A couple suggestions

HobbyTalk · August 9th, 2004, 11:13 PM

Any plans yet to add a Sellers and Buyers rating system?

Also, would like to have the Seller posted on the listing page to make it easy to see who is selling something.

Chuck S · August 22nd, 2004, 08:20 PM

I am sure of all the suggestions posted ratings will most likely be worked in since photopost and reviewpost have ratings.

However as to when the next version coming out this may be quite a few. With just releasing 3 new versions lately I don't see new releases coming out anytime soon.

HobbyTalk · August 22nd, 2004, 10:59 PM

Thanks for the reply to the almost 2 month old post. Since that post I've had to abandon the use of the Classifieds as there was just too much resistance by users of switching from the forum system (which I previously used) to the classifieds. In the month since the change back to the forums the number of items posted have doubled and the number of views on each item have quadrupled.

Biggest drawbacks named was no buyer/seller rating system, not an easy to use "comment" system and receiving an email each time someone posts a comment (instead of only one for the first comment and only a new email once you view all new comments since your last visit). Heck, you even get an email if you post a comment to your own ad.

I suspect that someone starting out with Classifieds wouldn't have a problem it's just that most people are resistant to change.

Chuck S · August 22nd, 2004, 11:07 PM

2 month old post? maybe 2 weeks you meant? We normally dont reply to suggestions forums. I just thought I would meantion that a rating system would be a good candidate since the other two products we release have one.

HobbyTalk · August 23rd, 2004, 10:24 PM

Duh... you're right.. seems like it's been two months

Michael P · August 25th, 2004, 03:58 PM

In putting together a feedback/rating system; I can't decide if the only people who can leave feedback are those who purchase an item. Would we really want to open feedback to anyone? And if we limit it, do we put it on the seller to identify the buyer to invite feedback?

One thought, if a seller can determine who they want to identify as a buyer; they could neglect to list anyone as an actual buyer to avoid any feedback. They would do this for positive feedback, but a suspicious person doing questionable transactions would simply avoid listing the buyer. Right?

Regs · August 25th, 2004, 04:50 PM

Only buyers can rate or leave feedback for the seller they bought from.

Only sellers can rate or leave feedback for the buyer they sold to.

A history page for each seller should be accessible for all to see that lists transaction numbers, dates, the username who left feedback and the comment/rating made

Same goes for buyers.

the members page should also have a brief overview of their rating, how many transactions they have conducted, etc.

Michael P · August 25th, 2004, 05:41 PM

See, here's the problem (at least as I see it) - if the seller identifies the buyer (assuming the buyer is a member of the site), then the seller controls who can and cannot leave feedback.

Classifieds don't work like auctions where the "winner" is identified by the system, we would depend on the seller to identify the buyer.

This could be a limitation that would make the feedback system slanted towards only sellers who are willing to identify the buyers.

Chuck S · August 25th, 2004, 06:07 PM

Excellent Point Michael.

Ted S · August 25th, 2004, 06:50 PM

Another important issue to factor in is that there may be many buyers. Say for example I have a classified ad about a time share/ house, 30 people could potentially have a transaction with me and all have the right to leave feedback. At a bare minimum the system should require a url to the transaction used. This is "loose" in that you can say you had a transaction and cite a valid url when no business occured but it is still better than nothing. A few days ago we had a problem with someone abusing the vbulletin hack "trader ratings" in which they were posting negative comments about a few users because they disliked them, not because of any transactions... making them enter a url at least means they have to work to lie.

I suppose this leaves the system in one of two places. Either you keep things relatively open requiring a url or other easily false information or you make it an invite based system as Michael described. Because there could be problems with sellers skewing the results you would want to make it something either person can opt in to use. Buyers and sellers would bother have to be registered and after a transaction was completed they would have to have a way to respond to the other person. From a technical standpoint this could mean coding the system to check if the user is the seller, and if so let them enter the userid of the buyer and leave them comments. If they are a user it could have a link saying "transaction completed" or "leave feedback" in which they bind themselves to the message. In either case the buyer or seller would be able to link the transaction to both parties and while you cant check if anything really was paid for, you can be certain that only registered users are in the system and both parties have equal access to post about each other.

Michael P · August 25th, 2004, 07:27 PM

We'd still have to know who the buyer was to send them a link or invitation to submit feedback. If a site allows Contacts without being registered, it may be that the purchaser is not even a member of the site.

Again, this isn't an auction script - so we do have some limitations. Seems to me the two alternatives are:

1) Allow anyone to post feedback.
2) Allow sellers to identify buyers (and provide feedback on buyer) and notify buyers to provide feedback on sellers. Then track the number of sales per user and someone with a low feedback/sales-ratio might be considered suspect.

With #2, we'd probably rely on the seller knowing the buyers "login id" so we can establish the connection.

Regs · August 26th, 2004, 11:02 AM

Personally, I think you should just allow all registered users to leave comments/feedback/ratings to start. Let us, the webmasters, state the rules for our sites and deal with any problematic users - it should be clear who is abusing the system...

Don't try and over analyze it from the get go or nothing will ever get done (been there, believe me)

At least this way, we can use it in real-world situations and give more concrete feedback and suggestions.

Cheers,

~Regs.

Michael P · August 26th, 2004, 11:35 AM

It would be easier that way and also allow us to refine it over time without being too restrictive upfront.