Are vendors safe?

[zigazav]

So I bought a vendor this one time that I bought, then got a warning from SL about it when I tried to use it. Is it safe to use vendors? I don't want to get hacked like when I got hacked on Gaia Online! But I have little money to use. Can someone please answer this question? I'm also not sure if I placed this thread in the right area. Can someone please answer that too?

[Innula Zenovka]

In general,vendors need to ask for debit permissions (which is what you'll have received the big warning about) so they can give people refunds.    I guess how safe it is depends on how much you trust the person who makes the vendor.  I'd say that with any of the well-known, well-established makers you're perfectly safe.   

[zigazav]

Is the one for the shop thing for Kursed safe?

[Czari Zenovka]

One way to safely check it out is to use (or make) an alt and only have a tiny amount of lindens on the alt.  Have the alt rez it and say yes to the big yellow drop down box.  That way if it is not safe you haven't compromised your account.

Of course if the vendor isn't transferable, that won't work.  Was thinking of how I pre-tested items that asked to be able to withdraw funds in the past.

[zigazav]

Uh, do you know if Kursed is safe to vend with? Then again, I don't have much L$ for them to take away from me. Still, can you tell me? Their vender doesn't have an original owner of it (when boxed) marked on it.

[Innula Zenovka]

Oh, you mean an affiliate vendor.  They need debit permissions because when someone buys something from the vendor, all the money goes to your account and the vending script immediately takes out a percentage of the payment and gives it to the vendor owner, leaving you with your commission.

I'm not going recommend (or not) someone I don't know, but I've had a quick look at the guy's marketplace shop.  You need to take your own decision -- you might want to ask, has he been around for some years, or is he a very new account; does he seem to have an establish business selling his own product line, or does he seem to be some kind of fly-by-night character who has put together a lot of generic items... that sort of thing.    I'm sorry I can't be more help, but I am not going to tell you to trust, or not, someone I don't know.    You might also want to keep in mind that any sort of fraud involving affiliate vendors would be very easy to detect, which is why it doesn't often happen.

If you're really worried, why not create an alt to keep all your money for you, apart from pocket money, or, alternatively, create an alt to own the vendor?

Generally, I've always found people in SL pretty trustworthy and, after all, the sums of money involved aren't, in real terms, very large.   

[Sassy Romano]

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Czari Zenovka wrote:

One way to safely check it out is to use (or make) an alt and only have a tiny amount of lindens on the alt.  Have the alt rez it and say yes to the big yellow drop down box.  That way if it is not safe you haven't compromised your account.

Of course if the vendor isn't transferable, that won't work.  Was thinking of how I pre-tested items that asked to be able to withdraw funds in the past.

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If I were scripting a malicious vendor, I would write it such that it didn't do anything nefarious if there wasn't enough money worth taking thus testing with an account with nothing in wouldn't reveal it's plans.

[Czari Zenovka]

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Sassy Romano wrote:

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Czari Zenovka wrote:

One way to safely check it out is to use (or make) an alt and only have a tiny amount of lindens on the alt.  Have the alt rez it and say yes to the big yellow drop down box.  That way if it is not safe you haven't compromised your account.

Of course if the vendor isn't transferable, that won't work.  Was thinking of how I pre-tested items that asked to be able to withdraw funds in the past.

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If I were scripting a malicious vendor, I would write it such that it didn't do anything nefarious if there wasn't enough money worth taking thus testing with an account with nothing in wouldn't reveal it's plans.

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Well bah!  There goes that idea.  Thanks, Sassy   

So would putting like 100L on an alt do it, or even more?

 

[Khaya Leistone]

I'm wondering that too. I just opened a coffeeshop and I was excited to find this:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Primbean-Coffee-Affiliate-Vendor-Pack-Boxed/2041086

 

I gave all but one L to my alt while I test this out. When I first rezzed the product, it said it was out of date, and prompted me to update it. However it can't update it because it's no-mod. So I'm not quite sure what to think. Or do.

[Innula Zenovka]

It's dificult to say without seeing the instructions that came with the product, but if an affiliate vendor prompted me to update it, I would start clicking it to see if I could find a dialog option to update the product.    That would send a message to the product's main server and prompt it to send me a copy of the latest version.

If that didn't work I would contract the creator and ask for his or her advice.

[Khaya Leistone]

Thank you. I did try to update it. It said it couldn't because the object was no-mod. I ended up deleting the product because I'd rather be safe than sorry and haven't heard back from the creator. Thanks again for your help!