Traade.co - Scam?

[petrinsky]

Hi there,

I recently took the risk of sending an old iPhone 3 to the website traade.co in exchange for $56 worth of BTC. Obviously, this was a risk, but I figured since I wasn't using the phone at all - and probably won't ever again - the potential reward of gaining BTC was greater (at least to me) than losing the phone.

First things first, the company DID send me the shipping package almost immediately. It took me a day or two to finally get around to sending it off. And then over a week ago their site is showing that my status is the following:

Check Your Phone's Status
You have 1 orders with us.
Date                   Phone                                   Payment           Method                   Status
May 6, 2013   Apple iPhone 3G - 16GB - Black   Offered $56.00   Via Bitcoin Address   Received Phone - Payment Processing.


But it's been at this stage for over a week! I "contacted" them via their website a couple days ago but still no response. Today I just emailed the email address on file, so we'll see.

Does anyone else have any experience with this new BTC-related company? I really hope I wasn't scammed.

P

[juanse1000100]

I think they should spent time in their business, they send the envelope and that make me think it is legit but too many days without answer is dubious.

[petrinsky]

uvwvj,

What number did you use to text him? And is it John Groves? I just contacted him via Facebook, so we'll see. I'm really hoping he's just backlogged, but dubious is a good word to describe the situation, because I've tried multiple channels of contacting him. Perhaps FB will work. I'd really like to try texting him myself.

Thanks again,
P

[petrinsky]

UPDATE: I finally DID get paid in BTC last night.

I found that Facebook was the best way to message him. We communicated several times but he did eventually credit me for the iPhone I sent him. I would like to warn future risk-takers like me of the pros and cons. See below:

Pros:
-Did receive a package ASAP, as stated (and it included a self-addressed return label to send my phone to them)
-Did respond to Facebook account almost immediately
-Did get paid in BTC
-Website had current order status information
-Not a scam

Cons:
-Very difficult time communicating
-Didn't respond to my messages via Traade.co or BitcoinTalk (only Facebook)
-Took very long to eventually get paid (2+ weeks)
-Felt like a scam because of the things mentioned above


Recommendation: I would give him a little more time to get some "wins" (read: positive reviews) under his belt. I think it's a cool service, but it needs time to mature. I took a risk and knew I might not get paid in BTC. Fortunately, I did, but it was not without a lot of stress and effort, and I had to make several different attempts to contact him. In fact, for the most part, I thought I got ripped off. I'm happily surprised that I did get paid.