This is something that I think I suggested in a site update thread a little over a year ago, but the thought keeps coming back to me, so I decided what's the harm in giving it its own thread.
We already have Regular Members and Premium Members, but would it ever be possible to include a level like "Verified Seller," to help people better decide who they want to buy from in the JY?
My thinking on it is this: have the member's pay something a nominal fee (Like $5-10 a year) for the ability to get the badge, and in order to actually verify them, once a year, they would be sent a letter to their address on record. The letter would contain a code that they would enter here (or email to a mod, or whatnot) The same could be done via phone as well for an added level of verification.
Obviously there should be some initial hurdles to getting this badge (X number of months on the board, X number of successful transactions, etc) but think it could be an interesting concept to pursue.
Another thing that could tie in nicely with this is a seller rating, similar to the iTrader plugin for vBulletin or eBay's rankings. With open registration the risk is always that we're going to get a few fly-by-night shady characters, and having some level of feedback, or at the very least a verified address and phone number on record for people could help to allay some fears.
...short of setting up an RPF escrow service (Don't worry, Art, I'm not suggesting that) it one of the few things I can think of to improve the already great service.
Thoughts? Am I just crazy? (Don't answer that last one :lol)
-Nick
We already have Regular Members and Premium Members, but would it ever be possible to include a level like "Verified Seller," to help people better decide who they want to buy from in the JY?
My thinking on it is this: have the member's pay something a nominal fee (Like $5-10 a year) for the ability to get the badge, and in order to actually verify them, once a year, they would be sent a letter to their address on record. The letter would contain a code that they would enter here (or email to a mod, or whatnot) The same could be done via phone as well for an added level of verification.
Obviously there should be some initial hurdles to getting this badge (X number of months on the board, X number of successful transactions, etc) but think it could be an interesting concept to pursue.
Another thing that could tie in nicely with this is a seller rating, similar to the iTrader plugin for vBulletin or eBay's rankings. With open registration the risk is always that we're going to get a few fly-by-night shady characters, and having some level of feedback, or at the very least a verified address and phone number on record for people could help to allay some fears.
...short of setting up an RPF escrow service (Don't worry, Art, I'm not suggesting that) it one of the few things I can think of to improve the already great service.
Thoughts? Am I just crazy? (Don't answer that last one :lol)
-Nick