Stubbers,
I agree with you on the license thing or something like that. The only problem, scammers are a whole lot smarter than we are. They know their way around that stuff. To then rely on the ADMINISTRATORS to go through the trouble of loading their information and blocking out certain info will turn this into a pay site.
Some have suggested the only way is face to face transactions. Airguns are complicated enough where it would not be difficult for someone to hide a problem or the buyer not know airguns well enough to know what to look for. One member noted that they only buy from retail establishments. That’s probably the safest way but we’ve read about some bad experiences with legitimate airgun vendors too. Then there’s the extremely low number of airgun establishments. I live 20 minutes from Pyramyd, but they have a pick up counter. They hand you a sealed box and you sign for it then out the door you go. In their defense, they aren’t a retail showroom. Everything that is manufactured can have something wrong with it and the retailer not know it.
If Pyramyd were to add a showroom they may well have to raise prices to cover the associated expenses.
Trust is a beautiful thing. I recently sold an item and my post was pretty explicit regarding a blemish. The interested buyer and I spoke on the phone, I took additional pictures and forwarded them and we made an exchange. From that point on we trusted each other and then we waited for the designated shipping company to SAFELY deliver the item.
Dealing with scum is always going to be a problem, just ask Adam and Eve.
Tis why in my original post here I suggested only face to face transactions, and offered about 3 other suggestions down the line, such as a middle man service. Requiring a license uploaded and verified is a rather simple process that could be integrated automatically with a little bit of coding skills tbh, but that is a whole different discussion that integrates checks and balances that are probably beyond the ability of the mods here.
One of the reasons scams are prevalent on this site is because the lack of such checks and balances and next to zero protection for its members, quite sad if you ask me.
-Matt
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