Bad buyers

Recentley there have been some issues with some buyers that have dissappeared but have outstanding material that some members have sent to them and have not been paid for. While the buyers have paid to advertise here so have some of the members to support the forum.



Whether someone has a paid membership or not should not be a reason to allow shady business practices. At the very least I think a "seller beware" note should be placed on the first page of any buyers thread that the admin detemines is not a-active, b-has a number of complaints regarding non-payment or c-complaints about extended waiting times to make a payment where the terms were not stated in the original thread.

While it is stated in the rules that smf is not accountable for any problems or losses incurred there should be some type of oversight or at least a way that the owner of smf can determine if the buyer is still in business. The oneness could be place on the buyer to contact the admin every quarter to say yes we are still here or if there is no contact then place a disclaimer on the first page of the buyers thread.

I think a buyer needs to check in once in a while. Some of us are more active than others, but at least once every few months should not only be expected, it should be done as a proper courtesy. Wait times are dependant on the size of the lot, but there is a difference between taking a few extra days, and disappearing for months on end...

Bad buyers are bad for this forum in general.......A reputation is not an easy thing to obtain and if this site gets a reputation for scam artists/poor biz practices it may be a hard obstacle to overcome

Originally Posted by hobo finds

I agree that a statement about active buyer is a good one. Also sellers who got screwed need to post there feedback so others can decide if they want to sell to that buyer or not... This is what happens when you sell someone a lifetime deal (99 years) they may no longer be buying anymore due to low prices, moved on and not doing scrap or whatever. Could admin send out a message to all lifetime buyers asking them if they are indeed still purchasing items. And if not, would they like there ad removed?

Agreed not sure exactly how many total listings are on the buyers page but I would say the majority of them are not active on the forum

Another thing is when a NEW member comes to the forum unless they read all the rules (MOST WON'T) they make think the buyers here represent the SMF (which we know is not true).........I have tried to bring this up before but just had my posts deleted perhaps if enough get behind this something may change......I also wanted to note that even though I am a buyer I really don't purchase much from here........I have made a few contacts and I appreciate everyone who has sent in material but I hate to see hard working people being ripped off

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/gener...tml#post245667

Should direct you to a poll

I agree. As a buyer, I of course have a preference on who I would you to choose. But, if someone does choose a different buyer, I want them to have a pleasant experience. When something goes bad, it makes us all look bad....

What if buyers just don't post because they don't have anything interesting to say

I order to be a buyer listed in the front page of the buyers section isn't there a Fee and if you don't pay that fee monthly you are relegated to the back pages.

I am also a believer in self policing, but I do understand the ramifications and legal questions when it comes to the Adm/forum allowing negative comments regarding. That said as long as comments are provable I see no problem.

When you have a forum this large there is the law of averages. There will be some bad apples sneak in now and then, we can only try to expose them to keep the Rep of the forum and its members above board.

I also know it's human nature for some to get ahead of themselves and get in too deep, I'm guilty of this on a couple of occasions. No matter how embarrassing it may be, what ever the problem it must be handled if not it will only go down hill from there.

I also know there are or were some back door deals between a well known buyer who is not a member of this forum and a couple of people who are respected members. There is nothing illegal about this kind of deal but to me it is not above board and totally honest. I just choose to not do business that way and won't deal with them.

If no attempt to resolve a problem is made in a reasonable time then I believe that problem should be brought to the forum.

We are on the internet, the only thing we have is our integrity and trust in other Members. mcw

Originally Posted by Ewasted

What if buyers just don't post because they don't have anything interesting to say

I understand what your saying, some people think they have nothing of real value to say, others are too busy with running large business to be a frequent Poster or maybe a combination of both, Some are natural public speakers most are not..

Originally Posted by Ewasted

What if buyers just don't post because they don't have anything interesting to say

It does not have to be of any interest.........Just a simple hey I'm here my prices are good and I am buying..........When a buyer has issues arise and does not publicly respond to those issues that's when their seems to be a problem.........All good with me if you don't say anything EWASTED you have a website which has a chat feature as well as an email that 99% of the time I get a response from!!!!

Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

Whether someone has a paid membership or not should not be a reason to allow shady business practices.

I would like to start off by clarifying that we do not "allow" shady business practices regardless of whether a member has paid for a membership or not.

If you or anyone else is getting ripped off, ie sending material and not getting paid or things of that nature, we do encourage you to let us know via the support ticket system - We DO take action on claims like these and will always investigate. We have shut down buyers in the past because of this. This is taken seriously.

If we get reports of this happening, we will message the buyer and ask for an explanation (their side of the story, there are always 2 of them). If we don't hear back or the buyer does not attempt to make right of the situation, the thread WILL be closed/deleted, or in some cases it will put back into moderation status indefinitely.

We take the integrity of this forum very seriously. DON'T HESITATE TO CONTACT US AND/OR REPORT THREADS.

In fact, the reason I found this thread was because Mechanic clicked the report button to make us aware of it.

Recentley there have been some issues with some buyers that have dissappeared but have outstanding material that some members have sent to them and have not been paid for.

Until this thread, I have not seen any recent support tickets or reports from members currently having these issues with any buyers. So please, instead of creating threads like these, report them to us first - We make it very easy to do so.

With that being said...

There are several ways to help protect yourself as a seller to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen (on the forum or off the forum).

1 - Read the buyer's reviews and post yours.

We have always encouraged members to leave reviews, good or bad, about their experience any buyer on the forum for all members and guests to see.

Read all the reviews, especially the most recent.

2 - Contact the buyer before sending material.

We require members include contact information before we approve an ad (which is not dependent on the forum, ie email, phone number, etc).

So contact any potential buyer and ask as many questions as you need to before committing to any form of business relationship or transaction.

3 - Keep a paper trail.

A paper trail could be any form of written document which includes emails and text messages. So although making a deal by phone is usually the most convenient, it might be worth it to make your agreements in some documentable form. This helps protects both of you AND gives you physical evidence that will hold up in court if it came to that. (I am not a lawyer, seek a lawyer for proper legal advice)

4 - Check the "Buyer Last Online" stamp in the threads.

All buyer threads now have a "Last Online" date listed under their avatar on every post in their threads. If the member has not been online in a couple months and/or has many outstanding replies on their thread, it might be a good indicator to look at another buyer unless you are able to contact them directly via the information provided in their thread.

All of these things can help.

Again, the most important thing is to LET US KNOW. Use the report button on applicable posts/threads/offers or submit a support ticket to make us aware - That's what forum support is for! We don't want any buyers advertising on this forum who are receiving material and not paying for it or are otherwise deceiving members.

Conclusion:

We will have some discussions on what we can do feature-wise to improve the user experience for members and guests in the Buyers & Sellers section.

Thanks for the info.........We do not live in a perfect world nor do we have a perfect system.........Stick with who you know and GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!

I forgot about the "Last Activity" on the buyer's thread. I guess it doesn't show when I'm checking my own thread, so I haven't noticed it recently.

That's good enough for me!

There is a difference between checking in, and posting. Though, price lists from 2012 don't do anybody any good at all....