posted on January 25, 2001 05:13:01 PM
Anyone ever hear of it? I got an email today from them inviting me to join, saying they give icons for "reliable merchant" to put on your ebay listings and rate you as to your feedback once you give them your user name. The perks? I have no clue.
posted on January 25, 2001 05:39:15 PM
Interesting. Per their terms of service, you have to be 18 or older to sign up as a member. Yet, their founder and COO is only 17 years old, according to their Executive Bios. A veteran Ebayer, too. Way to go, kid!
posted on January 25, 2001 05:50:45 PM
I emailed them and the CEO responded in about 20 minutes! I said I wanted to SEE a seller who is using their service, and he said he would refer one (once permission is given, I assume). So far, it looks promising
posted on January 25, 2001 06:06:25 PM
Probably thru here at AW...seems lots of folks read here, eh? Meanwhile, I have been emailing back and forth with the guy and hes been very nice. Site is down he says, due to traffic hitting there. But if it looks good, I will give them a try.
posted on January 25, 2001 06:25:02 PM
They analyze the "complex" feedback data? And create a percentage rating?
What is so complex? No big mysteries there. Maybe they assign half points to neutrals or something equally arcane.
Like 100 feedbacks with 2 negs is a 98% rating?
Four bucks a month to do that?
I saw a card you can buy to carry in your wallet with a chart of 15% values so you know what to tip if you can't figure 15% in your head. Some people can't I suppose.
posted on January 25, 2001 06:32:43 PM
Steven has been very nice and helpful to me. As I have been saying, I will do anything to make bidders feel safe with me..and if this helps THEM to feel that way, then Im game
posted on January 25, 2001 06:34:17 PM
For now the service is FREE -- not $4 a month, as we have successfully secured Venture Capitalist funding. The content on the site will be updated accordingly.
The algorithm is truly complex. I have been working closely with several prominent mathematicians to develop it.
How is it complex? It's difficult to explain. You can only see for yourself. It extrapolates a lot of data from the feedback rating.
In fact, Marsha Collier, who is the author of "eBay for Dummies", and certainly an authority on eBay matters, said this: "ReliableMerchants has developed a quick and easy way to rate sellers, their format combines all factors of the feedback rating, into a simple to understand percentage".
Last, there is nothing WRONG with the eBay rating system; it just doesn't express what it is intended to convey. It's supposed to show how honest somebody is, but instead you get a user's history. We interpolate that raw data and show how 'reliable' we think a user will be in the future, based on how reliable the user was in the past.
posted on January 25, 2001 06:38:58 PM
Just curious, Steven, what are your policies regarding sellers whose ratings dip below the acceptable threshold?
How will you assure that they're not displaying your logo any longer? I assume you'll run periodic checks to make sure they're still in acceptable ranges?
Just wondering.
FWIW, I think your idea is good. I'm in favor of anything that helps offset the fear/paranoia (thank you, media) that keeps a lot of people from bidding.
posted on January 25, 2001 06:39:31 PM
I think Mauimoods just hit it on the head -- the problem with cyber-auctions isn't that sellers are dishonest, it is that the biddders don't trust them. How many people do you know that are afraid to purchase on eBay?
Perhaps if these people knew there was better certification, they wouldn't be more likely to purchase.
Where did you get the email addresses to send out your solicitation?
Are you incorporated? What liability will you assume if one of your members isn't so reliable?
What procedure to you use to ensure that the person who signs up with ReliableMerchants.com is actually who they say they are (Name)? In other words, what form of Identity Verification do you use?
How do you ensure that the person who signs up with ReliableMerchants.com, and claims to have a particular eBay ID, in fact has that ID?
Your privacy policy indicates that you may sell user's personally identifying information "to third parties, as a result of the sale, merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of substantial assets, reorganization or liquidation of ReliableMerchants." I've never seen language quite this permissive in a privacy policy. Given the frequency of "dot.bombs" lately, what assurance do your subscribers have that this won't happen?
Your user agreement states that it can be changed at will, without notice to users. In that case, what good is it?
Is the CEO really 17- and if so, how did he gain eBay experience (legally)?
posted on January 25, 2001 06:42:57 PM
So do I Steven...and Im a 48 year old kid. But I have playstation (love Castlevania SOTN is my FAVORITE), nintendo64, nintendo, super nintendo. I also have a stepson who is 24, and he and I like to sit cross legged on the floor and play DonkeyKong
posted on January 25, 2001 06:45:00 PM
In order to maintain the integrity of the system, we run daily checks on sellers. If a sellers Reliability Rating drops below the threshold (which is 95), then he is suspended, pending a manual investigation.
To assure that the seller no longer uses the seal, we deactivate the link -- Clicking on the seal will no longer bring up the member page.
We are currectly working on a program which will customize the seal; People's names will be super-imposed on it. This way, When a seller is disqualified or suspended, We can deactivate just That particular seller's seal. That program should be ready in a month or so.
posted on January 25, 2001 06:48:51 PM
Good questions Magazineguy Steve..(hiya, btw). I will just hang out and read the responses. Im still impressed though
posted on January 25, 2001 06:54:50 PM
Like anything else SPAM can be good and bad. SPAM which advertises something which is considered a detriment, such as pornography, is certainly not desirable. On the other hand, SPAM which is considered helpful, such as a combat to fraud, is in my opinion desirable. --> No Further comments
We are incorporated and our central office is in Manhattan. We do not assume responsibility if a merchant is not reliable -- though if many merchants aren't reliable, we will most certainly raise the minimum grade for acceptance.
We assure that a person is using his own ID, by sending him a password via email. Only the person with the correct email address can sign-up with the password.
The privacy policy includes vague terminologies regarding mergers, since we do plan on merging. I assure you that when we do merge, no email addresses will be sold to foreign companies not involved in the merger, and that the company involved in the merger will have an acceptable privacy policy.
Any user agreement can be changed at will, but you are correct, users should be notified. I will run this by the legal staff and programmers.
I have been an active member of eBay since I was 14, (with a 3 month break and a new user ID). My mother signed me up at the time. It is not illegal to use eBay if you are under 18, granted that you don't sign-up and do anything yourself.
posted on January 25, 2001 06:58:58 PM
Hello Steven...may I ask a question?
You stated
"We interpolate that raw data
and show how 'reliable' we think a user will be in the future, based on how reliable the user was in the past."
You are predicting the future performance of a seller with your rating...it kinda looks like something that a buyer would feel was kinda/sorta a guarantee. This would lull a buyer into not doing his own investigation of the seller, since he would rely on your rating system instead...a seller with a 98% rating would look pretty reliable to a buyer.
How much study have you done to ensure that your "prediction of future rliability" was in fact accurate and dependable? How many test cases? How was the study done?
How long have you been a buyer and/or seller on ebay? What is your feedback? How many transactions have you completed?
What happens when a buyer relies on the rating you gave and the buyer still got sc***ed?
posted on January 25, 2001 07:02:01 PM
Steve, I am the COO (Chief Operating Officer), not the CEO (Cchief Executive Officer).
I forfieted the position because I am attending college. I simply can not juggle business, college, and the media, if business is to take such a disproportionate amount of time.
Maintaining an equilibrium in a work schedule is pivotal to success.
posted on January 25, 2001 07:09:10 PM
Thanks fountainhouse. I dont "launch" auctions..I do it the old way, lol. I just went to ebay and revised it from there and added the logo, which has MY name in it, so if I am ever choosing to leave or they boot me for bad fb (shudder), what Steven said is true. Tis my logo with my name...all they gotta do is dump it from their end.
posted on January 25, 2001 07:13:09 PM
Amy, great question, I'm glad you brought that up!
There is no way to prophesize the future. One can become penniless, or a millionaire depending on the great tidal waves of the diabolic NASDAQ!
However, we can predict the future. One can assume that it is not wise to invest in a market if the past was turbulent. Similarly, one can determine that it isn't wise to invest in a seller if the seller's past was turbulent.
So is this a kinda/sorta? I don't know, the algorithm certainly isn't prophecy! But it is based on history, and history repeats itself.
We have done extensive study, and as I mentioned above I have worked closely with mathematicians, to ensure that the system is perfect.
My own feedback is 117. I haven't really engaged in that many transactions. Don't have the time. I have 1 neutral and 1 negative. I score a 98.1% on my own algorithm! Not 100!
I have been on eBay since I was 14, though this user-name is only 2 years old.
I don't know how many transactions I completed. Perhaps 200?
A buyer who get's scre*ed, can file a complaint, a manual investigation will ensue.
posted on January 25, 2001 07:15:38 PM
How much data do you feel you need to do a valid analysis? If a new seller had one datum that was positive it would be easy to say they were 100% and very hard to choose a lower one unless you have enough information on all eBay sellers to assign an average and express a mean average deviation.
Do you require a minimum number of feedbacks and/or time on the system?
posted on January 25, 2001 07:27:46 PM
I got this e-mail message the other day too. I'll post what a seller friend of mine found, and I went and confirmed that the results were the same.
We did a "whois" on reliablemerchants.com, which gave us an e-mail address. I won't post it here because I'm not sure if that's within the rules, but anyone can do a "whois" lookup if they want.
Then we did a search on eBay to see if there was a registered user under that e-mail address. Search shows that the e-mail is registered to a zero-feedbacker who's been an eBay member quite awhile. There was no record of any sales or purchases in the last 30 days.
I just thought it was interesting ... not that it necessarily *means* anything.
