If the blocking feature is something that only paying members see, (whom I would assume are all sellers) it begs the question- What seller in their right mind would want to remove a feature designed to help warn of and protect from scammers?
I’m honestly suspecting that it was the Amanda Gail Mills saga that started this rolling. To my knowledge, she was the only (potential, but not likely) customer who definitely knew about the blocking system. And relatively shortly thereafter, Dave takes the feature away. Highly annoying.
I know that there was talk of @taylorsgirl creating a selling platform, but she said it would take a while.
There was one other lady who I really did feel for. She had several blocks for time wasting. Well because I saw the blocks and knew the reason, I felt her out and sold to her anyway. She turned out to be really nice, she just asks lots of questions before buying. Good. I’d rather them do that than be unhappy later. * She found out when she became a seller*
The thing is that the blocks with the reasons listed let me decide whether I wanted to sell to her or not. What if she had 3 blocks, all chargebacks? Obviously my decision would have been different.
The system is not 100% perfect, but it works. It would work closer to perfect if people just used common sense. Not everything is black and white.
It actually wasn’t her that caused this. A week or so ago there was a buyer who is also a seller that complained to Dave about not being able to buy a doll she wanted because she was blocked by others and the seller chose not to sell to her. She had numerous comments about asking for lower prices, one comment for filing a chargeback after having the doll for 60 days and a couple people who just didn’t want to take the chance. I have sold to her and asked an artist about the comment left. In my opinion this was a completely one sided decision on his part and isn’t right.
What the heck can we do about fraudulent chargebacks? There’s no protection for us and it’s what keeps me from selling. That last time I sold, I didn’t even look at the money from the sale for 6 months. The possibility stresses me out way too much and it feels like there’s little recourse for us should it happen.
Exactly. And because buyers have 180 days to file a dispute, it makes it easier for them to scam us and even easier with no protection. I definitely do not support this change and the reasoning behind it makes me sick.
But exactly what I said on the Amanda Mills situation is exactly what happened here. Everyone’s experience with this buyer/reseller was discounted because “one unfortunate transaction” is what was said to lead to she said - she said comments. So basically, a sellers experience with her held no weight. That is wrong and not for him to decide.
100% agreed. Some people contact several artists and ask a bunch of questions. They should ask, especially when spending $500, $600, maybe more on a doll. Just because they ultimately decide on another artist’s doll does not mean they are a time waster.
Unfortunately this happens more than we would think. One time I saw time waster listed, sent the artist a message for more details, and this is what happened. Not a legit reason to block someone.
Can we even block people anymore? Some have just downright harassed me and I needed to. I think that the system should have remained as it was, but maybe educate sellers on what they should be blocking for. Then let us take this information and decide if we want to sell or not. It’s us losing money to unscrupulous people, not him. He gets to keep that $20/month regardless of how many times we are screwed over.
Artists have their reputation to protect. Buyers dont, resellers dont, they can go ahead and make new accounts every day. Dave only cares about his bottom line. He no longer cares about the artists and only cares about his numbers on promoting his site. I already know three artists who are leaving that site and many more are contemplating just not renewing.
Even if you have amazing reviews that gush about your work, it is still stressful to have to live up to the expectations. I liked it better when people got pleasantly surprised when they received the baby in their arms.
Exactly. He isn’t losing any money due to this, we will be. There’s no risk to him for making this decision; the risk falls back on us.
That’s why I’m wondering if we should start a post on here to list Reborn.com Scammers, kind of like the WIP posts that everyone adds to. Then before we sell to someone, we’ll have a place to search for the person or ask if anyone has sold to them.
He is the one that started the comments needed for blocking, when before we could just block for only ourselves personally
I wish I could just personally block someone, maybe they were a time waster for me and I didnt want to deal with them again. It doesnt mean others should even know about my personal blocks.
Remember when he used to have the IP address listed so we could see if the same person was harrassing us just with a new account?. He took that away too.
Also, why make it available to everyone how many babies someone purchased and their amount??
Its intrusive
But yet its TOO intrusive for a scammer to have us artists warn each other about those scammers and their chargebacks, threatening words,…ect
He said for the longest time that he would not implement a feedback/rating system, because one mad/bad customer could be very damaging and it would open up a whole can of worms…what the heck happened to protecting his sellers???
He also said…it’s all GOOD until a bad feedback comes in…again what happened?
Ya he said that for the longest time and now he changed his mind. Now he makes this comment, but what’s stopping him from changing his mind again, he didn’t have plans for feedback either? Doesn’t really make you feel like you don’t have to worry.
“But hearing your conclusion that my next move will be to start charging transactions fees is a very non connected and illogical statement to hear. But to set the record straight so that a rumor isn’t started, I have no plans to start charging transactions fees. So you and others do not have to worry.”
He’s lost so much trust by constantly changing things and saying he won’t do something and then completely changing his mind. Can’t trust anything he says now. I’ve asked twice if he’s going to be banning scammers then, and no response. So it seems he’ll just let us get screwed over.
Today “I have no plans of charging a transaction fee.”
6 months from now "You know what… the transaction fee really was a great idea. Thanks!
And you won’t know. You’ll sell a doll, see the fee and have to ask.
This nonsense is some of what is keeping me from even trying to sell. I don’t think it is such a great deal that he is offering anymore. It seems like a big headache. And I don’t want to deal with scammers. Maybe I will just keep gifting and making reborns for myself…
I am fully planning on building a site. That hasn’t changed.
I just have to pay off some debt from the move and then it begins. But building a site takes time. I will be sure to share when I do build it. I’m currently talking with a few web developers who are friends and are willing to help me do it right. To minimize bugs and issues for everyone. I don’t want to launch it prematurely and it ends up a buggy mess for sellers. If that makes sense?
Dave does read what is said on the bb forum and even shares with those who are being discussed here. I don’t know whether he has his own account here or just moles but fyi
