A 'DWAYOR' is an acronym for 'Deal With At Your Own Risk'. These are typically written by joiners in a group order or by people buying photocards and merch. The purpose of a DWAYOR varies, but it's typically used to warn others in the community (any fandom), about users who are exhibiting scam-like behavior, which can include both actual scams where a seller never sends out items or when a GOM (group order manager) is handling a group order(s) irresponsibly. Occasionally, DWAYORs are written about joiners and buyers themselves, most often when that person has filed false chargebacks or failed to make payments on time.

DWAYOR - Group Order Scams -

DWAYOR - Sale Scams -

DWAYOR - Trade Scams -

DWAYOR - Buyer Scams -

DWAYOR - Irresponsible GOM -

DWAYOR - Inactive GOM -

DWAYOR - Irresponsible Joiner -

DWAYOR - Irresponsible Buyer -

DWAYOR - Miscellaneous -

Opinions on when a DWAYOR becomes necessary or situations in which they are necessary varies. 

However, I think that you should use fair judgement in deciding to create and post a DWAYOR. By this, I mean that you should consider if the other person has offered reasonable remedies or options, and if their replies are consistent and within a reasonable time frame. 

For example, if a GOM says that items are onhand, but does not provide a form for DOMs shipping or reach out to you, then you should give them at least one week before directly inquiring about shipping to you and at least two to three weeks before considering posting a DWAYOR about them being irresponsible. GOMs do a lot of work for no profit and they deserve some grace (and appreciation) for that. Also, most GOMs have responsibilities beyond being a GOM and will do their best to be timely with joiners items being sent out, so a DWAYOR is typically appropriate only after a reasonable time has passed (barring exceptional circumstances).

"Oh no! Someone wrote a DWAYOR about me! What do I do?"

The reason the DWAYOR is written about you matters, but I will broadly cover the more common reasons and how I would advise you to respond.

DWAYOR - Scammer (any type) - If you are accused in a DWAYOR of being type of scammer, then I would advise you to follow these steps (if you're truly not a scammer):

(1) Thoroughly read the DWAYOR to understand their point of view.

(2) You should reach out to affected person and apologize for whatever misunderstanding has caused them to believe that you are a scammer. 

(3) You should advise of the timeline of when you will complete your end of the deal that they are accusing you of scamming them in OR explain what went wrong on your end and provide any proof you have that you did due diligence (Ex: All packing and send out proofs you have if mail has likely been lost). 

(4) Follow through on resolution, whether that's an explanation and proof you have of doing your part, or sending out items (or payment) if you failed to before. 

IF it's an issue of chargeback specifically, you should offer to send the money again and cover any issues that resulted from the chargeback (fees, penalties, etc), OR if you can not send the money again after you have received your items, then you should offer to send them back at your own cost.

DWAYOR - Irresponsible GOM/Seller/Joiner/Buyer - If you accused of being irresponsible as either a GOM/Seller or a Joiner/Buyer, then I would you to follow these steps:

(1) Thoroughly read the DWAYOR to understand their point of view.

(2) You should reach out to the affected person(s) and apologize for the misunderstanding(s) or delay(s) on your end that led them to decide you are irresponsible.

(3) You should resolve the issue if possible and if the other person allows (some GOMs will drop your claims, and not offer refunds for any payments you may have already made if you fail to make other payments - ie, EMS and DOMs).

(a) Resolve issues as the GOM - fulfill your obligations to your joiners - whether that's securing items, making sure they arrive through EMS, sorting, packing, shipping to them, etc (provide refunds as necessary / required - unless your terms for GOs are applicable and indicate otherwise such as protecting against lost mail refunds and such).

(b) Resolve issues as the Seller - fulfill your obligation for the sale(s) - ship out any items that are paid for, collect payments for any others and ship them as well, cancel or back out of any sales you can't fulfill (refund any that have already been paid, but can't be fulfilled).

(c) Resolve issues as the Joiner - typically this only happens if you fail to pay on time - please just pay any outstanding balance you owe to the GOM for initials, EMS, and/or DOMs (some also have a late payment policy where you typically either forfeit your claims without refund, or you must pay fees for any days past due until they receive your payment). - Also, remember to post proof when you receive your item(s).

(d) Resolve issues as the Buyer - typically this only happens when your payment fails/bounces or you file a chargeback against the seller - please just pay the outstanding balance and any applicable fees that you caused the seller to be charged, OR if you can't send payment again, but have received the items then offer to send them back at your own cost.  

There is actually one DWAYOR written about me for "time wasting" before: I inquired about some photocards from a seller, but they refused to send condition videos, were rude in DMs, and then there was a new album announcement. I had three reasons why I was no longer interested (uncomfortable with no condition videos, messages from them were impolite, and I decided to prioritize the new album over completing another collection), and politely declined to buy. They got really mad and were being rude in DMs (even though I never committed to buying the cards), so I blocked them and a friend later told me that they posted a story "time waster" DWAYOR about me. DWAYORs happen, if it's for a minor reason, for a silly reason, or for a reason that you can't resolve (lost mail), I would advise you to just ignore it if possible. 

While there are situations where DWAYORs are appropriate and justified, there are also times when you will see people write them for frivolous reasons that honestly don't constitute the truly bad behavior that DWAYORs were introduced to discourage and warn of.

DWAYOR - Time Waster (Seller/Buyer) - I typically do not buy from nor sell to people who publicly write DWAYORs about "time wasting". - Most times when you see this it's because a seller is frustrated that someone DM'ed them about certain items, but did not go through with buying. I personally think this a dumb reason to write a DWAYOR, because there are a million reasons why people might change their minds (ex: can't afford it anymore, decided it's not a priority, found it somewhere else that makes more sense, found a trade for it, there's damage or other reasons they don't want that particular one). Personally, I think if you can't accept that people will ask about items, but may choose not to buy them from you after, then you shouldn't try to sell things at all - I hold no ill will towards people who inquire and back out (before payment or final agreement). I have also seen this written about sellers on occasion - I think those are dumb too, I have tried to reach out to sellers that turned out to be inactive and I don't think it's worth writing DWAYOR about as long as I have not lost any money in the process of trying to buy from them.