Suggestion - banned members...

[jasongtr]

the idea of a bad members list is not going to help the poor fella that becomes the 1st victim, until then he/she wont be on the list.

[KarlBristol]

True, however it will help stop the "regular" scammers, and aid in keeping especially new users as safe as possible

[jack-p]

Something I've seen on another forum is that for every sale thread, every picture must have the sellers username written on a piece of paper in it. This stops people grabbing a picture of the internet and selling something they don't own.

[Tsia]

Something I've seen on another forum is that for every sale thread, every picture must have the sellers username written on a piece of paper in it. This stops people grabbing a picture of the internet and selling something they don't own.

GT4OC perchance?

[Ekona]

We do the same on 350Z-UK, works pretty well IMHO.

[johnp]

We do the same on 350Z-UK, works pretty well IMHO.

Yes, that's something that should be implemented on here asap,makes perfect sense.

[KarlBristol]

I'd support that - it sounds like a good idea

[KarlBristol]

Can I suggest that we also have a speculative for sale section implemented with this then??

To cover for example - what is it worth questions, expressions of interest for breaking vehicles, etc....

All for sale threads however would have to be put up in the relevant section with a photo with the user name in the pic. If it doesn't have this it gets removed from the listings...

It would stop people fraudulently selling goods that they don't own or using google photos as their own

[Charged]

This stops people grabbing a picture of the internet and selling something they don't own.

I'm not sure we've had any instances of that?

I'm all for stopping people getting scammed but not by making it more difficult to sell items at the same time, we have thriving forsale sections, much, much better than any other MR2 club, we need to keep that. Adding new sections will just dilute the current set up, making people put a post up with their username just makes life more difficult, for those selling and the mod team enforcing (and making themselves unpopular) in the process.

[synXero]

Most of the other fora I'm on do the username thing. I don't really like it, bit of a drag having to set it up, especially if you're selling something on four forums and have two or three usernames across them. Drag.

I think the best and least interfering route is to just broadly post that all items MUST be sent insured and tracked and recorded. If not it is your own cash you are risking and you should accept that you might lose £100 by refusing to spend +£7 on your postage.

Liability should be with buyer and seller. The forum is a vehicle for selling, not a market. The forum is not liable for anything.

[Charged]

I think the best and least interfering route is to just broadly post that all items MUST be sent insured and tracked and recorded. If not it is your own cash you are risking and you should accept that you might lose £100 by refusing to spend +£7 on your postage.

Yes but high postage costs could put off buyers as well. It's rare I send anything insured/tracked, usually only when leaving the UK.. to my knowledge I haven't lost one yet. I'm not at all keen on that suggestion.

Liability should be with buyer and seller. The forum is a vehicle for selling, not a market. The forum is not liable for anything.

Yes indeed.

[jack-p]

I'm not sure we've had any instances of that?

I've no idea, I haven't personally had that problem but it is something that happens (regardless of whether it's happened here yet or not) and if members don't feel safe buying and selling here then it may add some more reassurance.

I'm all for stopping people getting scammed but not by making it more difficult to sell items at the same time, we have thriving forsale sections, much, much better than any other MR2 club, we need to keep that. Adding new sections will just dilute the current set up, making people put a post up with their username just makes life more difficult, for those selling and the mod team enforcing (and making themselves unpopular) in the process.

I don't really see the difficulty in it, it takes two seconds to write your name on a sheet of paper and you have to take a picture of the item you're selling anyway. The only problem is as stated, if you have different usernames and want to upload it on various websites all using this system but that seems like such a select few it's ridiculous to disregard the idea because of it.

I honestly think it's a good idea. Yes it will mean the mod team reminding people about the new rule initially but once it catches on it wont be any more difficult to sell things than it already is.
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[madbasshunter]

All the pictures of items I am selling are put up off my photobucket account so you only have to right click on the pictures to get my username. And you only have to be able to use snip to add your name into any picture on your computer or photobucket

[Charged]

I understand your point Jack but it does make it more difficult to sell, it's an extra hoop to jump through.. the main reason I am against it is that I have seen the forums that implement this lose forsale traffic. I'm pro getting as much traffic in our forsale sections as possible.
Also, I often sell without pictures, as do others.

In a nutshell, I think it's a pain in the a*se.

Do not get me wrong, I do not want to see people being ripped off but imo, this is not the way to prevent that!

[jack-p]

It's been highlighted there's a problem with people on the site being ripped off and it was only a suggestion on how to tackle this. As I'm not yet one of these people it not something I'm overly fussed about but at the same time I don't want to become one of those people and don't want others to be ripped off either.

In a nutshell, I think it's worth the minimal effort.

I do agree on not sacrificing the for sale traffic but I'm skeptical that this small change would really be enough to put people off selling on here. The more secure a website this is for buying and selling, the more people would use it over gumtree and ebay too so it may actually generate traffic over time. I know I'd rather buy from a trusted member who DEFINITELY has an item than a stranger with a photobucket account and google.

[KarlBristol]

I think it seems like the most sensible idea that we have had yet

It's already been highlighted that numerous other forums use this method and they are clearly still running. Hence it clearly doesn't kill off a forum and so I can't see an issue with it personally...

This really is the only site to sell MR2 items on properly and reach a wide audience. I can't see members defecting to sites like the oc just because the sales on this site is more secure and they are more protected. Surely it will generate sales as people will have more faith in the system??

Personally I feel that scamming has been committed more regularly or at least become more talked about in the last 3 months or so. The forum will loose a wider audience if they sit back and aren't seen to be trying to protect their paying users. You will loose more users and have a weaker for sale section by doing nothing rather than adding more protection.

Currently there is nothing stopping someone registering for premium membership, listing a rare or expensive bit of kit with no image or a google image, then taking the money and running. It's already been highlighted that people can't or don't use either PayPal or the protective methods that are put in place for a variety of reasons. I think it's only sensible to try and protect our users. A good forum reputation will spread and more people will join.

It was mentioned that it might make the mod team unpopular by enforcing this rule... Surely the moderators are there to enforce the rules and ensure that members are protected rather than run for a popularity contest? If I didn't arrest people at work because I might become unpopular with them there would be murderers and rapists left, right and centre! Lol.

Just my 2 pence

[Charged]

Fair play Jack, I think we'll have to agree to disagree though.

Common sense works for me, 99.99% of IMOC transactions are scam free, you'll never stop that 0.01% no matter how much you lock the forum down.

Whilst there is the odd person out there to catch you out, it's quite obvious who the good guys are out there and I dont see why the good guys should be penalised.

Perhaps your suggestion could be utilised for users who have been here less than 12 months but I really cannot see it making a blind bit of difference either way, just being honest, not having a go or rubbishing your suggestion for the sake of it.

[Charged]

It's not like we've got an epidemic of members being ripped off?

Our forsale sections used to be a free for all, no premium membership required.. there wasn't an issue back then and it was even easier to advertise.

Are there any specific examples of this happening where a photo of the forsale item would have helped/stopped the issue ?

I can only find the odd one like this:

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic. ... 83&start=0

^ with that one, how was posting a picture going to stop the problem occurring?

[Charged]

It was mentioned that it might make the mod team unpopular by enforcing this rule... Surely the moderators are there to enforce the rules and ensure that members are protected rather than run for a popularity contest?

It's not that so much, we give our time voluntarily and if definitely isn't a popularity contest, far from it at times. I'm speaking on behalf of myself only here, I don't see this suggested post up a photo rule helping and as such I feel I'd struggle to enforce it.

[jack-p]

Perhaps your suggestion could be utilised for users who have been here less than 12 months but I really cannot see it making a blind bit of difference either way, just being honest, not having a go or rubbishing your suggestion for the sake of it.

In the nicest possible way, this is a terrible idea. That would be an awful lot of work for the moderators to determine who needs to abide by what rules and nobody new would pick up on it, whereas if everybody had to do it then it would be obvious to new members. I appreciate things like this are difficult to get off the ground so can see why it's looking like a ball-ache but IF there is a problem it's worth the effort in my opinion.

It was mentioned that it might make the mod team unpopular by enforcing this rule... Surely the moderators are there to enforce the rules and ensure that members are protected rather than run for a popularity contest? If I didn't arrest people at work because I might become unpopular with them there would be murderers and rapists left, right and centre! Lol.

good man. I agree as well, although nobody wants abuse thrown at them it shouldn't be a moderators first concern. Besides, is anyone really going to kick off at the moderators for adding a new rule?

I'm not saying we NEED to enforce this method, but if there is indeed a problem then I think we should consider all sensible suggestions.