As a buyer would you feel better buying and trading with a "verified member?"

[BZOFIQ]

I know someone on here already who is 'verified' yet still a scammer.

Do tell.

 

[Cell]

@revhtree, probably won’t be a fair idea to all members, most aquarists that sell on forums are just occasionally sellers that want to pass on equipment that they don’t need or accidentally make new frags during tank maintenance, I feel that those sellers would be in disadvantage over folks who sell often as they wouldn’t have a check mark or a badge of trusted seller and the occasional seller won’t, automatically making them a scammer to many.
I understand the idea as it could benefit some although scammers could easily make several small legit sales to get the badge and not long after that scam someone in the thousands to make it worthwhile. More education on safe and protected methods of payment will always be king for the seller and for the buyer as both can be scammed sometimes not always the seller the scammers unfortunately.

edit: to me a certified seller already has a badge and it’s called a sponsor.

To me it just presents the information that is already available to me minus the time spent looking up post and sale history of a seller. Potential buyers on any platform, not just R2R, would ideally look up sales and feedback history of a seller in order before purchasing. If you start selling on Ebay for the first time, you have no stars/no feedback vs long time trusted sellers and that's OK. People will still buy your stuff if it's a good deal.

Is it a bad thing that those who use the site more frequently also get the benefit of being more vetted? It happens by default anyway. I think this system just highlights it and makes it more transparent.

 

[Cell]

Any seller that has a continuous supply of the same item could be considered one and normally those folks would be the ones going through the trouble to become “certified” to generate more sales.

edit: all forums have similar rules, here’s the R2R rule’s

Selling/Trading Forum Rules - Please Read Before Posting

Selling Forum Rules The sales forum on Reef2Reef is available to members that have been a member for 30 days and have 25 meaningful posts (A meaningful post will involve more than saying things like "nice tank" or "I agree." Something meaningful will often be sharing one's knowledge and...

www.reef2reef.com

I'm not seeing a rule on what constitutes a commercial seller vs hobbyist, but maybe I missed it.

 

[bvanfish]

I like just a simple leave a rating and comment style. That’s how I trust sources.

If I see others saying buy here trusted person etc then I may reach out to those people and verify or may order. but to me real feedback is better than a check!

 

[sixty_reefer]

To me it just presents the information that is already available to me minus the time spent looking up post and sale history of a seller. Potential buyers on any platform, not just R2R, would ideally look up sales and feedback history of a seller in order before purchasing. If you start selling on Ebay for the first time, you have no stars/no feedback vs long time trusted sellers and that's OK. People will still buy your stuff if it's a good deal.

Is it a bad thing that those who use the site more frequently also get the benefit of being more vetted? It happens by default anyway. I think this system just highlights it and makes it more transparent.

There is many scammers on eBay and other big selling sites that have been verified by external companies, often only a email address is required which means nothing if you trying to get some money back from a fraudulent sale.
the same will happen here, scammers are very clever and someone buying from a checked seller will most likely drop the guard and be tricked more easily into using a unsafe method of payment. At list that’s how I see it.

 

[Troylee]

Just check their credit score! Haha!

 

[sixty_reefer]

I'm not seeing a rule on what constitutes a commercial seller vs hobbyist, but maybe I missed it.

Quote from the link above:

• Threads that appear to be commercial will be removed. Being deemed commercial is not just for parties that have a physical store or website. There are many factors that may lead to a thread being deemed commercial. Some of them are having a constant supply of an item, large supply of an item, "made to order" goods, or buying with the intent to resell.
  • Sales must have a finite end date.
  • 3D printed items may be sold, but must be posted for sale in the 3D Printed & Handmade Aquarium Items forum.

 

[Cell]

There is many scammers on eBay and other big selling sites that have been verified by external companies, often only a email address is required which means nothing if you trying to get some money back from a fraudulent sale.
the same will happen here, scammers are very clever and someone buying from a checked seller will most likely drop the guard and be tricked more easily into using a unsafe method of payment. At list that’s how I see it.

Well sure, none if it's fool proof. But I promise you very few scammers will take the time to sell 10 items legitimately just to get verified, then rip one person off and lose verification. Scammers don't actually have items to sell. Besides, like you pointed out, they can just go to Ebay instead.

 

[Cell]

Quote from the link above:

• Threads that appear to be commercial will be removed. Being deemed commercial is not just for parties that have a physical store or website. There are many factors that may lead to a thread being deemed commercial. Some of them are having a constant supply of an item, large supply of an item, "made to order" goods, or buying with the intent to resell.
  • Sales must have a finite end date.
  • 3D printed items may be sold, but must be posted for sale in the 3D Printed & Handmade Aquarium Items forum.

A bit funny because if I am selling excess coral as a hobbyist, I likely have a constant supply of said coral to sell. I'm not aware of this ever being enforced. I do understand the intent though.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Well sure, none if it's fool proof. But I promise you very few scammers will take the time to sell 10 items legitimately just to get verified, then rip one person off and lose verification. Scammers don't actually have items to sell. Besides, like you pointed out, they can just go to Ebay instead.

I believe some of those sites have the ability to block the ip address from re opening another account.

 

[sixty_reefer]

A bit funny because if I am selling excess coral as a hobbyist, I likely have a constant supply of said coral to sell. I'm not aware of this ever being enforced. I do understand the intent though.

It’s left to the moods ultimately to decide I believe.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

It’s left to the moods ultimately to decide I believe.

That rule generally applies to equipment. If someone has 40 units of a single pump, they're probably not selling off equipment they just happened to have lying around. We use multiple criteria to determine if someone is selling at a commercial level.

 

[sixty_reefer]

That rule generally applies to equipment. If someone has 40 units of a single pump, they're probably not selling off equipment they just happened to have lying around. We use multiple criteria to determine if someone is selling at a commercial level.

I wasn’t aware of that, not applicable to coral then? Could I sell 50 high end corals in a 12 month period and not be considered commercial selling?

for example 50 sales of holy grails torch mix with other high end coral (over 1000$ corals) would put my analogy sales to around 50k

 

[mfinn]

That rule generally applies to equipment. If someone has 40 units of a single pump, they're probably not selling off equipment they just happened to have lying around. We use multiple criteria to determine if someone is selling at a commercial level.

What's with the new Rating thing? Isn't it just like the Review score we already have? @Daniel@R2R

 

[Daniel@R2R]

What's with the new Rating thing? Isn't it just like the Review score we already have? @Daniel@R2R

I believe Rev's is that a "verification" of some kind could help give added security. This thread is providing some great feedback for us to determine if the community agrees and what such a system might look like.

 

[AydenLincoln]

For those of you who are complaining or worried about submitting an ID which I don’t agree with on a platform like this…just know it’s not illegal if done voluntary.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

For those of you who are complaining or worried about submitting an ID which I don’t agree with on a platform like this…just know it’s not illegal if done voluntary.

I'll also add that I don't believe that's something we're currently considering.

 

[mfinn]

I believe Rev's is that a "verification" of some kind could help give added security. This thread is providing some great feedback for us to determine if the community agrees and what such a system might look like.

Doesn't the new number thing just duplicates the feedback score already in place?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Doesn't the new number thing just duplicates the feedback score already in place?

I think the idea currently is the blue checkmark to indicate "verified" although I think the idea of a badge instead is now being considered. I may have missed the comment about a new number? I'm not aware of that one. I know Rev is also looking to provide a better feedback system.

 

[mfinn]

I know Rev is also looking to provide a better feedback system.

Would the present feedback score transfer over? Or just get deleted, again.