Feedback on POTN

How do you search (and what forum) for someone you either want to buy or sell to so I can get some feedback on an individual should I want to buy/sell. Thanks

It's the first sticky in this subforum. Just search the person's username..

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=28608

Thanks.

James, a small heads-up though... that thread only contains POSITIVE feedback! Negative feedback is not allowed, so take what you read with a pinch of salt. If there are several 'positive' feedbacks, you may be reassured. On the other hand, the LACK of negative feedback does not prove the seller is legit, as no one could report a negative transaction.

Hope this helps,
Rafa.

Thanks Rafa. That doesn't make much sense to me. Why not allow negative feedback to protect others. I realize where a few cases of negative feedback could have been caused by illness in not allowing the seller to mail the goods, but that is usually noted, or should be, by the buyer.

Thanks,
Jim

why no negative feedback? search on the forum here and you'll see TONS of threads discussing this, and mods giving their take on why no negative feedback.

James, I agree that negative feedback SHOULD be allowed, and would actually protect the buyers (or sellers!). But, alas, those are the forum rules for the time being, so I wanted to give you the heads up on the issue that the absence of negative feedback is probably not the same as having good feedback

Best regards,
Rafa.

RafaPolit wrote in post #13191646
James, I agree that negative feedback SHOULD be allowed, and would actually protect the buyers (or sellers!). But, alas, those are the forum rules for the time being, so I wanted to give you the heads up on the issue that the absence of negative feedback is probably not the same as having good feedback

Best regards,
Rafa.

This is a wise point, and one I think many people overlook. The Positive Only feedback system here is worse than no system at all, imo. It can create a false sense of security, which can be a dangerous thing.

I dont know..I would think that if you have a ton feedback here AND 100% postive on Ebay, that should be enough assurance to most people....it is for me...

cheers.

HyperCams wrote in post #13192618
I dont know..I would think that if you have a ton feedback here AND 100% postive on Ebay, that should be enough assurance to most people....it is for me...

cheers.

Yep. I always check the Ebay feedback as well as the website of the seller/buyer to get a feel for the way he conducts himself.

Another thing you can do is contact a past buyer. Most marketplace feedback comments show the buyer and seller names. I've contacted a few buyers over the years when I wasn't 100% comfortable with someone I was considering purchasing a lens from.

mpix345 wrote in post #13192567
This is a wise point, and one I think many people overlook. The Positive Only feedback system here is worse than no system at all, imo. It can create a false sense of security, which can be a dangerous thing.

I actually agree with you here. As it is, a person that has sold 100 items (information that the buyer does not straightforward know), 5 of which received positive reviews, can link you to 5 positive reviews and you will be, having read 5 positive reviews, probably happy with the seller.

As it is now, you have to do a detective work searching all the selling adds by the user and then match that to the positive feedback. Only then will you find that he has a 5% positive review track-record.

I believe that negative reviews SHOULD be allowed, and, if there is someone out there to flame the seller or is out there to block his sells (the reasons for not allowing negative feedback), the person looking for information will be able to balance the positive and the negative. In that way, it will be fairly clear that a person, of whom everyone praises the transactions but has one negative review, is probably a decent option. On the contrary, if there are several people unhappy you could assume its a trend.

As it is, I believe that the current systems actually rewards scammers or poor sellers because all their 'dirt' is carefully washed away by how the system works, and I believe that what they are trying to prevent with that would actually show itself for what it is fairly easy under a full review (positive and negative) system, as is the case with eBay, Amazon and any other similar selling place.

Sorry for the long post,
Rafa.
ps. I agree with Chris that, as it is, contacting previous buyers is essential! and I have done it in the past, especially if positive feedback was NOT submitted after a transaction.

I also like contacting previous buyers if checking someone out for a possible large transaction...
but I'd caution about reading too much into the lack of feedback (as long as there's some good feedback to go off of)... It can be extremely difficult at times to get people to leave feedback for you, especially people with low post count who aren't forum regulars. I've sold a number of relatively expensive items where someone has privately in email or PM told me how happy they were with the item but then they never respond when I ask if they'd take the time to leave feedback on the forum.