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#100

This is a general statement.

Why would TSF ban or close an account?
To protect you, or to protect the TSF community which also means you! Either they are a problem member, or we believe that there is higher than normal risk in allowing an account to operate on TSF. Such reasons could include but are not limited to; past trading history on TSF, missing items from sent parcels or incorrect items sent, or what we believe to be suspicious behaviour.

Though I would like to be completely transparent I am limited (legally) on what information I can publicly share about an account and also sometimes it is also best to not post anything or everything that we are aware of if the priority is to first get the seller to finish all open orders, as we wish for members to get the items they have paid for.
Please be aware of scams in the precious metals industry, such a scam could involve selling silver at an incredibly low cost compared to other sellers in order to generate a list of buyers/victims, the seller could sell at break even or even small losses therefore undercutting every legitimate dealer until eventually scamming a large group of people out of a lot of money at the same time by 'pulling the rug' on them. Be careful when pre-paying for precious metals that the seller doesn’t have in hand.

Is a seller in the UK (where VAT should be added) selling silver at a lower price than the major dealers in Europe sell without VAT? If so, please think carefully and do your research into this seller/company before risking your capital. It is very unlikely that a smaller seller (especially one who is asking for pre-payment as they do not have the working capital) will be able to compete on price with major dealers. Major dealers have good price breaks as they are buying such large quantities direct from mints, nearly all major dealers will also have contracts in place for credit from the mints for bullion. 

Please also note this topic about risk of trading on the forum; especially with new accounts. This topic is also linked to in the QuickStart guide, which should be read before trading on the forum and is found in each applicable trading section, in the auto welcome message and also linked below.

UK QuickStart Guide
EU QuickStart Guide
USA & Canada QuickStart Guide
TSF charges no commissions on sales and our main source of revenue comes from paid accounts; Premium Memberships and Business Accounts. As such we have no vested interest in removing accounts for the sake of it and we would like as many sellers as possible. More sellers are beneficial for all forum members as ultimately it grows the forum which in turn also brings more buyers as well as more sellers, and more items listed for sale on TSF. Sellers with legitimate low cost bullion are beneficial to have on the forum.  
It wouldn’t make sense to close an account paying for a Business Account or Premium Membership to the forum per month if we believed there was no risk at all for members to keep an account open.
The other side of that we can’t just ban accounts without enough evidence that we believe warrants a ban, or because some members wish for an account to be banned. We must remain unbiased. As many longer standing members will know, we have also banned several accounts in the past which were paid members and if someone is paying or not paying has no impact on our decision to ban an account which is ultimately to protect members or the TSF community. Sometimes an account doesn’t warrant being banned yet, yet it’s still on our watch list should any further suspicious activity arise. 
Though I may seek the advise and guidance of others, ultimately I have to decide what I believe is in the best interests of TSF and ultimately of all of our members. There will no doubt be some that disagree and some that agree with each action taken, that is inevitable. However, there is no benefit for members to discuss TSF itself or our decisions and it just brings divide amongst our members who should remain as one and look out for each other. This is why we have this rule in place:
 
This is to avoid any unnecessary divide between members or between members and TSF. The forum works better when we all work together. And ultimately I hope that you trust me to grow and manage the forum as best that I can in the interests of the whole community. Which we have successfully done since 2014.
Also, please note that not every member may post publicly about their bad experiences of an account now banned, and TSF may be aware of other information also told to us in confidence. 
We strongly advise not to trade with banned accounts off of the forum, in the interest of protecting yourself. There are lots of well established sellers on the forum to buy and sell with.

 
🎁 Now to some fun: There will be an upcoming free prize draw soon to promote the forum and to celebrate our 9th birthday of TSF. Look out for this coming soon! 🎁
 

#100