Members without scruples- a continuation


This is a continuation of a discussion started by Sagger on 01/11/02:
Regarding Audiogon's feedback policy, how is a potential buyer going to research a seller's (or vice versa)feedback rating to determine its validity? The very real possibility exists that an unscrupulous person could create multiple accounts, then leave positive feedback for a main account. Once that positive feedback is established in the main account, the person could use that account to hurt other members.
greatpooba
Your right--sort of. This happens on e-bay as well. However, if you see a member that has gotten a lot of positive feedback within say a month of each other, and no other history that's a little suspicious. Also, you can see who left the feedback. If all the people that left the feedback have no or very few other transactions--well that's a little suspicious too. It gets very suspicious when they can't give you a serial number and manufacturing date (you can usually verify this with with the manufacturer). In my view, these are not really members if they are drumming up a feedback for the purposes to rip someone off. These are crooks. More difficult to catch of course, but let's face it, dishonest people that care to steal or cheat others are looking for a place that has a good escape route--the internet often does this for them. It just means the rest of us have to be careful with our transactions and report these people.
Indeed,
It is very simple and possible on audiogon!
You can even use an alias of your e-mail and it will consume.
The verification process should probably be essential here especially in order to sell or buy.
When in doubt about a member who has become a potential seller of an item you're interested in, use AudiogoN's many features to check him/her out before taking it further. Do a "Member Lookup" to see if this person has ever initiated or answered any threads (Thread and Answers), or has posted Reviews or his/her System, etc.

Next, look quickly at the feedback of those who have provided feedback as a gague of their reliabliity. I suppose it's possible that somsone could create multiple accounts and false feedback, but they would have to develop multiple personas as well via the discussion forums to pull it off effectively. After a while, you get a good sense of who the regular A'gon members are, and I'm always comforted to see familiar monikers in my seller's feedback section, especially if I've dealt with some of the same members personally. If you do recognize a moniker, write to that person about your concerns. Most A'gon members would not be bothered by this at all. I've recently received an email from a member who was thinking about buying an amp. He noticed that I had provided feedback for his potential seller and knew me from a previous transaction that we had entered into. It took me 20 seconds to say, ya Brad's a great guy - no concerns there.

If you are still in doubt, send a detailed email to your seller concerning issues about the product that he/she is selling, but do not tip off your suspicions of the seller's legitimacy because 1) 99+% of all A'gon members are legitimate in my experience, and 2) if you do run across a fraudulent seller, your email exchange should be as drawn out as possible so that you can collect clues as to this person's identity, location, etc. This will allow you to alert other A'gon members and staff once you're established proof of the fraud.

Learn what you need to know about the seller through an email exchange, and then call the seller to get further comfort if need be. On transactions of $1,000 or more (or you can pick the threashhold) you should make it a point to establish phone contact for the mutual assurance of both parties.

As with many A'gon members, my experiences have been all good, and this has allowed me to a build system (several systems actually) that would have cost twice the price at retail.
Perhaps a way to combat fraudulent feedback would be for Audiogon to set up a system where feedback could only be left by the two transacting parties. As it is now, anyone can leave feedback. Not totally fail-safe, but it would at least discourage the casual crook.
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