For Sale Forum

I have had a spot of trouble with a member in a trade on the forum sale forum:

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=174662 (Summed up at bottom of page 1)

It has caused other members to post on the thread, suggesting that the forum be changed slightly to stop these instances from happening..

I personally like the informal way things are done on it, afterall this is much more a discussion forum that a forum sale forum, it’s just simply a tag on so people can trade.

I would recommend though that it becomes a requirement of people postings things for sale to highlight any trading feedback from ebay / hotdealsuk or bit-tech on the initial post.

If a member doesn’t fill the requirement – moderator just watches out for it and advises them to post it within their original post.

Just like this really:

“Hi,

I want to sell my inflatable sex sheep.

I want £100 inc delivery, and an extra tenner if you want it cleaned before dispatching.
Feedback:

eBay: Link to eBay account
HotDealsUK: Link to hotdealsuk feedback page
Bit-Tech: Links to some previous sales on the forum”

Suppose this would be allot less hassle than coding a feedback rating system into the forum.. And not very hard to administrator.

It would more just air on the side of guidance - mods reccomending people add it to their original posts or reccomend that potential buyers request details on feedback on larger trades.

Would help protect newer members starting to trade for the first time.

 

You could ask anyone that you have had a succesful exchange with to leave a comment on your profiles visitor page. Then if you are selling something you can advise people to look at said page.

 

There's been afew incidents before and alot of suggested systems.

The answer though is quite simple - check previous posts and leave feedback in thread.

The only flaw to this...and my biggest problem with bittech's forsale section...is allowing people to deal in PM's. All offers, acceptance and communication should be kept in thread. So many times I've gone to look up somebodies previous sales and all the thread says is 'you got pm' and then it's closed/sold. Keep it in thread! No PM sales!

 

I believe hexus (might be wrong about who it is, but it exists) have a feedback/rating system were users can rate other users as both sellers and buyers. This could easily be separate from the forums in terms of coding, just a page so you can view and add your own ratings to a user.

 

HardwareCanucks uses a rating system for buyers/sellers integrated into vBulletin. I'm surprised nobody here has mentioned it yet.

 

Use iTrader and little conditional script so it only shows in the postbit of the FS forums, sorted.

 

I think minimals on to an idea, the only things that should be PM'd are address and payment details. This means everybody gets to see exactly whats going on in the thread.

Maybe the rules should be tightened slightly, change the requirements to 150 posts AND 6 months.

The rep system would be great, i dont know how hard it would be to impliment but as it relies on users to give the rep it would be easier to see if someones an honest seller/buyer.

Id rather not see the FS section closed as i find it quite useful not only for selling but for buying, i go there before i look on ebay if theres something i want as generally ive found it better than dealing through the bay.

 

I come on here everyday - I have spent £500 on 2 purchases plus loads more on other smaller items! But i dont really go anywhere other than for sale section simply because on what effectively is 56k it is a slow process!

I like the way that Hotdealsuk does it. Everything is on thread. Only final address and payment details get sent via PM.

What they also advise is that before the sale is completed, buyer and sellers exchange addresses and contact numbers. Also if you have a paypal verified account. Just linking to an ebay account is no good. If a buyer is interested and the seller links an ebay account for proof of feedback, then the buyer should PM a message to the seller asking for a specific reply - For example - what colour was the sky today - Answer Red.

At least then people can be sure that the feedback is linked to the right person and the account isnt being hacked into by someone.

 

I think something like the system AVF has would work quite well, where all communication must be kept in the thread and you are able to check a user's feedback from previous sales, whether they were the buyer or seller.

I agree that there should be some kind of post count/membership period requirement, but I don't think that increasing it would help at all. It's no indication of a person's legitimacy whatsoever, and someone that really intends to screw someone over will just wait until they meet said requirements.

However, in this it doesn't appear that anyone has intended to screw anyone else over; I think the proverbial s**t has hit the fan and the deal has gone sour, some nasty things were said, and has just degenerated into a mud slinging contest due to a lack of mature, level-headed communication between the involved parties.

Some sort of feedback system would be great for things like this, as I generally prefer to deal with those that are more experienced in trading on forums, as I find them to be more reliable (eBay is a different beast altogether and I hold their ratings on that site in no regard whatsoever). Of course, this doesn't really help new users that have been experienced dealers elsewhere.

 

I think the only upside of not having as strict rules as other forums is that usually such strict measures are a reactionary not precautionary measure. This suggests that those forums have had some really bad times in the past, bit tech seems relatively lucky that only once in a while do things go wrong.

I don't feel this incident is as huge as some others but it does bring light to the situation which probably means it is time for some change to protect buyers and sellers. One thing I will say is that this is a forum, not ebay, there is an assumed risk when selling from one person to another. Bit tech itself cannot really do anything other than give a better stage for people to express their views about other users.

 

We could always have a feedback subforum in the sales forum. example

 

If we get folks to leave feedback in a thread after a sale it would be best imo - do a thread search on your intended seller and all the feedback from the transactions are there, along with everything else about the thread.

 

Could this not be done on the users profile just to make it easier in the future as its easier to click their profile link than go searching for previous posts.

 

AndyDEL has received a full refund for the motherboard that either got damaged by him or by DHL when it was in transit.

I now expect his full support in my claim against DHL including any photographic evidence he has, the faulty motherboard sending back to me and his full co-operation in this matter.

The odd thing is he couldn't stop E-Mailing and texting my mobile and sending me a lot of messages on here until he received the refund and ever since it was sent to him (proof of it being sent can be provided) he has ignored ALL messages, E-Mail's and Text messages sent to him regarding the return of the damaged motherboard to me so I can pursue my claim with DHL, as he has to return the damaged motherboard to me.

I would appreciate if the admins got onto him regarding this otherwise it will be me putting in a claim against him via the small claims court for fraudulently requesting a refund for a motherboard he claimed was damaged yet unwilling to return to me.

Thank you.

 

Have sent pm'd admin. Shalt not be commenting about this on here due to admins dislike for us arguing about this in public last time.

 

Play nice you two...

Okay, I'll stop poking the fire now...

 

No one's arguing AndyDEL, I have posted this publicly so everyone can see including the admins that you have received the refund! Now send me the board back!

 

I'm closing this because it's fairly obviously going to degenerate into more of you two bickering.

I'll bring up this thread with Jamie to see if there is anything we can do to improve the FS forum in light of this feedback, but as it is it's always been clear that the FS forum is used at the seller and buyers own risk. Users cannot rely on it being constantly moderated by staff or mods.