Set a minimum post count to sell in Classified?

[mav1178]

Hi,

Not sure if vBulletin has this option or not, but would the site consider a minimum post count to allow members to sell items on the site to others?

Perhaps something small like 25 posts, but this is to discourage those sell-and-run users that might end up being unpaid vendors and/or fraudulent in nature. It's also to encourage active discussion and useful input from members, and (as a perk) you get to sell your own products.

Example: Overclock.net does not allow you to sell anything in the classified section unless you have 50 reps (their equivalent of "Thanks") under your name. This is to encourage useful contributions to the site.

Something to consider. If the site doesn't allow it from an admin perspective, please ignore this request.

-alex

[OrangeJuleas]

While I like your idea as it would deter so-called "sell-and-run" users and perhaps cut down on on potential fraud, you might also be causing people who are just here to sell an item and not join a forum. I've purchased things from people with less than 10 posts and received my goods no problem.

Buyer beware, I suppose.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by mav1178

Hi,

Not sure if vBulletin has this option or not, but would the site consider a minimum post count to allow members to sell items on the site to others?

Perhaps something small like 25 posts, but this is to discourage those sell-and-run users that might end up being unpaid vendors and/or fraudulent in nature. It's also to encourage active discussion and useful input from members, and (as a perk) you get to sell your own products.

Example: Overclock.net does not allow you to sell anything in the classified section unless you have 50 reps (their equivalent of "Thanks") under your name. This is to encourage useful contributions to the site.

Something to consider. If the site doesn't allow it from an admin perspective, please ignore this request.

-alex

I think its a good idea, and will be even more necessary as the forum grows on popularity as time passes and more people own 86's.

[diss7]

I agree its a good idea.

But 25 minimum posts could be obtained in an hour or so, posting randomly throughout the forum.

I like the idea of it being based of thanks posts. Even if it was only 10; which I think would be fair.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by OrangeJuleas

While I like your idea as it would deter so-called "sell-and-run" users and perhaps cut down on on potential fraud, you might also be causing people who are just here to sell an item and not join a forum. I've purchased things from people with less than 10 posts and received my goods no problem.

Buyer beware, I suppose.

I am aware of plenty of people that sell parts but never participate on the forum... and I'm also aware that people can make random posts on the forum to get over a hurdle/minimum requirement.

There's plenty of venues to sell parts at (if one solely relies on FT86club.com to sell parts, then that person isn't doing a very good job of trying to sell the part), but from the perspective of the site admin, vendors pay to sell/list parts/buy threads to members, and in return the members participate and generate traffic for the site to sell ad space or make money off of.

As a perk of being a "good member" (maybe 1 month of membership and/or min number of posts, min number of thanks, etc), perhaps new members get to sell parts also?

If not, there's always places like Craigslist or other forums that are free.

That's my line of thinking, and there's so much more upside to this than just preventing fraud, some of which include:

- increased value for vendors by reducing the amount of non-paying commercial posts
- encourage meaningful posts by new members to get over the threshold of posts/thanks to sell product
- discourage members from posting to sell only, driving member to member confidence in purchases and exchanges
- provide long term value for FT86Club and the members, as well as other stakeholders such as admin, moderators, and sponsors

About the biggest drawback I see are the regional "FS/FT" threads. Those can be kept open in my opinion.

In the end, it's simple: 3rd party sites require you to provide some type of authenticating information (credit card, etc) so you can be listed as a seller. The buyer can come in without any verified info and buy an item as long as you provide verifiable payment methods... this site should treat sellers in the same fashion, but instead of verifying the seller just needs to meet a minimum threshold to be eligible to sell.

10 Thanks or 25 minimum posts. Something low to weed out the "1 post and done" members.

-alex

[OrangeJuleas]

Originally Posted by mav1178

I am aware of plenty of people that sell parts but never participate on the forum... and I'm also aware that people can make random posts on the forum to get over a hurdle/minimum requirement.

There's plenty of venues to sell parts at (if one solely relies on FT86club.com to sell parts, then that person isn't doing a very good job of trying to sell the part), but from the perspective of the site admin, vendors pay to sell/list parts/buy threads to members, and in return the members participate and generate traffic for the site to sell ad space or make money off of.

If you have 86 parts for sale, this is one of the best places to do it. I have only met 3 or 4 other FRS/BRZ owners IRL (apart from the SoCal Valley club), and not a single one was a member of any forum. Not to mention, this is probably the best resource for selling a part. It would most likely deter the individual trying to get rid of an unwanted part.

The scammer will definitely clog up the forum with pointless posts if he will be able to make a buck off of it. Then he'll do it again with another name and before you know it, there will be an inflated number of posts with no information/data. For the most part, BS is kept out of these forums, which is why I love them so much.

Originally Posted by mav1178

As a perk of being a "good member" (maybe 1 month of membership and/or min number of posts, min number of thanks, etc), perhaps new members get to sell parts also?

If not, there's always places like Craigslist or other forums that are free.

Out of curiosity, what is your line of thinking that creating 10, 15 or even 25 posts will prevent someone from scamming? From a scammer's perspective, it's a little more time consuming, but I can probably knock out that many posts in 15 minutes and scam someone out of $1,000 just as soon. Are you saying that there is not enough of a reward to justify the effort?

Originally Posted by mav1178

That's my line of thinking, and there's so much more upside to this than just preventing fraud, some of which include:

- increased value for vendors by reducing the amount of non-paying commercial posts
- encourage meaningful posts by new members to get over the threshold of posts/thanks to sell product
- discourage members from posting to sell only, driving member to member confidence in purchases and exchanges
- provide long term value for FT86Club and the members, as well as other stakeholders such as admin, moderators, and sponsors

About the biggest drawback I see are the regional "FS/FT" threads. Those can be kept open in my opinion.

I agree with you on most of these, but if someone is here to sell parts, that will result in more posts that are meaningless.

Originally Posted by mav1178

In the end, it's simple: 3rd party sites require you to provide some type of authenticating information (credit card, etc) so you can be listed as a seller. The buyer can come in without any verified info and buy an item as long as you provide verifiable payment methods... this site should treat sellers in the same fashion, but instead of verifying the seller just needs to meet a minimum threshold to be eligible to sell.

10 Thanks or 25 minimum posts. Something low to weed out the "1 post and done" members.

People are still scammed on sites where people require information. I know many people who have been scammed on PayPal and other "reputable" sites.

I think the people on this forum (at least the regulars) are pretty adept at spotting a fraudulent transaction relatively quickly, but the fact of the matter is that arbitrary requirements have not worked in the past nor will work with determined scammers. It's just a way of life. To avoid completely, you'd have to buy everything locally, and that is a tough road. You have a good idea, but I think it sounds better on paper than in practice.

Does anyone have any data on how many people have actually been defrauded over this site? What exactly is the situation we are dealing with? It may be an attempt to fix a problem that is not serious enough to warrant extra work and blocks yet.

In any case, I do appreciate you looking out for people @mav1178. It's good to have you on our side .

[pheoxs]

What I would love to see is what I've seen on other forums (350z in particular) that everything must have a photo of said item with a piece of paper that has your username / date on it.

Basically a verification that you actually have said product and such. Prevents someone from posting up X turbo for sale, grabbing pics off forum/google, getting someone to buy it and disappearing.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by OrangeJuleas

<snip>

Out of curiosity, what is your line of thinking that creating 10, 15 or even 25 posts will prevent someone from scamming?

The primary motivation is not for scamming/fraud prevention, contrary to the obvious. The primary motivation is to drive increase in quality discussion.

I referenced Overclock.net (OCN for short), and their rules are here:
http://www.overclock.net/t/60879/for...ed-30-nov-2012

http://www.overclock.net/t/290822/fo...es-paraphrased

In case you do not know, OCN is a top-ranked site for computer enthusiasts and also run with a professional back-end administration for banner advertisements and promotions. Their FS/FT rules are strict, however this is an evolution of over 10 years worth of interactions within members.

In my most recent previous job, I've worked with their site in great detail and I know what work is needed to run a professional, quality forum, and that this work is often thankless... so the better the rules, the easier the mod's job is by virtue of members posting quality content (and flagging questionable posts).

The small threshold may seem trivial, but in the long run it encourages more than just the occasional "spam post" to sell something.

And if someone's spamming just to get their post count up, they'll be reported and banned anyway. Not our responsibility to ban people, that's what mods and admin are for once offenders are flagged/notified.

-alex

[OrangeJuleas]

Thanks for linking to their FS/FT rules. They are pretty strict over there. Sometimes a little too strict. However I do not participate in their discussions and cannot comment on how they may bring further discussion to the table.

I do, however, agree with this:

14.1
Listing Maintenance: You must close your listing using the close this listing button found in the first post when you wish to stop bumping the listing or when all items are sold.

14.2
You must maintain your listing (bumping it or closing it using the buttons in the first post when required). Listings over 30 days of the last bump will be closed by the marketplace staff.

14.3
Failure to Maintain the listing: First offense will result in a PM warning, Second offence will result in a official warning being issued, a third offense will result in a 30 day ban from the marketplace, a fourth offense will result in a permanent ban from the marketplace.

People need to maintain their listings here. It is flooded with items that people have sold a while back and never closed.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by OrangeJuleas

Thanks for linking to their FS/FT rules. They are pretty strict over there. Sometimes a little too strict. However I do not participate in their discussions and cannot comment on how they may bring further discussion to the table.

It's strict because when it comes to computer tech, there's a lot of scammers, people selling illegal engineering samples, copies/fakes of products, and whatnot.

The "strict rules" stems from the fact that their site gets a LOT of traffic and discussion, and the site is very high profile in the tech world. I sort of equate OCN to be Reddit-like in the tech world for fast-breaking news and announcements, as well as enthusiast discussion for tech products.

Over time, the rules become strict because of how members interacted on the site, and as site traffic increases some rules need to be maintained to achieve a balance between site advertisement and official vendor posts/contests, versus what members can sell.

Not all the rules make sense over here, but at some point this site will consider some form of the rules posted over there to increase value of posts, and some are smart suggestions.

Forum classifieds are not Craigslist obviously, but the way they're posting(even some vendor posts), it feels almost like Craigslist/free for all with too much noise.

-alex