ATTENTION ALL*MODS - Scamming

all4cost said:

I agree an Escrow service would be nice ... But it would also be very Time consuming to incorporate into NamePros - Maybe NP should become a "Paid Site" to help pay for such a thing ? <<<< Being Sarcastic there

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Actually that's a good idea. I wouldn't mind maybe a $5/yr. fee, and I'm sure many others who are very connected to this board will.

Simple... staff set-up a Paypal account and contest holder has to send the prize to staff before his contest is approved. That way we're sure there's a winner. :imho:

xdoomx said:

Simple... staff set-up a Paypal account and contest holder has to send the prize to staff before his contest is approved. That way we're sure there's a winner. :imho:

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Hey that's actually a great idea. I really think we should do that.

Matt

There is simply too much risk in allowing contests to be started by users with a 0 trader rating. Basically that means the user is unknown and has no proven track record of paying for anything.

We must limit the starting of contests to users with a feedback of of at least 5. With the supporting vote of my fellow NP staff, I will make this an official rule.

-RJ- said:

There is simply too much risk in allowing contests to be started by users with a 0 trader rating. Basically that means the user is unknown and has no proven track record of paying for anything.

We must limit the starting of contests to users with a feedback of of at least 5. With the supporting vote of my fellow NP staff, I will make this an official rule.

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This is another Reason why We (Staff) Stress to not Freely Give Trader Ratings for silly things such as "I signed up to your forum for 3 Np$ and updated your Trader Rating as well" - This has nothing to do with someone's Credibility as a Domainer or Potential Client ....

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It's got my vote :tu:

Though we'll see a decrease in contests, I am all for that rule :tu: ! Half those contests posted by TR '0' members end up with problems, IMHO.


True_Snake

Please check my link.

The trader I refere to HAD a 5 trader rating, HAD been advised of the new winner from NP rule and HAD 500+ Posts. That is the only reason I entered.

If Bizzy comes forward, and announces the winner chosen from Namepros then I will gladly apologize, and be on my way.

http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?p=747735#post747735

I may be wrong, but all visible evidence suggests otherwise.

-RJ- said:

There is simply too much risk in allowing contests to be started by users with a 0 trader rating. Basically that means the user is unknown and has no proven track record of paying for anything.

We must limit the starting of contests to users with a feedback of of at least 5. With the supporting vote of my fellow NP staff, I will make this an official rule.

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I'm having a hard time giving a supporting vote to this, because I think it may hurt much more than it helps. A scammer will easily circumvent this limitation, while many legitimate contests will be eliminated. No, I don't have a better solution at this point, but I'd hate to see the good guys get left out at the expense of trying to 'protect' from the bad guys. Needs more thought in my opinion...

EDIT:
Here's a possible solution:
Anyone who wants to hold a contest must purchase NP$ from NamePros equivalent to the cash amount they want to offer as a prize. The contest holder must agree to convert the NP$ back to cash for the winner (IF that's what the winner wants). If the contest holder turns out to be a scammer, RJ can simply transfer the NP$ to the winner. At least the contest winner ALWAYS gets full value. If a winner is not announced (the scammer disappears), a vote can be held for the winner.

EDIT 2:
To prevent a scammer from cashing in the NP$ that they have purchased for the contest prize before the contest is over, the NP$ could be witheld or transferred to one of the forum leaders (escrow) for the duration of the contest...

I just chose a winner in a logo contest I started yesterday. Once I get payment details I will pay. I really like what you guys have going here and it sucks that people take advantage of designers here. I have used scriptlance for other design/programming work in the past and they have a simple escrow system. Funds placed in paypal(escrow), designer releases work, admin releases(pays) funds. All this is done in a admin utility. It would keep the scammers out for good and keep this excellent process working for the benefit of all concerned.

Good idea Gene, sounds like a way of implementing the existing escrow service, and just converting NP to cash when necessary.

-RJ- said:

There is simply too much risk in allowing contests to be started by users with a 0 trader rating. Basically that means the user is unknown and has no proven track record of paying for anything.

We must limit the starting of contests to users with a feedback of of at least 5. With the supporting vote of my fellow NP staff, I will make this an official rule.

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I really don't think that would help solve much of anything. It's not incredibly hard to get a trader rating of 5..I mean, you could just go to the NP$ Incentives and post a couple of times and get your trader rating updated.

Although I've only been sammed once here...it does not delure the fact that it sucks. Something has to be done, but I don't think your (RJ's) idea wouldn't help solve the fact that we're getting scammed. I support the escrow idea, but, you could modify a little as to where if the person has maybe a trader rating of maybe...20+, they don't have to put their money in escrow.

But..yeh.

Currently a member can register and five minutes later post a contest with no intentions of ever paying anyone.

Perhaps there is a way to screen new members instead of just letting any tom, dick or harry join... make it by member referral... sure it might reduce the number of new sign-ups but what we have like thousands of members already, I think we are at the point where we can pick and chose who we let in.

Tippy said:

Perhaps there is a way to screen new members instead of just letting any tom, dick or harry join... make it by member referral... sure it might reduce the number of new sign-ups but what we have like thousands of members already, I think we are at the point where we can pick and chose who we let in.

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I completely disagree Mike, because then we are basically turning into another DNF, with only certain people having rights to post, which I think is completely wrong. I think RJ's idea, would probably help, but it would also eliminate a ton of legimite contests. Perhaps we should have a PayPal escrow, just like RentACoder.com. That system is virtually impossible to break, and would make everyone happy. As Gene said, if a buyer leaves, then a vote could determine the winner, or a poll of the forum leaders, or something similar.

Tom

DNF allows anyone to join as well, if you got the $. Its not by member referral. I never said classify people into Gold Silver etc...

perhaps a combination of 5+ TR ''plus'' buying the equivalent of the contest value in NP$ would be good?