One more for the, “This is stupid” camp.
9 times out of 10 if a classified becomes a big mess it’s for one of three reasons:
1: The seller’s asking price is way too high.
2: People have had bad experiences with the seller in the past.
3: Someone knows some bad history of the item being sold that the seller myseriously failed to mention.
In all of these cases a community (that’s what this is supposed to be right?) should look out for it’s members and raise the red flag. This isn’t eGay or CraigsScamList, it’s NYSpeed where you’re supposed to be held to higher standard as a seller because you’re not selling to complete strangers.
And don’t think this is helping sellers either, at least not ones offering legitimate items. Take my old for sale thread for my Fiero. I had tons of comments vouching for the car from people who had seen it in person at autocrosses and knew how much work I had put into sorting that thing out. When you get comments like that from respected members it carries a ton of weight with potential buyers.
On the other hand, had I listed it with no mention to it’s racing past (pretty much my autotrader ad btw) I would fully expect someone here to call me out with some links to 4 years of SCCA autocross results, and maybe some pictures of the car at the TMP track day. Knowing that any member can comment publicly on your ad keeps you honest.
Finally, I’m sick of the comparisons like, “Do you expect someone at Best Buy to tell you you’re making a stupid purchase”. No, I don’t, for several reasons.
1: Best Buy isn’t a community.
2: Items at Best Buy are brand new, with a warranty, and I can return them for 90 days.
Feedback on a sale is what makes buying someone on NYSpeed so much safer than eBay or Craigslist. Eliminating it makes this just another home for scammers. Huge :tdown: to the NYSpeed mods on this one.