Vendor Status


Championship White

Championship White

Ex EK9 Rx Owner
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Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
2,831
Do people need to prove they are a legitimate business before getting Vendor status?

After the disaster of a Group Buy with carbon fiber spoilers where they all turned up damaged or didn't turn up at all I'm a bit worried that the status is given out without seeing a website, Google'ing a store etc.

All it takes is a few pictures from Google and a few Photoshopped pictures to seem 100% real and I'm worried that seeing a Vendor status will invite people to trust the seller even though they haven't earnt it.

For instance, how does anyone know that this seller is legit? : http://www.ek9.org/forum/miscellane...-zeal-style-carbon-fiber-fiberglass-wing.html

Not saying they aren't a real person, selling real goods but from a Google search I can only find posts on forums and not a website selling parts... Surely that is the difference between a Vendor and a Private Seller.

Just wondering if Vendors have to prove they are real.
 
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dont know how people attain vendors status but, i done some google'n and the guy you mentioned above has done a fair bit of trade of honda, bemmer, evo, body parts manly selling VIS goods. based in Sounthern California!
 
You have to pay to get vendor status on here :-/
 
Get your point championship white, seems a bit easy to register on any forum not just this one and do a massive group buy then do a runner.
I've stopped buying off most sites now and just get all my stuff local from h-tune.
 
I'm sure the user I used as an example is probably selling the items he advertises but him520msport who sold the carbon spoilers had sold previously on other forums but had no website or tangible business and ended up scamming the best part of £2000 from people on here.

All I'm saying is, to protect users, I think a Vendor should be someone who has a proper business such as SimAuto or Tegiwa who can prove that they have previously dealt with people and aren't out to scam money, not a random from a few forums who has only signed up to sell.

I think it's only because this forum is relatively small that we haven't had more people out to sell non-existant goods.

If all I have to do is pay a small fee for Vendor status I could make a banner, get some pictures of a few carbon products, set-up a PayPal account and start a group buy within an hour. All I would have to do is move the money from my PayPal to my account whilst I pretend they are in the post and then remove it from my bank account and I would have made hundreds if not thousands of pounds which people couldn't retrieve.
 
Having recently joined as a vendor and one that sells carbon etc... I was concerned about you guys taking me seriously! Especially after the spoiler fiasco which was awful! You guys are my first customers as a "business" but I have been trading on a small scale for a while!

I guess in my instance, setting up a company website and business at a cost of ££££ shows you that I am no fly by night but you have to tread very carefully. It seems even paypal werent able to help the guys that got ripped off last time which I was surprised at!!
 
Championship White said:
All I would have to do is move the money from my PayPal to my account whilst I pretend they are in the post and then remove it from my bank account and I would have made hundreds if not thousands of pounds which people couldn't retrieve.
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This is what I thought paypal protected people from! Seems though, as you say, they dont even do that :(
 
Yeh, lots of people think that PayPal is able to protect them, but if the person has removed the funds from their PayPal account and then bank account there isn't any money to retrieve and PayPal won't pay it themselves.

Lots of people ask for payment as Gifts on PayPal as well which doesn't even have Seller Protection.
 
Championship White said:
Yeh, lots of people think that PayPal is able to protect them, but if the person has removed the funds from their PayPal account and then bank account there isn't any money to retrieve and PayPal won't pay it themselves.

Lots of people ask for payment as Gifts on PayPal as well which doesn't even have Seller Protection.
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Not good mate!! May as well bank transfer if you are going to do that and save on fees!
 
Its a tricky one, agree with all points and cheers for bringing it up champ but i would think if someone applies for vendor status and it is granted rvm has done a bit of checking on them as we dont want any tom dick or harry trying to punt us crap or for scamming etc. Most users on here are smart enough i would think to think twice before forking out monies for products from a seller who no-one really knows or has heard of although as said has happened in the past. This is really in rvm's hands as he is the only one who can grant users requests for vendor status and all that can be done to help prevent the problem in question from happening is to do some digging on the user and if nothing turns up reject thier request if or untill resonable information/proof is sourced.
 
I just want people to make sure they know who they're dealing with and not trust in the Vendor badge. When you have the likes of Tegiwa, who is a proper VAT registered company that are easy enough to get hold of and can't do a runner appearing beside a random person in Hong Kong who evaporates as soon as they take your money, with the same Vendor status it's easy to get confused and put your trust in a company or person that doesn't deserve it.
 
agree, will raise the issue with all mods/rvm and see what is in place at the moment to protect users from this problem and what further could be done :nice:
 
This is a very good point CW & agree with everything you have said on this!

Think this I'd defo something we need to look into as mod's as gav says! :nice:
 
Maybe it's a good idea to do a standard check and an optional extended check.
I'm not sure about the standard check; are all trader VAT registered? I mean, I can imagine you just want to earn something extra and trade in your spare time. For those companies that do it as a main bussiness we can Google them, request their VAT number etc.

The extended check can earn a trader an extra label, something like "checked vendor" (can't find the English word for what I mean :no: ). That would require the seller to comply to some extra's: send a high res copy of their passport to rvm for example, or receive an ek9.org crewmember at their shop/home or maybe something else, help me make up some requirements!
 
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yeah after the whole "ek9dude" thing this is defo something that needs attention !
 
_JT said:
Maybe it's a good idea to do a standard check and an optional extended check.
I'm not sure about the standard check; are all trader VAT registered? I mean, I can imagine you just want to earn something extra and trade in your spare time. For those companies that do it as a main bussiness we can Google them, request their VAT number etc.

The extended check can earn a trader an extra label, something like "checked vendor" (can't find the English word for what I mean :no: ). That would require the seller to comply to some extra's: send a high res copy of their passport to rvm for example, or receive an ek9.org crewmember at their shop/home or maybe something else, help me make up some requirements!
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sounds good! :woot:
 
_JT said:
Maybe it's a good idea to do a standard check and an optional extended check.
I'm not sure about the standard check; are all trader VAT registered? I mean, I can imagine you just want to earn something extra and trade in your spare time. For those companies that do it as a main bussiness we can Google them, request their VAT number etc.

The extended check can earn a trader an extra label, something like "checked vendor" (can't find the English word for what I mean :no: ). That would require the seller to comply to some extra's: send a high res copy of their passport to rvm for example, or receive an ek9.org crewmember at their shop/home or maybe something else, help me make up some requirements!
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I agree with this also, was actually going to mention something also as I had noticed a few vendors with posts totalling 9, which really doesn't do well on the trust matter (for me personally) Quite a tricky situation also I must say.
 
Ye I also agree with jt on this and the number of posts should be an issue also
 
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