Hi guys, I just had this experience today at SA.  
I had a SA account long time ago but did not use until today. I decided to give a shot today inspired by a few members posts here.  

I completed the profile(missing only the profile pictures) and paid the premium membership. Saw a stunning ASU SB and decided to approach. On her profile, she mentioned to use her gift wishlist to impress her. She is premium membership too and “college verified”(i guess she used her ASU email to register. And I did do a “image search” on profile pictures and found her IG account and indeed an ASU student. She has been on SA since mid August and last active on September 17th). Because I did not add a profile picture and still like to make a strong impression, without ever messaging her, i directly bought her a $450 bag on her wishlist and wrote on the notes that I wanted to get to know more than her.  
A few hours later, I was expecting to hear back from her and I logged back on to check. The SA website said my account had been deleted. I created a new account just to see the SB account and realized the SB account cannot be found any more. Do not know if SA deleted her account too or SB deleted it herself. Went to my bank account, the website refund the $99 premium membership fee but did not refund the $450 for the gift. Contacted SA support and asking why my account was deleted and what has happened. Still waiting for them to respond.  

Being the first time user of SA, is this a typical experience from this website, or it was me making some rookie mistake? Or I was just being scammed?  
What was happening in this situation?  

Cheers,

by sending her such an expensive gift without ever meeting her.  
But let us know what SA Admin has to say.

"...but did not refund the $450 for the gift..."

Why would SA refund the gift you purchased and send directly to her wish list?

I can't say you were scammed, as she never promised you anything then failed to deliver.  

 
But she obviously took advantage of your generosity. You might as well have handed a $450 purse to a hot chick in your local shopping mall and hoped that she would drop to her knees in the food court for you.  Without seeing the  specific wording of your message, it's hard to tell if she reported you or SA's message monitor system flagged you for tripping the possible P4P flag.  The result is the same, of course. And my guess is that she deleted her account once she got notice of your purchase. I expect she will have a new profile set up by now, maybe several.  

 
The lesson here, do not use the WishList for any reason. Even looking at her wish list will trigger an email to her from Seeking that you looked.  And while we are on this subject, if you do some comparison shopping research you can probably find that same purse available for under $200 somewhere. So even if her intent and yours are all honest and good, it's still a rip off.  

 
On the bright side, you could have lost much more than $450. Many people here, including me, have reported losing double or more that amount to scams.  So painful lesson well-learned.  

 
The recommended strategies remain:  
1. NO money in advance - ever
2. NO money in advance - ever
3. NO money in advance - ever
and
4. Once she messages you, or replies to your message, move the conversation off the site ASAP. Go to text, WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc. But know that every message you send through SA is analyzed by their software, and potential problem messages (any thing that looks like offering or asking for paid sex) will get you flagged and probably banned permanently.  
5. Read this forum (search past posts) for tips on how to negotiate with a POT SB. It could save you lots of $$ and wasted time.  

 
Life is good

 
The Cat

I’ve heard of SA deleting memberships if the messages are inappropriate. It would be nice to know the key words that are inappropriate. That’s why you have to do innocent chat first to feel them out, then take the next step and exchange contact information to exit the site. I hear that SA is monitored. I haven’t purchased gifts on SA but noticed the SA gift prices are inflated. You can do. Enter on Amazon.

Thank you herbtcat. I think I made a rookie mistake.  

The point I did not get is that if it was a legit SB who is looking for sugar, why didn’t she want to continue to exploit for more sugar while she already got a “stupid” fish on hook? There will most likely be much bigger prizes down the line, right? If she deletes or hide her account and reappear later, she will eventually have to meet guys to get consistent sugar. Then why not this “stupid” fish on the hook which seems easy money?

The only way I could think that makes sense is a dude making fake accounts, have you heard such a scam known out there already?  

Secondly, why was my account got deleted? Sending a gift to SB without messaging previously can trigger SA’ algorithm?  
Even it was this SB that reported me, what did she report me for? I did not mention anything related to sex or even asking her out. I only said I wanted to learn more about her. Can a SB report some SD for no legit reason and get his account deleted?  

I will report back what SA team say. They had 48 hours to get back.  

Have a good weekend, guys.

As a slightly off-topic comment, I just saw the open letter Brandon wrote about Google classifying SA as a sex site, or something like that.  Anyway, he mentioned they are policing accounts by using AI to pick up transactional phrases...didn't offer any specifics, but buyer beware!

I'm sure there are guys making fake profiles. In fact, I am one of them. Not to scam anyone, of course. I use that profile for research and insight into what a POT SB experiences from POT SD's.  I'm also hopeful you will get a meaningful answer from SA on the ban. But I'm not optimistic.

 
And while I'm replying, let's talk a bit about typical allowance ranges.  I don't know what geographic area you are in, but for $450 in virtually any metro in the US, you should be getting a 3-8 hour BCD date every time.  There are some areas where per-date allowance can be as low as $200 (or less!) and on the high side (maybe in NY City or Washington DC area) as high as $500-750. I've been doing this for over 10 years, and my allowances have fallen into the $250-$400 range for 95% of my arrangements. The only clear exception is for Porn Stars who enter the sugar bowl (I live in the San Fernando Valley - the Porn Capital of the US). And even then the most allowance I've agreed to is $800 for an A-List Asian porn star who is still shooting 15-25 scenes a year. (She likes to fuck older guys - a lot.) It helps to know what a typical porn star makes to shoot a scene, and what she makes if she goes the escort route (her fee + a substantial agency fee).  

 
So gifting a $450 item to a POT SB, especially one who who hasn't even messaged you yet, is not necessary and leaves you nowhere to go but much higher IF she actually wants to move forward with an arrangement. "Only $500 for a date? You spent $450 just to get my attention! I thought you were a serious Daddy."  

 
Now don't kick yourself too hard.  We've all tripped over our dicks along the path to Sugar Town. Remember that you have the power of the wallet. And the leverage of numbers. There are far more SB's on the site than SD's.  I'll suggest once more that you search past posts for "negotiate" or allowance or similar themes. Much to lean there for a noob or anyone who wants to sharpen his skills.  

 
Life is good

 
The Cat

While I agree with most of what you say about the bowl Herb, I might disagree slightly about using the wishlist. I wouldn't ever suggest buying anything from there, but I have found that the notification to the lady that gets triggered when you check it out gives a little "bump" to an initial message being sent.  

These girls get so many messages, I use looking at the wishlist for two reasons. First, the bump I've found, increases your chances of having your message read and not buried in 200+ messages in an inbox. Second, if the wishlist is full of gift cards, high end bags, shoes, etc. if can give an indication of GPS. Conversely, if the wishlist is full of sex toys, you know the girl is DTF and is likely a little more fun in the sack.

Hope that's helpful!

Nor were you “born yesterday” to the world of dating… when, in either civvie dating or  hobbying, would we buy someone online an expensive gift before meeting?  

Either this story is BS somehow or some unusual circumstances led you OP to this gaffe ?

I guess SA and hobbying are completely different games. Even in hobbying, once I got burned by advancing the money to a provider when she sent out email saying this “sales” by making deposits in advance. The meeting was canceled later and I never bother to contact her again.  

I guess some time I just got good faith in people and some wishful thinking.

Thank you Herbtcat for the comment.  
Your prediction was right. SA has not replied yet, why my account was deleted and etc. Anyway, I created another account and paid the premium and give it a another shot.  

I just started this sugar thing last Friday and so far I still like the provider route much better (straight forward, no mind games, no time consuming).  

I guess there is much to learn about the sugar bowl. Will  read some posts more and keep at it for some more time and let’s see how it goes.  

Peace,

I use the Wish List. Although I never purchase anything, I use it to get some insight into the SB. Of course their list does not necessarily mean anything, but seeing what is on their list may be useful.

For example, one SB had a book about the greek arts on her list. It lead to an interesting discussion (offline of course) on her preferences.  

That said, I think most SBs take the Wish List as serious as we do.

Fair point that you might use the Wish List "bump" as a strategy to get noticed.  It hasn't worked for me - yet.  But I shall consider trying again. Note that the WL has many "sections," and only one that is curated by the POT IF she set one up.  You will see a link in her profile text about her WL if she has. And when you click the link you will see at top left, "_____'s wish list."  

 
If you don't see HER specific list, the sections are just an array of categories selected by SA.  

 

Life is good

 
The Cat

Couple weeks ago sent some flowers, off her Wishlist,  to an incredibly HOT Vegas show performer (vs a show-girl) that was visiting my area.  She's easily a DDD and an amazingly tight body... a 10 from my view!  LOL.  Anyway, for days she kept thanking me (as it was her birthday), sending me kiss emoji and others. Today, she drove all the way down to see me! It ended in BCD-time and the rest....well, not sure since it was our first and not completely settled on the logistics for future meetings.  

OK - so the flowers were just $89 and surprisingly quite amazing (she sent some photos).  I would never tender anything more expensive.

And it's just my data point....but I guess sometimes you get lucky and then other times...well we know the drill.

Love to hear about wins. Hope you will get to tell us chapter 2 went even better.  

 
Life is good

 
The Cat

Thank you sir.

She was equally quite amazing!  But interestingly less Vegas performer and more just a normal girl.
Funny, I was expecting more exotic but she's really just a simple girl from the mid west.

Suppose if I gave any advice, it's if you use the WIshlist, make sure it's less than a hundred (haven't looked if there is less) but think why you are doing it.

So was texting with a girl who, the previous day, sent me a couple of all nude shower videos!

Had set up a get-together today which, if she's not a scammer,  would have been over the top BCD.

But not feeling so good, so will cancel....but just sent her some flowers off the Gift List...think it's a cool way to 'hold your position' against the herd of the unwashed.  LOL

That could be a reasonable and useful tactic.  Please let us know how it works out.  

 
Life is good.

 
The Cat

She may have replied to receipt your gift by offering sexual services in an explicit manner which got picked up by the SA bots and banned you both. Since I think there's a 1 or 3 day refund window they gave you back the $99. Not sure about that though

Paid off wonderfully!

Nice girl, 26  5'2", with huge boobs and OK, ass was a bit larger than ideal (similar to what you have described in that other thread).  However, she did seem to be so overly eager at the start of our texting that a red-flag or two had flashed up in my mind.

Anyway, the flowers seemed to have done their job: just as I was pouring her a second glass of wine in the kitchen she suddenly unzipped my shorts and started to administer an over-the-top BJ.   Needless to say, rest of the visit was, as she said: 'being naughty in the bedroom'  LOL