Buyer/Seller Ratings? Options

[AWD DSM 1]

Curious if there was any way to get some sort of Buyer/Seller rating system up on DSMCentral. not sure what our program supports, maybe just a sub-forum?

[BudmannG]

I second the motion!!! This is a great idea!

[black92_tsi_awd]

The truck forum I'm on has a sub-forum for Buyer/Seller comments. Works pretty well I think.

Here's the sticky from the site:
This category was added in hope's to help other FSC members when purchasing products from fellow members. If you have purchased a product or more from another FSC member, then here's the place to give your feedback. Let us know who the member was by placing his USERNAME in the title, please refrain from giving them a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" in the title. This is to allow other users to post their feedback that may be different from yours. Let us know how the transaction went, communication, shipping, quality of the product, and how long it took to receive the product and most of all, if you would buy from this person again. Remember , this is only member feedback.

[natedogg]

This was brought up in the past and I think mod consensus at the time was that we weren't going to get into the rating system. It's too personal and will start too much drama and too many fires that, quite frankly, we don't want to have to put out. No offense, but I've seen how "well" its worked in the past on CII.

Everyone who gets a bad rating or review is going to argue and I'm already sick of the arguments I've seen on here over a couple different deals. You can also run into situations where someone thinks they got a raw deal, even though they didn't, but posts a bad review anyway and no ones the wiser until the opposing party, again, argues. Who's right, who's not, who knows? I don't know for sure about the other mods, but I know I don't want to play Solomon everytime someone thinks they got a raw deal.

IMHO, its not a good idea.

[mitsu90]

what about a feed back score kinnda like ebay has, but make it anonymous. and just have a number next to the persons user name the higher the number the better they are to deal with.

it's just a thought.

[The Iron Goat]

... I don't want to play Solomon everytime someone thinks they got a raw deal.

Should I cut the car in half?

I agree with Nate. There's just too many things that can go wrong with a setup like that. I like the ebay-like idea. Only able to leave feedback if a transaction occurred. All-in-all, I don't think it will happen.

[JBone]

That kinda defeats the whole rating purpose, though. It's nothing but good.

If, say, so and so did one or two good things and then did many other bad things, only the good would be known.

If interested in how someone does a good or bad job, just post a question in the forum and pm back and forth with who screwed who over or how good they are.

Anonymous ratings, like in ebay, is hard to moderate on a board not setup for selling with internet customers only. That would be the most effective way to prevent someone with a wild hair to flame on a transaction, whether good or bad.

This past weekend was a good testament for this.

On a side note to this past weekend: Who wants round 2?!!

[AWD DSM 1]

Spy, your concept works until it comes to newbies.... they will have few feedbacks, but doesn't necissarily mean they're bad. I was hoping a simple positive, neutral, negative with one line of text type of thing, only to be used if you've actually done bussiness with the other party. 3si.og had a system that seems to work pretty good.

Nate, I understand your frustrations. I love the way that the mods keep the drama out for the most part. On the other hand, sometimes a fuss needs to be raised when things go bad. I don't think it's fair to keep bad experiences to yourself.

[black92_tsi_awd]

I was just thinking it would remove the drama from the threads, and put it in one location.

But I don't envy the moderators job, and don't wish to add any more work.

[ncgalant]

One thing we would need to NOT do would be ask questions in the thread. If you put a comment, all other questions should be in PM form. We don't need people bickering over service etc.

[natedogg]

Getting a bad deal now and then is the cost of doing business. You have to be smart about it. I, for example, don't do business with anyone I don't know unless its face to face or bound by some kind of pre-arranged agreement. I'm gonna stick to my guns and say that a ratings system really isn't the answer.

Hypothetical situation. User_X has a bad rating on our ratings system. He has a turbo up for sale that is exactly what you want at a good price. Are you going to let the fact that he has a bad rating keep you from purchasing the turbo from him? If so, then maybe its worthwhile, if not, then why bother with the ratings system.

I personally would give the guy a call and like I said before meet with him face to face. That way I have time to look the product over and talk to the guy before completing the transaction. In other words, I'm not going to let a good deal pass me by just because a ratings system tells me the guy may be a bad seller/buyer. No matter what the ratings system tells me, good or bad, if I don't know the guy, I'm going to be careful to follow my rules for a safe transaction. So maybe its just me, but the ratings system isn't going to mean much as far as my future transactions are concerned. To be blunt, I just see it as a way to kiss ass or bad mouth...aka drama creation.

[AWD DSM 1]

Getting a bad deal now and then is the cost of doing business. You have to be smart about it.

I don't care how smart you are about it, from time to time you're going to get a bad deal. Most of us on here are running "businesses" either. I think it's unfair to expect people to just put up with a bad seller and not warn others. I might not pass on a good deal from a bad seller, but I'd sure be a lot more cautious...

This was just an idea...

[natedogg]

Don't take my comments the wrong way. Its not an attack against you or your idea. Its just my opinion on ratings systems in general. I just don't think there is anything more fair about a ratings system than there is about accusing someone rightly or wrongly of dealing you raw. There is no way to prove who really is right or wrong, so there's no way to know if the ratings system is actually telling the truth.

Someone could rate me badly even though they didn't even participate in a transaction with me. They rated me bad just cuz they don't like me. I argue, but you the mod don't know either of us from Adam, so whose right? These are decisions a mod can't make.

So you could in a sense be a lot more cautious about doing business with someone who doesn't deserve the extra cautiousness. The ratings system is subjective and based on opinion and personal honor rather than fact. That is its fatal flaw.

Again, nothing personal buddy.

[AWD DSM 1]

I see your point, and it is very true... Probably not an easy way to get around it either. Again, just a thought, part of the intentions being to clean up some of the crap.

I know better than to take e-blabber personally

[awd4kicks]

I am in total agreement with Nate on this. We have talked about this before and came to the same conclusion. I don't forsee this kind of thing being on DSMCentral at this time. The future may hold other things.

This group is still small enough that we all pretty much know who's who anyway. Even the new guys seem to come in knowing another member for the most part.

This board's staple is to be no-nonsense. There is always a fair amount of BS that will go on, but if we want this group to last we need to stay true to the core values as much as possible.

Marcus

[AWD DSM 1]

The ODT has spoken! So shall it be written, so shall it be done!

[xian 1g]

I'm in agreement with Nate as well on this one... Word of mouth works wonders.

[haunter]

I'm in agreement with Nate as well on this one... Word of mouth works wonders.

yeah this didnt work at all on CII, all it did was dump gasoline on the drama fire