Silk Road forums
Support => Feature requests => Topic started by: BenJesuit on March 28, 2012, 05:09 pm
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Optional Risk Management Option For Sellers. 50%FE-50%Escrow
Meaning, 50% up front through early finalization and 50% submitted to escrow to be finalized on receipt of order.
This would give the Seller some control over risk while attracting new customers.
It could be used for new buyers, large orders, or items not yet in stock.
Likely an established buyer wouldn't face this under normal circumstances.
But it would engender more trust in SR for new participants.
Sellers that use this option for new buyers would attract sales away from possible scam sellers who would generally require 100% Finalize Early. Though a scam seller could still use this option, a new buyer could be limited to only a 50% loss and not 100%.
Additionally, it may help with reducing losses to sellers from scam buyers who make false claims of not receiving the order or the order not being what they ordered. Whatever the scam buyers are claiming these days.
The Seller should be able to set this option based on certain criteria. For instance, it would automatically display the 50/50 for buyers under a certain threshold, or for certain products.
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Or new buyers could just finalize early or use some other vendor or leave. This is just making something already simple extremely complex for no reason.
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Or new buyers could just finalize early or use some other vendor or leave. This is just making something already simple extremely complex for no reason.
There are other uses for it. I ask that you please reconsider by re-reading.
IRL, many times when doing certain deals, there is a 50% up front and 50% upon completion. That's where I got the idea from.
Also consider the positive aspects on cash flow this would have for certain types of orders or products. Let's say you wanted to get some species of dank from a grower. But rather than having of upset your cash flow, you could use the 50% that was given upfront to purchase the new species of dank.
Or let's say, suddenly you find yourself with a larger than normal order flow(from a sale perhaps) and you simply don't have the stock to fulfill all the orders. You would have to get new stock. But what if your cash flow isn't sufficient to acquire the stock you'd need in anticipation for the sale? You could engage the 50/50% option to ensure cash flow.
Sellers with good reputations could do this with trust from buyers during certain events, products, or circumstances. Both parties have a predefined risk of 50%.
New sellers could use this option to assist in cash flow, reduce the appearance of being a fraudster (by requiring FE though they are a new seller) and with predefined risk, established buyers as well as new would be more likely to try a new seller.
It's a versatile tool that doesn't add any complexity. It adds flexibility.
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Going to have to agree with this especially for bulk orders. Its hard having 1.2k in the wind when I have really tight margins. Also for international orders which can take as long 4 weeks to arrive. Many vendors simply do not allow international orders because it ties up their money for so long.
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Ben, you worded it as "for the most part, this benefits new buyers" but I could see it being "okay" for bulk orders. The problem is coding it in.
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Ben, you worded it as "for the most part, this benefits new buyers" but I could see it being "okay" for bulk orders. The problem is coding it in.
I'm sorry that you read it that way. I tried to explain that it has various uses in the initial post, that would address a number of issues sellers are currently facing as well as new buyers. But for the most part, this is for the benefit of sellers as it is titled.
Though I'm not a seller on here and certainly not a new buyer, I care about the interests of both parties. Without sellers, there's no product. Without buyers, there's no sales. But lately, sellers have been faced with reverse scam new buyers. This would certainly help with controlling the risk of accepting orders from new buyers who might be reverse scammers. When it has to go through resolutions with current escrow rules, it can take a little while for it to be resolved in the sellers favor. Imagine if he had at least 50% already?
As for coding it into the system, it might not be as difficult or complex as it might initially appear. There are various ways it could be implemented. But the decision to employ it by a seller would have to be on a per item basis and the same for a bulk order. Except the bulk order would have to be a listing. You know how sellers sometimes create special listings for buyers?
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I know this thread is a bit old now, but just wanted to +1 this idea. I could definitely see it being useful in certain situations.
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This seems like a good feature that I'd definitely like to see.
+1
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-1. This is a bad idea in that it legitimizes finalizing early, complicates something that should be simple and makes things a lot easier for vendor scammers (though it might make things a bit harder for buyer scammers).
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I would like some kind of arrangement (Special Order?)
I want to sell Gold Coins on here but there is no way Im sending a 1/4oz sovereign or a full oz bar without FE. Ive thought maybe I could sell my silvers till I get to a point where I'm allowed to ask for FE.
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This should be very useful, especially for bulk amounts
Lets say a new buyer wants a kilo of bud, he doesn't want to trust all his hard earned 2k or whatever to a vendor, and a vendor doesn't trust a new buyer with a kilo.
50-50 seems like the best option that both would feel comfortable with, the newbie doesn't risk all his cash, the vendor at least gets a hefty amount of upfront payment.