Those of you who buy on FB marketplace alot. what could I have done differently? (I got scammed)

[hikariinu124]

So Im going to try to keep this as to the point as possible so here is the bulletpoints of what happened

1. OCT 31st, I go on ebay and buy a used 3090 from the official zotac USA store
2. also on oct 31st, i decide to see if any deals are available on FB marketplace, find a seller doing a 3090 for $500, down from 600.
3. contact the seller, ask for a photo with today's date + my name so i could see the card. (this is part of what convinced me that he was legit) and I cancel my order on ebay.
4. seller only takes cash-app, chime and some other app i didnt bother using, but no paypal or other app that provides buyer protections (should have been red flag #1)
5. attempt to pay this man, who gave me his phone number and we spoke for more than an hour while i was trying to pay him.

6. nothing works, keeps declining until I convince him to use venmo but like a giant moron i dont use the buyer protections on that either.

7. paypal is the last option as none of the other apps are letting me send money anymore (i didnt have cash app or chime until trying to pay this guy), he wants me to use Xoom (i'd never heard of it but its at least on paypal so i could cancel it if something went wrong)
8. tell him that its not likely to clear until next thursday
9. the following morning i send him the remaining 100$ thru paypal, but once again without checking the goods and services option.
10. at this point ive sent him the agreed upon total of money, 490$ (i negotiated him down but in hindsight, he probably woulda done 200$ if he was going to scam me anyway)
11. he says he's going to have his son send it out by lunch, and well into the evening i have not heard a single thing, no tracking number nothing.
12. i get a UPS tracking # on facebook messanger, not phone and i assume all is well.
13. he messages me saying he didnt get all the money, and i told him that im not going to commit any more money until i have the card in hand, he threatens to cancel the package.
14. at this point im pretty sure its a scam, so i cancel the money i sent on Xoom.
15. fast forward to 11/5, when the tracking number he sent was supposed to arrive, and of course it doesnt. i reach out to UPS and they say it was an amazon package and it wasnt even addressed to me, just the same city and state.
16. call bank and initiate chargebacks on all the electronic payments.

 

 

obviously hindsight is 20/20, and i tried to include as much detail as possible but what, if any were better ways to tell this was a scam before i sent the money? was it the fact that he didnt want buyer protections? I thought i was pretty good at spotting scams but this guy got me good.
 

[Needfuldoer]

My general rule is, if you can't buy it in-person using cash and test it then and there, don't buy it on Marketplace.

 

Never go off-platform, or use "cash apps", gift cards, or PayPal friends-and-family for transfers.

[hikariinu124]

side question, is a 3070 still appropriate in 2024? I tend to play games on an ultrawide and recently tried to play final fantasy 16, only for it to run atrociously.

 

some googling suggests its just a very bad port, but could my GPU or CPU be the actual issue here? 

CPU: 5600x
ram 32gb
GPU 3070 8gb

game running off a m.2 ssd

 

 

[GuiltySpark_]

5 minutes ago, hikariinu124 said:

side question, is a 3070 still appropriate in 2024? I tend to play games on an ultrawide and recently tried to play final fantasy 16, only for it to run atrociously.

 

some googling suggests its just a very bad port, but could my GPU or CPU be the actual issue here? 

CPU: 5600x
ram 32gb
GPU 3070 8gb

game running off a m.2 ssd

 

 

4y/o hardware, keep in mind. If by ultrawide you mean 3440x1440, yeah thats going to become a struggle in 2025 with a 3070. Are you making use of upscaling options in modern games? Just had to do a quick sanity check and found a 3070Ti/5600x combo playing that game at normal 1440p. Looking like basic gameplay in the low 30's to 40's at native resolution. You're asking the slower 3070 to push 30% more pixels so yeah, without upscaling you're going to have a bad time in that particular title.

[PDifolco]

22 minutes ago, hikariinu124 said:

side question, is a 3070 still appropriate in 2024? I tend to play games on an ultrawide and recently tried to play final fantasy 16, only for it to run atrociously.

 

some googling suggests its just a very bad port, but could my GPU or CPU be the actual issue here? 

CPU: 5600x
ram 32gb
GPU 3070 8gb

game running off a m.2 ssd

 

 

Problem with 3070 at ultrawide 1440p is that you'll easily get short of VRAM (only 8GB) in modern games

I even had the issue at that res with my previous 3080 10GB, so got a 24GB VRAM 7900XTX to never have it again !

[hikariinu124]

ok so i probably do need to upgrade but my CPU and ram should be fine then right? 

[Agall]

30 minutes ago, hikariinu124 said:

side question, is a 3070 still appropriate in 2024? I tend to play games on an ultrawide and recently tried to play final fantasy 16, only for it to run atrociously.

 

some googling suggests its just a very bad port, but could my GPU or CPU be the actual issue here? 

CPU: 5600x
ram 32gb
GPU 3070 8gb

game running off a m.2 ssd

 

 

Buy a 5700x3D, a 3070 is plenty for 1440p UW for those types of games. A drop in CPU upgrade toa 5700x3D will likely net at least a 50% increase in minimum framerates in a game like FF16.

[Agall]

10 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

Problem with 3070 at ultrawide 1440p is that you'll easily get short of VRAM (only 8GB) in modern games

I even had the issue at that res with my previous 3080 10GB, so got a 24GB VRAM 7900XTX to never have it again !

A lot of MMO type games aren't VRAM intensive thankfully. 1440p UW usually only cares for 1440p textures anyways, and if you're using DLSS, 1080p textures at low-medium should be fine. Its been a while since I had 1440p UW but I did run it for 5 years with a GTX 1080 and then an RTX 3070 on release.

[GuiltySpark_]

8 minutes ago, Agall said:

Buy a 5700x3D, a 3070 is plenty for 1440p UW for those types of games. A drop in CPU upgrade toa 5700x3D will likely net at least a 50% increase in minimum framerates in a game like FF16.

I disagree, at least without upscaling. TPU's review is pretty clear as well.

 

Just to reach 60fps at 2560x1440. Sure you can play with settings but the reality is to be comfortable, you'll need to use upscaling with a 3070 at 3440x1440.

 

 

The game does have frame generation and upscaling options so you want to be playing with those @hikariinu124

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/final-fantasy-xvi-fps-performance-benchmark/6.html

[Agall]

4 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

I disagree, at least without upscaling. TPU's review is pretty clear as well.

 

Just to reach 60fps at 2560x1440. Sure you can play with settings but the reality is to be comfortable, you'll need to use upscaling with a 3070 at 3440x1440.

 

 

The game does have frame generation and upscaling options so you want to be playing with those @hikariinu124

That's precisely what I'm arguing, you're likely using upscaling anyways when available which affords lower texture settings. Most of the time, even at 4K on games I can run without DLSS, I opt to do so since the visual difference is almost negligible and it reduces power consumption. 4K native vs 4K upscaled with properly implemented DLSS is like a 50W on average draw difference in my experience.

 

Sure, 8GB is tight, its tight for even 1080p, but its not a deal breaker with the right settings. My brother still runs 1440p UW with an RTX 3070 (my old one) and gets great performance without complaint. He does also have my 5800x3D and a nice kit of RAM for context.

[hikariinu124]

maybe it really is just ffxvi and i should stick with my card for a little bit longer. I tried out the MHwilds beta and the game ran fine to my eyes at least on my ultrawide. might have to wweak the settings a little bit but i could probably stand to wait til at least black friday or some holiday sales kick in and pick up a 4070 ti super or a 4080 super. but then i'd have to probably get a beefier power supply as well, i dont remember what i have in my computer right now but it cant be more than 750w.

[GuiltySpark_]

4 minutes ago, hikariinu124 said:

maybe it really is just ffxvi and i should stick with my card for a little bit longer. I tried out the MHwilds beta and the game ran fine to my eyes at least on my ultrawide. might have to wweak the settings a little bit but i could probably stand to wait til at least black friday or some holiday sales kick in and pick up a 4070 ti super or a 4080 super. but then i'd have to probably get a beefier power supply as well, i dont remember what i have in my computer right now but it cant be more than 750w.

You seem to not be acknowledging it but as the system continues to age, you really want to start paying attention to the DLSS/FSR options in modern games. They're going to make a massive difference. DLSS is what allowed me to play Cyberpunk at launch at 3440x1440 (you still haven't confirmed your resolution) on a 2080 Super at a comfortable framerate. 

[hikariinu124]

Just now, GuiltySpark_ said:

You seem to not be acknowledging it but as the system continues to age, you really want to start paying attention to the DLSS/FSR options in modern games. They're going to make a massive difference. DLSS is what allowed me to play Cyberpunk at launch at 3440x1440 (you still haven't confirmed your resolution) on a 2080 Super at a comfortable framerate. 

sorry, i havent said anything, but yes i have been using DLSS and stuff like that when available. 

specifically regarding ff16, ive tried alot of combinations of settings and it does not run very well outside of 1080p, 60fps lock, dynamic resolution with legacy/FSR1 setting. outside of that, it runs unplayably bad, were talking sub 30fps most of the time. I simply refuse to play a game below 60, it actively detracts from my enjoyment.

 

secondly, my resolution is 3440x1440, i run an ACER predator x34 120hz refresh rate.

 

i do use those settings, sorry if i didnt explicitly say so.

[wanderingfool2]

General rule on buying online.

 

Stick to the platform that you are doing purchasing in.  If you cannot, then have some way to verify the product before sending any money.

The best way is to meet in person (preferably nearby a police station) and test the product prior to giving away money (this assumes valuable things)

 

Always look into the seller, in the case of ebay check out the sellers profile etc to see if others have purchased and the results etc.  Not sure on FB marketplace, but generally I wouldn't trust it if they are meant to ship it to me.

[SpookyCitrus]

I only purchase off of Facebook Marketplace when I can physically pickup and test the item in person. GPUs and computer parts especially.

 

If you are looking at buying a used GPU the best place I have found is eBay, with the buyer protections and seller rating system they have in place it's by far one of the safest. 

[jaslion]

2 hours ago, hikariinu124 said:

seller only takes cash-app, chime and some other app i didnt bother using, but no paypal or other app that provides buyer protections (should have been red flag #1)

This is fine

 

2 hours ago, hikariinu124 said:

attempt to pay this man, who gave me his phone number and we spoke for more than an hour while i was trying to pay him.

This is where you went wrong.

 

You paid for a SHIPPED order with no protection against being scammed WHAT SO EVER.

 

NEVER EVER EVER buy something not in person when there is no buyer portection for a used goods place.

 

Hell even in person have someone with you and have MULTIPLE people know your location.

 

Let this be a clear lesson to not trust strangers on the internet with money.

 

Fb marketplace is great for LOCAL pickup same as other used sites.

 

You did well on the recovery I salute you for that!

[hikariinu124]

28 minutes ago, jaslion said:

 

You did well on the recovery I salute you for that!

im not actually in the clear, yet, no idea how the bank is gonna handle it.

[Lurking]

Never pay a stranger unless you have the correct merchandise in hand. Meet at local police station or so. 

 

If you buy used online (which you effectively did), then only from a valid place with protection like ebay. Yes, it cost more. But there is a reason... 

 

Don't go to extreme lengths to save $50 or so. You had a legit seller for a fair price. There wasn't a need to make all that effort (even if it would have worked out) to save a few bucks. 

 

There also could be other issues, like you get the card, but it fails after 2 weeks. What then? 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

10 hours ago, hikariinu124 said:

3. contact the seller, ask for a photo with today's date + my name so i could see the card.

Irrelevant: one physical cards can be reused in tens of scams.

 

 

10 hours ago, hikariinu124 said:

6. nothing works, keeps declining until I convince him to use venmo but like a giant moron i dont use the buyer protections on that either.

You've answered yourself

10 hours ago, hikariinu124 said:

9. the following morning i send him the remaining 100$ thru paypal, but once again without checking the goods and services option.

You've answered yourself

 

10 hours ago, hikariinu124 said:

I thought i was pretty good at spotting scams

Let me press X  

 

So, you already answered yourself with several way in which you could do better. My subjective advice? Stick to Zotac's eBay order next time. If the difference was small, it wasn't worth the hassle, your transaction would have been done in seconds. If the difference was large, then most likely too good to be true.

Sure, you can save some money buying from legit random sellers with shady arrangements. But you're saving by cutting back on insurance, so do it only if you are ready to bite the bullet.