Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: Ohkayellay on February 25, 2013, 11:12 pm
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I think the rating system is too subjective, and I think it is fixable.
Either in the ratings or in the vendor's profile, add information about their response times to orders. This information would hopefully not give too much away, and it would give buyer's a non-subjective look at the actions of vendors.
Do they process orders quickly or do they take 4 or 5 days? Do many buyer's cancel their orders, a situation which can only occur after 4 days? Do they have lots of orders go to resolution?
I don't want to make it too hard on the vendors either. So to resolve that, I advocate adding a time limit of a certain number of days. That way, if they were having a bad quarter, they can improve their response times and their business as a result.
While one would hope this information would be involved in the existing rating system, it isn't really there. A few people may be informative, while others will write scathing reviews while giving the seller a 5/5 rating. It just isn't giving the buyers any real data.
Possible Categories:
Average Message Response Time
Average Message Response Time (During Business Hours)
Average Order Ship Time
Average Order Ship Time (Business Days Only)
Number of Orders Canceled By Buyer
Number of Orders Canceled By Buyer (Last 120 days.)
Number of Orders Gone to Resolution
Number of Orders Gone to Resolution (Last 120 days.)
What other information would be helpful? Mean, median, average, standard deviation? I also recognize that there may need to be some limit on the information or at least some level of obfuscation to avoid the loss of anonymity.
Regardless, this type of information is not subjective and would be very helpful in informing buyers what to expect from the vendors they are considering buying from.
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Also, this information can be used to find vendors who may be messing with their own ratings. (I am not accusing anyone.) But, it could be financially viable if the prices are right.
Maximum Order Processing Time (Last 30 days.)
Minimum Order Processing Time (Last 30 days.)
Std Deviation Order Processing Time (Last 30 days.)
Max Order Process Time (Last 7 days.) (To identify people sellers that suddenly stopped selling, trying to get lots of FE.)
If the minimum order processing time is insanely low (and there are lots of them at this level) it could indicate someone is messing with their own ratings.
Even outside of that though, knowing the min/max processing times for the last N days could help potential buyers know the best and worst likely scenario when buying from someone. And it could quickly identify scammers if the max order processing time starts shooting up quickly over the last 7 days.
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One last bit of information.
If you are afraid that this gives too much information, check the FAQ. Information about buyers is given to sellers already.