Silk Road forums
Market => Rumor mill => Topic started by: Studio54 on May 05, 2012, 08:15 pm
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I wanted to start this thread to get some feedback on what others think about Finalizing Early... I know that many of us who started on SR with 0 transaction history had no other option but to FE when making purchases with vendors..
However,... given the recent BS that's gone on with Tony, and Noriega and a few other vendors that have went missing or offline after having huge sales, all of which everyone needed to FE in order to process...
The SR Buyers Guide follows
Payment
If you have enough funds in your account to cover your purchase, then your order will be validated instantly and sent on to your vendors. If not, then you must deposit enough Bitcoins into your account to cover your total.
When your order ships, its status will change from "processing" to "in transit." Now just kick back and wait for it to arrive. Once it does, don't forget to click "finalize" next to your order and leave feedback ..
So my question is..... if as a buyer you have more than 10 transactions & have a low to 0 refund rate and you have a decent amount of money that you've spent on SR in the past.. why are many vendors still asking to FE ??? I understand that most Vendors ask to FE if shipping to another country, that i can understand... but most vendors who are domestic, are still asking to FE... why is this?
It's just my opinion that as a buyer we should stand behind the process that SR has in place as stated above... ive FE with a few vendors, then something happens, now its nearly impossible to cancel my order if the vendor cannot come up with product, or it takes 2,3 even 4 weeks before it shows up...
Im just stating an opinion --- both buyers and sellers need each other... i use to deal with local dealers where, id front the money for product, then wait 2 weeks or so then finally get what i paid for.. but wasnt SR intended to replace that? where, if as a seller, you have product available, ready to go, all you need now are customers to send you Bitcoins, hold them in Escrow, until the package arrives, then the customer can Finalize on their end..
thoughts, concerns on this?
im just getting to the point where i wont Finalize Early anymore...seems we (the buyers) are always having to abide by the rules of the Vendor... to an extent I can understand that certain vendors work a certain way and that's understandable.. but there's gotta be a little give and take here guys... buyers are weary of being ripped off when Finalizing Early... The coins held in Escrow should be secure enough, to where the vendor, knows the funds will be sent to you, once the package arrives.. if its in escrow, and 2,3 weeks go by and customer still hasnt received product, -- there's at least a safety net for the buyer...
agree/// disagree?
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I strongly agree that we should not be required to FE. I am a "new" customer and am still being required to FE. I am an honest guy who completed my first transaction smoothly then got ripped off by tony and am now waiting on a package for the 3rd seller. I think I have decided to pay extra and go domestic from now on. I think if you have 0 transactions you should only be able to purchase a certain amount to help protect the sellers and maybe even be forced to FE only on your first purchase.
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FE is currently a Privilege and Right on SR. It's a Sellers Tool and has plenty of upsides.
Thing is, FE like anything else can be Used for Good or Nefarious reasons.
It's a Powerful thing in the wrong Hands.
As Vendor..I have mixed views on it.
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Mollysbf, your best option in all of this is be safe and read the forum. Domestic is more coin in the short run, but finding a vendor you trust is going to win this race. I too, have had to rethink how the game will play. And in all seriousness, how long this thing can even go on giving the recent fubar of events I have seen.
Play safe....
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Go look at some books in the books section on SR. Some are as cheap as 0.12BTC. Buy some to increase your transactions so you wont have to FE.
It's all in the SR noob guide :).
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Go look at some books in the books section on SR. Some are as cheap as 0.12BTC. Buy some to increase your transactions so you wont have to FE.
It's all in the SR noob guide :).
True, but then you run into the issue of having a vendor say "you must FE if you have less than $300 in Bitcoins" even if you have over `10 transactions... so they are setting the rules on who must FE.
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I've been around for a little over a month now, and I guess I'll share my thoughts on it. I came here mostly looking for LSD at a decent price, which means half a sheet or more, so my options were fairly limited. My first order was half a sheet, finallized early from mike.murphy, and that obviously never went anywhere. Tony76 got more in stock after that, so my second order was a full sheet made about a week before the 4/20 sale, and I actually got it, so I must have been one of the last legitimate orders he sent. Personally I went into both of them expecting a gamble, probably like 70/30 on mike.murphy and 90/10 on tony (yeah I was overly optimistic). I'll consider myself very lucky with what I got now, looking back. That's what you have to consider it when you finalize early, a gamble. If you can't afford to flip a coin for 500 or a thousand dollars you shouldn't be doing it, no matter how reputable the vendor.
Anyway, after all that I've placed my recent orders more carefully. Smaller orders from people who don't require FE, or require some arbitrary number of transactions. I have like 1300 dollars spent, and 7 or so purchases, I don't feel like I should need to go spend a dollar and buy some e-books just to inflate my stats enough to have 10 or whatever. Especially if you have like 10 transactions and 2 bitcoins spent, I really don't see how that looks much better than a completely new account. Regardless, I'll support the vendors that accept newer buyers, and don't require FE. If I have a good experience with them, they can have my money next time too. I'll try some new things that I may not have otherwise, or buy in smaller amounts and establish myself as a good buyer first so I don't have to flip a coin on whether I get a sheet of acid or nothing. If you don't want to FE, just don't order from vendors who require it. There's not really much else you can do about it. If everyone stopped, then they would have to stop requiring it. I'm not even saying I think FE is necessarily a bad thing, you can't blame having the ability to finalize early for getting ripped off either. I don't really see a problem with it in itself, I'm fine with people having the choice to use it, I just won't use it anymore unless I feel like gambling.
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I have 15+ transactions and I refuse to finalize early. If you are just starting out it is a risk that you will most likely have to take because no one will want to deal with you. It's just a calculated risk, like everything else you do in life. Do your research and make sure its someone you can trust... and pray.
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without reading anything more than the title of your thread the answer is..........wait for it............NOT!
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As a vendor, FE has caused me nothing but problems. As a buyer, FE has caused me nothing but problems. I have grown to dislike the idea of FE, and would discourage anyone from doing it except in those cases where the vendor has no way to prove delivery (i.e., international shipments) and has to cover his/her own ass. Other than that, FE does more harm than good.