PakGamers Safe Trade

[mhaqs]

I can't say if this has been suggested before since my search yielded no results but it occurred to me when I had to trade with a "90+ score" trader a while back. The deal was a pain to finalize and wasted a lot of my time. A deal is all about honesty, things like remote faith in someone's agreement can easily turn shaky. I've seen many threads in the marketplace recently where people with higher Trader Scores ask for shipping a product before payment and that escalates to a strange deal at times.

Anyhow, enough with the prelude, I'd call PakGamers "Safe Trade" a good idea because it helps some causes and because PG's marketplace is booming with quality trades/traders. I would only hope for it to improve thus, the idea is as follows:

- Pakgamers introduces an exclusive premium service called Safe Trade. PakGamers staff (or the PG community) will hand pick certain reputed Traders in locations through out Pakistan who will receive payment and shipment from traders (buyer/seller) essentially acting as mediators. For example Jshak could serve as a mediator who is known and respected in Karachi. (JShak, I used your name as an example only, please remove this if you don't like it).
- The service is not free and costs a certain fee. This can be settled with the help of the community.
- The fee for the service can go to people who are acting as mediators and could also contribute to PakGamers' operational costs e.g. server costs.
- The service is for people who want to trade in remote locations or in matters where reaching the trader is not possible.
- The service does not apply to low cost trades e.g. 1K, 5K etc. The reason being the premium surcharge applied and the service load on the service staff. This limit can also be settled with the help of the community.
- Any members who wish to use the service must provide their NID copies and relevant information to mediators. This may be essential to the concept of Safe Trade and could benefit in making the PG Marketplace better over time.

This method has been used by some traders in the past and it works. The only catch is that mediators have responsibility and they have their own lives to deal with. Thus, it has to be beneficial/motivational to them in some way apart from the money they get for the service.

Your thoughts are welcome.

 

[iNF3RN0]

This is indeed a very good idea and something similar was suggested before. All we need some young dedicated and interested people who have the time to do so. I will look into this soon.

 

[Dark Sith]

IDEA SOUNDS GOOD - BUT SOME ISSUES ..

though problems can arrise ---!! see item might turn out to be damaged / faulty and such problems can arise -- and then the mediator gets involved for nothing --
also depends on time / avaliability of such a person -- and the bottom line is that what does the mediator get out of it -- loads of questions but the top one being -----would the mediator be involved in solving issues --- what if hardware is not working proper -- or there is a problem related to shiping - or item is lost --

so who gets blamed for this --- and what if buyer wants back the money coz what he expected to get or wanted did not turn out ot be that way .

 

[Blastwave]

This system has to be very efficient and swift to make it work.

Great suggestion! Should be looked into.

But NOT for every dam deal that is being made. This should be exclusive but not mandatory or obligatory for merchandise worth over lets say 2000/-

 

[Shary Bhallu TC]

X2 @ Avenger that trading is the responsibility of buyer/seller. Involving a middle man would risk him too.

 

[Jshak]

Let me add my experience. Certain items like Graphic cards, console etc cannot be checked totally. Some of the members here are busy with their " Professional Life or Studies ". So some cannot commute to different locations due to security issues/transportation,etc. Certain items cannot be checked due to system of non being available. This issue arises when some item reaches within Office timings and the other side is demanding the item on urgency. You can always be honest to what you do, still a doubt is there in the transit.

If someone is acting as an " Esrow ", he can only hold the item till the other party does not receives it. If in-case, the item gets damage with in transit, then the problem could arise, where extra time would be needed to resolve the issue.

This problem has arisen alot of time, when I've been nominated to do an " Escrow ". Even you do it out of courtesy, still the responsibility is at high risk.

10,000 Rupees beyond should suggest involving someone.

 

[mhaqs]

Oh, I didn't know people responded to this post.

The obvious catch is the responsibility of the trader. The mediator is responsible for one thing only:

- Receive and deliver merchandise/money from either side and deliver to them respectively. Disputes and returns are not his responsibility.

If the buyer/seller want a mediator to deal with a dispute, a charge will be applied on that as well. This will ensure nobody abuses the system and mediators will not be bothered for every petty matter.

When it comes to dealing with a mediator, they should be treated as a department and not individual people, which is why people would entrust PakGamers for their money/merchandise. This does need consideration but if implemented well, PakGamers could be looking at PG Safe Trade franchises throughout the country.

If in future PakGamers wants to sell their Store products, PG partners/E-Mall subscribers could also deliver their products safely though Safe Trade. This would benefit PG and Premium subscribers either way.

 

[Jshak]

This is something, we can add up in future. A nice thought of consideration.

 

[Major Aly]

This is a very nice suggestion and OP gets kudos from me for taking his time out and writing his thoughts and suggestions...

However, what I have in mind is that we do not want to promote PG just merely as a website used for buying/selling/trading (marketplace).

We want to promote PG as a first pure gaming website of Pakistan.

The amount of time we can invest here in this idea is no doubt good, but we can also use that time to spread the word about PG not just by saying that you can buy/sell/trade here but that you can meet people of your own kind here, "GAMERS".


With the idea of safe trade, it would no doubt help the traders here but then when the word gets out that look PG has a safe trade option that no one else offers, we should totally sign up there and buy/sell/trade.

Result?
We would get more business people rather than gamers we really want here.

I really want to see marketplace not as some business place but as an added advantage to members over here who can easily trade/buy/sell among each other (student life, less income type of thing).

Hope everyone got my point.

Good day.

 

[Dark Sith]

looking at whats happening in the market place--- haq i dont see any thing called a SAFE TRADE ...? ..
nearly every week a new thread pops out ....some one gota conned or cheated ..

serious thought has to be put in this case !! ....thought a safe place for traders is a very good thing ...but who do u apoint as the medium guy .!

 

[iNF3RN0]

looking at whats happening in the market place--- haq i dont see any thing called a SAFE TRADE ...? ..
nearly every week a new thread pops out ....some one gota conned or cheated ..

serious thought has to be put in this case !! ....thought a safe place for traders is a very good thing ...but who do u apoint as the medium guy .!

Since you are not satisfied with the dealings here how about you share a "serious thought" of yours with us.

 

[mhaqs]

@maulervenger Most of the cons and fail trades happen because people act naive and forget/underestimate their own responsibilities, yet they are perfectly sensible to understand the risks/consequences involved with online trading. I've had experiences where someone tried to con me by constantly asking for a product before payment, but I left the deal and never replied back to them. I'd sell the product to another guy for less but get my payment cleared. Do I feel safe with that approach, yes!

About how PG will become a better place without having a middle man? The term used by Jshak some posts ago can also be the answer; An Escrow. How does it work?

- Everybody MUST trust PakGamers as an Entity. PakGamers is the reason why you know everyone here and the reason this Marketplace exists in the first place. So there's no denying the trust relationship with PG.
- PakGamers hosts an Escrow Service, which keeps track of transactions made by people. People who need to do a Safe Trade, deposit their money into PakGamers' Account.
- Once the product owner ships the product, the Escrow is released into the seller's account.

@maulervenger, that answers the question you asked me? There's no need for a middle man this way. A bank account does the work and there's no trust discrepancy.

 

[Dark Sith]

a bank account will require some one to look after the transactions -- yeah the idea might be sound enough -- i all in it bhai ..always have been but a proforma of rules / regulations and how to go by it have to me made -- not by 1 person but in conjuction with feed back in general -

a whole host of further issues can be resolved this way .!!

i would like to quote a example here -- u guys talk about this transaction so i would like ur views on this example .


mr.a wants to buy a gtx-580 card costing nearly 40,000/- from mr.b ...now the gpu works as specified and some benchmarks and screen shots are given --there is no warranty ---mr.b sends the shipment as per the escrow deal to whom ever ---
obvious money is given by a ..and is recieved by the party ..both of them get what they want .

but suddenly mr.a raises an alarm that bhai the gpu is dead -?...strange that it was fine with the seller -- what happened suddenly --- -and a whole hose of crap threads are made ..moderators are involved etc etc ---- in the end mr.a wants his money back as well .

.............SO HOW COVERS THE RISK OF THE SELLER...........bhai these things happen ----what ever the reason is --- the entire community would start to blame the seller that if it worked there it should have worked with buyer as well .
so who gurantaees that stuff is all ok and every thing is hunky dory .



@ IMFERNO ...there is nothing wrong with pg -- its the snoty noob's that inhabit it are the problem ....coz of acts of a few the whole idea of a safe heaven goes to hell .!!! ..
bhai look at the threads ur self as well -- nearly an issue every single week been happening --- strange that 1 year before this was not the case --..maybe the community has grown and it might have --
i told u before as well -- there has to be a serious check n balance system in place to protect both partyies .

i would like ur opinion on the example i quoted away -.......

the idea of a bank account as mhaq suggests is slightly complicated -.

1.- in how many city will you open the account.
2. who will manage that account .
3. how will seller get his payment ---who will be responsible for this --- the medium party -- what happens to banking charges -- who will bear those.
4..problems arrise in the deal --- buyer backs out -- or product issue arrises ---payment is remited to seller --- who gets it back or what are the logiistics involved.



and lastly ---------who decides who the MEDIUM GUY is in each major city ---or will there be many guys .

 

[theundead]

about the faulty hardware issue, it can be resolved by:
1-the seller produces evidence (benchmarking/video evidence of device in working condition)
2-keeping the payment in PG/mediator account for a fixed period, say 3 or 7 days checking warranty
3-if the buyer is satisfied, the payment is made after the checking period is expired/buyer is satisfied
4-if buyer complains of faulty hardware, he provides evidence to the satisfaction of mediator, otherwise he doesnt get his money back & deal is made

 

[Dark Sith]

lollll thats a risky thing -- why should the seller payment be held ---- as i said way to many complications -- but this is my thought - -others might have a different take on this .!