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HOW TO USE TOUTLESS! PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING.

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toast
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HOW TO USE TOUTLESS! PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING.

Post by toast » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:25 am

What is Toutless?
Toutless is a webforum designed to help people get in contact with others interested in buying or selling tickets for events at no more than the original face value.

The below section is not a replacement for the requirement of reading the rules and disclaimers of the site which can be found here. The below instructions explain how Toutless differs in operation from other forums. If you are completely unfamiliar with Internet forums of this style our forum software has its own support page here which we'd recommend you begin with.

Here are some common FAQs: I can't see my post?
If you have just joined the site and tried to post you will not be able to see your first post until one of the mods gets to check it out. Depending on the time of day this usually takes an hour or two but is usually less. After your first post is OKed the rest of your posts will be posted automatically. Note: You can still PM other uses in response to their listings about buying or selling tickets without any delay.

My PMs are not sending?
PMs will remain in your Outbox until such time as the user you are sending to logs into the site. Once they have read the PM it will appear in your Sent Items.

How do I post?
The "New topic" or "Post reply" button is on the top and bottom of a forum on the left. It is only visible if logged in. Please read the rest of this post for more detailed instructions.

How does Toutless work?
The mission for Toutless is to get someone with a ticket in touch with someone who wants a ticket. This is done by making your request publicly via the forum and then contacting or being contacted by someone privately. Once you've established contact with someone the details of how to exchange money and the tickets are left up to you to arrange. Our advice is to arrange a meeting in a safe public place to do this exchange and to be aware of our Advice for Using Toutless Safely.

How do I use Toutless?
Firstly choose the appropriate section of the site: When you look in a subforum you will see a listing of event names with dates and venues. Each specific event will have one topic (sometimes called a thread). Clicking will bring you into the topic for that event. Upcoming events and popular events will be towards the top of the forum. There is a search feature in the top left to help find events or you can use your browser to search (usually control+F or cmd+F) as most events are on the one page. If you can not find the event you are interested in go to "If the event you want is not listed." section.

Once in an event topic check if someone has a ticket listed you want or wants a ticket you have. On the forum we ask people to identify what they are trying to do visually using the tags and smilies below:
Image:forsale: = If you've one or more tickets to sell
Image:wanted: = If you want one or more tickets.
Image:sold: = If you had a ticket but have sold it.
Image :reqfill: = If you needed a ticket but you have got it.
Image:swap: = If you've a ticket you wish to exchange for another particular ticket.

Posts are sorted starting with the earliest first. Some posts may be several months old and will have long been answered so if you are stuck for time and there are a lot of posts you may be quicker skipping to the last few pages. Keep in mind that most activity for events will occur in the week leading up to the event and popular events can have over 1000 posts.

How to contact someone to arrange to buy/sell tickets privately.
If you have found someone who has a listing you think can help you or a request that you can help them with you can contact them with the PM button at the top right of their post. If you see three dots tap these to display the PM icon. You only get this option if logged in. Any information you send here will only be available between you and the user you are contacting. Providing as much information as can be useful to them is recommended.
It is also recommended after you have PMmed someone to let other people know you have done this. To do this click on the quotes " button and add the texted "contacted" or "PMmed" or similar.
PMming someone does not guarantee you a deal. It is up to the user to decide to deal with you or someone else depending on what is most feasible for them.
Your PM will appear to remain in your Outbox until such time as the user it is for logs into the site. Once they have read the PM it will appear in your Sent Items.
You will be emailed when a reply to your PM is sent and you can read it by click on the "[X] new messages" link under the site logo.

How to post a wanted or for sale request in an existing topic.
If there isn't anyone at this time that wants to buy your tickets or the tickets you want are not for sale add a post within an existing topic by clicking on the Post Reply button at the bottom left of the page.

In all public posts:
  • Do NOT include personal contact information such as Phone numbers, email addresses, or social media contact details.
  • Do NOT include external links to auctions or other ticket sites
  • Do NOT include pictures of the tickets
If Selling DO:
  • Include the number of tickets you are selling.
  • Include where they are situated if relevant (seating / standing)
  • Include the price they cost and the price you are selling if lower (we do not allow sales for higher!)
  • Add a :forsale: "Post Icon" to your post by clicking on it at the top.
If Buying DO:
  • Include the number of tickets you need.
  • Include if you only want certain types (seating / standing)
  • Add a :wanted: "Post Icon" to your post by clicking on it at the top.
If Swapping DO:
  • Use the specific Swap subforum.
  • Include the number of tickets you wish to swap
  • Include what you have and what you need (seating for standing / Friday for Saturday)
  • Add a :swap: "Post Icon" to your post by clicking on it at the top.
If you want you can click on the spanner icon at the top and bottom left hand of the screen and select "Subscribe Topic". This will tell you if there have been anymore replies since your last visit by emailing you to alert you.

How to post a wanted or for sale request for an event without a topic.
If an event hasn't an existing topic click on the New Topic button at the bottom left of the event listing page. Please make sure the event does not already exist using the search feature before doing this. If there is more than one topic for an event we'll manually combine them so there is no advantage of creating a new one when one exists but it does cause work for us and can confuse other users.

When creating a new topic the subject format should be:

Event name | Date | Venue

The | separator is typed by holding shift and pressing the \ key (beside Z on standard English keyboards, occasionally beside 1 or 0 or above return on others). You can just copy and paste the line above to use as a template or if you can't get it exact don't worry we'll edit it to match. If you can't fit all the information fit as much as you can but try include the date and venue in your post text so we know what event you're talking about.

Keep in mind a new topic is not just for your tickets but for all ticket requests and sales for the event so do not include information such as how many tickets you are selling or for how much in the Subject line. Put this information in the text of your post. Also adding the word "tickets" to a subject is redundant as thats all that is ever going to be sold or listed there. Choose the appropriate icon :forsale: , :swap: or :wanted: to describe your post. The topic tag is occasionally changed by us as a rough guide to ticket availability within the topic but we will add a tag to your post to reflect what your last tag was set as.

Good Subject Format:
:forsale: Bill Bailey | 12th-19th Dec 2009 | Olympia
:wanted: Depeche Mode | 10th Dec 2009 | O2 Dublin

Bad Subject Format:
2 tickets for Bill Bailey Olympia Dublin €60!!!
LOOKING FOR TIX FOR DEPECHE MODE OMFGWTFBBQ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All post content should follow the guidelines in the How to post a wanted or for sale request in an existing topic. section.

How to remove existing listings or requests for tickets.
Use the Pencil button on your listing to update the information. To save time you can simply hit the appropriate icon be it :sold: or :reqfill: and hit submit. This should prevent people contacting you about information that is outdated.

What can I do if no one is buying my tickets?
On occasion there are too many tickets available for an event. This is very true of the larger capacity events in venues of 10k upwards. If it is getting close to the event and there are many other people looking for buyers it may be advisable to offer a discount. To prevent pressure from buyers to reduce prices we do not allow them post offers in the topics or to request discounts openily. It is up to sellers to make the decision to drop prices. If you wish you can add that people may contact you privately with offers via PM. Buyers are encouraged not to take advantage of situations where there are many tickets available by asking for ridiculous price drops. As a seller feel free to report anyone who appears to be doing this to you and we will investigate.

What can I do if no one is selling tickets?
It is possible for extremely popular events with small amounts of tickets that there will be none for sale. It is recommended to keep an eye on the site on the week coming up to the event as this is when the majority of business is done. We will also post any information we have of ticket resales as soon as we hear about them on the site. At no time is offering anything other than face value allowed to encourage people to sell you tickets. This includes offering swaps of uneven value. If you have a rare ticket and wish to swap only for another rare ticket or pair it with less popular tickets this is allowed but any difference in price must be made up with cash.

I only want to buy tickets at a certain (lower) price.
It is assumed all wanted requests are for tickets at the face value. We do not allow wanted requests for higher due to our anti-touting nature. However we also do not allow wanted requests to be posted with offers of lower than face value. Given we are asking people selling tickets to charge no more than face value when tickets are rare this is to protect sellers from a hostile bargain hunting environment were people will just post "arm-chancing" lowball offers when events have lots of tickets available. However we do allow sellers to list tickets at less than face value (or free) or to ask people to privately send them lower offers if they so wish. This gives sellers an opportunity to make their tickets more attractive than officially sold tickets for events with lots of ticket availability and hopefully redeem some of the money they spent. As a buyer feel free to contact sellers in this situation but attempting to negotiate downwards or pitch two sellers against each other in a downward negotiation is against the spirit of the site and can be reported by sellers.

I think someone is trying to scam me.
All information about scams is in the post below.

User avatar
toast
Site Founder
Site Founder
Posts: 2003
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:09 am

FAQ: HOW TO USE THE TICKETS FORUM!

Post by toast » Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:52 pm

Advice for Using Toutless Safely.

Scams: A warning.
As per our disclaimer we do not verify the existence or legitimacy of any items offered for trade on the site. The below information has been provided in good faith to try and help people recognise some of the scams that have been ran in the past. There may be more in the future and there may be more right now that we are unaware of. The information we provide here is based on what we know at time of writing but it may change or may be incorrect.

The best method to avoid being scammed is to meet in person in safe, familiar surroundings and request ID be brought to the meeting and record this information.
If you are unable to meet in person attempt to find someone who you trust to meet in person on your behalf.


In addition it is advised to be extra careful buying from members of the site who have just joined. Clicking on a users name will show their profile which contains their join date. While there is no guarantee that someone is genuine just because they've used the site before it does mean we've not received any complaints about them. It is worth also being wary of people who also attempt to move conversation off the forum very quickly.. by looking for a phone number or IM in their first communication with you.

At anytime if you feel you have been scammed or someone maybe attempting to scam you please let us know by using the PM buttons on this page AND mailing info@toutless.com.
We will lock any suspected scammers accounts to prevent others from falling into the same trap as soon as is possible.

Please do not make accusations in public on the board.


Non delivery scams - taking the payment or the ticket and not providing the other half of the deal.
These involve no form of meeting and are conducted completely over the Internet using remote payment and a promise of posting the ticket.

Money is requested to be sent through either a money transfer service (see below), Paypal or direct into bank accounts. NONE of these methods provide anything other than delivery of money and will not confirm dispatching of items. While legitimate users may be forced to use these methods to sell/buy tickets we have no way of determining who is legitimate or not.

Money transfer services such as the below seem to be preferred by scammers over Paypal/Bank accounts as they require no or limited verification or identification to setup.
This is NOT a complete list but are ones used in the past:
  • William Hill (toutless.com advisory - this service is often used by scammers proceed with caution)
  • Money Gram (toutless.com advisory - this service is often used by scammers proceed with caution)
  • Western Union - (toutless.com advisory - this service is often used by scammers proceed with caution)
  • ukash (toutless.com advisory - this service is often used by scammers proceed with caution)
  • skrill (toutless.com advisory - this service is often used by scammers proceed with caution)
  • paysafe (toutless.com advisory - this service is often used by scammers proceed with caution)
Paypal buyer protection is NOT an offer of automatic guarantee. Only transactions that follow the terms and conditions are covered. As this is a third party we'd advise you check with their support before accepting anyone's claim that using them will provide protection. While Paypal accounts are usually verified you would require a court order to obtain additional user information from Paypal in the instance of an issue.

Bank accounts also suffer from the same problem in that you will require legal action to obtain user information from the bank based on an account number.

If a person claims that a method of payment is guaranteed, traceable, safe or otherwise NEVER take their word for it and always check with the company they are claiming that provides a guarantee if this is the case. In our experience the only type of service that will guarantee anything other than the delivery of money are Escrow services which usually charged a significant premium for their services.
If your deal relies on trust to complete a part of the transaction it can be abused.


Fake ticket scams - fake, cancelled or reprinted tickets
The warnings below apply to ticketfast, etickets and other electronic tickets which are printed by the buyer AS WELL AS regular tickets. While it is easier for electronic tickets to be reprinted multiple times this doesn't make tickets printed by the organiser completely safe and we suggest the same level of caution for both. Where available we recommend using the ticket vendors transfer system for etickets.

These scams work by providing a legitimate looking ticket only for it to turn out to be fake on the day of the event. While its possible to happen to non barcoded tickets usually this is an issue with barcoded tickets. Most events use barcodes on the tickets which will be scanned at the event for authenticity purposes. Tickets with barcodes MAY have been cancelled. As they are the original tickets printed by a ticket agent they will look legitimate, however on presenting them at the event they will be scanned to check if they are valid. Tickets that have been reported missing,stolen or bought with credit cards reported missing or stolen can be cancelled and you may end up with a dud ticket. Similarly if your ticket is reprinted and resold and the barcode has already been scanned in you will be refused admission.

There is no way of being 100% sure you have not got a cancelled/reprinted ticket. However here are a few steps to reduce the risk of being scammed:
  • Tickets bought with a credit card will have the name of the person who bought them on them. Check to make sure the person selling you the ticket is the person whose name is on it by asking for ID or to see the credit card used to purchase them.
  • Request the credit card receipt which will contain the address of the person who bought them if they were delivered.
  • If possible arrange to meet at the event so you will know if the ticket is good relatively soon after buying it.
  • Request people bring along something like a phone bill which will have phone number, address and name on them. Make a note of this information.
Do not be embarrassed to ask for this information and be wary of people who are not willing to give it. It is better to be cautious rather than arrive at the event and have a ticket that is not valid.

Scams that involve meeting in person
Several people were scammed by a user who would meet them in person but instead of handing over tickets would email them a password protected file on receiving payment that allegedly contained the digital tickets. As this file was in a compressed format most people wouldn't have an app for on their phones they were not able to verify the tickets at the time. It would later emerge the file was unopenable and contained no tickets.

While we still believe meeting people is the safest way of doing a transaction it is still necessary to request ID, confirm the tickets exist and come from the person who is selling them and record this information in order to be as safe as possible.




We cannot be held responsible if you fall victim of a scam however fraud is a serious crime and we will cooperate with Gardai in helping bring scammers to justice.
For your own safety NEVER post contact information with your listings and only use the PM feature to send or receive it as we can then associate people with a username and IP address in case of any incidents.

Due to the requirements of the Data Protection Act we can only legally release private user information to the Gardai if they request it through official channels and never to other users.

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