DO NOT GET SCAMMED: A cautionary tale
When you buy and sell stuff using nostr and nostr-based apps, make sure you are not getting scammed. Personal experience story time below.
Sites can pick up market listing notes and show them in their website and put a "buy now" button but the payment doesn't actually go to the seller. It goes somewhere else, who knows where.
I had this happen to me. A customer messaged me and said they bought my hand knit nostr beanie hat on a site and sent me the LN invoice that they paid. It shows that the invoice is paid, but it doesn't go to my wallet. I did not get paid.
As someone who has been in the community a long time, I know that the buyer-seller relationshiop is precarious and based in trust. In the moment, I believe the buyer and give the benefit of the doubt that something is wrong with the site. I reach out to the site owner to find out what's happening because the site is absolutely unusable for me. I see my items listed on their website and have absolutely no way to removing them. I worry that someone else will come across a hat that they like and they hit buy, only to send their money to someone else.
The site owner said they will compensate me for this mishap. As a show of good faith, I shipped the hat to the customer so that he would not sour to the idea of buying on nostr. Imagine if you were this customer who paid 107k sats and ended up with no product? He would likely never buy anything from any of us again.
At the time of writing, it still hasn't been resolved between me and the site. They have not paid me like they said they would but I'm giving some grace since it is a holiday weekend.
I had to talk about it now though. It has been a cloud over me the last few days. I hope that holiday shopping on nostr will be very successful for all sellers this year so I felt responsible for putting this message out so that we can continue to build confidence is the nostr marketplace.
The moral of the story:
When you buy on nostr, make sure you are in touch with the seller and that you are paying the seller. Do your due diligence.
I would have been well within my rights to say "too bad so sad. I didn't get paid. you got scammed by that site. bye." If you were a buyer and didn't do your due diligence to check that your money is going to the right place, you may not get what you paid for and that is perfectly reasonable within the realm of commerce on nostr.
If you have read this far, please share/boost this post. I don't want any one, buyer or seller, to get scammed shopping on nostr.
#nostrmarketplace #buywithbitcoin #shopnostr
Replies (49)
Sorry for your loss.
Did you message the seller?
What's the event?
This is terrible! Hopefully it gets resolved soon.
I'm the seller.
The buyer bought a hat I'm made from a site that populates listings based on nostr notes. The buyer paid a lightning invoice on that site that is not associated with me. I didn't get paid.
I ended up shipping the item to my buyer since I didn't want him to feel put off from buying on nostr. I'm trying to get compensated by the site right now.
Which site
me too. it is really disheartening π’
That sucks and I feel for both of you, especially you. As the seller of a product you have a certain level of responsibility to ensure the buyer understands what he/sheβs purchasing and to offer an easy and verified way to transact.
Unfortunately, when the buyer doesnβt do their homework, things like this happen and even though you have done your part, you still feel somewhat responsible and that is understandable.
However, I do find it a bit unreasonable for the buyer who doesnβt do any due diligence, to try and lay all of the responsibility on the seller.
I would say within the next year you should be able to stop using websites and just sell your product through the Nostr protocol, there are enough safeguards already in place, on top of common sense, to ensure something like this doesnβt happen here.
I would suggest writing in your bio, which website was selling your stuff and not compensating you for it, with a nice be DANGER written above it.
That should hopefully ward off any other possible users of that website that may find themselves on the losing end of a transaction.
I'm not ready to name names because I'd like to give them a little more time to make things right.
oh absolutely. this is a huge lesson for me. I am planning to make changes like what you mentioned so that this never happens to me again. I hope all other sellers can learn from what happened also.
Okay, this makes more sense to me. (Sorry for you π). Sharing the event is the only way.
Have you talked to other sellers to see if they have had problems?
More reasons why a nostr service like shopify would be idealβ¦ or maybe a shopify sats checkout pluginβ¦ controlling this would be more of a pro β thanks for sharing nostr:nprofile1qqspd02uap9euad07q8sd4clj3n7vtdr3qf3drdy3w8wk6aduhae8ycppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7jrpv6y this is good to hear about
nostr:nevent1qqszu0hd72m3mjqh3gydzvrj3gkslhuz046xkgwf903mjawgegy3m5qpr9mhxue69uhkuurjdau8jtntwf5hxarpwpekktnvwc7pv5q6
I have not. I don't know I'm ready to name the site which I'd have to do if I wanted to talk to other sellers about it.
Maybe it's a one time accident, I think giving them some grace over the long holiday weekend is good. But set yourself a time frame for in the very least trying to dm other sellers (oh nostr dms π) to see before going full blast on it.
that's a good idea. I really have no clue how to deal with a situation like this. thanks π
I'm put myself in their shoes type person, how would you like someone to approach you about this and if it goes poorly burn it down and bring marshmallows π€·ββοΈ. Good luck either way π«π«
what about the writing their website in the bio part tho. or do you prefer to signal that you will remain silent and confidential, even in cases of abuse, so you dont lose imaginary friends you dont have in the first place?
no pressure, just saying, blanking that suggestion was a choice, too
I'm not going to name and shame when they're still in attempt to make things right.
Whether or not this site was dishonest, it doesn't negate the message that buyers need to be careful of where and who they buy from.
Also, I'm not concerned about losing imaginary friends when I have real ones. What a weird thing to say.
nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqywhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68yttsw43zuam9d3kx7unyv4ezumn9wsqzp4x68cuj3umqm0xrzuwycqxs7x588zae3xkksx3fm3k4lwqrdjrvpzq3p6 was quite literally built for this exact issue
it is not a weird thing to say
any maker or merchant or business is constantly in the arena of imaginary friends, imaginary customers
example: if i knit a "fuck trump" hat, who could i lose as a customer who hasnt even arrived yet to my shop. do i want to lose them? do i not care? will the customers i already have who hate trump buy more?
all speculation. all imaginary
a little strange you dont know that
what if an imaginary friend, possible future friend, who raises wonderful sheep would offload incredible roving to you very cheap
unless they find out you are not christian first
that's all im saying
if you believe this website is trying to make it right, cool
maybe some customers out here are into naive knitters
PSA #nostr tribe
Verify always before handing out your sats or fiat!
nostr:nprofile1qqspd02uap9euad07q8sd4clj3n7vtdr3qf3drdy3w8wk6aduhae8ycppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7jrpv6y β thank you for sharing this. π«
Could we please repost this so people will know? ty π
#asknostr #grownostr #plebchain
nostr:nevent1qqszu0hd72m3mjqh3gydzvrj3gkslhuz046xkgwf903mjawgegy3m5qpr9mhxue69uhkuurjdau8jtntwf5hxarpwpekktnvwcpzq94atn5yh8n44lcq7pkhr72x0e3d5wypx95d5j9ca6mt4hjlhyunqvzqqqqqqyz882hs
And the nostr:nprofile1qqsdfk378y50xcxmeschr3xqp5834pechwvf445p52wud40msqmvsmqpzfmhxue69uhhqatjwpkx2urpvuhx2ucpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejs08nu43 team are super professional and silky smooth! We are very happy with their support at Bitcoin Beans!
π«ππ’
As the inventor and operator of small enterprises, I feel your pain...π
I hope everything works out for you.
π«πβ€οΈβπ₯ππ
honestly, at this point, I'm not going to use any sites or platforms. just dms and lightning invoices.
Is it also possible the buyer's lying and wanted a free hat? Could they have sent a lightning payment to their own wallet?
Hopefully not the case, but it could be another angle.
yeah, that is a possibility too. there are many angles but very difficult to know what's true.
I think it goes to show how doing business on nostr is at your own risk and very much trust based.
Yes, doing business anywhere, these days.
Que feo que te haya pasado algo asi
That's a risk I hadn't considered for nostr marketplaces. Interesting. In theory, because of its open nature, we could end up with hundreds of sites being set up specifically to catch people out. It'd certainly put people off. In my site I've implemented a simple send message to seller system when you've found a product you like. The way I see it is this is more like Facebook marketplace. The relationship between buyer and seller matters. I do wonder now how automated shopping systems will operate longer term. In fact, I wonder if they should, except for digital products.
The site originally operated that way. It was a place to see listings available and then you'd message the seller to buy the item. I liked it that way. I knew my listings were on the site even though I didn't personally put them there. Once I knew they were there, I did use their features to mark items as active or sold which was nice.
I think its a natural evolution for a marketplace site to want to facilitate the transaction process between the buyer and seller by implementing a buy now button. This feature was added at some point but it did not require intervention or authorization on my part. I think it can be done for both digital and physical products but there needs to be a layer of security to ensure the money goes to the seller.
I believe there is a bright future for commerce using nostr and Bitcoin. There will be bad actors who will take advantage and exploit the open nature of the protocol and the naivete of its users. We have to understand that and operate accordingly.
Update: I've been compensated by the site for this sale. My good faith was not misplaced.
With that said, scams are still very much a possibility when shopping on nostr. It could be a site spun up by a bad actor. It could be someone impersonating a popular seller.
Check the npub and verify the person you are buying from is the actual seller before you send your hard earned sats.
Happy Shopping everyone!
what's your site by the way? I'd love to check it out.
Still not sure where you sold, is the site the seller or a third party?
It's plume.website - the focus will be mostly on the other stuff people do, so when someone views your profile they should see any other content you have, from market listings, photography, long and short form video, music, podcasts etc. I'll be adding a public profile view soon so people can look you up without even logging in. It's still a work in progress atm.
the site is the third party.
okay, is everything okay?
yeah, everything is okay now. the site owner got back to me.
Damn. Yeah, there are a lot of nostr business/merchant directories out there, I can see how easily someone could have zapped one of the listings, thinking that was going to get them the item. We have to be diligent. I always make sure to let folks know when I've received their sats, but like you pointed out, we don't know what we don't know! I'm glad you are able to send the customer the goods and hopefully not be hit too hard by that.
π buyer and seller story to warn others. Sharing is boosting. Me think π€
nostr:nevent1qqszu0hd72m3mjqh3gydzvrj3gkslhuz046xkgwf903mjawgegy3m5qpr9mhxue69uhkuurjdau8jtntwf5hxarpwpekktnvwc7pv5q6
Nostr market place would be such an awesome place if there would have been more normies on the platform but unfortunately they get shooed away by many brainfucked nymphs here with shady agendas.
Thatβs shady AF. We need a better way to let customers verify they are buying from legitimate stores. Nearly every time I make a purchase over Nostr I communicate directly with the seller. Itβs inefficient, but safer.
nostr market place = kenyans selling rubbish nostr:npub1q6ps7m94jfdastx2tx76sj8sq4nxdhlsgmzns2tr4xt6ydx6grzspm0kxr loves to scam #plebchain #introductions
I had a feeling it would work out in your favor.
Yep, and DMs are not really reliable either, since there are a lot of accounts that impersonate popular ones.
yeap. Vitor said that he's working in implementing WoT in dms so hopefully that will help somewhat.
in Amethyst*
People do forget this is the new wild west of the internet, You have to have your wits about you and do the due diligence.
I get it, it sucks. It sucks for the customer, it sucks the alleged storefront may just cut and run. That's the inherent risk of freedom.
yup, classic grief.
free market = personal responsibility. buyer pays YOUR real bolt11 directly, no fancy buttons. if a site canβt prove they verifiably forward to you, treat it like phishing. same goes for sellersβget paid first, or use Bonds/NIP-61 escrow so both sides chill.
Vectorβs Giftwrap DMs are perfect for sorting the invoice face-to-face, no shady portal in the middle.
Did someone say nostr:nprofile1qqsdfk378y50xcxmeschr3xqp5834pechwvf445p52wud40msqmvsmqpr3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezucnfw33k76twv4ezuum0vd5kzmqpr4mhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8wetvd3hhyer9wghxuet59x8x9j !!
