BlackHatWorld.com don't deny that their forum is littered with unscrupulous individuals and they work hard deleting hundreds of threads a day, however, they also claim they thoroughly vet "approved" sellers and you should only ever buy their too good to be true services on their forum.
Services such as "make $3000 dollars per month" with with a $35 micro niche website or "get on the first page of Google" with a super diverse link building package.
Though BlackHatWorld.com are superconfident there approve sellers and their services are genuine, they do advise caution when buying anything on their forum with their very own "Avoid being Scammed - Basic Pointers for YOUR security".
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/avoid-being-scammed-basic-pointers-for-your-security.306301/
Sensible move, but do BlackHatWorld.com really care about their members being fleeced out of their hard earned money? I'll say highly unlikely.
When some nitwit is allowed to boldly claim you can make up to $5000, with one of their micro niche website packages, or get your website on the first page of any search engine for less than the price of a bottle of inexpensive wine, it doesn't do a lot for BlackHatWorld.com credibility, let alone their human vetting process.
One service I'm very familiar with is the so-called "micro niche" package, where an alleged "expert" will build you a small micro niche website that focuses on a low competitive subject, which providing you do a little bit of SEO and maybe add a couple of new articles now and again, you should should see a handsome return on your small investment.
The truth is these micro niche website packages are complete crap, that consist of barely readable spun articles which have been scraped from somebody's website or an article directory. Not only that the contents is superthin and usually consists of 2 to 5 pages with an average word count of 500 to 1000 words.
Link building packages are even worse. These sellers will claim that they will "carefully" place (or is that spam) your link on credible dofollow websites, or add it to their diverse list of private blog networks.
Buying links or trying to artificially inflate your website ranking in Google or Bing is a complete no-go. There's no easy way to rank your website in a search engine these days, but trying to get their using black hat tactics is just begging for a penalty, or even a complete de-index.
It's in both Google's and Bing's terms and conditions. If you try to artificially increase your site ranking, by buying links or by using other underhand methods, your site will face the consequences.
Anyway, let's look at BlackHatWorld.com laughable lists of dos and don'ts when buying on their forum (there's 14 of them), and question do they really help or protect buyers?
BlackHatWorld.com advice is in bold and numbered 1 to 14, and underneath is my response.
Okay, let's go.
1. If a user doesn't have a BST/Services thread approved by a moderator - don't buy.
My response: To be honest, I wouldn't buy from an "approved" seller, especially when they can just pull a magical moneymaking figure out of their ass and even post fake AdSense screenshots which, in one case the moderator approved of.
2. Don't buy from anyone who started off by saying 'PM me for details', there is a reason they don't want to make their details public.
My response: Really? When I've inquire about a service, it was always done via PM and the seller never disclosed any meaningful info via their sales page, nor did they ever publicly engage with people asking questions. Maybe BlackHatWorld.com mean do not engage in a private conversation outside of their forum. Either way, does it make any difference?
3. If something seems too good to be true - it is.
My response: Yes, that's an obvious one. However, BlackHatWorld.com don't seem to think that people selling services for as little as $50, with the bold claim you can make up to $5000 isn't "too good to be true".
4. Exercise extreme caution when clicking on signature links where the poster doesn't have an approved BST.
My response: I would personally exercise caution when buying from anybody on BlackHatWorld.com whether they've been "approved" or not.
5. Always make sure your payment method can be reversed if the service/product provider flakes. Don't send as a PayPal personal payment, don't western union.
My response: I fully agree on BlackHatWorld.com with this one. It's just a shame their first 4 questions to asked/consider were so laughable.
6. Document and store ALL communications, including chat/IM logs.
My response: Sensible advice again. Unfortunately, as I've already documented sellers who sell "too good to be true" services are often very evasive, if not completely silent when you start questioning them. Oh, and then there's the BlackHatWorld.com moderators, who happily deleted any question that doubt the service being sold.
7. Always Google for the sellers e-mail address and any other information, they may have scammed other forums.
My response: Ah, yes. While investigating the approved longtime BlackHatWorld.com seller, Luhasr, I discovered a history of poor/scam services. Perhaps BlackHatWorld.com should do the same before approving sellers.
8. Stay away from threads/pm's/signatures that promote networks, do a search and due diligence before working with any network.
My response: Okay, but a much better option would be for BlackHatWorld.com to ban these services from their forum altogether. Just a thought.
9. Check sellers other posts and threads, check have others complained, and how previous customers have rated and reviewed them.
My response: Well, I complained that the BlackHatWorld seller (luhasr) was using a fake AdSense screenshot to promote his service, and conclusively proved it to the brain-dead moderator "I know SEO", yet he dismissed all my concerns and the service is still being promoted with the fake AdSense screenshot today. Oh, and I was only able to prove the screenshot was fake after several attempts because of the extreme censorship on BlackHatWorld.com.
So I'm guessing that BlackHatWorld.com staff expects you to read every single page on the sellers thread, digests the bad reviews, then make a decision before you buy. That's a bad deal. BlackHatWorld.com moderator should be dealing with poor sellers accordingly, especially when they been informed they are misleading or blatantly scamming buyers, just like I did.
10. Even if the user has an approved BST/Service thread, ensure that you check them out fully, sellers can provide excellent review copies and then become flaky.
My response: Okay, but how can you check out sellers fully if they become evasive, or worse, the BlackHatWorld.com moderators delete your questions? Again, poor brain-dead advice.
11. Always get full contact information - don't do your business via PM. It's too easy for internet users to drop off the board when things go pear shaped.
My response: Again, stupid advice. Sellers always reply to you via PM rather than publicly engage with you. None of them provide their "full" contact details, but instead use anonymous free email accounts. In some cases sellers may have a website, but most of them live off the grid.
12. Be VERY paranoid regarding dropshipping, double check all of the above points when considering a product seller.
My response: Again, if dropshipping is synonymous with scammers then just don't allow it on your forum.
13. Avoid any JV's where the users require you pay before you receive your own payment. Consider the value of your own accounts, and the legality, and tax implications of letting someone send traffic to your accounts.
My response: JV stands for joint ventures. Don't know much about them, but it's always iffy to strike a deal with a complete stranger. Therefore, why don't BlackHatWorld.com just completely ban it from their forum.
14. Just because someone has status, a high post count, or a good reputation, does not guarantee that they will not turn rogue or resort to desperate measures, apply the above regardless of status on BHW.
My response: This again brings me onto the BlackHatWorld.com seller Luhasr, who, despite selling on BlackHatWorld.com since 2011 and having a dubious positive reputation clearly resorted to using fake AdSense screenshots to sell his micro niche website package. Despite this, BlackHatWorld.com clearly valued his monthly or yearly fee over the protection of buyers.
Conclusion
BlackHatWorld.com advice of not getting scammed on their forum is as laughable as many of the services that are sold on their. Though BlackHatWorld.com can't do an FBI style of vetting, they can at least prevent sellers from selling services that are simply too good to be true, or can cause terminal damage to websites, but they don't.
The BlackHatWorld.com owner and moderators basically expect interested buyers to thoroughly do their homework before they buy, however, this is often difficult because of the extreme censorship that I've already documented in previous posts.
Even when you raise concerns that a seller is misleading or fraudulently scamming people into buying their service, the BlackHatWorld.com moderators seem very reluctant to take any action, especially when that seller is a reliable paying member.
There's no eBay style system when a seller receives X amount of bad reviews that the mods/owner steps in bans the seller from the site. The only evidence I've seen is when a seller starts blatantly ripping off a high number people, by not delivering the promise product. As far as I can tell the moderators do not perform monthly or even yearly reviews of the service being sold. It's up to unfortunate customers to inform the forum that the service they bought isn't as described, or is a blatant scam.
Not everything on BlackHatWorld.com is a dud or a scam, but the vast majority of those who claim you can make hundreds/thousands with their service, or can get your website on the front page of Google almost certainly are.
BlackHatWorld.com has a long and shady history and it will undoubtably continue for many years to come. Remember this is a forum requires a payment from sellers to sell their services, so it's always in their interest to protect them, rather than the buyer.
BlackHatWorld.com is not and probably will never be a safe place to do business, but if you do just remember to pay by PayPal as you then always have the option to make a chargeback, if the service turns out to be a dud. But be cautious, and get as much info as possible before you buy from the seller, ideally a small contract or some basic terms and conditions of the service you are buying, unless the seller could just say to PayPal, hey, I didn't promise them they could make money with my service or it would be free of spelling or grammar mistakes. They bought it as a long-term investment with the understanding that they need to do X amount of work to make it a success, and so on.
