comments under classified ads needs to be re thought.
I recently advertised 2 x $500 e-gift cards via OzBargains Classifieds Ads Section.
$430 for $500 Amazon AU e-gift card. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/860115
$440 for $500 Woolworths e-gift card. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/860261
Woolworths sold almost immediately, the buyer did ask a few questions/ was concerned and careful as I may be fraudulent. But he was professional to deal with and polite.
This classified Ad had no comments made at the bottom. This was my second Ad.
Amazon AU which had a better $70 discount took longer and a lot more work including not warranted negative comments at the bottom of the classified ad. I had 7 members I gave my number out to, including one I sent my Passport too (PP number covered for privacy) and all of them ghosted me. I haven’t asked those 7 members why they did that but I can tell you the baseless accusations at the bottom of the ad did not help. I won’t name the members who felt it their right to comment on the bottom of my Ad, the link is there if you want to see for yourself.
The reason I decided to sell on Ozbargain was because I thought this would be the ideal platform to sell these e-gift vouchers, that the members would understand and see the value and appreciate the $ savings.
I understand there is fraud relating to e-gift cards being sold on OzBargains Classified Ads and I think it’s needed to have the warnings at the beginning like the Mods have done. But allowing anyone to just comment at the bottom of classified Ads about what they think of me or my Ad is off putting and unfair, it defeats the purpose of placing the ad in the first place and made me want to delete the ad and go post on FB marketplace, Gumtree or eBay.
Possible solutions -
- [ ] All Sellers must pass an ID check.
- [ ] Seller needs to send e-gift card details including a copy of their ID to a specific trusted member or the mods.
- [ ] Comments are only allowed by the buyer of said classified ad or member’s that have sent 2 or 3 private msgs to the seller then allowing comments to be made.
- [ ] Allow reviews on member profiles so buyers can then easily decide if they can be trusted (being a member for 10 years does not equal trust)
- [ ] Making the report button larger and at the top of the ad, so members who believe the ad is fraudulent can still report the ad but it won’t affect the ads performance.
- [ ] Paying to place a classifieds ad - I would have happily paid to place both my ads on the OzBargain platform or giving a % of my sale total price to OzBargain.
I’m not confident moving forward that there won’t be another free for all in the comments on OzBargain.
I’m 100% ok with naming and shaming fraudulent actors, and I think it’s totally fair that an online community does their own investigation work to track them down. But being placed into that category from the get go I think is disappointing and unethical, hopefully this is something that can be re thought.
As a side note - once Sold the ‘end’ button doesn’t really make sense. Could you not change that so it says ‘end/ sold’ then allow an option to state which one it was? Currently when you ‘end’ the ad it says ‘expired’ would be better if it said ‘Sold’
Is this still available?