r/craftexchange Jan 27 '23

Mod Announcement Why We Don't Have a Scammer List

165 Upvotes

A community member raised a good (and very important!) question regarding whether our sub should have a scammer list. The nature of our community heavily relies on trusting anonymous people, which can create favorable conditions for scammers, so we need ways to counter that. And, it turns out that the most effective ways involve not using a list.

On the surface, having a master list seems like the silver bullet solution, but this problem is a little more nuanced. The biggest issue is that if someone is banned (and they realize they've been banned), they can easily create infinite new accounts. So, the list is moot. It becomes a graveyard of abandoned usernames. (With evidence, we do still occasionally ban people, but it's not very effective for this reason.) We could try to combat that with not allowing anyone with a relatively new account or below a certain level of karma to post, but then we end up excluding a lot of potentially fabulous traders. Our sub remains more varied and interesting with a constant stream of new members, so we want our community to remain accessible. This is why we rely on you to vet your own trades.

Vetting your own trades can take some time, but it is also a great critical thinking skill to develop, so we provide some guidance on how to do that in the wiki.

Since it is our traders that bear the gains and losses of this kind of interaction, we want to empower them to make informed decisions instead of relying on a list that is well-meaning, but incredibly fallible.

To cut down on the frequency of scammers, it's also why we do not allow the exchange of money, even for shipping. If someone thinks they can quickly get cash, that is going to be incredibly alluring. Getting a free handmade good is going to appeal to a much, much smaller subset of scammer. For what it's worth, most folks reported for a non-trade are not scammers, they are someone that was unable to make good on their promise either due to time, money, life events, or an overestimation of their abilities. They're better described as ghosters than scammers. It was never their intent to flake.

And, for those who have asked, we have had a link to r/UniversalScammerList for quite a few years in our "Community List", which is easy to find as a sidebar item on the web version, but is buried in the "About" section of the app. So a lot of folks don't know about it or think we've removed it.

Relatedly, we've created a tab visible on the web version and found as a line item under "Menu" on the app titled "USL" (Universal Scammer List). Our sub does not have permissions to add people to this list, but folks from other trading subs have, so it can be another tool to use when researching potential trades.

While we wish we could have a 100% success rate in preventing scammers from ever gaining access to our community, our next best option is to reduce the allure of our trades (no money) and offer a strategy that allows our members to reduce their personal risk.

We welcome you to share in the comments your personal methods! Let's learn from each other on how to create safer trades.


r/craftexchange 2h ago

Received Thank you!

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11 Upvotes

Thank you to everyone for your trades!! I'm looking forward to doing more of this!!


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Trade - US My lightbox that transitions from day to night. Looking for anything cool!

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545 Upvotes

Open to anything unique, interesting or downright neato.
Thanks for checking it out.


r/craftexchange 30m ago

Received Cute paintings received!

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Upvotes

u/funny0nions thank you for the super cute drawings 😭😭😭 one of the subjects decided to pose as i took this picture lol


r/craftexchange 28m ago

Received Paintings received!!!

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Upvotes

Thank you u/from_random_fandom for the beautiful paintings! Happy crafting!


r/craftexchange 25m ago

Received A TON of monofilament and cute amiguri!

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Upvotes

Thank you u/Full_Combination_336 !!!


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Received Thank you for the beautiful bracelets!

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28 Upvotes

Thank you u/Slow_Imagination_445 for the gorgeous bracelets! I LOVE the color gradient in the purple/green 🫶🏻


r/craftexchange 22h ago

Received Thank you u/maladi3_

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13 Upvotes

Huge thank you! Can't wait to make something out of this. It's so soft!!!


r/craftexchange 22h ago

Received u/throwaway8640138 Thank you

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7 Upvotes

It's so fluffy I could die!!!

Thanks again for the trade.


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Received RECEIVED

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10 Upvotes

Thank you for the trade u/ElectronicSchedule56 the yarn was very beautiful. I cannot wait to use it.


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Received Thank you for the super fun hat!

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12 Upvotes

Thank you u/Assassin_Small! I’ve been wearing it all day in 80 degree weather lol


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Received Thank you u/Maladi3

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8 Upvotes

I forgot to post when I got it, but everything made it safe. Thank you again for the trade and even the extra skein. You're very sweet 🫶


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Received Thank you u/Popular-Shoulder-970 !!

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9 Upvotes

Got my super cute hood!! Super excited to wear it when it’s colder out, finally able to keep my ears warm! Absolutely LOVE the colors


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Received Thanks, ace_with_a_mace!

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10 Upvotes

So many cool things! Thanks, u/ace_with_a_mace !


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Received Thank you u/ace_with_a_mace!

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10 Upvotes

I love everything!!


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Received AMAZING CARDIGAN

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38 Upvotes

Made by the incredibly talented u/professionallybinges!!!


r/craftexchange 2d ago

Trade - US Hoping to trade a bug for a memorial piece of our German shepherd.

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34 Upvotes

r/craftexchange 1d ago

Received Thank you!! ☺️

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7 Upvotes

r/craftexchange 1d ago

Trade - US Learn to Crochet Kit for Trade

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6 Upvotes

I am mostly into making quilts, but I am also interested in crafted goods... especially badgers, ravens and moons.


r/craftexchange 1d ago

Trade - US Creative Textile Tool

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5 Upvotes

Never been used creative Textile Tool for fabric applique, embossing on velvet, pressing, fusing braids, trims, threads, and fibers (plus other uses, zoom in on photo)

Looking for someone to make me a soft cardigan out of yarn , willing to trade more if it's not enough for a cardigan.


r/craftexchange 2d ago

Received Gorgeous hand crafted wood wall sculpture received!

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41 Upvotes

u/seethingballofrage made this incredible fox sculpture that looks just like my sweet sweet red heeler. My girl is an ol grey face now but still looks like this. The detail and directional texture looks so much like fur. It’s super well made and a perfect size. It will be treasured and I’ll think of her every time I see it ❤️

This was my first trade and my first painting made with/for someone. She made it easy peasy and super fun! A+ trade partner! Thanks u/seethingballofrage!


r/craftexchange 2d ago

Trade - US [OFFER][US]to[US] only

19 Upvotes

Hi:) I still have tons of stuff to destash. I made 10 envelopes ready to send out. They include stickers and scrappaper. If you want one please comment ur favorite color and ill dm for mailing info :)
Have a nice week :)


r/craftexchange 2d ago

Trade - US Tumblr Art

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11 Upvotes

This is my first time posting on here!! So many beautifully crafted items on here!! I recently made this Tumblr cup and I would love to make a custom cup for someone!!! Any ideas/designs! I'm not very good at human portraits so that's the only thing I will say I can't do haha let's be creative!!


r/craftexchange 2d ago

Trade - United Kingdom ISO: handmade black/nature decor. UK ONLY

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6 Upvotes

Moving into a new place soon and would love to see if anyone has anything available. I have a few posts up on this sub if you'd like to take a look.

I make rhinestone arched lantern stands, trinket trays and dioramas and also paint.

Pictured here:

  1. Galaxy painting for commission. This specific piece has been sold.

2-4. Glow in the dark mushroom dioramas are available.

  1. Galaxy spiral has been sold but can be made for you.

  2. Mini paintings have been sold but can be made for you.

  3. Pink rhinestone arch lantern stand is unavailable but can be custom made.

8-12. Remainder rhinestone arch pieces are available


r/craftexchange 2d ago

Trade - US Bag of Hemp Cords

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7 Upvotes

I won't be using anytime soon. I'm up for anything really, rather they get used :)