TheSamba.com :: View topic - Dealing with unregistered visitors to Samba Classified

Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:58 am

With today's technology and the potential scammers everyone is skeptical about transactions with individuals, especially those that you have no way to verify their creditability. I sell items in the Samba Classified and transactions with Samba members are usually always completed, due to the fact of profile and feedback system.
But Visitors or Unregistered users wanting to make a transaction have been repeatedly a pain, by failing to complete transaction or flaking out. I'm not saying all visitors are bad but it seems recently a majority of these transactions have fallen through with no response from the buyer or contacting me that they decided not to purchase item.
There's no way of warning others of this through feedback because they are not registered Samba users. Should I just not deal with these visitors and lose a potential sale or tell them I only do transactions with Samba Members. How do you Samba Members deal with this circumstance ?

Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:44 pm

When you are selling something you should be patient even for the visitors. You can deactivate the ad or edit the ad to say PENDING in case the money doesn't come through. Don't delete the ad until you've received payment. Just be up front with people and make sure they know what they are getting so that there is no confusion later on. If they call or email you and you've given them all the information they need to make their final decision, then the ball is in their court whether they want to go through with it or not. Whether they are legit or not doesn't matter so long as they pay. I've sold plenty of parts online.

As far as handling money, use Paypal only if you are skeptical and wait for the money to clear before you ship.

This site gets 30 million views per month and there are only 174,000 members and only 74,000 classified ads. Those are huge gaps. I would say that a good portion of people that buy from the Samba aren't members.

Here are the advertising stats for the Samba:

30 million page views per month
65,000 visitors per day
480,000 unique visitors per month
174,000 registered members
3.5 million forum messages
74,000 active classified ads
539,000 Gallery photos

Tue Mar 09, 2010 11:55 pm

I would love it if people had to be registered members in order to respond to classifieds OR if there was an option that one could activate when posting to the classifieds that allowed you to block non members and members that are not signed in.
I currently have an ad running in which I request that interested parties make sure they are signed in before contacting me. I have been amazed how many people have not been able to follow this simple request.

Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:19 am

The only problems I see repeating with unregistered users is due to their email's spam filters. I've received multiple inquiries for my ads from the same people, frustrated that I am "not responding" when it's their retarded email that blocks my reply. With no Samba user ID, I have no other way to contact them.

Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:37 am

I have considered making a log in a requirement for ad contact but I haven't found it 100% necessary yet. One part of this is the additional work it would create for me. You cannot believe how many people email me because they don't/won't click "forgot password" or "forgot username" on the log in form when they forget their log in information or simply cannot understand how to fill out the register form to create an account.

If you feel it's best only to deal with registered members, feel free to do so. I have noticed a number of people saying that in their ads recently.

You can leave feedback for anyone by using their email in the title of a feedback posting but except in extreme circumstances, it's a waste to post "this person is flaky" feedback.

Quote: With no Samba user ID, I have no other way to contact them.
I can pretty much guarantee you would be complaining they don't respond to PMs either. People already say that for registered members. If you think their email is blocking your response because of the text in the Samba message, try sending them a plain email without that text.

I admit some of it is my own preference. If I am just looking at the site, I hate having to log in just to email someone about an ad.

More feedback welcome...

Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:46 am

Quote: If I am just looking at the site, I hate having to log in just to email someone about an ad.

same here. I just want to email them and be done. especially helpful from my Iphone, which doesnt always log me in automatically

Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:12 am

How about making it an option when posting items for sale, ie. "click here if you want to limit your item to registered Samba members only"? If a non member/not logged in member does respond they get a flag saying "sorry but this item is only available to members".
I'm sure the vast majority of users would not activate this option as it would limit the buyer pool. On the other hand, members who do not want to deal with picture collectors, smoke blowers and the odd troll could have some "back round" on prospective buyers before wasting time and divulging personal information.

Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:19 am

Hey now you're on to something there. And that doesn't sound like it would be hard to do at all.

Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:09 pm

When starting this post I thought it might spark some interest from the selling members here on theSamba and indeed it seems others are dealing with this circumstance also. I too have noticed Classified Ads stating that, they only deal with registered members but looking back into my records most of my sales are to unregistered buyers. When a buyer states they are interested in an item, I usually have them send their shipping address to confirm purchase, before sending my shipping address, this usually detours the tire kickers, smoke blowers, etc. & even scammers. The buyers that send their info. usually are legit and I have them email me when payment has been sent to assure prompt payment, I usually wait a week for payment before contacting them on unpaid item. I as many other samba members out there don't like PayPal but that is a whole other forum discussion in itself and we won't go there !
EverettB you & team work hard enough on keeping this site running and I would not want any changes unless it deemed necessary.
Keep it Safe out there...put it in Neutral & Slam on the Brakes !

Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:23 pm

EverettB wrote: I have considered making a log in a requirement for ad contact but I haven't found it 100% necessary yet. One part of this is the additional work it would create for me. You cannot believe how many people email me because they don't/won't click "forgot password" or "forgot username" on the log in form when they forget their log in information or simply cannot understand how to fill out the register form to create an account.

If you feel it's best only to deal with registered members, feel free to do so. I have noticed a number of people saying that in their ads recently.

You can leave feedback for anyone by using their email in the title of a feedback posting but except in extreme circumstances, it's a waste to post "this person is flaky" feedback.

Quote: With no Samba user ID, I have no other way to contact them.
I can pretty much guarantee you would be complaining they don't respond to PMs either. People already say that for registered members. If you think their email is blocking your response because of the text in the Samba message, try sending them a plain email without that text.

I admit some of it is my own preference. If I am just looking at the site, I hate having to log in just to email someone about an ad.
More feedback welcome...

X2 on this one. If its someone who I've bought from regularly, sometimes I don't log in to e-mail about a part. If its a seller I have never dealt with before, I will usually log in so they have a better comfort level or hopefully know that I am serious by having the ability to look through my profile pics or posts to see that I actually own vehicles that use the parts I am inquiring about.

I understand why some sellers have a better comfort level dealing with registered users. On the seldom occasions that I have sold parts in the classifieds, the MANY bonehead e-mails and flakes were almost always unregistered users.

To the point made earlier though, even registered users will sometimes slack on good communication or responses to ads so its really not a clear or easy fix to say that all ads should limited to registered users. There are plenty of ads where the sellers never respond to e-mails, PM's, etc... but I wouldnt say this is the norm.

Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:36 am

Like many here, I have a Blurb at the end of my ads, one thing mine says: "If you have automatic spam blocking, you probably won't hear from me" NOT that anyone reads the blurb :evil:

Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:49 pm

If I get an inquiry from a "not logged in/registered" user I normally search the classifieds with thier email to see if they are in fact a member but not signed in. A lot of times I find ads then check thier profile/feedback. Sounds like a lot to do but I'd like every opportunity to sell my stuff. 8) The downside is if they aren't a seller I have no clue if they're a member. How about the ability to search for a member by email? I added the "logged in" disclaimer after seeing AARONS bus ad... great idea!

Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:46 pm

You can use the classifieds search to search by email... but only if they have ads running.

Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:17 pm

What is with the people now wanting "Invoices" thru paypal?
I have had 3 or 4 of these recently.

Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:37 am

crukab wrote: Like many here, I have a Blurb at the end of my ads, one thing mine says: "If you have automatic spam blocking, you probably won't hear from me" NOT that anyone reads the blurb :evil:

same here -- I say explicitly that my email is a Gmail account and it will probably be picked up by their spam-blocker...

Fri Mar 12, 2010 8:39 am

Russ Wolfe wrote: What is with the people now wanting "Invoices" thru paypal?
I have had 3 or 4 of these recently.

I have noticed that too

I asked one guy why

he said he doesnt have a paypal account BUT if you invoice him, you can still pay with paypal with a credit card and NOT have to have them store your bank data.
kind of like buying something online, you put in your info hit submit your done

Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:08 am

the problem i have with unregistered users is they are stupid and put in their email address wrong and then i can't respond to their questions

Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:16 am

Ian wrote: the problem i have with unregistered users is they are stupid ...

So you are saying there are no stupid registered users? :wink:

Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:35 am

Ian wrote: the problem i have with unregistered users is they are stupid and put in their email address wrong and then i can't respond to their questions
Yes, this happens.... I get the reject messages. Most people just spell yahoo wrong or .com wrong (really) though so it's easy to figure out.

Fri Mar 12, 2010 11:00 am

EverettB wrote: Ian wrote: the problem i have with unregistered users is they are stupid and put in their email address wrong and then i can't respond to their questions
Yes, this happens.... I get the reject messages. Most people just spell yahoo wrong or .com wrong (really) though so it's easy to figure out.

This happend to the me awhile back, the user put @a0l.com.