I appreciate the responses to my feedback and concerns. It shows that the mods/admin are aware of some of the slight faults of the forum and are working hard towards a positive solution.

Some of the things in my suggestions do in fact seem a little far fetched after you guys have broken it down a little bit. I honestly didn't care THAT much about the i-Trader thing. I just thought it's kind of an annoyance because I always try to be a good buyer/seller and like the record to show as such. When it comes to buying and selling online your notoriety can completely change the way a deal goes.

The changes I suggest (at the availability of time for the admins/mods) is to put in effect a basic item description formula. Something along the lines of:


ALL items must include pics and proper format:
Name: (FIRST & LAST)
Location: (CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE)
Contact: (VALID EMAIL OR PHONE #)
Price:
Description:



I've seen many forums use this basic requirement in their FS sections and it seems to work pretty well. I wouldn't expect any big changes to be in effect soon, but something to keep in mind and try to put into action at some point is a step in the right direction! Rome wasn't built in a day!!

 

Why can't the buyer "moderate" his own transaction? Seems fairly simple to me for the buyer to confirm all the details listed, before and during the transaction. If you use a CC for the purchase, it's straight-forward to kill the charge. If you have all the stipulations of the transaction in writing from the seller (what you're buying, if it's in stock, who you're buying it from, when it's to be shipped), and he/she doesn't adhere to them, it's an open and shut case with the CC company.
We're all big boys on here... I think letting a moderator know if you got screwed by a seller/vendor is a good idea, so they can take action (suspend or ban depending on the facts..), but in so far as asking them to babysit for you when you should be able to handle it on your own, is asking too much, IMO. As was written, all the mods are "volunteers", and this is a "free" site. Using common sense, and getting all of your stipulations on purchases in writing before you send money isn't too much to ask. Especially when it's YOUR transaction. You've got the i-trader ratings, the seller's join date, and the amount of posts he made, staring you in the face when you look at a post written by them. Right off the bat you've got a good deal of info to help you ascertain the "threat level" you should take when dealing with someone.
That's my $.02 anyway...

 

I've had 45 transactions on EvoM

41 positive experiences

3 prior to itrader

1 never reported

I moderate all my own transactions. I always use paypal and use a credit card so that if the seller seems shady and doesn't provide me with shipping information I'll call my cc company and get my money back. I had 97% of my transactions before I became a moderator. So it's not like being a moderator helped me to achieve such a good track record.

It's not difficult to see when you might have difficulty or are being scammed. I only had one purchased that I wasn't overly happy with. It was simply because I never asked for pictures and the description was a bit twisted. That is my fault and I accept that.

We do what we can to help but common sense and logic applies too.

As stated in the rules, you are welcome to use the for sale forums at your own risk.

 

I would argue that the rules should be made official, and policing them placed in the hand of the buyer to notify a moderator when the rules are not followed in their transaction. Vendors should be given a certain amount of "strikes" that they get (chances) before their selling privileges are barred for "x" amount of time. Good behavior for lets say 3 months after a strike would remove the strike.

 

While i say this is a good idea and for the better.
I will say one thing, this is the internet, and the phone number and email thing i think are too personal. If the buyers keeps a record of everything it should be enough.

I would make picture of the actual item mandatory, with a forum name written visually on a piece of paper. And yes an item location.

 

currently a state abbreviation in the title is required...followed? not so much

not having a picture only hurts the seller...if you buy something without a picture no offense but you are dumb, very trusting, or don't really care

 

This comes up from time to time. The problem is that the majority of complaints we receive (and I'm talking almost any given complaint) don't have anything to do with the seller posting a photo. The largest problem is non-delivery, which is virtually impossible to enforce. Yes, we can ban people if they don't send things, but that doesn't help the buyer. In fact, it's more likely than not going to bring the transaction to a head and gurantee non-delivery. We DO keep time-outs and bans on the table, but our priority, when we have to get involved, is to facilitate a resolution, not to dish out punishments right off the bat. Again though, that option is never off the table should we deem it necessary.

Making purchases on the internet is pretty much buyer beware, whether it's done member-to-member on a car forum like EvoM, whether it's on Ebay or whether it's a direct purchase from a reputable online vendor. We do what we can to maintain enforceable and practical standards to protect both buyers and sellers, however a lot of things are simply out of our control and we're forced to be reactionary rather than proactive. That's part of the reason you have us here. If you have a problem with a sale and are unable to reach a resolution, please bring it to our attention with a description, a link to the for sale thread and any additional correspondence or summaries of offline discussions. We're here to help.