Yes, but the forum is focused on our discourse, not our personal business transactions.

And as far as the vendor ratings, it would be corrupted too easily. Sure, you'll have honesty in reviews for the most part, but you could also have people deliberate smear one of these businesses for no good reason or on false pretenses.

I just think that it buys the site nothing.

Stop being so damned rational... :shakes head: gawd! You just won't let the trolls have their fun will you?! :inoutroflpuke:

You guys don't even know what a troll is! My avatar sig is a joke for AK. I'm an ethusiast just like the rest of you. All my post have been towards a car discussion rather than word games to get my post count up!

:ugh2:

I'm just sayin that vendors should have some type of guidelines! They shouldn't be able to over promise items to customers, knowing well there 3-4 months out from filling orders!

think about it!

Vendors can make a killing off pre-orders/hopes & dreams

I've been there and done that. It can be easily prevented if a vendor is policed on what's in stock. True, a customer is an adult who can call and ensure that items are in stock. That low level of trust shouldn't be a factor when buying car parts.

But it shouldn't be left to random users to perform that policing, because there are trolls on every forum, and no I'm not talking about you. I agree that automotive companies need to be held responsible. I just don't think that this is the proper venue. It's just my opinion. It's not like I have a direct line to AK or anything.

:tup:

I agree with you on the validity of a post from random member...

Maybe why some forum put a post count in place to post in certain sections...or a certain post level to even create a thread. Promoting use of the search button!

Maybe that's something the administration can look into....

Oh its nothing personal, so don't worry. :tiphat:

In terms of 'policing' vendors and keeping track of what all they have 'in stock' vs what they order for you... How do you propose we as a forum do that? Do you mean someone needs to physically go through their warehouse's on a weekly basis and log every wheel set/intake/cbe/etc they have and update a thread instead of bumping order threads? :icon08:

Usually vendors only keep 2-3 of high volume items in stock because they know those will be good sellers. But anything you want that's custom made, or things made outside the country you HAVE to accept as a customer there might be a wait. And it might be an extensive wait depending on just how customized your item is. Especially with wheels, as Bullitt said in that disaster of a Venaci wheel thread, wheel manufacturers only make so many of a given wheel in a given size in a given offset at a time. Then those have to wait until a whole container is full. Then those still have to wait until a whole ship is full. And then that ship has to make it from Port A to Port B. Then unload and get all the containers to customs... And Customs sometimes goes by smoothly, but then again sometimes [Insert: Usually] takes forever...

I understand not getting the best communication from a vendor, but sometimes the problem is not with the vendor at all, they cannot help it if the manufacturer isn't giving them 100% of the details on every single order they submit. 95% of the vendors on this forum I've seen have been very helpful to their customers, and the threads reflect that. There's a reason you don't see certain vendors having negative threads made. If there is a legit gripe with a vendor, honestly you won't even see a thread about it because the issue will be resolved respectfully through the vendor and the member via PM or telephone or in person. 10 times out of 11 the threads you see are from people who just get butthurt cause their super custom item didn't get here in 5 minutes like they wanted it to because they don't accept the fact that to be special, you gotta wait. :ugh2:

Chris hit the nail on the head with that one. Most vendors, believe it or not, DO NOT stock all of their offered products. Sometimes they get them from third party wholesalers or distribution companies. The perfect example is Volk/Advan wheels. Unless they are importing directly from Japan (99.99% not likely), they are getting Volk/Advan from Mackin. Mackin stocks most Volk wheels that are likely to be sold quickly, but most orders will need to be special ordered from Japan.

I don't know of any company that buys 100 sets of Volk wheels to stock them, because Mackin has the biggest buying/stocking power in the entire US. At most I've seen 5-6 sets, and even then they're getting them from Mackin.

With no safeguard in place or at the very least some form of user feedback like trader feedback, this forum is a feeding ground for potential fraud and shady business tactics/sales.

At the very least, a trader feedback should be in place like many other forums do.

We get that no money is actually transferred through the forum, but that is irrelevant especially legally. Whoever owns the forum is providing a place for business to take place. The forum provides the way for vendors to contact consumers and vice versa, there has to be a system in place to keep consumers and vendors aware of transaction history and potential problems with vendors or consumers.

Right now there is no protection for the consumers. I understand that vendors bankroll this site, but without consumers, this forum and its vendors wouldn't be around for too long.

^Agree!

At the end of it all, it's your money and having the ability to research vendors would greatly help where you want to spend it.

Would you buy from this guy?

eBay Feedback profile for lowcostpowertools




Exactly.

Do your research outside of the forum, then. And even if there was something in place, new vendors would be a crapshoot.

I respectfully disagree. This isn't "the370zmarket.com". You're not putting in paypal information or anything. Nothing is stopping you from doing research on these companies outside of this site. You just want the legwork done for you.

So, you'd rather have possible user review fraud take the place of vendor fraud? Look, fraudulent vendors don't last long here. But if you just have the ability for random Joe User to enter a review, then what's to prevent troll reviews or even focused and deliberate falsifications from a rival company? And you're right, without consumers this site wouldn't last long. Neither would it last if the sponsors defraud the user base. You think AK is deliberately having his users shafted by forum sponsors?

I'm not saying that vendors should run rampant. I'm just saying that if there's a system in place, it shouldn't just be up to the users to trash this sponsor or that. There has to be an objective and verifiable system.

That is what I am asking for. That is what the iTrader system is.

Do you even know how the iTrader system works? Both the consumer and vendor leave feedback on transactions that originated in the forum, i.e. private classified or sponsor classified.

How could you be against a system like that? Many many forums utilize the system.

I don't have a problem with that, but what I assumed, and what I was responding to, was the idea of vendor review and complaint threads. They never work out.

In fact, even positive review threads can turn heated if one user had a great experience while another had a bad one with the same vendor.

That's all I was asking for. Pretty simple request IHMO.

I don't know what others were demanding. But you responded to the wrong person.

No I didn't. My original response was to the Original Post in this thread, which "demanded" a section for vendor reviews and complaints, which is what I'm vehemently opposed to, and you responded to my post about that.

Doesn't matter, we've found some common ground here. You know what my gripes are, and I see your point about having some objective review system.

Then again, it matters very little what we think. It's up to the admins.