Trader Ratings
 

Back on the Acura site I'm part of (actually another Internet Brands site), they have a marketplace similar to what we have here. In the old days, there was a stickied post that contained an overall rating of all members participating in transactions in the first post. When you completed a transaction, you posted in that thread, and the admin updated the first post to reflect the new rating.

IE: DoubleSh0t +3
deadbeatmember -2

Just to give you an idea on who you were trading with. Now they have a Trader Rating plugin built for vBulletin. When you complete a transaction, you give a positive or negative rating along with comments (that only admins can see) and it is displayed underneath their username.

I think it would be really beneficial if we had something like that here. I recently bought something from a member on this site. It went smoothly, but I was nervous because I didn't know what their history was.

I believe this has been suggested before and, while it is an intriguing idea, I don't feel that we currently have enough active staff members to handle the necessary updating.

What about the automated system? The only administrative thing that needs to be done is to install the module in to the vBulletin software. For the rest, the individual users take care of the ratings themselves.

And yes, it's sort of like eBay but that's not a bad thing. As a new member, I don't know anyone's reputation. At least on BF's cousin site, I can trade with people that I don't know as long as they have positive ratings.

I have been told by people higher up in IB that we will get no upgrades. Considering that another IB site has it already, it may be possible to twist arms and get it here.

Quite frankly, the whole classifieds approach has more cons than pros IMO, ratings or otherwise. There are already sites for that exact thing, why recreate the wheel.

Ok, how about this. IF you're an Ebay buyer/seller, post your Ebay user name with your item for sale and people could look you up on there. This way, the forum doesn't have to keep up with you or your rating.

No Ebay account? Well, back to square one I guess....:icon_doh: