[Lateralus]

I've been thinking lately that given the number of exchanges that take place here at the MacNN marketplace, and the often high-dollar value of those exchanges, it might be a good idea to adopt a 'recommended' feedback system as a reference, as so many other trading spots around the net have done.

Off the top of my head, Heatware and ArsTechnica's Beerology come to mind as good choices given the number of feedbacks already in the system on each. But if you have any suggestions, feel free to make them. Then, I'll create a poll and we can all vote for which feedback system to adopt from the list of recommendations.

So, have at it...

[ThePowerToBurn]

I agree with those two choices 100%.

[Langdon]

I like the recommendation.
There can be a lot of sketchy traders and sellers around these parts. The accountability over in Ars makes it a much more trusted area to do business in. But I don't know how you're going to make it commonplace for people to use one or the other and then expect it to be normal for others to ask for references before they do business.

It seems like over there the member base was used to buying and selling courtesies and practices that just don't exist here. People wing it in here and I have yet to see any recognized code of conduct among sellers and buyers.


BTW you wont be able to do Beerology without their cooperation. They check that the emails and usernames of their members are the same in both sites. So unless you are registered in the forums you won't be able to get that username in Beer.

[Lateralus]

I have no intention of actually enforcing it. Hopefully, I wont have to. This is something that can do nothing other than benefit the people who trade here. But if nobody chooses to adopt it, then I will let it rest.

What I will probably do is create a Read Me/Sticky recommending the linking to of your feedback in any threads you create when possible. Not much I can do beyond that though.

[Rabid Duck]

I've found that most shady deals here involve really new, recently-registered members. People who have been here for awhile tend not to want to ruin their reputation by ripping somebody off (and are likely not that type anyway, one would hope). Many sellers whose first post is in the Marketplace forum realize potential buyers may be turned off by their lack of presence and post a link to their beerology or ebay feedback.

So I don't think it's a major problem. However, it'd be nice to have some sort of formalized feedback system. Either of the choices sounds good to me.

[kenazo]

I've had nothing but excellent experiences buying and selling on the forum here but I would love to see a 'recommended' feedback process. Heatware seems to be the obvious choice as it is an independent site unlike beerology.

[Lateralus]

Ah, I had forotten that Beerology used the Ars Open Forum user names for feedback, and that you have to register at the forum to use it.

Are there any other good feedback systems or is Heatware pretty much it?

[Langdon]

Originally posted by Rabid Duck:
Many sellers whose first post is in the Marketplace forum realize potential buyers may be turned off by their lack of presence and post a link to their beerology or ebay feedback.

eBay feedback is useless. Now that they have changed the system to block reverse look ups of users by email address and block the viewing of addresses in live auctions there is no way to verify that the person here who tells you they are XXXXXXX on ebay is really them.
You could pick a random user name with good feedback or better yet mimic the username here and pose as that user.
Heatware is easiest but as I mentioned I have preferred Beerology because it is a smaller circle with a userbase that is more familiar with each other. Making a bad trade sticks with you there so people tend to do more to accommodate each other, it creates accountability.

[Langdon]

What happened to this idea?

[OneMacGuy]

Originally posted by Langdon:
What happened to this idea?

I believe that we could eliminate a lot of the problems just by not allowing noobs to post here. All of the blatant abuses are by new account holders.

[mad cow disease]

Originally posted by Langdon:
eBay feedback is useless. Now that they have changed the system to block reverse look ups of users by email address and block the viewing of addresses in live auctions there is no way to verify that the person here who tells you they are XXXXXXX on ebay is really them.
You could pick a random user name with good feedback or better yet mimic the username here and pose as that user.
Heatware is easiest but as I mentioned I have preferred Beerology because it is a smaller circle with a userbase that is more familiar with each other. Making a bad trade sticks with you there so people tend to do more to accommodate each other, it creates accountability.

Simple solution. Have the person you're trading with verify their e-mail address through eBay, contacting you through eBay's contact service.

You would be best advised to do the same with the heatware.

[keltorsori]

Heatware is the best choice IMHO. Well respected and frequented by lots of other boards, I imagine you could even get Mr. Sonicblue (one of the maintainers) to add MacNN as a forum choice for feedback.

My $0.02

[Tetsuo]

integrating heatware would be a great choice

[Langdon]

Originally posted by mad cow disease:


You would be best advised to do the same with the heatware.

No need, heatware shows the email address used with the account. All someone has to do is send an email from that address to prove that is who they are.

And eBay removed that function. The only way to do that is to have been involved in a transaction with the member or for one of the memebers to be selling an item to use eBay as a method of contact.

[Eccent]

I fifth support for Heatware.

[ll350]

Heatware, and common sense. You should institute them both, if you don't have both of them no trading!

[OneMacGuy]

Originally posted by ll350:
Heatware, and common sense. You should institute them both, if you don't have both of them no trading!

If you could invent a common sense filter for posting on forums:

1. the lounges would both be empty
2. some people would find they have nothing to say that anyone could read
3. No one would ever be able to rack up thousands of posts!
4. you would not need to be buying used equipment, you would be rich

If you could take that filter and apply it to political ads, most would be silent, some people would not show up at all in them and the rest would be dramatically different!

Seriuosly, new Heatware accounts are a pain to start and take a long time to build up. But, anyone with an ebay account CAN contact anyone else with one, just by clicking on the contact member button in that members profile. I just looked up some of your users id's and found several, who knows if they are the same people until you send them an email and see how or if they respond.