Just got the view on the topic. My reaction is mixed. Shawn, just like the reputation feature there has to be a public visible trader system added for the users to leave feedback. Users must be also given time frame before they could either edit or delete the view either directly or via mods if its over 15-30 days. As the current system you have suggested comes with some flaws. Payment is done upfront, what if the task hasn't been completed after the payment ? Now, you don't get to know if real data. Because the user has been paid he would show up as a positive trader even though he might have been a fraudster & would continue cheating more & more. MoneyBookers could also be added as an alternative in the payment system, so that members get a double up. In some ways the pros and cons are going to equalize with the current trader system on a whole, its good for paypal users but has flaws with no preventive system from fraudsters who might run away with ur money and the worst part of it is, the user can't get a negative feedback for his activity as he would instantly recv positive feedback for recv, payment
I dont think the current system is broken, Bigger sites have there flaws too like on ebay someone could sell something for 1 penny via paypal and get positive feedback for it from an accomplice. Whose to say the accomplice does not refund the money back to the seller ? Next thing on Freelance sites people will be offering positive Itraders on Digital Point for a 10$ commision on top of whatever the price is. I think in the end of the day the current system works well and no matter what the buyer should always beware as accounts get hacked too from time to time.
Because we also know if the transaction was ever refunded (full or partially), if there was a dispute, who initiated the dispute, who won the dispute, etc.
A Classic Example of how messed up PayPal can be, I had chargeback recently, I sold a site on Flippa and four months later the guy did a chargeback via his credit card company against my PayPal, I disputed it straight away on PayPal, ended up talking to the guy and came to an arrangement whereby I recieved the website back and settled the dispute in his favour in my PayPal on condition I recieve inconvenience money to cover my costs. PayPal sent the money back to his Credit Card Company and two months later he still had not recieved it even though PayPal said they had sent it, another month later PayPal sent me back the full amount saying his Credit Card Company had ruled in my favour. How would a situation like this play out on Digital Points future system as the dispute was showing resolved and case closed in my Paypal as I had refunded the cash and resolved the dispute in his favour? Yet his Credit Card company ruled in my favour 3 months later and sent the cash back to PayPal who gave it straight back to me? even though I had resolved in his favour on PayPal ? Another major drawback is that PayPal dont provide cover for intangible items. What would be really good idea Shawn would be to setup a DigitalPoint escrow or payment system where users can purchase "Digitalpoint Dollars" to pay for websites or services of course Digitalpoint should would deserve a few percent of the value of each transaction to make a profit. Would be worth exploring other options to create something more secure.
Wouldnt that then open up digital point for the charge back of the "DP CASH" instead of you , basically taking the buyers risk out of the loop,Unless of course it could only be a bankers draft to pay for those DP cash instead of paypal. Obviously Digitial point couldnt deal with something like that imo, just like flippa didnt get involved with your last problem
Yes thats true, I dont have all the answers and PayPal while convenient for the majority of transaction presents its own problems as its not physical goods we are dealing with, the only payment system Ive used over the years that Ive never got stung with is Escrow. So perhaps something along the lines of Digital Point using an Escrow system would be a better solution than using the PayPal system.
I completely agree with you, I just hope Shawn can somehow keep all of the current iTraders. Many trusted sellers may become untrusted just because of a new system, and scammers could easily get back into scamming as their negative ratings would be removed.
Perfectly Shawn. This is great news, bad news for all the dumb who never pay in auctions, or exchange fake iTraders.
Actually, this won't affect those who don't pay in auctions. If anything, it will help them as users won't be able to leave a negative iTrader to them for not completing the deal.
Looking at the first post, I'm guessing that this is going to be a good move. Good thing I'm using the Instant Payment feature, that means I can start to build up my ratings now.
This is not going to be a good thing, and it is not going to stop the scams they can easily do small transactions, and use separate accounts or just build a tree to inflate views. as the old saying goes When you outlaw shoes, only criminals won't have bare feet. yes biggy...good for you....and for brand new sellers, its great...as usual you missed the point of how it affects people other than yourself, especially long time members
Except we also know the dollar value of the transaction, if it was ever refunded and we know the unique PayPal account ID (which can never change regardless of email addresses used for it).
I personally have 3 paypal accounts. One is my personal, one is my business, and one is my wifes I take the money I get from my business and send them to the two personal accounts via mass pay and it makes the balance available on our paypal debit mastercards I am sure you can see how someone unscrupulous could easily get with a friend and do some sort of similar money change...or just not refund..just send a payment back of the same amount. Have a paypal account and a moneybookers account or whatever. I am just saying...people who cheat..find ways. This is why no one bothers to try to "encrypt" music or ebooks anymore. The honest people don't steal them. And the scammers, won't let anything stop them from cheating or gaming a system. Even ebay who does nothing BUT auctions and puts all their resources towards auctions and fraud control...is still to this day...full of scammers. again, I'm just sayin
So your suggestion is to leave it as it is with just iTrader because it has less scammers/cheaters than if we track the underlying transaction?
I am saying to look for a 3rd solution, rather than take the simple way out. For now itrader works the best it can and it does a service. To "start with a clean slate" wipes out years of work for many and unecessarily penalizes those who won't be able to use your payment system for whatever reason. I am saying if you are going to add...don't just change for the sake of change...actually IMPROVE. It should reduce scams, show credibility (or lack thereof), grandfather in those who have already built a rep of some sort and be pretty close to universally usable. i think transaction security is more important to both buyers and sellers than fake trader ratings you know escrow.com is a member here. Him and I both talked about a DP escrow system several times. We both would be happy to assist with such a setup I am sure. it would not be hard nor expensive to run such a system and then let ratings be based on escrowed only (then you could take any kind of payment) No reason why more volunteer staff (out of the 1000s of members) could not be recruited there are PLENTY of options...like most good things they just might not be on the path of least resistance. I mean is the "fake" itrader rating ratio really THAT high?
HI Thanks for bringing up this. I have lost money and time to people who at first sight seem to be good people through their fake Itrader points
I personally think this is a great decision. If there has been rating fraud in the past, then this will be one thing that will help decrease that rating fraud that's been going on. And even if people did cheat the system, it would cost them money... Bear in mind the PayPal fees for selling etc.
I'm not clueless... You're clearly in a bad mood because you're in a minority which doesn't support the change.