As a part of changing the way we manage SWAPD, we would like to present new ground rules for buyers/sellers who conduct sales/purchases on our website. As discussed here and here, SWAPD staff promised less micro-management and involvement. Our main goal was to reduce unneeded notifications and annoyance from staff, which we’ve obtained. However, we’re beginning to notice a trend of buyers/sellers taking this as a sign of having a free hand in not responding to their clients or prolonging things indefinitely. This changes today with the new policies set in this topic. We still believe it shouldn’t be SWAPD business to make sure your clients are happy, we’re here to make sure the transactions are conducted in a safe manner. Promptness, courtesy, and frequent updates should be the buyers/sellers responsibility.
New ticket policies for buyers/sellers.
Unresponsiveness.
Transfers. All transfer tickets will now carry a mandatory 7-day response time. Yes, this is a long time but this rule is reserved for the worst offenders which we’re seeing more of. If in 7 days we do not see a response from either the buyer/seller, the offending user will receive a 60-day ban. Responses such as “working on it” and then leaving for another week will not be tolerated.
Payments. All payments should be remitted within 7 days. Failure to do so and a lack of updates will result in a 60-day ban. In case of problems or late wire payments exceptions will be made, the key is communication with buyer/seller/staff. We do not mind waiting longer as long as all parties agree, and as long as all parties are frequently updated on the progress.
Services. Since many services take weeks/months to complete, we won’t be dishing out suspensions here unless the deadline has passed, there is no response from the seller, or the service wasn’t delivered. However, if a buyer is worried and asking for an update, the sellers have the obligation to respond to him within 7 days. Failure to do so will result in one (or more) following actions:
- Removal of Premium tag on sellers listing (if any)
- Removal of Spotlight tag on sellers listing (if any)
- Moving the seller’s service to Service > Other.
- Completely removing the seller’s service from SWAPD.
- Tagging the seller’s service “POOR-QUALITY.”
The aim of these changes is to force higher standards, so people aren’t left stranded having their payments held in escrow while not receiving updates. With these changes, we’re asking everyone to respect your clients time. Whether you’re a buyer or seller, it should be standard business practice to keep everyone in the loop.
As always, these aren’t firm rules and they depend on one thing, communication. If everyone is responsive, and everyone agrees on possible delays, for whatever reason, no action will be taken by the staff.
Feedback Protection Policy.
We’re introducing a new way of managing user feedback. We’ve noticed that even the most disastrous failed tickets (because one party did not deliver or was negligent to the max) did not receive proper feedback from the buyer/seller. And we believe it’s because of fear of feedback-for-feedback retaliation. Buyers who were scorned via a failed service/trade/transfer shouldn’t be afraid to voice their opinion in the seller’s feedback (and vice versa) because of the fear of receiving a one-star in return. Starting today, we will accept and remove unjust negative reviews (upon request) based on how the checkout ticket turned out.
For example:
- User A and B start a ticket. (User A is the seller and user B is the buyer)
- User A didn’t deliver, even though user B paid on time and waited for weeks only to end up empty-handed.
- Ticket closes.
- User B leaves a one-star for user A for failed service/transfer/etc.
- User A wants to strike back, and also leaves negative feedback.
In this type of scenario, user B has every right to click “Dispute” next to the feedback and summon SWAPD staff. We will review the ticket and see who the real offender was. If user B did everything he was asked for, we will remove user’s A false negative review, and we may even take action against his/her SWAPD membership.
We hope this will force users into taking their reputation on SWAPD more seriously and start being communicative. Because higher rep means more sales, it’s as simple as that. This policy works both ways and is not aimed directly at the sellers. We encourage buyers/sellers to leave feedback on everything possible, including:
- Payment times. Did the buyer stall or pay quickly?
- Transfer times. How quickly did the buyer/seller act during transfers?
- Keeping deadlines. To many users, keeping deadlines is important. If they’re surpassed, you should voice your opinion, also.
- Communication. Did you have to beg for a response every time?
This should wrap the changes for today. We welcome your feedback, whether it’s positive or negative.