I.M.O.G. Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 (edited) Good idea. It is hard to sell extreme cooling equipment in forums, there would be more interest here due to critical mass. If you do a marketplace here, you would save yourself a world of headaches by making it as premium of a service as possible... I have some experience in that. On Overclockers we only permit traders with at least 100 posts, and they must have ISP email. Why? Because that makes it quicker and easier to troll/con/rip someone off at any other forum but ours, and then we only are providing the service to the most loyal, trustworthy members. If I were going to launch a classifieds section on HWBot, I would restrict access to the classifieds here based on post count in the forums and/or a certain number of hwboints. I would set the limit at something like 100 HWBoints. Yes, that would cut out a lot of legitimate members, but it would also almost completely cut out the riff-raff to ensure having the section isn't a management headache... Then the most dedicated hwbot members can trade in relative confidence that they are trading with someone who has an investment in the site, and is less likely to rip you off than someone just passing through. Making it premium/restrictive makes the section manage itself much more than it would otherwise, and also rewards/motivates more loyal members. Edited September 3, 2012 by I.M.O.G. Quote
knopflerbruce Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 I feel it's a good idea, but we'd have to know how to do it. If we simply go "buy/sell at your own risk" I don't think it could work, butwe have to babysit and actively solve cases, I'm against it. Too much extra work. Quote
knopflerbruce Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 Good idea. It is hard to sell extreme cooling equipment in forums, there would be more interest here due to critical mass. If you do a marketplace here, you would save yourself a world of headaches by making it as premium of a service as possible... I have some experience in that. On Overclockers we only permit traders with at least 100 posts, and they must have ISP email. Why? Because that makes it quicker and easier to troll/con/rip someone off at any other forum but ours, and then we only are providing the service to the most loyal, trustworthy members. If I were going to launch a classifieds section on HWBot, I would restrict access to the classifieds here based on post count in the forums and/or a certain number of hwboints. I would set the limit at something like 100 HWBoints. Yes, that would cut out a lot of legitimate members, but it would also almost completely cut out the riff-raff to ensure having the section isn't a management headache... Then the most dedicated hwbot members can trade in relative confidence that they are trading with someone who has an investment in the site, and is less likely to rip you off than someone just passing through. Making it premium/restrictive makes the section manage itself much more than it would otherwise, and also rewards/motivates more loyal members. Very good points. "+rep" as they would've said at OCN:p Quote
l0ud_sil3nc3 Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 Very good points. "+rep" as they would've said at OCN:p I hate OCN's rep system, I have been a member there for 3 years and still not enough "rep" to post in their FS section, oh well glad there are other sites. Quote
knopflerbruce Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 I hate OCN's rep system, I have been a member there for 3 years and still not enough "rep" to post in their FS section, oh well glad there are other sites. I've barely been to that site so I have no idea, was just a thumbs up to what he wrote:p Quote
l0ud_sil3nc3 Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 I think an open international market place is hard to handle as good as it sounds. An area for "trusted sellers / shops" (however they are choosen but kingpincooling and der8auer's shop would be in for sure if you ask me) would be a good idea. Why so? We have an international classifieds section in XS, and after numerous trades (both domestic and international) I have yet to have a bad experience. Trade at your own risk sounds fair to me, along with a post count minimum. Quote
I.M.O.G. Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 (edited) Why so? We have an international classifieds section in XS, and after numerous trades (both domestic and international) I have yet to have a bad experience. Trade at your own risk sounds fair to me, along with a post count minimum. Classifieds staff knows more about problems than members. Problems on ocf are rare. But I door knocked and repoed two items in the past year in Ohio. Not possible internationally. We have around 100 sales open any given day, and have a dozen or so disputes we mediate annually. Edited September 3, 2012 by I.M.O.G. Quote
Jimba Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 +1 for a trade section. If i can buy pots and other gear at a cheaper price then im all for it. Bring it on.. Quote
l0ud_sil3nc3 Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 Classifieds staff knows more about problems than members. Problems on ocf are rare. But I door knocked and repoed two items in the past year in Ohio. Not possible internationally. We have around 100 sales open any given day, and have a dozen or so disputes we mediate annually. Well of course disputes are going to occur, hence why trading at your own risk is advised. IMHO if you as the seller don't do your home work on who your buyer is and what their trade history is than the repercussions of this are all yours to deal with (and vice versa as well) I am sure the last thing the hwbot staff wants to do is police classified transactions and I understand this, hence why I stated it should be at the buyers/sellers risk. Also a dozen or so transactions over a course of a year is pretty good considering the numbers of transactions (100+ a day) you are dealing with in your forums. Quote
ZMBKLN Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 (edited) If this is seriously been considered... Awesome! I'd seriously suggest checking out the full rules list for classified access over at OCF if HWBot is looking for a "template" so to speak. You'd need to add some people who are trustworthy to the support staff here... Their job would be only to moderate the marketplace sections. I realize I don't have much of a post count here... But the guys at OCF could vouch for my honesty. I also have been a moderator of several sections (one being the Buy Sell and Trade section of the largest Radio Controlled based website on the net... http://www.rctech.net ) I do have a bit of experience basically... Just throwing out an offer to volunteer... I've got the time to do it since I'm at the computer 12-15 hours a day. Edited September 4, 2012 by Convicted1 Quote
der8auer Posted September 4, 2012 Author Posted September 4, 2012 What exactly do you guys mean by marketplace? I'm all for a sales section that has a 50 or 100 posts requirement in order to be visible Just a sales section on the forums. I would also set it as classified and I like IMOG's idea to use HWBoints. Quote
Massman Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 @ Sam: Yea that was the topic we talked about and he disagreed. But maybe we can change his opinion You can always try. I like the idea of a marketplace, but moderating it is always a big problem. I really don't like the idea of HWBOT having to get involved into settling problems because of lousy sales. Not only because it's a lot of work and quite problematic given this is an international site, but also because I don't want people to associate HWBOT with bad marketplace. There are some good suggestions in this thread, though, so my mind has not been made up yet. Convince me there's a way to do this without risking having to get involved in each deal . Quote
GENiEBEN Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 HWBOT should be merely a place to list those sales, not the shopping police. If I buy or sale something that ends up DOA, how will bot make justice? You can't, and you shouldnt. As for the international issue, that's why others have location tags. Ofc I won't start buying stuff from AUS unless I can afford shipping and the seller is commited to ship outside. $0.50-nickleback Quote
der8auer Posted September 4, 2012 Author Posted September 4, 2012 There are pretty good solutions to avoid trouble on a marketplace but they all come along with a lot of work. The best solution I saw so far was on German forums where you had to email a copy of your ID card to a moderator to get access. They stored all the information so in case of a fraud they straight had access to personal information. Plus there were tough requirements like 100 postings and 6 months registered. Something like this makes it pretty safe and because they have to provide personal info nobody even tried to cheat. Quote
TaPaKaH Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 We have so many guys whining about even slightest "irregularities" in others' scores that I don't think we'll have problems tracing some dodgy deals Quote
GENiEBEN Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 The best solution I saw so far was on German forums where you had to email a copy of your ID card to a moderator to get access. That's not much of a security feature tbh if you have access to other peoples ID card. (like myself). Some local forums use this at a seller-buyer level, but it's not something enforced. Quote
Splave Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 Isnt a more active forum good for users and page views / advertising revenue Quote
knopflerbruce Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 We could do it this way: Everyone uses it for advertizing only, like, make a topic, and post link to the FS thread(s). That way users here can search for items, but without involving HWBot directly. Quote
der8auer Posted September 4, 2012 Author Posted September 4, 2012 You mean linking to different forums? Quote
Christian Ney Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 Then people will ahve to register in so many forums Quote
knopflerbruce Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 You mean linking to different forums? Yep. Like, a link to the original thread, and then perhaps a list of items for sale (with or without prices). If people would abuse that and do trades per PM it would obviously be behind our backs, and nothing we would care about. Quote
TaPaKaH Posted September 5, 2012 Posted September 5, 2012 We could do it this way: Everyone uses it for advertizing only, like, make a topic, and post link to the FS thread(s). That way users here can search for items, but without involving HWBot directly. I don't like this idea.On most (if not all) outer forums you have to have special privileges to be able to see the ad in full (not everyone has their own site) so most of the time the negotiations will be made just via PM on hwbot forums. If that is to happen anyway, why not allow people post their ads here so there's at least some track of "who promised what to who" in case of possible issues? Quote
knopflerbruce Posted September 5, 2012 Posted September 5, 2012 Because we shouldn't deal with those issues. I'm not the one here who does the most work, but I certainly wouldn't touch marketplace issues. Quote
TaPaKaH Posted September 5, 2012 Posted September 5, 2012 You not, but there are always enthusiasts on the side who you can assign all the "dirty" work to Quote
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