‘DM Drama’ was created back in early 2016. In the 8+ years since its inception, the project has grown by leaps and bounds. Currently, a whopping 578k people follow the account on Instagram.

If you ever find yourself involved in dramatic buying or selling conversations online, you can always send the screenshots to the curator of the account. You never know, you might end up getting featured!

Your reputation is absolutely everything when it comes to your online presence. In an ideal world, only trustworthy people would be allowed to sell things on the internet. And the very act of selling would be as frictionless as possible.

However, we don’t live in an ideal world. No matter how many rating systems and layers of verification you introduce, you can’t fully avoid wannabe scammers… or just plain oddballs who don’t quite get social cues.

If you’re selling something, you probably want to create an aura of professionalism. You want your potential customers to instantly trust you. First impressions really do matter. What your profile photo looks like, how you introduce yourself in your bio, how you describe the items you’re selling—all of this instantly draws people in or pushes them away.

If the item you’re selling is rare and in demand, you’ll still get a lot of potential buyers, sure. But if you’re not their only option, the odds are that the customers will opt for the most reliable-looking salespeople with good ratings (and proper grammar!).

Furthermore, how you communicate with your clients is absolutely paramount. You want to be crystal clear, to the point, and professional. You don’t want there to be any ambiguity about what you’re selling, how much it costs, how you’ll be delivering the item, and when the buyer can expect to get it.

Naturally, not every buyer will have gotten an A+ in reading comprehension. You will—almost inevitably—end up repeating the same information that you’ve clearly written out elsewhere. So, a dash of patience is always a good thing to have.

When communicating with a buyer or seller via direct messages, try to be concise and polite. And it bodes repeating: watch your grammar, style, and punctuation.

Writing errors are inevitable, no matter how skilled a professional you are (everyone makes mistakes). However, their frequency hints at your character as a person.

Someone who is deliberate with their writing and takes the time to edit and proofread their messages fundamentally feels more trustworthy than someone who sends you incomprehensible gibberish.

In this day and age, with so many free grammar check programs easily available to the wider public, it feels silly to leave major mistakes in your texts. The speed of your response is a virtue, sure. But an even bigger one is sending a direct message that is relevant and easily understood.

Alas, it’s likely that if you constantly buy or sell things online, someone will try to scam you at some point. Nobody is immune to getting bamboozled (fancy degrees don’t protect you) because anyone can find themselves in a moment of vulnerability.

The best defense against scams is to learn to stay calm under pressure, ask for other people’s advice, and familiarize yourself with some of the most common and newest scams out there.

Scams are always evolving, changing, and adapting. Arguably, they’ll never go away, so long as there are people out there hoping to make a quick buck at other folks’ expense. Scammers typically try to create a sense of urgency to get you to lower your guard.

Usually, if your gut tells you that a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. And in this day and age, there’s not much urgency to be found when it comes to buying things. Sales happen so frequently that you only need a tiny bit of patience for the next one. Meanwhile, unless the item is a rare collectible, if the thing is currently out of stock, just wait a while: don’t buy it for a huge price when the supply is low.

"The more people who are scam aware, the fewer income streams scammers will have. You're never going to stop a scammer from being a scammer, but you can help people avoid becoming victims by educating them,” one of the moderators of the popular r/Scams online community told Bored Panda during an earlier interview.

"If you have been contacted by someone and you're suspicious, searching for unique-sounding phrases they use will show if the script has been used publicly before.”

Meanwhile, Google is a huge asset for you. You can use it to check a seller or business’s online reviews and its location (if it lists an address).

Have you ever had any weird online conversations with buyers or sellers, dear Pandas? What’s the most bizarre interaction you’ve had with them?

How often do you buy or sell things on the internet? What do you do to avoid scammers? If you have a spare moment, share your thoughts in the comments.