[Suggestions] Marketplace Deposits

So,

Reading through Tim's shit list today. And I thought, there has been suggestions of BHW being the middleman or using a middleman.

But what about deposits? Could they be an easier option? That way, the admins have the decision whether to refund the customer from the deposit.

Could even work for freelancers here to minimise the risk? Would provide a safety net for customers and hopefully encourage more sales?

My suggestions always come with flaws that I haven't thought about, so no hate if this is stupid

So you mean to say a seller has to deposit a certain % with BHW, well theoretically it could work, but then again the seller will increase the price and customer will be forced to pay more and as a customer that will be a loss for me

A middleman service still sounds better. For a % BHW can act as the middleman and whoever wants to use this middleman service can do so. Mitigates the risk for both buyers and sellers.

Mr Positive said:

So you mean to say a seller has to deposit a certain % with BHW, well theoretically it could work, but then again the seller will increase the price and customer will be forced to pay more and as a customer that will be a loss for me

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Kind of, haven't thought it fully through, but lets say the highest cost of the service is $500, then they need to have a deposit of $500. This wouldn't work for multiple people scammed at once, but if i'm correct, the majority of scammed people are single cases?

Themer said:

A middleman service still sounds better. For a % BHW can act as the middleman and whoever wants to use this middleman service can do so. Mitigates the risk for both buyers and sellers.

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I agree, but I feel a middle man service would be a lot more to manage than a deposit system

Yes sounds pretty simple. $50 deposit, bhw could guarantee purchases up to that, and refund from there.

Dark Sky said:

I agree, but I feel a middle man service would be a lot more to manage than a deposit system

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It could work but currencies around the world are volatile when compared to USD. A seller might lose money on currency conversions. This is a small thing to worry about but could still restrict some sellers from blocking their money, specially the ones from those countries where $50 is still a lot.
I do agree about your point about having a lot more work to handle if they indeed start a middleman service. But if they're going to make money off it, they can hire more staff.

Themer said:

It could work but currencies around the world are volatile when compared to USD. A seller might lose money on currency conversions. This is a small thing to worry about but could still restrict some sellers from blocking their money, specially the ones from those countries where $50 is still a lot.
I do agree about your point about having a lot more work to handle if they indeed start a middleman service. But if they're going to make money off it, they can hire more staff.

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That's true, currency conversions do need to be taken into account. Not too educated in the finance sector so haven't thought about that one.

We can use escrow for big deals. If bhw implement this then they need extra staff to manage this.

I think escrow is a better feature, but something should be there. It's painful to see people scamming for $20 tbh.

It would require one big system with a lot of cracks and patches going around it.

Scammers will always exist
The review and strict requirements and rules to sell here is quite effective

Babyhamsta said:

We can use escrow for big deals. If bhw implement this then they need extra staff to manage this.

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I could be wrong, but I wouldn't say it would be difficult to manage in comparison to a middle man service,

Seller pays deposit.
Deposit is forgotten about unless the seller receives a ban via the shitlist.

I can't see much intervention except when threads are created/updated.

I can see it being difficult to create the system, but not manage it (Again I could be very very wrong..)

Too much extra work for BHW I think and they could end up getting scammed with chargebacks etc. It's up to the individual to make sure they are not going to get scammed. There are plenty of options available outside of BHW.

It seems Escrow would be the best option rather than this suggestion, but that itself is quite tiring to have - unless BHW has an army of Mods or they start to employ mods or a 3rd party.

Dark Sky said:

So,

Reading through Tim's shit list today. And I thought, there has been suggestions of BHW being the middleman or using a middleman.

But what about deposits? Could they be an easier option? That way, the admins have the decision whether to refund the customer from the deposit.

Could even work for freelancers here to minimise the risk? Would provide a safety net for customers and hopefully encourage more sales?

My suggestions always come with flaws that I haven't thought about, so no hate if this is stupid

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Thanks for your suggestion it's something that's been covered here https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/mod-we-need-a-btc-escrow-service.1286032/post-13853824 as a middle man service and in other posts over the years, Deposits would be a little more complicated. Definitely, something we're looking into as part of marketplace 2.0

Themer said:

It could work but currencies around the world are volatile when compared to USD. A seller might lose money on currency conversions. This is a small thing to worry about but could still restrict some sellers from blocking their money, specially the ones from those countries where $50 is still a lot.
I do agree about your point about having a lot more work to handle if they indeed start a middleman service. But if they're going to make money off it, they can hire more staff.

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As all marketplace transactions are based in USD we'd process a USD transaction, it would be down to the buyer/seller to manage the exchange risk. This is especially true in cases of cryptocurrency where volatility is high.

Dark Sky said:

This wouldn't work for multiple people scammed at once, but if i'm correct, the majority of scammed people are single cases?

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Based on the shit listings and our marketplace pre-checking process this is indeed the exception rather than the rule.

Babyhamsta said:

We can use escrow for big deals. If bhw implement this then they need extra staff to manage this.

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We've significantly strengthened our inhouse skill set, this year and added to the MIT headcount as well whilst bringing in some significant expertise in the backend systems in preparation for Marketplace 2.0 and to handle the increase in people looking for other sources of income that this year's pandemic has brought with it. Now people are starting to see the benefits of working from home I'd expect this increase in marketplace engagement to continue. There are a lot of companies, that were previously holdouts, that have been forced to engage online with their own identity rather than relying on the big middlemen of the world. In my view this has pushed web-based commerce forward 10-15 years in the space of 1 year. But I digress.

islandman1010 said:

Too much extra work for BHW I think and they could end up getting scammed with chargebacks etc. It's up to the individual to make sure they are not going to get scammed. There are plenty of options available outside of BHW.

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See above - but I'd also say we're in a much better position than external companies to know our customers as you say at the end of the day you've always got to know who you're buying from, which is why when I check out those selling on the marketplace - no matter their time on-site - one of the first places I go is to take a look at their profiles and previous posts to see if they have knowledge in the subject that relates to their Marketplace thread. If they do, and are engaged in their posts, then it's a safe bet that they will have an interested and engaging product on the marketplace. If they just answer their marketplace threads and don't have any further forum engagement then I perform further Due Dilligace on them. The moral is always know who you're buying from.

joshsaga said:

It seems Escrow would be the best option rather than this suggestion, but that itself is quite tiring to have - unless BHW has an army of Mods or they start to employ mods or a 3rd party.

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Places like escrow.com would be an alternative. But we have the added benefit of secret shopping the marketplace services and knowing the history (both front and backend) of the users in question.


I'm leaving this open as it's heading in a slightly different direction to the previous thread and we're always interested to know your thoughts.

TLDR ? - Always know who you're buying from.

OMG Our King has replied to my comment
Long Live the King!

I'm responding to this as it never received a closure notice at the time this was posted.

Similar suggestions have been made in the past. I believe the answer to this is that it wouldn't be the most feasible thing to implement into the existing marketplace at this time.