is there anything specific to PoE i should do/know about for trading?

is a mediator always used?

when trading do you use the trade function or go to a map and drop the stuff on the ground?

If trade function, do I put a random item in the trade window? If so, can it be worthless or does it have to be somewhat valuable/a unique?

do i send a fake whisper?

should i use an alt account? a vpn?

I've put a lot of hours into my account and have bought a fair amount of mtx with it so i'd like to take every precaution i can to avoid getting banned.

I rarely used a random worthless rare item to make the trade look legit (only when someone asked). I can't say I've done thousands but maybe a hundred trades involving FG in my PoE history.
You trade as if you were giving it free and don't identify yourself ingame. Having said that, the only way you have to protect yourself is on the d2jsp side and that's why you want people to confirm the trade in here. You can take screenshots of before, during & after the trade with the time stamp on for maximum security I suppose.

PoE would be the right game to use a mediator in case of a big trade I guess.

i guess i'm not too concerned about being scammed here (maybe i should be??) but more concerned about getting banned in PoE. Do I not need to worry about alternate accounts and VPNs and the like?

Well sure I guess an alternate account and a VPN is maximum safety... I mean it depends how much you have to lose and what you're going to trade for.
If GGG really does spy on people and their trades, they won't spy on whoever is trading a few fusings or whatever rare item. They would most likely set their radar on mirrors and the like IMO. No source on this, just my common sense.

but you've never once used an alt+vpn in your hundreds of trades? i'm thinking of buying quite a bit of exalts (10-20) and several hundred chaos, (probably not all at once). Have you bought large quantities of currency with fg before?

I must've traded at the most 100 exalted orbs in one trade. Not any higher.
In the hundred trades I did, maybe half of them were of a few dozen exalted orbs at once.

Never used a VPN and I don't have an alternate account either.

sweet, thanks for easing some of the anxiety i have about this lol

should i be wary about the frequency of trades? I just had my first and it went great, but already wanting to spend the rest of my fg!

No. That's up to you.

Just make sure you never have to make a thread here: https://forums.d2jsp.org/forum.php?f=250

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