New Rules

[Gary]

Several members have contacted me regarding parts purchases that have not been completed as anticipated and that they do not have a way to post feedback to alert others. I have been trying to come up with a way to do this fairly and here is what we will try.

New Rule - Effective immediately, any offers of parts for sale or services for a fee must be listed on the Ad Board and not in the general forums.

Once the deal is completed, buyer and seller can complete the "Seller/Buyer Feedback" section in the Ad Board's Member List. This is not the same list as the Forum Member List. The Ad board member list only contains users of the Ad Board.

This feedback system is similar to eBay's and will help buyers and sellers to gauge the reputation of the member by the number of "points" they have. FeedbacK comments need to follow the general posting guidelines.

[soybean]

Sounds good Gary and very fair to all. Jarrell

[baz]

gary what do you want doing with posts that still turn up in general and tech ?
i was thinking delete and send a PM to poster untill the message gets across to all members
and can we do this thread as a sticky in general so folks can see it who join later

[Paul]

Also, how would we arrange "group Buys"?

[baz]

same way as a sale i would think
if you want to do a group buy work out an ad post it in the ad section and when there are a known number of people wanting the item ,buy them and sell them on to those who want them
if needs must do it as a private thing on a p2p web site like msm or aim so it does not become a fire ball on site if it goes wrong

[Gary]

Originally Posted by Paul Also, how we arrange "group Buys"?

Group buys can be done on the Ad Board. The contact person will place the ad, members who want in can add their names in the ad comments section.

[GT Tim]

That's good, I still haven't gotten a thing. How do I leave feedback for the past?

[philcav]

Thank you, Gary.

It is a very good idea, I am glad to see this safety precaution put into place.

This is yet another way to maintain integrity, honesty, and protect the thousands of users on this forum.

Also this will help fair and honest individuals, that maintain positive feedback, sell products/services to the Opel population.


Two thumbs up!

[Gary]

Originally Posted by philcav Thank you, Gary. It is a very good idea, I am glad to see this safety precaution put into place. This is yet another way to maintain integrity, honesty, and protect the thousands of users on this forum. Also this will help fair and honest individuals, that maintain positive feedback, sell products/services to the Opel population. Two thumbs up!

Thanks, Phil. It was the fairest way that I could come up with to handle sales/services listings within the structure we have here on OpelGT.com.

[Scorchr69]

I think some change should be made, but not to the extent of everything going to the ads board first. Transactions, sure. I just got into the opel thing like it seems many here are. Had it not been for the "Colorado group buy" I may have never completed any opel for the road (still working on it, Dave). I have completed several transactions with people on the site, so far with no remorse, but only 1 through the ad section.

How about letting the threads go on the site, but any transactions go through the ad board. That way helping others can still be done with out creating a monster! Anybody that doesn't go though the ad board, don't air it on opelgt.com! And some don't have to watch everything for the "I need/have" line on every single thread!

Just think about the next national meet that involves many people on this site (think Carlisle) and how much stuff will be exchanging hands because of the thread vs. how little might have been brought without it. The way I read it, the thread would have been killed by the third post under the new rules.....

Danny

[baz]

danny the rules are being brought in because of a thread that started ok and has gone into the stratosphere
it could have ripped this site apart but was moved into a private forum made so that those involved could try to work out the problems without the main rules of the site being used on it or it would have died a long time ago it has cost us some good members anyway
as the parts at carlisle thread will die out by friday night it was left to run ,like older threads that are running successfully for some products
all new sales will go through the ads board and its only a monster for the moderators who have to ok every post in any ad

[Scorchr69]

Thanks baz. I just wanted to throw out an idea. I understand the reason..
Danny

[Gary]

Danny, you bring up a good point. Your note states what my intent was. Discuss in the forums. When it comes time for money to be exchanged, use the Ad Board. The Ad Board only has a comments and rating. It does not have the features a forum has. Looking back on my first post, I was not clear on that point.

I was trying to come up with a way to give buyers/sellers a way to see the reputation of the member they are dealing with. Kind of like eBay does with their feedback.

The forum program has a "reputation" option that takes number of posts and feedback from others and rolls it up into a "reputation factor" I chose not to use that. The one on the Ad board is simple to use and is limited to parts and services offered.

Comments and feedback on this topic and any others site issues are always welcome.
<<Gotta finish packing for Carlisle>>

[Dmcbrass]

Gary,
I have the same question as GT Tim. How do we leave feedback on past incidents. I've been attempting to sell some parts to a member of this site for the past two months. I've spent a lot of time packing up parts in very large hard to find boxes and listening to promise after promise. The plan was to sell them for what I paid for them and help out a fellow opeler in the process. If my time is worth anything, he now owes me three times the agreed upon price. I would really like to help others avoid what I've been going through.

[spdkilz02]

i dont think there really is anything that we can do about past things...

[spdkilz02]

go to the private forum that is what it is there for...

[baz]

folks concerned with the performance head thread please limit your posts about it and what has happened to the private forum set up for you all to deal with it
all posts concerning it will be deleted if not posted in said forum


gt tim and Dmcbrass the new sales policy is not pre dateable from before it started and as such you can not leave feed back for a sale or service that were in action before the date it started only sales and services started after that date being may 15th 2006

[GT Tim]

I want nothing to do with sales or to do with nobody.It is that simple.I did not violate your new rules nor did I attempt to.

[baz]

tim the first post deleted is argumentitive and could flame a member the second one is directly conserning the head thread and as such both were deleted

nobodys post was deleted so you would keep the discussion in the head thread and gtjims post was deleted for the same reason

the pm you sent has a fuller reply

[2 Fast 4 U]

I was wondering how long it would take before the ads in that section would be banned, in this thread [and this was on 11-27-2005] I already asked if this wasn't off topic

[baz]

before we added the sales policy it was ok to add a post in general discussion to promote a sale ,now its not , the band width savings alone will be worth it as all the old threads that were for sales sit in the system and never get deleted by the starters when finnished, where as the ones in sales have a limited life span

[spdkilz02]

i was just looking in the ads section of the site and noticed that u would be able to leave feedback for a seller as long as they do have an ad listed currently...maybe this would be one way for people to leave feedback about past problems with sales that have gone on...

[Gary]

Originally Posted by spdkilz02 i was just looking in the ads section of the site and noticed that u would be able to leave feedback for a seller as long as they do have an ad listed currently...maybe this would be one way for people to leave feedback about past problems with sales that have gone on...

Their name would be in the ad database "If" they had sold something in the past.

[spdkilz02]

thanks Gary, didnt realize that we could go back like that and look at all the ads placed by one person...heck i had forgot about most of the ads that i had placed on the site...

[neuropel]

From a quick read in one of the other threads, it appears we have lost yet another mod over the recent new rules regarding the creation of ads when discussing the buying/selling of cars/parts/services . I feel partially responsible since I was one of the ones that originally proposed a feedback system similar to ebay to protect buyers and sellers. I STILL feel it's a good idea to have such a system but literal, black and white implementation of the new rules is creating hostility. Perhaps a solution to this is that ONCE MONEY CHANGES HANDS, the Buyer would be able to initiate an "ad" of his own that would serve as a transaction history (assuming the Seller failed to post a pre-existing ad prior to selling the goods). This would empower Buyers to post feedback on bad Sellers but still give every opportunity to freely discuss group buys, parts, or whatever. If a Seller knows he faces consequences if he rips people off here, many of these problems will sort themselves out.
If the sale goes well, the Buyer should feel obligated to follow through and give the Seller good feedback (again, even if the Seller didn't post an ad). Sellers wishing to build a business with services or parts offers are self-motivated and it is in their best interest to create their own ad for selling, so the current system works well. If Sellers encounter a bad Buyer, they should be able to post feedback on the Buyer under their own sales ad.
There are some common sense rules that would need to apply here. For example, if the Buyer initiates the process he has to give the Seller 6 weeks or so to come through before posting negative feedback.
The point of this is to offer members a way to report misgivings in a way that MEANS something, and also helps communication between the affected parties. Being held accountable, even a little, will help keep transactions honest...the LAST thing the rules should do is create a bunch of hostility and bad feelings toward each other.
I have no idea whether any of this will fly, or whether it's even possible or feasible...I just hate to see us lose another moderator. Additionally, I have no idea if it creates extra work for the owner. It looks like we already have a feedback system, so perhaps that will help (seems that would be the hard part to implement).
These are just ideas off the top of my head...comments, suggestions, bullets to the head explaining why it won't work, or other related discussion would be good I'd think!

Todd K.