Vendor discussion

bubbaque · Oct 8, 2018

Will there ever be a forum where people can openly discuss their experiences with vendors? Maybe a section called vendor reviews?

As it is now where only the person who started the thread and the vendor can discuss is pretty poor. People who have had similar experiences should be able to discuss it all in the same thread without having to open up there individual thread. As it is now it’s meant to only keep the vendors happy and make it difficult for the members to get true feedback on a vendor.

If I’m looking to buy from a vendor I would like to be able to search in one place for all their feedback. It lets people know what to expect from that vendor without having to go search for a bunch of threads.

Having a vendor review thread would be amazing!

madweazl · Oct 8, 2018

I don't disagree but it makes things a bit more caustic for sponsors which likely isn't a good model for site leadership/owners.

TheHarold · Oct 8, 2018

bubbaque said:
Will there ever be a forum where people can openly discuss their experiences with vendors? Maybe a section called vendor reviews?

As it is now where only the person who started the thread and the vendor can discuss is pretty poor. People who have had similar experiences should be able to discuss it all in the same thread without having to open up there individual thread. As it is now it’s meant to only keep the vendors happy and make it difficult for the members to get true feedback on a vendor.

If I’m looking to buy from a vendor I would like to be able to search in one place for all their feedback. It lets people know what to expect from that vendor without having to go search for a bunch of threads.

Having a vendor review thread would be amazing!

I feel like this is in reference to the thread about TSA I posted earlier today, and agree with you. Vendor feedback allows unrestricted positive reviews and feedback, yet negative feedback is limited to keep things "organized". If I wanted to just talk to the company I would private message them. I want to know what others think about the situation- are my expectations of a vendor unreasonable? Did they have the same problem? What would they do? Etc.

My thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aiptasia-on-topshelfaquatics-frags.469489/#post-5210687

revhtree · Oct 8, 2018

bubbaque said:
. As it is now it’s meant to only keep the vendors happy and make it difficult for the members to get true feedback on a vendor.

I am sorry you feel this way but this is not the reason we don't allow threads where everyone shares vendor feedback all together. The reason we have this rule is because in the past people have joined to the forum just to post bad feedback or piggyback on bad feedback who has never even had transactions with a particular vendor. People have also created fake accounts to leave fake reviews and feedback. As it is now we have the VENDOR FEEDBACK FORUM where everyone is allowed to create a thread whenever they feel it necessary. Since we allow only the person who created the thread to post it allows us to be able to somewhat verify that the feedback is indeed from a real transaction and at times be able to mediate resolutions.

On a side note. We don't want bad vendors represented here on R2R. That's why we've removed multiple vendors from advertising on our forums in the past. We also want to be very fair to our members and our vendors in the decisions we come to.

bubbaque · Oct 8, 2018

madweazl said:
I don't disagree but it makes things a bit more caustic for sponsors which likely isn't a good model for site leadership/owners.

The site leadership and owners should care about promoting good business so that people want to buy from them.

Amazon, Ebay or virtually all consumer sites have a review functionality. It gives the customer confidence in purchasing something that they have not even been able to see in person.

revhtree · Oct 8, 2018

Another thing to consider is that there are multiple avenues for you to leave bad feedback for a vendor. We allow it, Facebook allows it, etc.. We're just trying to cut back on the "mob mentality" and maintain a better environment here at R2R. We also do not restrict you from send a message to another user about feedback as long as you are not spamming the membership. We're not trying to silence you and protect our vendors. We are trying to make it fair to everyone and again keep a consistent culture of peace within our community.

ksfulk · Oct 8, 2018

I think it comes down to how most online forums work, regardless of topic - those threads become little more than name calling and bashing on both sides, and rarely does it do any good. If you want to read up on a vendor, you can easily search the vendor feedbacks and see how the vendor deals with the feedback, for good or bad. If a buyer had a poor experience, but the vendor made it better with their response - I see that as helpful. Same as if all of the comments are vitriolic, I know that the customer service/care/etc isnt something that I want to do business with.

I dont buy the notion that an open feedback thread on ANY online forum would remain civil.

Gareth elliott · Oct 8, 2018

Perhaps a private system when the resolve of the current feedback system is not to the customers expectations? A forum where only the OP and the forum staff can read? So the forum staff can make the judgment based on the number of reports or the severity of the vendors failure.

revhtree · Oct 8, 2018

bubbaque said:
The site leadership and owners should care about promoting good business so that people want to buy from them.

Amazon, Ebay or virtually all consumer sites have a review functionality. It gives the customer confidence in purchasing something that they have not even been able to see in person.

We do have that. You can also leave reviews here: https://www.reef2reef.com/showcase/category/saltwater-aquarium-stores.5/

TheHarold · Oct 8, 2018

revhtree said:
I am sorry you feel this way but this is not the reason we don't allow threads where everyone shares vendor feedback all together. The reason we have this rule is because in the past people have joined to the forum just to post bad feedback or piggyback on bad feedback who has never even had transactions with a particular vendor. People have also created fake accounts to leave fake reviews and feedback. As it is now we have the VENDOR FEEDBACK FORUM where everyone is allowed to create a thread whenever they feel it necessary. Since we allow only the person who created the thread to post it allows us to be able to somewhat verify that the feedback is indeed from a real transaction and at times be able to mediate resolutions.

On a side note. We don't want bad vendors represented here on R2R. That's why we've removed multiple vendors from advertising on our forums in the past. We also want to be very fair to our members and our vendors in the decisions we come to.

I had never considered that, that someone may make an account just to leave bad feedback. I am consistently guilty in having too high faith in humanity, LOL.

But then again, you have dealt with someone joining the forums just to scam the classifieds by implementing a minimum post count and membership length. To my knowledge, that has worked well at discouraging fake accounts.

ajhudson15 · Oct 8, 2018

also your more inclined to leave a review if its bad other than if its good. if you have a good experience your not likely to comment because its what you expect but if its bad you want everyone to know about it

bubbaque · Oct 8, 2018

revhtree said:
I am sorry you feel this way but this is not the reason we don't allow threads where everyone shares vendor feedback all together. The reason we have this rule is because in the past people have joined to the forum just to post bad feedback or piggyback on bad feedback who has never even had transactions with a particular vendor. People have also created fake accounts to leave fake reviews and feedback. As it is now we have the VENDOR FEEDBACK FORUM where everyone is allowed to create a thread whenever they feel it necessary. Since we allow only the person who created the thread to post it allows us to be able to somewhat verify that the feedback is indeed from a real transaction and at times be able to mediate resolutions.

On a side note. We don't want bad vendors represented here on R2R. That's why we've removed multiple vendors from advertising on our forums in the past. We also want to be very fair to our members and our vendors in the decisions we come to.

ksfulk said:
I think it comes down to how most online forums work, regardless of topic - those threads become little more than name calling and bashing on both sides, and rarely does it do any good. If you want to read up on a vendor, you can easily search the vendor feedbacks and see how the vendor deals with the feedback, for good or bad. If a buyer had a poor experience, but the vendor made it better with their response - I see that as helpful. Same as if all of the comments are vitriolic, I know that the customer service/care/etc isnt something that I want to do business with.

I dont buy the notion that an open feedback thread on ANY online forum would remain civil.

I don't feel people usually come with a bad mob mentality unless they have experienced something negative.
For example, Battlecorals has amazing feedback. His feedback is one of the reasons I gave him my business to start with. I don't see anyone mobbing together to say bad things. Another was Boomcorals. He started as a vendor just over a year ago but great reviews flooded in.

If you are a good vendor, good reviews will come!

revhtree · Oct 8, 2018

Here is an example of one of our vendors feedback: https://www.reef2reef.com/showcase/bulk-reef-supply.129/

We also have vendors that our not sponsors listed and if we need to add someone just let us know.

I am not sure what more we can do.

revhtree · Oct 8, 2018

bubbaque said:
I don't feel people usually come with a bad mob mentality unless they have experienced something negative.
For example, Battlecorals has amazing feedback. His feedback is one of the reasons I gave him my business to start with. I don't see anyone mobbing together to say bad things. Another was Boomcorals. He started as a vendor just over a year ago but great reviews flooded in.

If you are a good vendor, good reviews will come!

In this industry there are a ton of bad apples and i'm talking about vendor to vendor relations and the groups of people that are loyal to them. TRUST me when I say that people are constantly trying to ruin someone else. Facebook is full of it and that's what we're trying to stay away from here and that's one big plus for our community is that people don't have to see all the drama.

TheHarold · Oct 8, 2018

ajhudson15 said:
also your more inclined to leave a review if its bad other than if its good. if you have a good experience your not likely to comment because its what you expect but if its bad you want everyone to know about it

Personally, I leave more good reviews than bad. I’ve left two for battlecorals here recently, and several for other vendors on other forums and/or social media. Maybe eight "shoutouts" to good experiences in the last couple months? Unless something is particularly bad- with the vendor unwilling to communicate about the issue, let alone resolve it, I avoid posting bad feedback.

The thread I posted this morning was due not only to the aiptasia I personally encountered and 6+ members mentioned, but also because the vendor ignored customers who mentioned it and had mods lock the thread.

bubbaque · Oct 8, 2018

revhtree said:
In this industry there are a ton of bad apples and i'm talking about vendor to vendor relations and the groups of people that are loyal to them. TRUST me when I say that people are constantly trying to ruin someone else. Facebook is full of it and that's what we're trying to stay away from here and that's one big plus for our community is that people don't have to see all the drama.

That is with most things. Apple and Android for example, their fans are loyal and will bash the other product but when you look at the reviews of each of them you can get a sense of how much the product is liked or disliked.

I also find in this community people will be quiet on negative reviews because they don't want to be called out for having a different opinion. I believe that is where a lot of the newly created accounts come from just to write a negative review. People don't want their account linked to a negative feedback.

ajhudson15 · Oct 8, 2018

TheHarold said:
Personally, I leave more good reviews than bad. I’ve left two for battlecorals here recently, and several for other vendors on other forums and/or social media. Maybe eight "shoutouts" to good experiences in the last couple months? Unless something is particularly bad- with the vendor unwilling to communicate about the issue, let alone resolve it, I avoid posting bad feedback.

The thread I posted this morning was due not only to the aiptasia I personally encountered and 6+ members mentioned, but also because the vendor ignored customers who mentioned it and had mods lock the thread.

Yea im not saying most people will leave bad reviews but remember they monitor those so you don't really see how many bad reviews could come in compared to the good.

revhtree · Oct 8, 2018

To summarize we have two places you are able to leave feedback, rate and review a vendor and leave pros and cons.

You can rate and review here: https://www.reef2reef.com/showcase/category/saltwater-aquarium-stores.5/

You can create a thread here where we have 3400+ threads already: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/vendor-feedback.18/

revhtree · Oct 8, 2018

bubbaque said:
That is with most things. Apple and Android for example, their fans are loyal and will bash the other product but when you look at the reviews of each of them you can get a sense of how much the product is liked or disliked.

I also find in this community people will be quiet on negative reviews because they don't want to be called out for having a different opinion. I believe that is where a lot of the newly created accounts come from just to write a negative review. People don't want their account linked to a negative feedback. I myself have thought about creating a new account just to leave a negative feedback against one of your vendors but decided not to.

Sorry I disagree. Our community is far from "cliquish" and that's why we have been so successful over the years.