Originally Posted by Pyranite

Open source supporters steal the glory and money from people who make decent products. They're like the China of the Internet, making crappy knock offs of reasonable products and distributing them for next to nothing.

Originally Posted by Jacko87

I think trader rating is enough, if I see one negative rep, I will not buy from them at all. I also do not buy from people who just got 35 reps, or if I know the person selling it is generally a rude person. There isn't much you can do if you get ripped off on the internet, thats why I try to check out the persons background on the forums.

Originally Posted by Retrospekt

An instant ban would be a bad idea. Forums like HardForum and Anandtech do that, which later leads to the buyer not having anyway to get in contact with the seller.

I bought an item from someone, wasn't big, but 20 bucks is still a good bit of money. I didn't recieve it in 2 weeks, so I go to PM him and he hasn't been online since that day I bought it. I pmed the guy and he still hadn't come on. I told a mod, and all he did was instant ban the guy.

Well it turns out that he got into a bad car accident and was actually in the hospital for quite a bit of time. He tried to log on and tell me what happened when he got back, but he was banned. Good thing he wrote down my paypal email address.

Originally Posted by killa_concept

There's no real way to prevent this sort of fraud... perhaps establish Collect on Delivery as a norm for larger orders?

Originally Posted by Gremlin

I take serious offense to this. I have been reading/posing on these boards for quite some time.

Just because I do not site on news sites and post about the latest and greatest news... or give someone the best idea ever.. does not mean I would rip you off.

I am what most people refer to as a lurker. I post on topics I feel I have at least average knowledge of. If I can help someone, I will do everything I can.

For a prime example.. I loved Goby's Worklog on his TT Armor case. After some time.. he did not renew his hosting. Links to his images have been dead for months. Through a few PM's with him.. I setup and FTP account for him on my web space that I pay for. I asked nothing in return. I just wanted to see his hard work posted back up there for the rest of the community to see.

Granted I think rep plays alot into other people's decisions.. I do not think it should be the end all.

Originally Posted by pioneerisloud

I wish I could have left negative feedback for one of my recent problems . I traded off my 7600GT + $20 cash for an Antec Case supposedly brand new in box ($129+ shipping on newegg) with a member here. Well....the case never showed. I checked the tracking information and it said that it was delivered and signed for AT MY ADDRESS.

So it sounded to me like it was left on my porch and stolen (that's what my mailman said he did...left it on the porch). So the shipper didn't pay for insurance, and he used MEDIA MAIL of all forms! So all in all, I'm out my $179 7600GT (not worth that at the time, but that's what I paid for it) and $20...and I got NOTHING from it.

And to top it all off....the mods told me to not leave a trader rating because the tracking information said that it was delivered, so for all they know I have it.

But evidentally MY WORD AS THE CUSTOMER isn't good enough!

That transaction ticked me off.

Another thing that ticks me off is when a seller gives you a set price, you have the money ready and waiting for him to tell you where to send it....then you find a thread for him selling the exact same item for more money....AND ITS SOLD TO SOMEONE ELSE! With no PM notification of the change or nothing. For that one...I left a negative rating. I thought it was BS.

Originally Posted by ENTERPRISE

You have to understand that the Forum staff are in the middle of all this. OCN is used as a bridge between two members wishing to partake in a sale. OCN only serves as the bridge and because of that OCN cannot be held responsible for any sales that have gone wrong due to the fault of the members. Selling and buying is always at risk of the user. We of course look into all disputes and will help either user as much as we can. However this is far as we can go. We are primarily a TECH related forum that offers a Market place to our users which is managed as best as possible. Its always a shame when a sale goes wrong but I must stress that ALL transactions are done at your own risk and your assesment and trust of that user. OCN cannot Gaurentee successful sales. Like I said, we can provide support and assistance to sales gone wrong but ultimately this is all we can do.

In your case we had no proof that you DIDNT have the case. I am not for a second saying you have lied but you need to see it from our point of view. It would be great if we could take someones word for it but unfortunately that is not enough. PROOF counts for everything in this instance.