"Buyer" Reputation

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Jo Dilbeck
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p.1 #1 · "Buyer" Reputation

On another thread, http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/614384, CGrindahl talks about buyers and sellers earning a reputation on FM "The key to a good transaction, whether as buyer or seller is confidence in the trustworthiness of the person with whom you're dealing. Your reputation is worth gold on this board."

As a newbie to the FM board, I do have several items I would like to list in the Buy and Sell Forum, but I obviously have no "reputation", good or bad, for someone to reference. How does someone like myself get their items noticed and sold if there is no feedback available yet? Kinda like the chicken and the egg thing, you know? I know I'm trustworthy, but certainly couldn't blame someone for not looking closely at my stuff if they know nothing about me! Sure, I could just say, trust me, I'm an honest person, but any scam artist could say that also.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

Jo, an honest 51yo hardworking female executive.

Feb 15, 2008 at 09:06 PM

HinduG
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p.1 #2 · "Buyer" Reputation

One thing that helps is to arrange a phone conversation with potential buyers.

Have you sold anything on ebay? You can use your ebay profile as a potential reference.

You can also try to deal locally as well.

Feb 15, 2008 at 09:35 PM

carlsbadbum
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p.1 #3 · "Buyer" Reputation

Start with items under $50 to build your reputation, once you have the credit you need you can sell the $$$ stuff. This is just like the credit score. you start out with a $200 credit card and then the $25,000 car loan and at the end the $700,000 mortgage loan.

Feb 15, 2008 at 09:37 PM

Jo Dilbeck
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p.1 #4 · "Buyer" Reputation

Haven't sold on e-bay, so no luck there, and yes, I'm trying to sell locally, particularly through craigslist right now. I guess I could list the items as just local sale only as a starter.

Starting small makes sense, unfortunately, I don't have the small stuff to sell! Maybe I can find something though, just to get me started.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

JO

Feb 15, 2008 at 09:54 PM

HinduG
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p.1 #5 · "Buyer" Reputation

You should post your items on here, you never know, if it's a reasonable price, people will want to buy. You can also offer to meet people locally, but it's not a hard requirement.

You can also sell your stuff on ebay. I successfully sold my film camera on there.

I've bought and sold stuff here, and on craigslist, and FM is without a doubt, much better.

I highly encourage you to take advantage of the B&S forum. Its a great market place for photographic equipment.

Edited on Feb 15, 2008 at 10:22 PM

Feb 15, 2008 at 10:22 PM

CGrindahl
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p.1 #6 · "Buyer" Reputation

Since I see my name above I should perhaps throw in a comment. First of all, welcome to FM. This is a fine site that has gotten even better over the last two months through the efforts of Fred Miranda and a fellow who goes by the user name "brainiac" and lives in UK.

I earned my reputation through buying rather than selling, which is easy to do if you have money to spend. By the time I sold a few things I was a known commodity. When I work with sellers who have yet to establish a reputation on the board, I do my best to learn more about them. You've chosen to use what appears to be your real name as username, which is the first step in the right direction from my perspective. If you have a presence on another site, you could also provide a link to that site here on FM. For example, I spent a couple of years actively involved at Trekearth.com and had a member page, a few hundred photos and tons of critiques I'd written of others' work. Since I consistently use my name as username on other sites, it is easy to place me. In the old days when we included signature lines I also noted the county in California where I live.

If Jo is a woman's name, I can appreciate you might now wish to have your identity quite so clearly noted, but the gist of what I'm saying is that the more buyers are comfortable that who you say you are is who you are, the better it will be for you.

I agree with the suggestion to sell small items first. You also should post photos of gear that you've taken so buyers can see the condition of the item and confirm that you actually own it. Since folks can contact you with email or personal message, you will have the opportunity to respond and ask for telephone numbers so buyers can talk with you. Personally, if I'm buying a big ticket item I always try to speak with the seller.

Good luck to you. There are many fine folks who hang out around here. One of the pleasures for me has been working with members to buy and sell gear. Have fun!

Edited on Feb 16, 2008 at 12:51 AM

Feb 16, 2008 at 12:49 AM

Russ Isabella
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p.1 #7 · "Buyer" Reputation

Jo,

First time I sold on FM, I offered to ship the item prior to receiving payment if I was selling to a 'reputable' member. My thinking was that it was no more risky than sending money for something you're buying (you pay before you receive the item), so why not turn the tables for the sake of establishing trustworthiness? And I also probably bought a few things before I sold.

Edited on Feb 16, 2008 at 01:28 AM

Feb 16, 2008 at 01:28 AM

invalid2
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p.1 #8 · "Buyer" Reputation

Jo Dilbeck wrote:
Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

If you live in or near a large city, you could see if people prefer in person transactions. To get people to read your ads, post pictures of the specific items you are selling and write clear descriptions of the condition.

I don't think you should have to drop your price because you haven't been doing this for a while, but I think some may expect that. Having a high post count or letting read interesting and/or thoughtful posts might also help.

Feb 16, 2008 at 08:31 AM

paulhodson
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p.1 #9 · "Buyer" Reputation

Russ Isabella wrote:
Jo,

First time I sold on FM, I offered to ship the item prior to receiving payment if I was selling to a 'reputable' member. My thinking was that it was no more risky than sending money for something you're buying (you pay before you receive the item), so why not turn the tables for the sake of establishing trustworthiness?

This would be my view too - I don't buy here (not much UK stuff about

) but this is what I would hope for from a new seller - who I also hope would trust me as a long established member even though I have no Buy/Sell "reputation".

Edited on Feb 16, 2008 at 05:00 PM

Feb 16, 2008 at 05:00 PM

Scott Sewell
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p.1 #10 · "Buyer" Reputation

I think you're on the right path to having success on B&S and that's by using an actual name for your user id, rather than some goofy made up name like "fingerstuckinmynose" or "myteethareyellow"!

Seriously, other than some long-time members of the forum, I tend to shy away from dealing with people I either don't know or who aren't even "stand up" enough to use their own name on a forum like this.

Beyond that, be open with any potential buyers and don't be shy about offering your cell number or a way for the buyers to contact you if there are any questions or concerns. I'll offer my cell number even for a $50 transaction and on bigger ticket items I've had some very nice conversations with other FMers about transactions. Pretty much everything I have in my gear collection has either been purchased here or on sportsshooter.com.

Good luck and enjoy the forums!

Feb 16, 2008 at 05:58 PM

halie
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p.1 #11 · "Buyer" Reputation

Couldn't someone just make up a fake real name to give the impression that they are honest? Other than that point, I agree with what Scott says. To me that's a bit of a privacy issue because future search engines have the potential to find anything associated with your name that has ever been posted. Not that people would find much interesting from me, but I don't like the idea of anybody being able to see everything I've ever posted. Having said that, if someone won't give you their name or phone number via email when working out the details, that's pretty suspicious.

Feb 16, 2008 at 06:27 PM

Jo Dilbeck
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p.1 #12 · "Buyer" Reputation

I greatly appreciate all of the very valuable suggestions. Yes, my username is my real name, even though I am a woman. I do have somewhat more of a "presence" on another site as JoLD, that being DPReview. Unfortunately, that site has become so snippy that I turned to FM for more professional responses, like those in this post.

Actually, I have tried to purchase here already, but keep losing out. I am within 1.5 hours of Sacramento and have indicated in my craigslist add that I am willing to meet someone at least half way to deliver/sell my items. I would plan to do the same here, not only for the protection of the buyer so he/she can see and use the items before buying, but for my protection as well in accepting a cash only transaction at first.

Thanks again, you'll all probably see my equipment up for sale soon! Jo

Feb 16, 2008 at 06:39 PM

invalid2
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p.1 #13 · "Buyer" Reputation

halie wrote:
Couldn't someone just make up a fake real name to give the impression that they are honest? Other than that point, I agree with what Scott says. To me that's a bit of a privacy issue because future search engines have the potential to find anything associated with your name that has ever been posted. Not that people would find much interesting from me, but I don't like the idea of anybody being able to see everything I've ever posted. Having said that, if someone won't give you their name or phone number via email when working out the details, that's pretty suspicious.

Someone could make up a real sounding name and run up the post count - or try to guess the password of an established user's account. But I think that typical scammers don't have the patience or skill for all of that. The basic idea is to project your "humanness" to others, even though they don't know you.

Feb 16, 2008 at 10:10 PM

hyunk702
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p.1 #14 · "Buyer" Reputation

Scott Sewell wrote:
I think you're on the right path to having success on B&S and that's by using an actual name for your user id, rather than some goofy made up name like "fingerstuckinmynose" or "myteethareyellow"!

Feb 17, 2008 at 09:04 PM

Spydweb
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p.1 #15 · "Buyer" Reputation

What, you don't think this is my real name

Just click on profile to see it

Edited on Feb 17, 2008 at 11:01 PM

Feb 17, 2008 at 11:01 PM

brainiac
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p.1 #16 · "Buyer" Reputation

> through the efforts of Fred Miranda and a fellow who goes by the user name "brainiac" and lives in UK.

Thanks - it's great to know that people are appreciating the hard work!

> You've chosen to use what appears to be your real name as username, which is the first step in the right direction from my perspective.

> you're on the right path to having success on B&S and that's by using an actual name for your user id, rather than some goofy made up name like

Brainiac is my real name! But seriously, if your parents had had the foresight to christen you Dick Braine, wouldn't you rather use a comic-book handle?

> Couldn't someone just make up a fake real name to give the impression that they are honest?

> Someone could make up a real sounding name and run up the post count

Yes indeed - someone could. I think someone's profile is where he can try to establish his authentic existence.

> I would like to change it to my full name. I think you put up a thread on how to get this done awile back. Who do I need to PM?

This is a thorny issue. Originally the site was coded so that data was related by username. That means that changing username isn't all that easy unless Fred has some clever admin function for doing it. We can certainly do it with a few carefully executed sql commands: all your posts and PM's need changing too. Since I got involved in the coding I have been trying gently to shift towards a proper ID number database architecture, which will ultimately make changing a user's username trivial, while retaining her history. The only gotcha is a problem with users not realising that they are dealing with the same person who was rude to them last week, but I suspect we can solve that by making sure profiles show all the usernames you have ever had. I think those who changed regularly would start to look... ...suspicious?

As regards buyer rep, I think we are a long way from that. Personally I think the site needs a massive security audit before we build that, although in the long term it would be a great feature. It would be awful to find that someone had achieved a good reputation through nefarious means, and then abused it by ripping another member off. It would need very careful handling. I'm sure Fred has thought about this many times. He may chime in now.

Edited on Feb 17, 2008 at 11:55 PM

Feb 17, 2008 at 11:51 PM

paulhodson
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p.1 #17 · "Buyer" Reputation

brainiac wrote:
Brainiac is my real name! But seriously, if your parents had had the foresight to christen you Dick Braine, wouldn't you rather use a comic-book handle?

How long is it since they were the unfortunate victims of an unknown axe murderer?

Feb 18, 2008 at 07:16 AM

brainiac
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p.1 #18 · "Buyer" Reputation

Actually my father and grandfather were both Richard Braine too, so I am not alone. Luckily I was through school before the famous 'penis breath' scene in E.T. brought Germanic compound-noun madness into common English usage. Before that, Dick Braine meant nothing to anyone. My grandfather was actually called Dick Braine without any humorous fall-out. The phrase simply didn't mean anything.

Edited on Feb 18, 2008 at 12:35 PM

Feb 18, 2008 at 12:34 PM


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