resolved Trader ratings and for sale restrictions

[Eug]

When I used to be a moderator and financial executive on a national sized performance car forum we always had issues with scams and new members trying to take advantage of unsuspecting enthusiasts with dodgy products or simply running off with parts and/or money.

My suggestions for AFO based on my experiences:

1. We impose 'trader ratings' where if a successful transaction was made between buyer and seller, the buyer would leave back positive or negative feedback just like ebay.

2. Impose a post count limit before sellers could post in the for sale section. This way a reputation of sorts can be established. This way potential buyers can read through the seller's previous posts and make an educated guess as to their genuineness and have some degree of safety when meeting up for the exchange. This is especially important as we have a lot of young anglers involved in the community.

3. Have an automatically generated template for new threads started in the for sale section. (i.e. Item:, Condition:, Phone contact:, Price:, Location: and Pictures:)

4. Have for sale threads locked so that even the author can not edit their original posts. This way a record is kept for all to see.

There are a few more suggestions but I think these four that I have outlined is a good starting point to create a safer market for buying and selling items.

[dhess]

Very good call.

[fishingnut]

option two would be best Imho...say a 10 - 20 post limit before selling? and no post until an intro template has been filled?

[Zim man]

excellent ideas mate, especially number 2

[bootyinblue]

Been suggested before.... I would be saying 200 post minimum before you can use the site to promote your sales for free!

[rayke1938]

I am a bit reluctant re the post count Sometimes a member only joins the site to sell something and then ends up becoming a productive active member.

It is also easy to rack up a large number of posts just by saying nice catch on every post so it doesnt really mean much.

Like the idea of a selling template and also profile template correctly filled out.

Re the for sale thread being locked maybe making the thread not being able to be edited by the seller. At the moment the seller has the option of asking the mods to lock the thread to stop it being hijacked but I personally like the thread to be open so that people can ask questions etc.

From my observations the vast majority of members on the forum are ethical and honest and can only recollect 2 unhappy buyers since I have been on the forum.

Cheers

Ray

[Old Scaley]

Agree with Ray. This should be self regulating and anyone who has spent time on this site knows that there are lots of people you would trust, and some who you might be a bit cautious about. Too many rules will be hard to enforce and will disadvantage newbies who are genuine. As usual, buyer beware and don't blame the site if you make a poor choice (not that I have seen anyone do that).

[Davo_Dinkum]

just check things out like if u where buying them form anywhere else .

[Eug]

rayke1938 wrote:

I am a bit reluctant re the post count Sometimes a member only joins the site to sell something and then ends up becoming a productive active member.

It is also easy to rack up a large number of posts just by saying nice catch on every post so it doesnt really mean much.

Like the idea of a selling template and also profile template correctly filled out.

Re the for sale thread being locked maybe making the thread not being able to be edited by the seller. At the moment the seller has the option of asking the mods to lock the thread to stop it being hijacked but I personally like the thread to be open so that people can ask questions etc.

From my observations the vast majority of members on the forum are ethical and honest and can only recollect 2 unhappy buyers since I have been on the forum.

Cheers

Ray

while i agree with you ray in regards to new members and possibly missed deals, it's merely a suggestion to the owners and moderators of AFO. they would be the ones who have a full grasp of number and type of complaints and the suggestions i put forward can be tweaked to suit the community. While I agree that post count can be built up with simple useless posts - the potential buyer can at least scope out what the seller is like. You tend to get a feel of how genuine someone is if they have a history of posts that simply remark: 'great catch' or a series of 'well informed reports introducing themselves'.

AFO is much much smaller than the forum I used to help lead, we had over 57,000 members active at any one time and people were getting scammed on a daily basis.

I don't mean for the entire for sale thread to be locked so that no one can post, I meant that each post submitted should not be able to be edited unless by a mod. If a buyer or seller wished to make their personal details unavailable after the sale, a mod can simply make their posts 'invisible' manually. That way the details are still present for future record but not in the public domain.

With any type of purchase, whether online or in person: caveat emptor!

[flexo]

As I am new to this sight I am unaware of hoe karma works but my question is this could this be used to determine if a person is legitimate or not. Just my 2 cents.

Dayle

[Do$tylz]

Kudos to you max_pwr for not getting overly worked up about this. There aren't too many people in this world that can take if on the chin with mistakes like that. Just a heads up though, all of the regular posters here are trustworthy. If you are ever unsure of someone, you can always do a check with people to see if anyone knows them personally. That's a good way.

Eug - great ideas. If admin haven't seen this yet or are not in discussions around it I'll put my 2 cents in to see what can be done. Dunno what website coding restrictions we may have around #2 or #4 but i'm sure they'll be willing and keen to do what we can so best server our members

[max pwr]

I haven't met anyone in person from this forum yet but I like the "vibe" of this site and am sure most of the forum users are like minded fishing enthusiasts like myself.

Great place for fishing tips and info and I won't hesitate to purchase items from forum members in the future.