Silk Road forums

Market => Rumor mill => Topic started by: Holland_SR on November 05, 2011, 07:24 pm

Title: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: Holland_SR on November 05, 2011, 07:24 pm
Hi guys,

Trying to get bigger here. But the number of doubtful claims were starting to take too much time and money, so I have decided to do it a bit different, limiting the escrow and the refund rate. If this works, I will be able to lower prices for good buyers!

Any comments, please let me know..
 ---------------------------------------------------

THE BEST WEED!

We sell the best available Dutch weed, which we grow ourselves. Flushed, cured and
manicured and without bad additives. It is more pure than anything normally available
outside of Holland.

We double vacuum the weed in strong plastic and send it in a standard bubble envelope.
It is made to fit a small letterbox. We use a printed business label with a valid but
undeliverable return address.

We send within one or two days from ordering, on the day of the shipment confirmation.
The envelope is sent with priority post. No send/receive confirmations, they only
increase risk. If you want any order sent from Belgium, please put ‘Send from Belgium’
in the address section.

We have good deals for large orders paid directly. Orders under 50gram / 2ounce, use
our listings please.


ESCROW

Escrow is available for buyers with more than 5 completed transactions AND a refund
rate less than 10%. Beginners must finalize and release the payment before we can send.
No exceptions, sorry.

This reduces our refund rate with 90%! We are constantly targeted by a few scamming
losers that want to smoke for free, so we have to be strict to be the cheapest. Get a
good track record with SR and you will find we are the easiest going vendors around!


RISK

Sending is a shared risk. The loss in case of non-arrival is normally split 50/50.

When you buy from us you agree to this. Read our amazing feedback. If you have any doubt
about whether we send, the quality of the weed or the safety of our envelope, do not buy
from us. Start small if you are not sure if an envelope will make it to you, it almost
always will.

We aim for returning customers so we will always try to keep you happy...

Now go for it!

Thanks,
Holland
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: MrRibena on November 05, 2011, 07:59 pm
Your weed is great. In fact, I'm enjoying some right now ;)

I'd back anything that reduces scammers and protects your prices.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: shmoo on November 05, 2011, 08:57 pm
I wouldn't buy weed from overseas anyway, but your proposed mandatory out-of-escrow policy would lead me to avoid buying from you.  Escrow is an essential part of Silk Road, and I don't want to give up that protection.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: Holland_SR on November 05, 2011, 09:22 pm
There is still escrow, but only if you've done at least 5 transactions with less than 10% refund rate.

In the resolution center Silk Road seems to expect a sending confirmation, I don't want to do that. But if I am generous in refunding I will attract more and more bad buyers. That takes a lot of time, money and on top of that they can ruin your feedback and hurt further sales.

Hopefully this balances it out a bit.

How do you guys feel about sending being a 'shared risk'? If both sides do their part I think that is fair. Although regular customers will get a resend no problem..

Amnesia Haze coming up ; )
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: amush on November 05, 2011, 09:53 pm
Rules be rules!

Either the buyer accepts them or he doesn't. And its not like you haven't earned the right to be a bit more selective with your clientele. I am very certain you want repeat buyers as much as a buyer wants a reliable vendor. They could see your glowing reviews, you are being upfront with your rules of engagement and you offer refunds. I don't see an issue here.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: shmoo on November 05, 2011, 09:58 pm
Your policy would mandate out-of-escrow transactions for all buyers new to Silk Road.  As a seller, you have the right to refuse to sell to new buyers, or to charge them more money for your products as a sort of "fraud insurance," but you don't have the right to deprive them of the protection of escrow.

As for refunds, I thought 50% was standard in any dispute.  Perhaps you shouldn't offer more than that for buyers you think might be scamming you.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: amush on November 05, 2011, 10:42 pm
Your policy would mandate out-of-escrow transactions for all buyers new to Silk Road.  As a seller, you have the right to refuse to sell to new buyers, or to charge them more money for your products as a sort of "fraud insurance," but you don't have the right to deprive them of the protection of escrow.

As for refunds, I thought 50% was standard in any dispute.  Perhaps you shouldn't offer more than that for buyers you think might be scamming you.

Making them pay more money doesn't really stop scammers. They will just put in the extra bitcoin and do the same thing. He isn't depriving them of any rights. They can simply go elsewhere. And no refunds are not 50/50 standard, that again is up to the discretion of the individual seller. If you go in and buy from someone, you cannot expect them to give you 50/50, unless they say before hand they will.

You are making a lot of assumptions there.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: Brezner on November 05, 2011, 11:47 pm
A couple of things I would suggest maybe slightly modifying, but overall I think you've made some good points to cover yourself and eventually being able to reduce prices will make all returning customers extremely happy.

1)  Escrow.  I would maybe suggest instead of minimum 5 transactions with 10% or less refund rate maybe tier it.  Such as if you have 5 transactions, no more than 20% refund rate, and 10+ transactions, 10% or less refund rate.  If someone has 5 transactions, a single refund knocks them out of your pre-requirements.

2)  Risk.  As this makes perfect sense you may want to consider tiers for this as well.  Such as gram through eighth or even quarter ounce transactions 50/50 split.  But as you get into half ounces and beyond, a buyer who'll lose half their money for absolutely nothing will leave a lot of sour faces.  So for the greater tier such as this you may want to put a clause of "at the seller's discretion up to X% refund" depending on how high you're willing to go for someone you've developed a strong buyer-seller relationship with and if a RARE freak accident had occurred.  If you've done 10+ very large transactions with a trusted buyer who you've developed a strong relationship with, making them take a 50% hit on say a quarter pound purchase may seriously negatively impact future dealings with said customer.

Just some personal opinions of mine, whether or not they have any credibility to you personally is totally up to you, I'm just a mere buyer :)
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: LexusMiles on November 06, 2011, 12:27 am
I think Holland_SR is making the right move here. I don't want to buy from a seller who is generous with refunds, I want to buy from a seller who has a sustainable future here at SR or where-ever. I want to buy from a seller, that in the case SR goes down for a day or 2 then we can do some transactions over email or whatever because there is a level of trust... its not total trust -- we have all seem the scammers come and go.. but its trust enough to get by on a set of principles that make the business sustainable and SR a better place.

50/50 on losses is the way to go. And would still be a 5/5 feedback from me.. with a note explaining the situation. And when the scales are unbalanced -- eg.. high rep seller (everything to lose) vs low rep buyer (everything to gain) then out-of-escrow is just a necessary step in the pathway to to that pseudo-trust based business relationship (yes if we're not forming some sort of relationships with every buy and sell, then something is not right).

I think lets not confuse a top-15 (top 6%) seller such as Holland_SR with a new < 10 feedback startup. Its the startups and the 81% feedback sellers that make the escrow system so damn useful. And its the trailblazer buyers who take the first step in approaching these new sellers for a business deal.. its these buyers who make SR great also... so we're all doing our part... and if you look at what Holland_SR is doing from a wider scope than just your own personal feelings of an out-of-escrow deal... then you can see the picture of foundation for sustainable future.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: doobiebros on November 06, 2011, 01:16 am
Holland,

I do not think you are being scammed at least from the USA.  Everyone and their brother tries to ship weed to themselves while visiting holland.  It is So so common that I think a lot of your packages are being intercepted.  With this being said, you really need to pump up the shipping from Belgium because shipping from Holland just says "intercept me, I am dope".

Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: yagami on November 06, 2011, 09:48 am
Hey, everything seems fair, but i don't know about the part about finalizing early for beginners, i am a beginner in SR(currently awaiting my second order from you:>)and the whole "finalize early" thing makes me feel kinda weird, i wouldn't go for it, and that's after i read about it and why people do it apparently for a couple of hours on the forums,so i am thinking that someone completely new to all of this wouldn't go for it either. 
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: Holland_SR on November 06, 2011, 12:53 pm
Well, the problem comes from losing 100% in the resolution center against anyone when I can't show a sending confirmation. I don't want to get a sending confirmation just like a buyer doesn't want a receipt confirmation. So that leaves me wide open to scammers.

Finalizing early doesn't mean they don't have any leverage left. They can still give bad feedback on SR and the forum. And to me a returning customer is worth 10x any single order, so secretly I don't want to change anything. In practice I will just resend almost every time. But I just need to look superficially less attractive to those looking for a free ride. I have been selling on the internet for years, so you get a feel for where the rotten apples are.

Tiers in escrow and refund are logical, but I need to keep the listing as simple as possible. 50% aren't all that fluent in English ;)

I might change my standard sending location to Belgium, even though sending from Holland isn't that problematic. It just looks better to the overseas buyer. Darn, just bough a truckload of stamps!

Will see how sales are in the coming days, and make changes if it isn't working.
Thanks for the help!



Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: amush on November 06, 2011, 01:08 pm
Hey, everything seems fair, but i don't know about the part about finalizing early for beginners, i am a beginner in SR(currently awaiting my second order from you:>)and the whole "finalize early" thing makes me feel kinda weird, i wouldn't go for it, and that's after i read about it and why people do it apparently for a couple of hours on the forums,so i am thinking that someone completely new to all of this wouldn't go for it either.

I see it very much like a "You must be this tall to ride this ride"
Its pretty much to protect all parties that this rule is in place rather than to just be mean. Buyers with less than 5 transactions, I guess, for him is just too high a risk and so finalising early would set minds at ease. You can simply buy else where till you have 5 in which case you don't have to with him anymore. Its a temporary state and not one I overtly see a problem with.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: Brezner on November 06, 2011, 02:46 pm
I think it's very fair to require new buyers to finalize early for any international shipment, especially when its a well known reputable seller.  Holland sells his small sizes for new buyers such as yourself for so freakin cheap, that if you don't agree to those terms then you've got options to look elsewhere for domestic shipping and double the price.  When I was a fresh buyer I had no problem finalizing early because I wanted to build my own personal rapport with vendors i've researched and read have been 100% legit and fantastic.  Today it's gotten me to the point where we can communicate and give each other leniency in terms of buying and selling and it's been nothing short of outstanding with all the top vendors on here.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: jackstraw on November 06, 2011, 03:17 pm
Holland you gotta do what you gotta do if you feel you are being taken advantage of.   I think sending from Belgium is a GREAT idea.   That's what I did when I ordered from you and it arrived no problem.   I've also gotten pkgs from Holland with no problem but given a choice I will choose anything but HOLLAND if I can.   Too many red flags imo.   

Your bud is delicious and I love the fact that I am getting it direct from the grower.   Hows that amnesia Haze coming along???   
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: Holland_SR on November 06, 2011, 06:20 pm
Amnesia coming along, I think two weeks to go. Beautiful plant, it has the perfect iconic leaves. A lot taller than PP, guess that explains the price difference as not every grower can grow it if they wanted to. You got to have the space.

New load of fresh PP this week, whole day cutting leaves for 18 hours with 5 people, gotta love it, pfff. You get used to it.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: jackstraw on November 06, 2011, 06:28 pm
So with the cure and everything it should be ready for the Holidays.  PERFECT.....I know what I want for Christmas.
Title: Re: Holland Weed: Some new buying rules, any comments?
Post by: MrRibena on November 07, 2011, 09:45 am
So with the cure and everything it should be ready for the Holidays.  PERFECT.....I know what I want for Christmas.

+1!