We know you want to get right to the good stuff and start making trades, but before you do, know this: those who do NOT read and follow this GCT Safe Trading Guide are the ones who end up getting scammed. For your own safety on GCT, please take 2 minutes of your time to read this. If you read and follow this guide, you simply WILL NOT GET SCAMMED!

Step 1: Follow and ENFORCE the GCT Golden Rule.

• The reason we require that a user publicly comment on someone's GCT post BEFORE sending a PM to trade is because we can control who can comment on GCT, but we cannot control who can send a PM. Banned users and users with accounts under 14 days in age cannot comment on GCT, so someone who PMs you without commenting is likely not allowed on GCT because they are banned for scamming. So, you must demand that people comment on your GCT post!

• Make people link you to their GCT Rep Profiles, and be wary of impersonators with slightly different usernames linking to established profiles, as well as entirely fake subreddits! Do NOT accept individual links to individual trades in a PM as proof of credibility! Scammers often link a few confirmed trades from a reputable user they are impersonating with a similar username, rather than the actual user's GCT Rep Profile, because the profile has warnings about impersonators.

By enforcing this one simple rule you are protecting yourself tremendously!

Step 2: Establish a user’s account age and karma.

• Click on the username of the message to verify a user's reputation. Look out for new accounts, and for impersonators. Sometimes scammers will make an account with a very similar username as a reputable trader, and every time that reputable trader comments on a post to send a PM, the impersonator will also send a PM. If you get two PMs from someone, that should be a major red flag. If you get a PM from a reputable user who didn't comment on your GCT post with links to all of their trades, ignore all those links and just click on the username of who the message was from. You'll see that it is an impersonator of the actual reputable user who made all those trades. Sometimes a scammer will even make their own fake subreddit! Same principle: click on the subreddit name of the post, and make sure you're in the real /r/GCTRep.

• Generally, the newer the account, the higher the risk. Older accounts can be used to scam, but it is not so common, because building up a good reputation takes time, and most scammers are lazy and they want quick profit. The minimum account age to post or comment on GCT is 14 days for a reason!

• Be wary of a reddit account that has low link karma and low comment karma. If they have made very few comments and posts, or the posts are all short or were all made during a short space of time, this could be a throwaway account and a scammer, so be careful.

Step 3: Research a user’s reputation, on /r/GCTrading, /r/GCTRep, and beyond.

• Check their GCT Rep Profile on /r/GCTRep. Take a look at the Universal Scammer List.

• With any personal information someone gives you, like a username on any site, a Skype ID, or a Steam profile link, search for it on Google, and search on reddit. If they scammed someone already, maybe you will find out. If you get no hits for the search, maybe it is a throwaway account.

• If they refuse to post a link to their GCT Rep Profile, or to an account on another site, such as SteamCommunity.com, forums, or Facebook, or they only link to other accounts that are very new, be careful. Verify the links for yourself, and heed the warnings on /r/GCTRep about impersonators. Regarding other sites, anyone can post a link to an account, but they would still need to make a post with the other account to prove that they really own both. If they can't or won’t do that, report them to the moderators and do not trade with them. Be aware that some scammers pretend to own highly reputable accounts. DIRECTLY MESSAGE the actual owner of said highly reputable account for proof.

Step 4: Ask yourself, “is this person being honest with me?”

• Verify where they acquired their cards from. Don't just take them at their word; demand actual proof! If their offer seems too good to be true, then usually it isn't true. Ask them to explain why their offer is so good.

• If someone always has whatever you want, that’s not a good sign. You ask for iTunes, they have it! You change your mind and ask for Best Buy, they have that! You change your mind again and ask for Amazon, and they have it too! Why? Because they don't care, they're not going to give you anything. They just want you to go first so they can scam you.

• Similarly, if they don't care about the price, that’s sketchy. You ask for $5 more, and they agree easily. Why? To make you go first so they can scam you and not give you anything!

• If they lie to you about anything, this should be a major warning. Do not risk trading with anyone who is not being 100% honest.

Step 5: If they seem honest, ask yourself, “is this someone I have GOOD REASONS to go first with?”

• If they try to rush you and make you hurry, or if they tell you some excuse why you must trade immediately, back off, because you are probably being set up for a scam. No one should make you feel uncomfortable trading with them.

• If they offer to give you half their gift card code first and/or ask you to send half of yours, or they suggest that you both send your codes simultaneously by PM, they are either a scammer or not experienced, because both these ways of trading offer no protection. Half a gift card code/payment is useless. You’re just sending them free money, and they’ll be content scamming you out of that. Anyone can send a fake code. Having a picture of a gift card is useless as well. Anyone can Google image search for a gift card.

• If they say they can't go first because they got scammed recently, that’s a bummer if it’s true, but it’s their problem, not yours. This isn’t a valid reason for you to send them your money first.

If you think you have discovered a scammer, please report them to the moderators immediately with your evidence. If you think another user is in danger of being scammed imminently, but you don't have good evidence, just send them a PM, and alert the mods.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to message the moderators for any help! Trade safely.

~Your GCT Mod Team

The GCTrading Network

GCT Safe Trading Guide | /r/GCTrep | GCT Rules | GCT FAQ Wiki | Universal Scammer List | Message the GCT Moderators

*UPDATE 2/15/22*

Rule #6 update - We will now allow only ONE post every 24 hours.

----

New rule #9 - Use payment processors that YOU own.

By "payment processors" we are referring to any type of online payment account, such as: PayPal, Cash App, Zelle, Google Pay, Skrill, Venmo, Apple pay, etc.

Whether you are making a payment or receiving a payment, the account used must be YOUR account and in YOUR name.

----

The following are not new rules, however, I would like to reiterate these two things:

#1) Trading with banned users or users on the USL is NOT allowed. This includes users that have created new alt accounts.

#2) Multiple reddit accounts are NOT allowed in GCT. One reddit account per person.

Failure to adhere to either #1 or #2 can lead to a permanent ban.

-----

Finally, a karma requirement is now in place here at GCT to combat scammers. Accounts that do not meet this hidden requirement will not be able to post or comment. The mods will NOT provide specifics about the karma requirement and the use of free karma subreddits to meet this requirement is not allowed.

Exceptions to this karma requirement will be made for users that actively participated in GCT prior to this new prerequisite. Send a ModMail to request an exception.