Is there kind of black list or ripoff report for fraudulent sellers?

[Vandris]

Is there any type of Blacklist or Rip off Report for SL merchants where people can post their experience or rate a merchant or talk about problems they've had? 

Buying items on SL is hit and miss and unless it's a "credible" merchant (and even some of the "credible" merchants arent' so credible) you're still taking a gamble. I always wondered if anyone had created a website or something were you can view merchant ratings or give feedback on your shopping experiences since LL's doesn't help much with anything.

I came across an issue with a merchant got scammed, realized they were having LL's removing negative reviews and feedback other customers left as well, and there's really no way to protect other customers. I thought something like that would be helpful if there was one for players.

I also wouldn't count the Market place ratings or comments since negative reviews or comments can get removed and you have to purchase an item on there and inworld purchases or issues or discluded.

[Perrie Juran]

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Vandris wrote:

Is there any type of Blacklist or Rip off Report for SL merchants where people can post their experience or rate a merchant or talk about problems they've had? 

Buying items on SL is hit and miss and unless it's a "credible" merchant (and even some of the "credible" merchants arent' so credible) you're still taking a gamble. I always wondered if anyone had created a website or something were you can view merchant ratings or give feedback on your shopping experiences since LL's doesn't help much with anything.

I came across an issue with a merchant got scammed, realized they were having LL's removing negative reviews and feedback other customers left as well, and there's really no way to protect other customers. I thought something like that would be helpful if there was one for players.

I also wouldn't count the Market place ratings or comments since negative reviews or comments can get removed and you have to purchase an item on there and inworld purchases or issues or discluded.

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None that I know of though you can take a problem over to SLUniverse.**

Many of us do not support the idea for this simple reason:

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Given the number of complaints that turn out to be a User problem and not a Merchant problem we read in this Forum unless you have someone who knows wtf they are doing moderating it, it would quickly become a miasma of pure stupidity.

 

**If you take a problem over to SLU you'd best have all your ducks in order cause they can chew you up in little pieces faster than a school of piranhas feasting on a sacrificial virgin.  (ETA, Actually they are all pretty nice except for that one fellow...........but it reallly helps if you have your ducks in order)

 

[Innula Zenovka]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

**If you take a problem over to SLU you'd best have all your ducks in order cause they can chew you up in little pieces faster than a school of piranhas feasting on a sacrificial virgin.

 

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An SLU regular comments:   I've always found SLU a reasonably friendly place, but it is certainly the case that people who create accounts there simply to take advantage of Cristiano's light moderation policy by complaining about someone who has supposedly ripped them off can usually expect to be met with a degree of scepticism.     This is particularly the case if they've not first taken the comon-sense step of first contacting the merchant about the problem, and given the merchant adequate time to respond (bearing in mind that, for many merchants, this is a hobby, not a full-time job).

Generally, I would recommend looking at how old the merchant's account is, and how long they've been selling stuff on the marketplace (if they do).    Check, too, on what their other product lines are like -- most people concentrate on particular areas.    Also, go by friends' recommendations and what you see in blogs.   

 

[Perrie Juran]

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Innula Zenovka wrote:

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Perrie Juran wrote:

**If you take a problem over to SLU you'd best have all your ducks in order cause they can chew you up in little pieces faster than a school of piranhas feasting on a sacrificial virgin.

 

---

 

An SLU regular comments:   I've always found SLU a reasonably friendly place, but it is certainly the case that people who create accounts there simply to take advantage of Cristiano's light moderation policy by complaining about someone who has supposedly ripped them off can usually expect to be met with a degree of scepticism.     This is particularly the case if they've not first taken the comon-sense step of first contacting the merchant about the problem, and given the merchant adequate time to respond (bearing in mind that, for many merchants, this is a hobby, not a full-time job).

Generally, I would recommend looking at how old the merchant's account is, and how long they've been selling stuff on the marketplace (if they do).    Check, too, on what their other product lines are like -- most people concentrate on particular areas.    Also, go by friends' recommendations and what you see in blogs.   

 

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You're right.  I was using some hyperbole.  The people there are friendly. I'll edit my comment.

[Pamela Galli]

I took it to mean that they do not suffer fools gladly. Some people are always looking for someone else to blame for their problems, amd when they do, they should come to expect not sympathy but exposure for what they are.

 

I think we do a pretty good job of exposure here too but we just cant call a spade a spade like they can.

[Perrie Juran]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

I took it to mean that they do not suffer fools gladly. Some people are always looking for someone else to blame for their problems, amd when they do, they should come to expect not sympathy but exposure for what they are.

 

I think we do a pretty good job of exposure here too but we just cant call a spade a spade like they can.

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That's another nice way to put it.

And yes, we have to be poetic here when we call someone an idiot.

[Pamela Galli]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

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Pamela Galli wrote:

I took it to mean that they do not suffer fools gladly. Some people are always looking for someone else to blame for their problems, amd when they do, they should come to expect not sympathy but exposure for what they are.

 

I think we do a pretty good job of exposure here too but we just cant call a spade a spade like they can.

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That's another nice way to put it.

And yes, we have to be poetic here when we call someone an idiot.

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LOL yes we are so poetic!  (What rhymes with "idiot"?) 

[Perrie Juran]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

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Perrie Juran wrote:

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Pamela Galli wrote:

I took it to mean that they do not suffer fools gladly. Some people are always looking for someone else to blame for their problems, amd when they do, they should come to expect not sympathy but exposure for what they are.

 

I think we do a pretty good job of exposure here too but we just cant call a spade a spade like they can.

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That's another nice way to put it.

And yes, we have to be poetic here when we call someone an idiot.

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LOL yes we are so poetic!  (What rhymes with "idiot"?) 

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Nitwit?

[Pamela Galli]

 

 

Hehe that would be my favorite term in any case.

 

And to be clear, we are not talking about not very smart people (of whose number I often count myself) but ppl who never consider the possibility the problem could be with them.

[Teagan Tobias]

I don't think you'll find the Lab removing negative reviews just because they are negative. Now if they are rude with bad language and have no information in them, then I could see the Lab removing them. But most likely the seller just removed the item from the MP and then re-listed it removing all the reviews.

But if you find that only your review was removed you may need to take a look at how you stated what the problem was. And like someone else said, contact the seller if you have a problem. I have found that many of them are very nice people and welcome you telling them there is a problem. I have even received free items because I was polite pointing out problems the seller missed.

[Dresden Ceriano]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

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Pamela Galli wrote:

I took it to mean that they do not suffer fools gladly. Some people are always looking for someone else to blame for their problems, amd when they do, they should come to expect not sympathy but exposure for what they are.

 

I think we do a pretty good job of exposure here too but we just cant call a spade a spade like they can.

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That's another nice way to put it.

And yes, we have to be poetic here when we call someone an idiot.

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What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

...Dres

[Pussycat Catnap]

On the one hand I wish there was a blacklist - but I can also see all kinds of problems it would create.

I'm pretty sure if there was one, I'd be on it - because of my overly strongly worded views on social justice / racial equality, and my religion, that have rubbed some right-leaning and/or less 'fight for your stance' (I can be too passionate in my wording, even to those of similar views) members of SL the wrong way.

- And that rightfully puts me on the blacklist for social groups of a right-leaning perspective. But not on a business, visitor, and etc. black list.

And this is the problem of such lists. I'd be personally inclined to want to put some people I've fueded with on the list too, but I have a cool enough head (when I can step back) to know not to and just avoid them myself (this is why I avoid SLU - because it doesn't let you step back once you engage, and people don't move on from old arguments there, but keep rehashing them - so be careful about taking your list there. It will get messy if the issue gets solved, but the names and arguments are still there years later and people keep dragging it up. Even here there are people who get stuck in OLD arguments, but they don't get away with it as easily).

However I'm fairly certain others who are on the same sides of some social issues as me WOULD put people on such a list for what are, frankly, personal rather than business reasons.

Which means both sides would just end up drama-banning everybody... and who would be able to untangle that mess?

 

[IvanBenjammin]

SLU is definitely want you want. They have whole threads devoted to naming and shaming. And in every case, those threads devolve into arguments, insults and general nastiness - because, as others have pointed out in this thread, 90% of the time its user error, or marketplace hiccups.

So, SLU can keep that BS, as far as I'm concerned.

[LlazarusLlong]

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Dresden Ceriano wrote:

 

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

...Dres

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That Shakespeare guy didn't always get it right; I worked with a guy called Alan Rose for a while,and he had really bad BO.

[Pamela Galli]

Oh I find those kinds of threads immensely cathartic. There is one over there now about someone complaining about getting ripped off by evil merchants because she played a gacha machine without bothering to find out how it worked. She lost 30L! (Altho a merchant she complained to gave her a fatpack.)

[Pussycat Catnap]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

Oh I find those kinds of threads immensely cathartic. There is one over there now about someone complaining about getting ripped off by evil merchants because she played a gacha machine without bothering to find out how it worked. She lost 30L! (Altho a merchant she complained to gave her a fatpack.)

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I wish I considered 11-cents as valuable as some people do... then I would have wasted a LOT less money enjoying my life...

 

[Pamela Galli]

But just think of the anguish and despair if you dropped a quarter and could not find it! I doubt you would be able to come back from a blow like that.

[Perrie Juran]

Funny thing about Gatchas.

I was in SL for several years before I heard of them.  The way I found out was while shopping there was this one display with a picture of 4 nice outfits and a bubble gum looking vendor in front of it.  It just looked like a special promo to me and I bought it.

Well, I only got one of the four outfits so I contacted the Merchant.  She was, "Well, it's a Gatcha."  I was, "I never heard of them."  We had a little 'discussion,' which I did manage to keep 'friendly' on my part.  I went back and double checked.  The word "Gatcha" was not used in the display, there was no notecard, etc, etc, etc to be found.  If I had missed that stuff I would have conceded it was my fault.  But I considered her failure to inform HER FAULT and nicely but firmly told her so. 

Oh well, I don't shop there any more.  Her loss cause I actually liked her clothes.

Now, on to the quarter.  It's funny how we place value on things and how that has changed from generation to generation.  My Grandfather was working in Washington and every week he'd write a letter to his Father.  One day when he went to post the letter there was a sign up at the Post Office saying you can send your letter on the very first Air Mail flight.  My Grandfather thought his Father would be impressed to get a letter like that and he paid the extra 15 or 20 cents.

A week later my Grandfather got a letter back from his Father chastising him for his "spurious waste of money."  (Saving letters must have been more of a habit back then.  We have the letters and envelopes which we consider now very cool.)

[Pussycat Catnap]

Not that long ago a cup of coffee was 40 cents in many places. Now I'm lucky to get out of a Starbucks without dropping more than $5 for a cup of super-sugar-charged calories with fake caffine in it that somebody who thinks 1970s plaid should come back has taken the liberty of telling me is coffee.

 

You do raise a good point that some assume everyone knows their thing. I find Gatchas mostly a scam. random no-copy goods... kind of odd that this is popular. But also... 11 cents to day is worth LESS than 1-cent was not that long ago... and for the cost of one coffee, I could click on 50 gatcha machines...

Sometimes it not worth killing somebody over 50-cents...

Maybe yes, avoid them if you get rubbed wrongly in the interraction. But if there is a time to call out your hit squad that is probably not it.

 

 

[Pamela Galli]

The merchant in this case was nice enough to give the buyer a fat pack, so not much room to complain.

 

That said, it is hard to know where to draw the line in explanations of how things work -- vendors, redelivery kiosks, even plain boxes. (I have started putting hovertext on my boxes saying: "R Click to open", because of the complaints that "all I got was this box!").  Or explaining that the house looks different for you because your sim has a different Windlight. Many people don't know how to use the inventory search field and contact me every time they can't find something they bought from me from rummaging through inventory. Many people, instead of buying a boxed set (I sell both sets and items individually), will buy only the dining table then angrily demand to know where the chairs are, and I have to explain how buying objects works. Many think, when they can't find a transfer item in inventory, they can go get as many copies as they want from the redelivery kiosk. 

Since my goal is to keep the time I spend on customer service to no more than three hours a day, I personally would have a sign above a gacha machine (if I had one), but I don't think it is negligent not to have one.  I do have a sign above the redelivery Kiosk, but people dont read it.

 

Also: There is something about your kids spending money, every excess penny rankles.

[Perrie Juran]

We do understand the difficulties with trying to idiot proof everything.

As far as boxes go with scripts that can IM the unpacking instructions on wear or rez,  I'm sometimes surprised they aren't used more often, etc, etc.

But even then you'd still wind up babysitting some people.

[KarenMichelle Lane]

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Perrie Juran wrote:

We do understand the difficulties with trying to idiot proof everything.

As far as boxes go with scripts that can IM the unpacking instructions on wear or rez,  I'm sometimes surprised they aren't used more often, etc, etc.

But even then you'd still wind up babysitting some people.

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I'm still waiting for someone to create the perfect unwrapping script...

[ ...the package is lifted carefully and the purchaser joyfully pulls the bow on the top allowing the ribbons to fall to the ground, Slipping open the lid of the box, a joyful smile begins as the tissue paper is pulled aside to reveal the beautiful 700 prim house ]

[Madelaine McMasters]

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KarenMichelle Lane wrote:

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Perrie Juran wrote:

We do understand the difficulties with trying to idiot proof everything.

As far as boxes go with scripts that can IM the unpacking instructions on wear or rez,  I'm sometimes surprised they aren't used more often, etc, etc.

But even then you'd still wind up babysitting some people.

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I'm still waiting for someone to create the perfect unwrapping script...

[ 

...the package is lifted carefully and the purchaser joyfully pulls the bow on the top allowing the ribbons to fall to the ground, Slipping open the lid of the box, a joyful smile begins as the tissue paper is pulled aside to reveal the beautiful

700 prim house

 ]

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Ah, that reminds me of a "house dropper" I made for a friend many years ago. As you walked the yellow brick road on your way to the Emerald City, you'd pass under a li'l cloud, which would drop a cute li'l cottage on your noggin. Surely having a present fall from the skies is comparable to ribbons and tissue.