Approved sellers thread

[rich83]

Is it not possible to have something setup like the Thank you system!

Maybe something like Selling Rank? When on completion of transaction and receipt of goods the buyer can click on the sellers profile (and visa-verse) to award a "point". This would accumulating points so its easy to see whats what!

Just an idea (might have even been suggested before)

[RedRobin]

It was only a suggestion. I don't mean that the site should take any responsibility, just that there might be a way of members saying that they bought stuff from other members without issue, by way of giving more confidence to potential buyers in the future. Obviously people can change / lie / register as a new member so caution would still need to be taken.

....I will occasionally post a comment stating that I've had a good experience buying off someone (JPC for example and also someone else more recently). If I've had a bad experience I would PM someone thinking of buying from the person. But I haven't had any bad buying/selling experiences yet here.

[simonp]

Wait til you see the RS3 we've got you!

[Ifti]

You could have something like iTrader for feedback - which is similar to eBay's feedback system. Its used over on AVForums and works quite well. Each member has their own feedback rating in the classifieds section, which you are free to check etc.

However, its still down to your own judgement at the end of the day. You buy something through a forum and its at your own risk.

There are still a couple of things you could do to try and safeguard yourself from a member you do not recognise though. If its a recognised and respected forum member, who others have had successful dealings with, chances are you could probably trust that person and purchase. If its someone new etc you could:

1. If you are a 'regular' the seller should be ok with posting the item to you first, then you sending payment once you have the item.

OR...

2. You could always pay with normal PayPal and suffer the 3.4% extra yourself by adding it onto the total. That way the seller still gets the full amount, and you've basically paid a small amount extra to safeguard yourself. If the sale falls through, you can start a PayPal claim and retrieve your money.

Bank Transfers and PayPal Gift is like giving cash over the internet - dont do it unless its a well known member of the forum, or someone you actually can trust!

[JPC]

I very much doubt the owner of the forum would want to be actively promoting and "approving" people/traders.

what happens when someone forgets to put someones wheel back on right?

"them nobs at MK5golfgti said this place were mint pet"

good idea, but in practice, probably not something the forum want to get involved with?

mehh... that would be my take as a forum owner anyways!

Coming from a guy with a large banner in his sig promoting his detailing business..............

Nice comment

Sorry guys. Should I take it off or something?

[SteveP]

^^^ No problem with your comment or Banner Jay 

[JPC]

Cheers boss ;)

[stealthwolf]

I'd have thought it was okay for traders to have advertisement banners in their sigs, otherwise a bit pointless.

[Betty02]

Would something like this maybe help?

http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=346

[bodger00]

Probably best to just name and shame anyone who is seriously misbehaving and leave things as they are.

After recently being messed around for a fair amount of time from someone on here, who then decided not to sell the item, I am interested to see how this will work.

It's a shame that one or two are messing people around, when the majority of people on here are really honest. There are two items for sale now from users who have changed their mind.

Perhaps there could be an imposed posting ban for people who are found to be misbehaving or advertising in the for sale section and then deciding that they dont fancy selling the item.

Perhaps this sounds a bit harsh, but there should be some consequence of making sections of the forum an untrusted place to buy.

[VC]

Probably best to just name and shame anyone who is seriously misbehaving and leave things as they are.

After recently being messed around for a fair amount of time from someone on here, who then decided not to sell the item, I am interested to see how this will work.

It's a shame that one or two are messing people around, when the majority of people on here are really honest. There are two items for sale now from users who have changed their mind.

Perhaps there could be an imposed posting ban for people who are found to be misbehaving or advertising in the for sale section and then deciding that they dont fancy selling the item.

Perhaps this sounds a bit harsh, but there should be some consequence of making sections of the forum an untrusted place to buy.

i get what youre saying... but its the internet, risk is a certain, reputation is the only saviour 

[bodger00]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Point taken, but I think there should be a way that we can share the pitfalls of other members, by pointing out those who abuse the forum. Ebay for example has this mechanism.

I appreciate we are not trying to replicate ebay here but there could be an easy way of achieving this outcome.

[stealthwolf]

Until the contract is complete, then the sale hasn't taken place and the seller is allowed to pull out, just as buyer is allowed to withdraw. Same thing in a shop - shop can have something for sale but until money has been exchanged, the shop can withdraw the item from sale, or refuse to seller to buyer. Think the same thing can apply here.

Any reputation-type system can be abused - look at how buyers can scam sellers on ebay. There is no foolproof system. As above, you pays your monies and you takes your chances.

Personally, I would tend to be more trusting of people who have been here for a long time and have a high post count. They are the more central members of the forum and hence have a lot more to lose if things go wrong. They are probably more trustworthy. However, they too can scam everyone. SteveP could have run off with everyone's forum donations.

[bodger00]

I see what you are driving at but buying something online is nothing like walking into a shop IMO. Whilst I understand that its an invitation to buy and both parties can withdraw, there is a resonable time to do this and an unreasonable time.  My previous post mentioned a fair amount of time being messed about. Even on ebay when the auction is coming to a close, the seller cannot easilly modify the auction (under normal circumstances) at the last minute when bids have already been placed.

Lets bring this back to the point, if we had some way of showing if a seller made good transactions in the buyers opinion, then it would give future buyers a better idea of their selling reputation.

I agree there is no foolproof system but indicators of a sellers reputation can help

[VC]

maybe do something as simple as changine the forum recommendations to forum feedback and post good and bad in there

still rife for abuse though if you ask me