(1) If you offer an item for sale or trade in IRC, finalize the details of the items being traded.
(2) Once the items have been determined, come to the trade forum and start a topic with this title:
(3) Once this thread is made, direct all parties involved to the thread with the instructions to respond, in writing, that they agree and will adhere to all terms of the trade.
This should make the trade now under the umbrella of the trade regulations applying to scams over the message boards.
This part is KEY:
-If the person REFUSES to agree to the contract IN WRITING then they are PROBABLY TRYING TO SCAM YOU.
This process takes 2 minutes, and will protect you from being scammed out of hours of work.