5 simple habits of successful Strainly users

Strainly is a community. Community implies looking after each other, and doing what we can to keep us and other members away from bad experiences. We do everything we can to keep Strainly safe and are successful so far. However, you also have a role to play in ensuring that Strainly remains a safe place for everyone. 

First, let’s cover the 3 main ways of interacting with each other on Strainly:

• Public comments at the bottom of each listing
• Contact via private messages using the grey “Contact” button under member’s name if you simply want to ask preliminary questions (see below screenshot)
• Request after selecting the needed quantity if you actually need the offered cultivar (see below screenshot)

Now that you are familiar with the different interaction types offered by Strainly, here are 5 simple rules that should keep you away from bad experiences:

1. Always pay attention to the status displayed at the top of the conversation within your Inbox. When you send a request to someone, the default conversation status is “Offered”, meaning your request is pending decision from the other member. If you can read “Waiting for [Member_Name] to accept your offer. As soon as [Member_Name] accepts, your transaction will be completed“, YOU SHOULD NOT SEND ANY MONEY, as you won’t be able to leave any feedback to the provider of the seeds/clones/pollen later on. Plus, it shows that members did not consent to complete any transaction, making any assessment of the situation a lot more complicated. Any Request that has not been “Accepted” by the provider, remains a Conversation and does not allow to leave any feedback to each other.

2. Before sending any money or engaging in any type of transaction, always make sure that the other party ACCEPTED your request.

3. Because we make explicit consent of both members necessary to move forward, your request may also be REJECTED. In that case you would see the status “Rejected” at the top of the conversation.

If you eventually agree to complete transaction (provider changed her/his mind), make sure to initiate a new request, since any rejected request won’t allow you to leave feedback later on.

4. Wait to see the status “Accepted” before sending anything to the other member. Avoid carrying on conversations outside of Strainly. Don’t follow someone asking you to communicate directly via emails or Facebook or Instagram. If something wrong happens, we won’t be able to support you for conversations occurring outside of Strainly. If for whatever reason, you feel more comfortable communicating outside of Strainly, make sure that your request was accepted (see #2) before doing so, as you would at least be able to leave a feedback to the other member later on.

5. Always wait to receive your shipment before leaving feedback to the other member.

By following these simple rules, you drastically reduce the chances of being scammed by someone. Second, you allow us to identify and block a member representing a risk for the community.

Strainly is entirely free, so there is hardly any benefit from going around the workflow we’ve put in place to protect you. We let you assess which communication means you are most comfortable with, reminding you nevertheless, that the traditional social networks and popular email providers do not offer any better privacy than Strainly… as you probably already know.

Thanks for contributing to making Strainly a safer place!