MK5 Golf GTI
General => Testing and Forum Suggestion Box => Topic started by: Weston on January 11, 2011, 01:31:22 pm
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Not sure if this could work but I'll put it down anyway. Basically a while back I bought something off a seller who disappeared with my money along with that of two other members. I was too trusting of the seller. I've recently sold some items myself, some without even posting a photo! I was sent the money without question. I've sent on the items sold but could have easily not bothered, especially with paypal gift or a direct bank transfer as payment. Is there any way of having a thread for people who have experienced a pleasant transaction with another member? Maybe it would be better as part of the profile of each person?
Maybe there's not enough dishonesty to need this on here.
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That's actually a good idea.
As you say i don't think there is much dishonesty on here when it comes to selling/buying stuff.
But it would help newer members who may not have been on the forum long.
Gets my vote :happy2:
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There are some people who carry the Traders tally in their username. I have seen other forums use a form of reputation, maybe that's an idea.
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An approved seller's thingy gets my vote too. :happy2:
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Although I believe this to be a good idea, there is a flip side to it. New members obviously wouldn't have any feedback, does that mean we shouldn't buy off them? Also, there are members (me included) who have been on here a while but haven't sold anything, hence again wouldn't have any feedback. Maybe there should be a stipulation such as no gift payment or bank transfer can be requested by the seller if they have little or no feedback or a minimum number of posts. Food for thought :happy2:
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As far as I'm concerned, buying off here is like buying from a chap on the street. You give your monies and you take your risks. Just because someone was previously trustworthy doesn't mean they will remain so. You cannot stop this kind of behaviour completely - it happens on all forums on some level. Post count is no reliable indicator of trustworthiness either and can be misleading.
I've had nothing but good experience off sellers but am still careful with the dough.
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Post count is no reliable indicator of trustworthiness either and can be misleading.
....You're dead right there! *cough*
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Not far from your 10,000th post RR. What prize do you win?
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^^^^
Over on TSN my post count is approaching 24,000.
What prize? - A RS3 please :evilgrin:
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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!
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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!
....But it wouldn't be a case of a seller's rating being a SteveP rating. Wouldn't ratings be given by members following their experiences of the seller?
I'm not fussed either way - If folks don't trust me it's their problem, not mine.
I guess that even a forum rating is no guarantee either. And then again, folks have to deal with the expectations of others and that's a minefield.
Probably best to just name and shame anyone who is seriously misbehaving and leave things as they are.
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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..............
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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
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The site can't take responsibility for sellers on here which is why we have always made it clear it's buyer beware. As has been said above you should treat it no different to buying out of a free classified newspaper etc.
We will always do what we can help if something goes wrong with a transaction completed on the site, but being honest other than banning or deleting the seller there is virtually nothing we can do.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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Wait til you see the RS3 we've got you! :signLOL:
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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!
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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?
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^^^ No problem with your comment or Banner Jay :happy2:
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Cheers boss ;)
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I'd have thought it was okay for traders to have advertisement banners in their sigs, otherwise a bit pointless.
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Would something like this maybe help?
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=346
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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. :stupid:
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.
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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. :stupid:
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 :smiley:
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^^^^^^^^^^^^
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.
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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.
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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 :happy2:
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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 :smiley:
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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!
This system works on AVF because in the classified section all the deals have to be done in the threads until a price had been agreed, you can then finish the deal via PM. Then when leaving feedback you have to post the link to the thread in which the sale was completed.
So not sure this would work as well here as most deals seem to be done via PM.
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I think it would be much better to only use PM's for final communications of address details etc. Keep it all honest and open above board so everything is on record.