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For Sale Posting Requirement Proposals

Trader history for D1JL (1)

D1JL

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#1
I want to keep this here for now because it is on point and current.
We may move it later.

Many of you have been watching this thread:
http://www.fiestastforum.com/forum/threads/8169-Bad-Seller-Poor-Communication
This is our first major problem and as many have said before, something needs to be done.

For Sale Posting Requirement Proposals.
This has been discussed by the staff before but we have been reluctant to be any more strict.
Our community has continued to grow and we don't wish to appear unfriendly.
Up until now we had only to deal with minor rule infractions.

Here we are asking for some of your legal and practical suggestions.

Post counts have been rejected before as it just leads to garbage being posted just to meet the count requirement.

Things we are considering to add now are:

30 day member time limit.
Must post in "New Member Introduction" thread.
A new thread must be approved by a STAFF member.








Dave
 


V_2

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#3
I don't think it would be too much to ask to require all 3. You're always going to have bad apples, but any steps taken to weed out the losers are greatly appreciated.

Another thought may be to put up a sticky that outlines safe buying practices online and in person through services like craigslist. Just for a little public service reminder.
 


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D1JL

D1JL

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Thread Starter #4
Another thought may be to put up a sticky that outlines safe buying practices online and in person through services like craigslist. Just for a little public service reminder.

Working on this now.




Dave
 


TempeST

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#5
I do completely agree with the post count idea, however it would be simple to create an account. make a new "introduction thread" and then sit on it for a month. so with that said from previous forums that I have dealt with it has been 30 days account, 30 posts, and ALL for sale ads must be approved by a MOD before being posted. this also cut down on the classifieds post infractions. This is just a suggestion. so what you guys agree on I fully support!
 


MPA

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#6
I think a good thing would be to have the buyer post in the thread something like "payment sent for xxxxxxxxxxxx", as well as updating the posts when things are shipped and received (tracking #s don't need to be included in the public post, but should always be sent) rather than closing them once payment is made. Of course, making everyone update the thread may be a huge pain in the ass

I notice the "Rate Seller" thing barely gets used - at least for me. I've sold a few things, but haven't received any feedback.
 


Bluedrank

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#7
I personally think 30 days is still too short. 90 days IMO. And then make it so they can't even see that part of the forum before the 90 days is up, otherwise they could still just send PMs.
 


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#8
30 days or post number requirement is good. I prefer post count requirement so someone's history can be checked.

For actual sale, I think it would be good to ban PayPal gift requests or for buyer to cover fees.
 


Bluedrank

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#10
In the computer forums I visit, we use a website called Heatware for feedback and reputation.

Here is mine for example :

http://www.heatware.com/u/74795

Just an idea.
A mandatory feedback system is a good idea imo.

My ideal would be:
- a sticky post in classified section warning users about scams and giving a rundown of acceptable ways to conduct the transaction (not gifting as a friend for example).
-90 days minimum account age.
-Introduction post in new members section.
-30 rep points minimum before being allowed to sell items. fuck post count, rep points actually means something here. You'll note that in this case i'm actually proposing rules that would prevent my own account from selling. 51 posts do not = trustability in my opinion.
-feedback by buyer and seller is mandatory. discovery of failure to report feedback = banned from selling.
 


dyn085

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#12
I understand why you wouldn't want a post-count minimum due to the possibility of spam-posting to get to the limit, but it really helps set off red flags prior to a possible future issue. Usually, by the time someone has spammed 25 posts within the first 30 days a moderator will have a raised level of awareness and if a for-sale post suddenly pops up then the mod staff will have immediate eyes-on and can watch to see if it progresses in a similar manner as this last thread and intervene or even remove the thread from public view if necessary. And what's worse, 25 spam posts that people have to skim over or ten legitimate members that are out hundreds or thousands of dollars?

Not my show to run, but expecting moderators to approve every for-sale thread will be tedious if the community grows and expecting members to be present for 90 days before selling will eliminate a lot of honest people that don't really intend on being on a forum for a long time but still have legitimate parts to sell. You can't 'force' sellers to not request 'gift' payment, but you can have an advisory post recommending that buyers avoid it along with what the impact can be if they do pay that way. Mandatory rep is also not a good idea as not all members give rep and most honest people don't necessarily make posts that deserve rep to be given.

Ultimately, scam postings are relatively rare, for the most part. It should be posted (if it isn't already) that the forum and staff are not responsible for the overall transactions that occur and it shouldn't be expected that a moderator is reading every single post in every single thread to protect every transaction-that's not their job. Check around and see what other established sites are doing and pick and choose what's within the scope of your staff, then do what you can to raise awareness within the community so that the average member is more keen and willing to report suspicious activity.
 


dyn085

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#14
You can't ban a for sale post that explicitly requests gift payment?
If someone is willing to pay that way, there's no reason they shouldn't be allowed to. The forum is just the means for people to have transactions, they shouldn't be expected to dictate how those transactions occur.

Think of it like meeting at Starbucks to make the transaction-Starbucks shouldn't be expected to tell the seller that he can't ask for cash, they are just the location the transaction is done. Just like you can advise a seller to not accept checks, if he chooses to then he is the one liable if it bounces due to the buyer having insufficient funds. Giving minimum post limits and time requirements is just Starbucks saying that you can't conduct your business on their premises until you've been in there a few times so that the staff can get a general feel for your character, but then you're free to conduct it however you and the buyer agree.
 


DaveG99

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#15
People just need to be more aware of what they are doing. I would look up a person's post history a before I bought from them. And if a deal seams too good to be true normaly it really is.
 


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#16
Well PayPal as a gift when it's actually for goods is defrauding PayPal. I'm on another large forum and they banned PayPal gift requests and it's fine.

As a seller if you don't want to pay the 3% then don't use the service, simple. Or raise your price.

As a buyer, when you use gift option you lose some of the protections PayPal has. There's no incentives as a buyer to use gift option.
 


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#17
To me a face to face transactions and paypal gift are not analogous. It's not the biggest deal to me because I'd never use it, but see no reason gifting shouldn't be banned.
 


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#18
What about requiring heatware account? Heatware consolidates all user accounts from other forums, ebay etc.
 


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#19
On a saltwater aquarium forum i was on it was required to be active for thirty days and have a minimum amount of meaningful posts to sell items. You could buy from day one. it worked pretty well there.
 


meFiSTo

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#20
I was really sad to read that other thread. I've never seen anything quite like that on a forum. I've been very lucky in all my dealings with Focus, Fiesta, and Audi folks. However, I am somewhat cautious and, to tell the truth, mostly only sell used stuff.

As to the question of the minimum posts, I have bumped up against that on the Fiestafaction.com site, where I would like to sell some of my stock bits, but since I'm not active there, I cannot. I might ping the admins (they know me from my FocalJet.com days), to see if they'll relax that for me. However, if you try that, it does give everyone a little runway to assess specific sellers. It's easy enough to ban users doing spammy stuff, but that requires monitoring -- but we all can do that a little bit. And, the banned user can always open a new account if they are persistent and committed. I'm not sure about IP address monitoring etc., but I suspect you could get more aggressive about banning individuals, address ranges, etc. if needed.

With regard to paypal gift payment, it seems like that's something that should be worked out between buyer and seller. But I have no issue with prohibiting it. It's your site. Sellers can just bump prices to cover the cost of paypal's cut (as well as shipping fees) and agree to all that up front. As was commented elsewhere, there's no incentive for buyers to make payment via paypal gift.
 




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