on top of that the fact that there's no backline enforcement against the kind of fraud you're risking when you buy/sell accounts (because SOE considers buying/selling of EQ1 accounts a violation of EULA) and you've got a risky situation.

Yes, buying accounts from an active community member here lowers that risk. So does being very scrupulous about who it is you're buying from on PA and what kind of feedback history they have.

Neither is completely safe, though. Even on MMOBugs there are a few instances in the past few years where a very reputable long-time community member has decided to stop posting/disappear and has scammed people as they walked out the door. The risk of that is pretty low, but it does happen once in a blue moon.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

PA at one time was awesome, like, 03-04, when it was under completely different management and you had the market board postings and a strong community. I'll only use the site to scout out potentials.

 

[mjtizzle21]

i've sold 8-10 chars on there never had 1 problem.

 

[Public]

PA has went down hill ever since they closed down the forum/community section. They starting charging more $$ fee wise. Only companies they have on trusted certified are the chinks.

 

[Trashman]

I had someone order a custom made account from me off of PA for 400$. Although im quite able to do math I could for the life of me figure out how PA wanted to give me 120$ of the 400$ that was payed to them through my buyer. After that experience I simply wont use PA.

The fact the community is now silenced lets you know PA doesnt want anyone to know what all goes on behind the scenes.

 

[Skook]

I agree

Yes, I agree, anywhere may be a risk, but they (PA) can only make a few dollars, before their reputation makes or breaks them. If everything wasn't so anonymous with these kind of sales, then it would help reduce the scammers. Anyone can scam under one username, get themselves banned from a site for scamming, then just start a new membership, with new hotmail, username,etc.
If sites started implementing things like "Verified Identity", before letting them sell on the site, it would help some.
I did end up buying an account from here at MMO, and so far, I am a happy camper, lol

 

[zdozbou]

If sites started implementing things like "Verified Identity", before letting them sell on the site, it would help some.

Sellers being forced to scan both sides of their drivers license and sending those to PA before being able to sell accounts isn't enough "Verified Identity" for you?

 

[DemonH2]

Ive never had to do that on PA zdoz...

 

[Blasphemy]

Ive never sold an account before, or atleast until as of late. Ive bought one account that I found on player auctions, I proceeded to discuss things with the seller via private message and we both decided to do the cash xfer directly through paypal while he gave me the account info etc, he even waited 2-3 days for me to get my money right. Allowed me to play the toon in the meantime as well. I havent actually done a transaction through player auctions and seeing these posts is making me skeptical in reference to their reliability.

 

[andrewi]

I've used PA ok on occasion with no problem. However, my biggest gripe is since they changed it a couple of years back it won't let anyone non US (i.e. UK for me) buy / sell accounts - we're limited to PLing and items. Anyone found a way round this - short of setting up a US cell phone or using a friend in the States...

 

[Kkthnx]

There is no way round it, other than getting someone else to sell it/buy it for you. Ive tried =/

 

[DemonH2]

I wouldn't want them brits on my site either.

 

[zappola]

I tried PA once and it was a terrible experiance.
Im not up to speed on how to correctly transfer a account fom somone else to me, but I put faith in them and got a big hassle.

lost my payment and the end result of the account was a perminant banning of the purchased account.

It seemed to me that PA only did a validation of the account info fom eqplayers or something similar, I had it foe 4 hours and poof got a email that it was banned due to actions no permitted by the EULA.


this was about a year ago.

 

[zdozbou]

Ive never had to do that on PA zdoz...

Weird, everyone I've talked to who has sold an account on PA has been forced to send a photo of both sides of their drivers license. In my case, I sold SoD flagging, and currency without them requiring this info, but when the first account I sold on there was purchased, they paused the transaction until I sent this info.

As a seller, I have never had any issues with PA. I've never had any of my customers complain about me, or PA either. Guess it all depends on who you buy from.