Bartertown.com

Hello,

Sorry for a newb question, but I don't quite understand how the ranking system works. For example, I want to trade with someone that has a (32) behind their name. When I click on it I can see GOOD and comments, up to 16 of them. I am not sure how 16 became 32 unless you get 2 points for "GOOD"?

I looked around here and checked the FAQs but I didn't see my question so I posted - sorry if it's redundant

So what is a neutral comment worth, 1 point? and Negative works against your score, or is it just worth zero?

If someone's feedback says (32) and I click on it and read 16 GOOD comments - are there any BAD comments hiding somewhere or on a different link I didn't see?

Thanks for the help

No problem asking questions, we like people who care enough to ask.
You get 2 points for a positive reference, 1 point for a nuetral and -10 for a bad.
Welcome to Bartertown from a longtime user!!

WOW FAST RESPONSE!!!!!

Thank you for the info - I really REALLY like the -10 for bad!!

So if these three individuals w/scores of (32), (40), and (336) asked me to ship first (since my score is a fat zero!) - I am feeling pretty comfortable with that - does that seem reasonable?

Thanks for the welcome

In your situation, that's not bad.
Good work, BTW, in investigating their references and not just relying on the #.

The 336 rating is a no-brainer. Guys like that are SMOOTH sailing all the way.

To be honest, IMO, I still consider the 30's and 40's to be in a sort of learning phase, but they're obviously experienced in one form or another.

If you've looked at their ref's and seen that they all come from different people (or a multitude, anyway), you're good to go.

What you want to make sure of is that, even at those levels, they don't have ref's from a group of 1 - 3 other traders who all have 0 ratings, or the ratings for that group aren't all from each other.

You're looking for diversity. The more, the better.

As for your question about "hidden" negatives... in general, the answer is no. There aren't hiden negatives... sort of... Not on purpose anyway (see below).

You can also do a search for ref's.

Click the "Check Ref's" link at the top and you can search 4 different ways (email, last name, state & country). If you put the traders first AND last name into the "last name" field, it'll still work. That ability comes in handy if you're trading with someone with a common last name but fairly original first name (Linus Smith, for example).

There are occasions where refs will come up there that do not link to the profile. Typically, it's because the person leaving the ref screwed something up in one of the information fields. That's not such a common occurance anymore, though, as the system is far more intuitive and will prefill everything for you if you just insert their "trade name." Still, however, you can sometimes find references that are not linked to the profile.

Hope this helps.

Eric

Even as the community has grown, it has still maintained a majority of good traders. There are consequences for those not acting on the up and up here. The mods and watchmen have done an awesome job at keeping the trash out, but every so often someone sneaks in and tries to fluff up their references.

Magikal is totally correct, sometimes a person with 30-40 refs is a little wet behind-the-ear, but they do have some experience on what is expected from the Bartertown membership. Definitely check the references. Sometimes there will be multiples from the same members, but generally they are spaced out a little. I have several favorites I used to trade with on here (before I abandoned GW) that I have probably had 5-8 deals over the years.

Rich

Thanks for all the responses and info - I greatly appreciate it!!

The three individuals I am dealing with have all different feedback from different users & dates that have different scores themselves.

I hope to have my first positive Bartertown feedback myself.

I've been burned a couple of times on eBay - there's nothing worse than waiting w/anticipation everyday at your mailbox only to be slapped in the face w/dissapointment AND the loss of your money!! My goal is to be a great Bartertown trader because I wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone... it really stinks!!

Thanks again for the great responses and welcome!! I hope everyone at Bartertown has a great Christmas!!

The thing that always bothered me about Ebay feedback was the sheer amount of Copy + Pasta that dominated the scene. I'm sorry, but an "A+++++!!" feedback tells me NOTHING. Take the time, tell me what happened, and give a LEGIT feedback.

The benefit of the Bartertown feedback system is you actually can SAY what hapened. Ebay ypu have 43 characters or whatever so it is hard to be descriptive. I consider Ebay feedback to be icing on the cake, but not the cake itself for trading here.

An opinion, nothing else.

Rich