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Discussion Poll How should EC Tunnel handle 3rd party site trades? (1 Viewer)

How should EC Tunnel handle 3rd party site trades?

  • Don't allow linking of 3rd party sites. (dealers can use the conversation system here, however)

  • Don't support them. If users trade on a 3rd party site, they're on their own.

  • Keep attempting to provide support and risk Coinstop's sanity.

  • where is teh paladin guild?


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Redbot

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When a trade originates at EC Tunnel, but is then carried out on a 3rd party site (ogedge, mogs, etc.), how should we handle it?
 
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Things to consider:

Pro's :

- Its easier for a private sales site owner to conduct their business in one place.


Con's :

- Redirects traffic away from the community
- Admins can not offer support for transactions not made on ECT
- Gives private sellers an advantage on sales over Average Joe
- Most private sellers with websites aren't actually doing the service (they hire 3rd party boosters to do the service)


This list will grow as the community discusses the pros and cons and their opinion of allowing 3rd party websites to operate here on ECT.

*Disclaimer* We wont ever refuse private site owners from using our site, this is simply a conversation about allowing them to redirect buyers they find on ECT directly to their private site instead of continuing their transaction here on ECT.
 
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Seems like it would be very difficult to provide support to folks for things that happen about EC's sphere of influence and could lead to frustrating user and administrative experiences.

If a seller finds value in getting customers / marketplace here - they should use this marketplace and the safeguards and customer protections that come with it.
 
I had this whole long thing typed out, but I am going to shorten it up.
Links should only be allowed from admin approved websites from the major sellers we all know who they are.
If someone gets re-directed to a different website and purchases an item from that website how does someone even think they can get support from ectunnel as logs can be manipulated on the 3rd party site. This is something you take up with the website you did business with not ECtunnel support staff.
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- Stay safe my friends.
 
You have this website. You offer services on this website. If user uses the services on this website they come with certain perks. If the user uses someone elses website, that is not this website, and is out of scope. Checking with the traffic generated by these sellers, you may or may not wish to limit or remove their billboards. You can put up a redirect page that states they are leaving ECTunnel and your services are not applicable/can no longer aid in transactions.
 
Transactions that start here,, should stay here safer for buyer and seller, HOWEVER let the buyer/seller reference there feedback and contacts through other sites imo
 
I don’t see anything wrong with third party sites, as long as they have paid memberships. That way ECT gets something. Personally, I wouldn’t hold ECT responsible for anything that happened on another site. Also, as long as everyone has receipts, I don’t see where it would be an issue anyways.

I don’t expect mods here to resolve issues, though I could see them banning either a buyer or seller if the other party had proof.

To me it is like the people who buy from someone with no feedback selling a maxed out toon for half the going rate of a naked one. If you believe it and buy it, well, that is on you. Don’t expect ECT to do more than ban the person if they aren’t verified.

Some third party sites are 100% on the up and up. They are professional and you can tell. Some are like that person I said before, no feedback and offering something too good to be true.
 
When a trade originates at EC Tunnel, but is then carried out on a 3rd party site (ogedge, mogs, etc.), how should we handle it?
Everything should go through coinstop, everything! Leave no unturned stones! If you have the slightest bit of concern, deff message coinstop. He has nothing to do.
 
I believe the main original concern was protection for the buyer. Buyer would only need a screen shot of paypal showing their purchase and a screen shot showing what they ordered. This is essentially the same information that would be needed here thus the buyer should receive support in the unlikely event of a dispute with a website choosing to make a forum profile here and rely on it for feedback as I have.
 
I believe the main original concern was protection for the buyer. Buyer would only need a screen shot of paypal showing their purchase and a screen shot showing what they ordered. This is essentially the same information that would be needed here thus the buyer should receive support in the unlikely event of a dispute with a website choosing to make a forum profile here and rely on it for feedback as I have.

I see more than just protection for the buyer to be an issue , but when it comes to protection: The second a sale is conducted on another site and all messages are done on another site I lose all ability to see the discussion, the agreements and the transaction taking place, that's hardly as secure as a transaction taking place here. Given 3rd party sites have a history of receiving a question here then giving nothing but a copy/paste response with a link to their website..... there's literally nothing but a link to a website for me to go on in these messages.

Another massive security concern is 3rd party sites that have hired users that we have banned here to do services for their company . Something about a banned users being given our user's account info for services after scamming , acting like a loose cannon , or having poor selling techniques is pretty un nerving.

As for "thus the buyer should receive support" , In what world is it fair to the staff here to basically provide a place for 3rd party sites to plaster their link and use our forums as a means to advertise, take business and traffic away from us and then on top of it provide support relying only on screen shots from the very places I think we should be avoiding? We are more than happy to provide 3rd party site owners a place to conduct business and gain additional sales under the agreement that they maintain the business here where its mutually beneficial and where I can provide proper first hand investigations into support issues.

This site was created with a vision of it being a safe place where power sellers and average joe that's got some extra currency to sell have an equal shot at making a sale, working on an equal playing field. Redirecting traffic away from those users is simply unfair to the smaller sellers, being unable to provide proper first hand support to the community is unfair to the buyers, the staff working tirelessly to gain traffic and advertise .... just to give 3rd party sites a better platform to advertise is unfair to us.

I could go on and on and on.... but for me, I can sum it all up simply. There's nothing for us to gain and plenty for us to lose from allowing it. All that being said, it's whatever Redbot and the community wants.
 
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If someone wants to start their own site then they can get the fuck off of here them using this site to promote their site is a joke and it shouldn't be happening. :)

I think those users should have their accounts banned and not even be allowed here. All they want to do is take our community and promote themselves to the point where they can even get monetized ads on their site etc.

And that includes OgEdge, Mogs, and anyone else gtfo. thx.

In all seriousness these guys are and will be employing the service providers who get banned here and can no longer get outside customers for all kinds of reasons like Coinstop said.

Most of these guys dont give a damn about our community or our game. They think of EQ similiar to mining online currency. But it isnt. This is a game. A social game where people come to have fun and live another life outside of their own reality. For some people it even is their reality. And these people who only care about making money dont give a fuck about the health of the game or the community they have proven time and time again all they care about is their own bottom line to the detriment of everyone else who does actually care and all of those who play.
 
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You guys (Red and Coin) are in the same spot that EpicNPC was in several years ago. There is no perfect solution honestly, but I think you guys hit every issue:
1) Don't allow 3rd party links or suggestions period. They are using your site to promote theirs. Allow them to pay for ads/banners if anything, but zero links in the forums/posts.
2) Have a middleman service (you do) and promote the hell out of it. Make it more visible (IE: Home page, sticky threads, etc...)
3) In regards to #2, look over the pricing. You might find some folks feel your price point for the MM service to be too high? Maybe do a poll? Just a thought.
 
Great post and suggestions @Kruger .
The middle man service was a great idea that I personally poorly executed. Its helped a lot of members and has actually prevented a few scams. However, I should make it more readily available and easy to find on the site and also make it more stream lined. At the time the pricing came from what other competitors were offering... But we arent about being equal to our competitors, we want to crush the competiton . You'll see a rehaul of the MMS in the upcoming weeks! Thanks for the suggestion!
 

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