Buy & Sell Rating Etiquette
 

So, what's yours? I see threads regarding deals gone bad and such, and in my couple years buying airsoft stuff from here, have done roughly 40 deals and all went well, but some are less than satisfactory.

Anyways, obviously Positive rating is the most common, but at what point do you, fellow airsofter, leave a rating? In my mind it should be, when the buyer gives the money, right away the seller should give a B+ simply because the buyer's end of the deal is done. When the buyer recieves the item(s), he should give the seller an S+ (ya, basing old system, but when you have two choices in your role, buyer or seller, and positive/neutral/negative, it's all the same crap anyways).

When I personally sell an item, as soon as I can after money is received I leave a positive rating, yet no one leaves ME a rating until I give them one first, regardless of my being the buyer or the seller. Kinda annoying actually. Hell, there was one guy who sold me a $12CDN part, told me to EMT him $20, $8 for shipping, then he sent the item in an envelope with two $0.50 stamps on it. Make things worse, I left him a S+ rating and good words, didn't get jack all from him in return. Should I edit my rating and words down?

Positive ratings are quite obvious, but at what point and under what circumstances do YOU, the reader, use the neutral and negative rating parts. I have read more posts regarding deals gone bad on here that I don't want to stir old crap up, but am looking for thresholds really, the borders so to speak. I'm not interested in Marty type deals gone bad because it seems at the extreme and an obvious S/B- rating, just wanting to know the circumstances of some minor issues dealt with on here.

Thanks

I personally leave a rating on every deal I do, whether it is a trade, sale, or buy. I also notice there are several people who do not leave a rating till after you do, and sometimes none at all. Then again, they are usually people that I only do 1 transaction with. But at the same time, I think its only common courtesy to leave a rating, plus it will help minimize the amount of new or not so known members from getting burned or ripped off as they will see more accurate histories of users dealings.

A lot of the "I think I've been ripped off threads" do not seem to end in a negative rating for the accused, which to me seems misleading.

Although, I wouldnt mind seeing a few more options on the ratings (ie: S+, S, N, S-, where the S would be for a good deal but maybe they were slow on the shipping or communication).

personally, if I get the item, and there is communication between me and the seller, I will leave a + rating.

I have not yet had reason to leave a negative, but I am a fairly agreeable person, I don't mind waiting.

there was one occasion when I bought a bunch of stuff, and an electronic device (NAR) was non-working. I contacted the seller, to inform him of this, and he offered to refund it. Being the agreeable person I am (and a bit of a technophile) I told him not to bother, as it only cost me $20, and I would try to figure out the problem myself. That Seller got a +.

But if something were to go horribly wrong in the transaction, or there is longer than usual wait time with no communication, or stalling, I would consider leaving a ~ or - rating.

Thanks for the good reply. Although both items I referred to as examples are personal dealings (still waiting for one item, but this isn't about that, nor am I in a rush to rate according to them either), it's just that I am about to send out the front end of my MP5A5 to a buyer, and told him when I receive the money, I'll B+ rate him, which got me to thinking of every deal I've done, and I think about 95% of them don't do anything until I do first (even though 98% of my dealings I am the buyer), which is kinda rude I suppose. Hence my bringing up the etiquette of b&s ratings, what is the "norm" as it relates to each person that feels like replying.

Set up a poll on it, "Should a rating be left on dealings made through ASC for Buy/Sell/Trades" that might give you a better average of what people think the norm should be instead of a bunch of feelings or personal dealings gone bad/good.....

Since this popped up: Say a certain person tries to scam you, but doesn't. Does the fact that they tried count as a bad deal?

I'd say not, but like WiseOwl said, I'm flexible and it'll take a real screw up on the others person's behalf to make me give negative rating. I'm not out to get anyone, I realize life and schedules gets in the way of sending stuff out, but a simple PM or e-mail for communication helps a LOT in my eyes. I feel that good and constant communication when needed really helps make each deal a good one, ever if things get in the way at times. Nobody is perfect, shouldn't be treated/expected as such, and airsoft is a hobby, nothing more. People try to do what they can for each other in this "sport", and overall everyone is damn good with each other. Just a few rotten apples remind us that not everyone deals the same.

You lads are too freakin soft. Not mentioning any names, but I think when someone pays for an item the seller should leave a bloody positive rating immediately. They got the money already, from my point of view, they completed their end of the agreement. I hate this waiting to see how they rate you bullshit. They do their part, give them a proper rating - no waiting BS.

... and yes, once in awhile I have been guilty of forgetting about leaving a rating but I try to do so with every deal regardless.

There also seems to be a lot of flakes on here and they continually get away with shit. Why? You guys are too damn scared to leave a negative rating when due (why I have no bloody idea) so it enables these jackasses to continually mess with others. Perfect example ...

here here Alex. I always leave feedback as soon as the other person's end of the deal is complete, it's common curtousy.

I couldn't have written it better. This is the EXACT system I use. And as Groombug said, it works well.

You are right, however as you know, some people don't have the balls to get in touch with you if something is a miss. Also some people you can not satisfy, and this way it makes them keep in touch and try and work out any differences.

For instance I once sold a processor on eBay, the buyer said it didn't work and he was going to leave me a negative if I didn't reimburse him. I worked with him, told him to go and have it checked out, and if it was infact dead I'd pay for the check and reimburse what he payed me. He had it checked, turns out it was his motherboard that was fried. I got my positive, and I feel it is only because I didn't leave feedback until the deal is done.

The buyers obligations go farther than just paying, and feedback should only be left when the deal is finalized at both ends.

Just my 2 cents.

P.S. Marty would have gotten a visit, never mind the negative rating.

This is bullshit..there is NO REASON to wait for a buyers feedback. When you get your money....BOOM GOOD FEEDBACK GOES TO THE BUYER!!!!!....there is no reason in the world to delay giving that feedback to the buyer.....saying anything else is a crock of shit.....you are simply waiting and holding their feedback hostage to make sure you get the same....Nuff said

I've never been a seller.. And I always worry when doing a transaction "Am I gonna get screwed?" So personally I would feel much better if I got a B+ rating as soon as the Seller got the cash I sent. It's never happened to me... but it would definitly put my mind at ease a little more...

that... and make sure you keep in contact with the other party.

I have and only will leave feedback after the deal is 100% complete. I have for the most part been 90% buyer/10% seller and this system has worked well for me. Just becasue someone sent me the money doesn't grant them a positive rating 5 seconds later.... a deal to me constitutes good communications, delivery of money, satisfaction by both parties on deal after the seller gets money adn the buyer gets goods etc. once everyone is happy (or not) then feedback is left.


I do agree that the rating should be a 5 star thing .. 5 stars perfect, 4 being slow communication, bad packaging, or whatnot, 3 being slow delivery or stall tactics, 2 being not trustworthy or whatever 1 being he's scamming you.
somethign along that lines at least. *shrugs*

I agree with you fully on that.

At one point, I used to think as the statement below:

Technically, the buyer's part is indeed complete. Any grievances after that are strictly a post-purchase (customer service) issue and counts towards nothing in terms of the actual buying process. To buy, means to pay money in exchange for something. Money talks, you paid, you bought, B+.

Though, this now questions the "how do you get B- ?" ratings. I say that we should be able to assign negative buyer ratings to people who flake, or something like the following scenario:
In some kind of written agreement, you trusted a fellow airsofter and sent him the item in advance before payment (god knows why), but then he was unable to pay you - either cuz he flaked out, or suddenly skipped town thus stealing from you.

This leads to the Neutral rating. Lets say Mr. Flaker receives your item. But is decent enough to send it back to you. This would seem like business that became non-business. You as the seller have nothing good to say, yet nothing bad to say because he didn't exactly take it and run. A neutral rating awarded for buyer. Same goes for neutral seller. He takes your money, but wants to keep the item. Gives you your refund.

Makes sense right?

I don't leave feedback until I get the item and have inspected it. If I am the seller, I don't leave feedback until I hear back from the individual that they have recieved the item. The deal is not over until BOTH parties have gotten what they originally planned on. Therefore I hold the rating until then. That's just my opinion on this issue though. In the end, as long as the feedback is given (within a reasonable amount of time) I'm fine with it.

I feel the negative feedback is only there for those who intentionally screw you over. The neutral feedback should be left those who kept their end of the bargain, but not up to the standards that you expected. I've only left one negative feedback, and that was because the individual flaked on me and made me stand around a mall for 2 hours hoping he'd show. On the opposite end, I've had cases where I never recieved the package but still felt that the individual held up his end of the deal so I gave him a S+ even though I never got the package (damn Canada Post).

Anyone ever notice that you can EDIT your rating given? I mean, if the buyer gives you the money, you B+ him/her, send the item out, bad stuff starts and the deal goes sour after for whatever reasons, the item gets sent back, can't you just edit the initial rating? I know on Ebay for instance, editing isn't an option, but here it is. Does that open any doors to those of you set in your ways? Figured I'd ask because it's a viable option that I see no one has mentioned yet.

I know you can edit for a limited time, but I thought it was only what you typed not the actual rating?

Never tried, only saw the edit function. I'll take a look.

Checked out a rating I left for a guy back in June I think, and the edit feature is gone. Then again, as long as you can edit for a couple weeks, you should be able to use it well. Deals rarely take more than 2 weeks to complete.

I think it only lasts for about 5 minutes, like how you can edit your posts for up to 5 minutes before it shows that you have made an edit.

Hmmmm............ Ok.

I agree with all the points everyone has pointed out. I personally feel that the waiting game is stupid and immature. I'm currently doing a transaction with Yanhchan, and everything is going smoothly. Its up to canada post now :D.

Buyer perspective: Leave feedback ONLY after recieving item and inspecting and verifying what was told to you is what you got.

Seller Perspective: I agree with Dman, but to me it seems appropriate to give feedback after you have sent your item to the buyer, since their part ends after you recieved their monies.