I traded with him directly through his website Lestrades for LEST (the sites currency / IOU token (the latter as the site calls it itself)). Following a dispute, he banned my account and confiscated my remaining balance of $0.67 USD in LEST, redistributing it to a random user instead of letting me trade or withdraw it:
Ban notice: https://lestrades.com/official/935/banned-user-list/msg38024/#msg38024
Imgur backup: https://imgur.com/a/IWyjG33
Since part of my LEST balance was obtained through direct trades with him, seizing my remaining balance without compensation resulted in a loss of funds from our trades. Because of the ban, I no longer have access to my on-site trade history, but I can provide private chat logs to ST mods upon request (logs contain personal info, so I prefer not to share them publicly).
I am leaving this review so other traders are aware that site balances can be seized without compensation.
Side note: The public ban reason contains severe misconstructions and untrue statements. In private chats, he admitted to simply losing patience and to not even having read the full chat log himself, primarily getting his POV on the situation through a council member, that had a severely biased opinion of me, probably because of moderator burnout.
EDIT / Response 1: I was not given time before the ban to trade off my balance and I was also not told to trade off my LEST beforehand, thats flat out wrong!
You did not receive this review for maintaining a trading website, you got it for being an abusive person and scamming me out of my LEST balance (as you also call it, an IOU token). Live with the results of your actions or dont treat people badly in the first place, my review left out plenty of stuff that I couldve included about how you run your site and abuse people - but I mainly left it out, because it is not related to the valid negative review of your trading behavior.
He is actively looking for people to vote for him now and using his authority over his trading site to get people to vote for him, I hope that the people that vote on this wont let his authority cloud their judgements, thank you for your consideration.
EDIT / Response 2:
"yes you were given time."
I was not given time, a council member put me into probation, a status I tried to actively contest, as it was very dubious and while I and one of your council members had a productive conversation you stepped in and ruined it and ended it. Then proceeded to being toxic on Steam and the time between you telling me that you will ban me and Im getting banned were at maximum minutes. Quit with the lies and misconstructions.
"Even then, SIX SEVEN cents on your account. Just the time I spent cleaning up after your mess is worth a hundred times that."
You put yourself into that misery by continueing to pile on and be toxic - I merely reacted to your and other peoples toxicity, I do not feel responsible for the time you spent on dealing with it, as its mostly self-inflicted.
You and other council members abusing me and you later banning me (and thereby scamming me since some of that IOU was obtained through a trade with you) is primarily a powertrip, face the music of your actions: A negative review for you scamming and abusing me, I dont care if its just 0,67 $.
"You left such a trail of hate-filled messages that it was a relief just to spend ONE day without your trolling shite."
I am speechless at so much hypocrisy and nonsensical misconstructions.
"The terms of service specifically say not to use them as retaliatory votes, only if you got scammed."
This is not retaliatory, this is me documentating your behavior of banning people and thereby scamming them out of their LEST (IOU token / currency) and abusing them.
"YOU sharked and scammed others, and you dare to complain about 67 cents that another user will get to use properly."
I did not shark anyone and didnt scam anyone, feel free to provide any evidence for me doing so.
For me, its rather telling that you on your Discord server asked your users to vote for you and then apparently people started using their "army" to vote for you. A disgrace: https://imgur.com/a/0yELVEh
EDIT / Response 3:
Won't bother to read your novel (again)
oof. Why engage with it in the first place if you arent interested in what the other party has to say?
My claims are substantiated and I can post the full logs of the breakdown here if you want that to happen, but I dont feel like it has an awful lot to do with the merit of this negative review of your trading behavior, as you taking away money / IOU token from me and not giving me the chance to use it before banning me is completely factual. Ontop of that the reason for said ban is very dubious and almost entirely rooted in your personal apparent inability to handle moderation in a decent manner.
But... Oh, my "behavior of banning people" -- you mean my behavior of ensuring my users don't have any reasons to feel like I'm not reactive to scammers like you sending them predatory offers?
As Ive said, I am not a scammer and I asked you to provide evidence for that. There is no such evidence, because I didnt scam anyone. Neither did I shark anyone. The only thing that was outside of guidelines was a spree of 3 trades within 10 minutes that were sent out in frustration for a shovelware game (https://gg.deals/game/trivia-vault-1980-s-trivia-2/) that was offered in 2018 for between 1,4 and 4 cents, for which I offered between 10 and 20 cents of LEST.
These games are frequently offered for shovelware prices even today so the GG.deals value of over 10 bucks is just nonsense, which is why I had sent those trade offers and I tried making that clear in what I told the recipients of those trade offers.
That is the only thing that I did that was against guidelines, as the trade offer technically was outside of ratio, as the GGD value portrayed the games as much more valuable than it is in reality. I frequently admitted to that in the thread about my probation and said i wouldnt do it again, even though it was never with ill intentions or wouldve had ill outcomes, it was just technically against the guidelines.
That however was not the reason for my ban. You banned me, because I didnt tolerate you abusing me and derailing the conversation in the probation thread and therefore argued against you, which made you feel exhausted. Frankly I dont care about the ban anymore, but I do care about the fact that this review is kept up as it me claiming that you took away my money / IOU token for reasons that are definitely not scamming or sharking is completely factual and your blatant attempts of using your authority over your userbase hopefully wont change that.
Of course, this website allows you to put out your own "view", even if it's a complete lie.
Point out the lies then, bring forward evidence. I dont see anything. I did not lie.
I literally make zero money off the website and it's a daily chore to ensure it works and it makes people happy. Thankfully, for every single shitty scammer like you, there are 200 honest and happy users. I think of them first. Now get off our lawn.
You do make money off of the website, as you are taking a monthly payment in the form of LEST / IOU token and you are also not paying the hosting fees, as that is done by someone else. I dont have a problem with that, but i dont see how its at all relevant to this review.
Once more though, plenty of people are dissatisfied with how you are handling things, but you rather ban them or silence them with other means and in my case also take away their money / IOU token. That is valid for me to document here, especially since some of that money was gotten in a trade with you.
I shouldn't be getting these negative reviews just for the sake of owning and maintaining a trading website. People sending retaliatory negative votes are just bullying me for complying with the community's request to ban them.
This guy is pretending I 'stole' his funds when he was told ahead of time to spend it before his ban, and he was left with a total of 67 cents (!) that I redistributed to a random active user on the site. The process was transparent, public and fair.
EDIT for his edit: yes you were given time. Even then, SIX SEVEN cents on your account. Just the time I spent cleaning up after your mess is worth a hundred times that. You left such a trail of hate-filled messages that it was a relief just to spend ONE day without your trolling shite.
EITHER WAY -- SteamTrades reputation votes are meant to detect SCAMMERS. The terms of service specifically say not to use them as retaliatory votes, only if you got scammed. YOU sharked and scammed others, and you dare to complain about 67 cents that another user will get to use properly.
Edit 2 -- Won't bother to read your novel (again). But... Oh, my "behavior of banning people" -- you mean my behavior of ensuring my users don't have any reasons to feel like I'm not reactive to scammers like you sending them predatory offers?
Of course, this website allows you to put out your own "view", even if it's a complete lie.
I literally make zero money off the website and it's a daily chore to ensure it works and it makes people happy. Thankfully, for every single shitty scammer like you, there are 200 honest and happy users. I think of them first. Now get off our lawn.
+rep great trader
+rep Thanks for the trade
+rep Fast, friendly and fair trader. Highly recommended!
+rep great trader
+Rep, great trader!
+REPPPPPP
Do nothing, get banned from his site haha.
++REP for a great trade and fantastic website https://lestrades.com/offer/474305/
Smooth trade, reliable trader
thanks for the trade! +rep
+Rep - Fast, friendly and trustworthy trader. Appreciate the trade :) - (https://lestrades.com/offer/469434 / https://lestrades.com/offer/476233 / https://lestrades.com/offer/480990)
+rep; thank you for the trade :)
+rep Thank you!
+rep very nice and patient trader
+rep easy trade
+REP. Thanks for the trade on Lestrade's. Recommended!
+rep friendly and really amazing trader! thanks mr. Nao (REALLY RECOMMENDED!)
+Rep! Trustworthy and friendly trader =)
+Rep, great trader
+rep and street cred!
LLL!
Long Live Lestrade's!
+Rep, thank you.
+Rep Fast, Friendly, Fair and Patient(!!) Trader. Thanks for the trade !!
all OK, fast and friendly trader
Nice and reliable + rep
My experience trading with Nao, the admin of lestrades.com, ended with me buying replacement keys after repeated failed attempts to complete a trade, followed by probation and then a ban.
I had already redeemed the keys he sent, so I made roughly 10 attempts over more than two weeks to deliver my games. Several times, he contacted me, I responded shortly afterward, and he was already unavailable again. He also kept extending the trade beyond his site’s normal time limit. I had told him I had very little time to trade, and I couldn’t keep waiting indefinitely.
To resolve it, I went out of my way to buy replacement keys and cancelled the trade. He wanted the original games, which nobody else on his site was offering, and put me on probation. When I objected, the situation escalated to a ban. Being the admin shouldn’t mean he can keep extending a trade and expect the other person to remain available until it suits him.
This also wasn’t my first uncomfortable interaction with him. In our conversations, I’ve repeatedly encountered accusations and dismissive comments. At our first interaction, he called me a scammer and suggested I should give him my keys for free because I hadn’t earned them. That dismisses the time I spend working with developers and following through on review copies.
I also have concerns about his Lest currency. He told me he gives himself a few hundred dollars’ worth each month, and I have screenshots of that conversation. The total I saw was $3,850 in generated Lest. My concern is that he can create currency to acquire users’ games, while those users depend on the site and its available inventory to get value back. When I was banned, I also lost access to the remaining $0.44 in my account.
My negative review is based on how he handled this trade and treated me throughout it. Maintaining a website doesn’t put someone above criticism for their own conduct.
UPDATE — response to his reply:
His claim that I was warned to spend my Lest before being banned is false. He initially put me on probation. I misunderstood that as a ban and complained that I had lost my balance. He then replied that I hadn’t been banned, but now I was, and banned me without giving me an opportunity to respond or spend it. Raising the balance issue came before the ban; there was no advance warning to use it. The amount was only $0.44, but the issue is his inaccurate account of what happened.
His reply also acknowledges that I redeemed his keys while leaving out that I bought replacement keys for him after repeatedly trying to complete the original exchange. I didn’t simply take his games and refuse to provide anything back.
This wasn’t a matter of expecting him to be available at whatever time I wanted. On three occasions, I responded within 15 minutes of him messaging me, granted the access needed to redeem the games, and waited another 5–10 minutes before revoking access when he didn’t respond. Across the whole trade, I made roughly 10 attempts over more than two weeks. During that period, he found time to send lengthy criticisms and accusations, but we still couldn’t finish the exchange.
He also kept extending the offer past the point when it would normally have closed under his own site’s rules. After those repeated attempts and buying replacement keys, I don’t think I was obligated to keep waiting for his convenience just because he could extend the trade as admin.
At the start of this trade, he also suggested that his status as admin should be enough for me to trust him with access to all my pages. I should be able to set limits on access to my own pages without being criticized for it. Running a trading website doesn’t automatically entitle someone to that trust.
I was upset, and my original wording reflected that. But calling this review “bullying” doesn’t address the repeated delays, the replacement keys, or the actual sequence of the probation and ban. Those are the reasons for my negative review, and his reply leaves out the details needed to understand them.
I shouldn't be getting these negative reviews just for the sake of owning and maintaining a trading website. People sending retaliatory negative votes are just bullying me for complying with the community's request to ban them.
This guy is pretending I 'stole' his funds when he was told ahead of time to spend it before his ban, and he was left with a total of 44 cents (!), which he could perfectly have kept if he didn't decide to insult the admin in public and leave this negative review. I don't have time for this. SteamTrades neg rep is for scams. I didn't scam him, in fact he recognized in his message that I sent him his keys, that he redeemed them, and that he got tired of waiting for me to be logged on Steam chat at the same time as he was. This is a curator who sells his free keys and then complains that we aren't there at his desired time to redeem them, and starts insulting you everywhere he can.
I'm actually thinking of banning curators entirely from Lestrade's now.
+Rep, thank you.
+rep smooth trade
great man for gaming and trading community +rep
+rep Super friendly and understanding, a great trader!
Polite, fast, and fair trader. +rep
+REP, amazing trader! Fast, friendly and trustworthy. Thanks for everything!
+rep Thanks for the trade.
+rep Fast and friendly trader. Thanks again!
+Rep! Awesome trader, thank you for making lestrades! It is very useful!
+rep Thank for ever things u did for ever ones. Highly recommended xD
+Rep! Great trader, thank you for making lestrades happen! 🙂
The best!
+rep Great trade with a great trader!
+rep Positive experience.?
+REP good & friendly trader
Very nice and fair trader. Would trade with again in a heart beat.
+rep great trader, honest, responsive. very friendly and engaging. highly recommended.
+rep fast, fair and friendly trader. Thanks again and long live lestrades :p
Amazing trader, recommended 100%!
Trusted trader - thanks again.
Great trade thanks
+rep Fantastic, fair, and kind trader. I highly recommend! Thanks again!
+rep Smooth trade. Thanks!
Digital Marquis of LT ദ്ദി(• ˕ •マ.ᐟ
+rep happy trade :)
