popeye said:
if you guys want proper rating, go sell on ebay lah. If not happy, can appeal to paypal. But you need to pay a fee. Here, it's free, and you still complain?
Words are abit powerful leh heheh but I do understand and agree with you. This is not a pay per view sell or use site. Just a forum for photography and it just so happen to have a buy and sell area for all to trade.
IF you feel let down by the fact that this forum lack the means to protect you from "bad people" well....welcome to the real world. And in this real world you should take heart that you have a place to hang and share your interest for photography. Running this place already cost a pretty penny to the MODs here. To fix up more features like security enhancement and point system program.etc..so that you could somehow have a safer place to buy and sell? Well who is going to pay for this programs? As mentioned before, it could still be abused and in the end it just might makes matter worst, more complicated and time consuming for the MOD or anyone to maintain, use or trust the system.
I have done some buying and selling and not of them in here. And I can tell you, you can still be stumped and cheated right, left and center too. This happen even on eBay. Which has supposedly one of the most sophisticated auctioning system set up to handle transaction and issues pertaining to frauds and cheating.
There is a sucker born every day. That's a fact. And the only way to get a better experience with selling or buying here or any site is to be more savvy doing it. Anticipating problems in advance. If a deal appears to be too good to be true..it most likely is. Whether you are buying or selling...go spend some time reading all those older buying and selling threads. Get a feel for what they do to sell or buy. Never be shy to speak your mind when negotiating. See how buyers/sellers word their terms and conditions, what options they offer..etc. You are trying to get a good price for an item you sell or cash in on great saving by buying second hand equipments. If you worry about your consumer rights? What legal proceedings or avenues open to you if something goes wrong? You need to go update yourself on them. This is all part of the whole package of buying/selling direct from another individual.....a total stranger. As casual as this whole setup is to buy or sell between two persons, you still need to keep a certain level of wits about you and carry it through very business-like.
And sometime even after all your preparation, things can STILL go bad. Sorry but that too is life. Yes Life sux at times. Hopefully if you have taken enough precautions, you might be able to take some legal recourse to get your money back or compensated for a faulty part. If all else fails..well take that down as experience. Sure it is hard to stomach it but thats the way it goes. I got screwed too...but I have also gotten some great deals too. If this all scares you too much once you got bitten? Stick to buying brand new or deal with second-hand camera shops where all transaction is on the up and up. Not perfect but better then dealing with a complete stranger.
The MOD here has provided us with a good place to "hang". They have their hands full as it is and I don't envy them for the work of keeping this site up and running. But if you feel they could do more and still not charge you a fee? That sound abit unreasonable lah. How about chipping in your share of not just the money but the time to coordinate the buy and sell threads? 24/7.
Actually, I do have a solution to once and for all remove all the problems that comes from bad buyers and sellers. Shut the whole buy and sell thread down. I bet you it will be no skin off the MODs back. But I think we will be worst off for it.