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gan6660

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 18, 2008
1,417
0
WIth threaads about people getting scammed I think macrumors should implement a feedback system.
 
Doesn't vbulletin have a feedback system built in? I think this would be something worth investing some time into.
 
If it wouldn't be too hard to do, I'd recommend a feedback system too. I don't know how the marketplace ever survived with a 100 post minimum!
 
This won't work simply because a lot of people aren't selling for business, they're just selling their old crap. Most people that sell will only sell once, which makes a feedback system limited in usefulness.

It would be interesting to have MR as an arbiter, and they would receive the items first, and ship to the buyer once the contents and payment are confirmed. Of course this is unrealistic, way too much work, and would never happen, but it would kill out most of the scams.

If it wouldn't be too hard to do, I'd recommend a feedback system too. I don't know how the marketplace ever survived with a 100 post minimum!

It's 250 I think.
 
Is there really that much scamming? Surely if you buy off of here you take a small risk as it's not eBay or another heavily reputable source, a feedback system would be useless unless there was heavy sellers, which there isn't.
 
Is there really that much scamming? Surely if you buy off of here you take a small risk as it's not eBay or another heavily reputable source, a feedback system would be useless unless there was heavy sellers, which there isn't.

we've had two scams in the last week
 
If not a feedback system, how about raising the minimum requirements to 500 posts and 1 year as a member? Or is that too much?
 
The post count / time limit has already raised a lot of discussions for the Marketplace. I think the current levels are fair. As stated above by E, this is not eBay, etc. It is offered as a limited perk. The best system to implement in my opinion is just "buyer beware". If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. No matter what levels you implement, if someone is unscrupulous enough to scam... they will not be deterred. Even with the massive feedback system on eBay there are scams galore.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
The post count / time limit has already raised a lot of discussions for the Marketplace. I think the current levels are fair. As stated above by E, this is not eBay, etc. It is offered as a limited perk. The best system to implement in my opinion is just "buyer beware". If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. No matter what levels you implement, if someone is unscrupulous enough to scam... they will not be deterred. Even with the massive feedback system on eBay there are scams galore.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif

Right, I agree that the time limit and post count is fair. That being said, just because someone will not be deterred from scamming is not a great defense to not taking moderate precautions.

(e.g. posting "no trespassing"/"buyer beware" signs are good, but a fence/minimum post requirement might be better. A block wall/feedback forum even better if it's not a significant cost difference to build it in)

If it's a large hassle to implement a feedback feature, then maybe keep things status quo. On the other hand, if a feedback section isn't that hard to add, then it could be a worthwhile investment and an additional layer of security against scams.

Clearly, no system will protect all of the people, all of the time. But an additional level of security may greatly curb the scamming.
 
The post count / time limit has already raised a lot of discussions for the Marketplace. I think the current levels are fair. As stated above by E, this is not eBay, etc. It is offered as a limited perk. The best system to implement in my opinion is just "buyer beware". If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. No matter what levels you implement, if someone is unscrupulous enough to scam... they will not be deterred. Even with the massive feedback system on eBay there are scams galore.

And accounts get hijacked on ebay. You could buy from a seller with 100% feedback selling the item you are buying and get scammed.
 
We do look into scam reports if they are sent to us. At least to the extent that we can. Of course we're not a law enforcement authority so about the most we can do is remove the user and watch for them coming back.

We have discussed implementing a feedback system. Right now I don't believe there are plans to implement one. I think part of this is you have only a few types of users..

1. People that sell once or twice a year at most. I would guess this is the majority of our users. Since they sell rarely the feedback system doesn't help much with them. I would personally fall into this category.
2. People that sell all the time. If they are selling all the time, they pretty much tend to have a good rep. A cursory search would show they have participated in good transactions. Feedback wouldn't really boost them much more.
3. Scammers. They tend to fall into the first bucket, with bad results. Again, we investigate them and take some action within our power but about the most we can do is remove the user.

When I have sold on here I would link to my ebay feedback but let's face it, I could be linking to anyones ebay feedback (my ebay and MR accounts have different names).

I'm not saying MacRumors will never add a feedback system of course. But for the present, report scammers as you find them, feel free to (as politely as possible) discuss a scammer in the Marketplace forums, etc... hopefully the "few bad apples don't spoil the bunch".

BTW Feel free to continue to discuss this topic. Just because I have said one isn't planned that pretty much means I have no knowledge of one being flipped on tomorrow. Ideas are good and discussion is good.
 
Any feedback system will have ways to get around it for a scam - we need to shoot for the middle of the bell curve and use it not as a guarantee of up-standingness, but rather one more indicator that said member is a good egg. MacLister has a feedback system and, while that is currently a small community, it has worked well with the aformentioned understanding.
 
Feedback just for the Marketplace? Bad idea. Even a place like eBay has scams left, right, top & bottom and they have a pretty decent feedback system. All I can say is use your own common sense to know that if a deal is too good to be true, then it is most likely so.
 
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