New Policy for Coupon Swap/Coupons & Sweepstakes

[Sonya]

We've put in some restrictions so people who are brand new to the board, without posts in other sections, are unable to post in the Coupon Swap section. Once you are an established member with posts in other threads, the ability to reply or start threads in this section will automatically be enabled.

I'd be curious to hear some feedback from active traders about how many posts you think a person should have before they can participate in the Coupon Trades here on VMB.

Edited for Update:

I'm keeping this section locked to replies for brand new members, but the post requirements are low enough that introducing yourself to the board and making a couple replies will give you enough posts for access. I'm looking for a balance between letting people trade and protecting members from spammers, scammers and trolls. 10 seemed like a good number of posts to have but some said that was too high. We're going to keep it at <5 for the time being and see how it goes.

I have set up the system so that you need to make a minimum number of posts to establish yourself as a member of VMB before you can post in the Coupon Swap/Sweepstakes section. It is easy to get permissions, by just posting a message in the Introduce Yourself section and making a few other posts. There have been some abuses in this section, and hopefully this policy will help ensure that only legitimate members are trading here. Thanks!

 

[eaglejohn]

10 minimum

 

[scrappy]

17

 

[Pbear71]

Why have there been some bad traders?

 

[j52chips]

Good idea but I don't have a clue what is fair. How about 20 and I do not mean the posts that say Yeh, I agree, Yes I go there, etc Bull S*** type of responses. I've been trading for many years. Only minor issues. I just got screwed or should I say did not get a response after the fact from a member of this site to reciprocate. By the way, it was from the UK. Besides that, I love the traders here. The majority are great. Have a good day

 

[93 Octane]

A feedback system would be more efficient

 

[ducc]

I'm kind of a newbie here. Would love for there to be a post minimum, and a feedback system that way people know to deal with a person or not.

 

[Sonya]

Why have there been some bad traders?

Not specifically. I mean, there are always a few issues now and then on this Internet thing. Any proven fraudulent activity gets a user banned, but that has been extremely rare over the years. We had been talking about another issue this week and revisited the idea of restricting newbies participating in swaps. It can be a balancing act. I don't want to exclude good traders, but I think a free-for-all isn't the best approach either.

I'm not a trader or even much of a coupon user, so I hoped to get some feedback from the people who use this section.

A feedback system would be more efficient

I've been toying with ideas for this for years. Any suggestions on how to implement something that would work? We could have a simple sticky thread for feedback on trades, but would that be enough?

 

[couponqueen]

Just an observation - I have traded 100s of times on this board and found everyone to be fair and trade as promised and I have only once been taken advantage of and that was years ago. I hope you don't restrict new members from using this board - the more the merrier and the more we can give away/trade the coupons we don't need for those we do.

 

[Pbear71]

I agree with couponqueen (Hi Pat!)....all the years I traded never had a problem either and made 100s of trades also but if you want to set up some kind of rating thing I guess that's a good thing for everybody too....if that's possible too!

 

[westie]

My experience has pretty much mirrored the coupon queen's, but I tend to look to trade with people I have traded with in the past or those who have been active on this board for at least a few months.

I guess I would prefer to let everyone set their own criteria of who to trade with.

 

[scrappy]

made a dozen trades, all good people

 

[Sonya]

Good to know that side too. Right now the posting restriction is low (<5 posts) so it shouldn't cause difficulty.

 

[93 Octane]

Per the feedback system you could have two numbers next to username, one black (positive feedback) one red (negative feedback). As a member of several buying/selling forums I assure you no one wants derogatory feedback for anything... could also require new members to ship first which would give established members peace of mind when dealing with new people.

 

[makikiboy]

Actually I'm a little surprised that we allow LVA coupon swaps here, esp when we normally don't discuss or associate with other sites. I can see ACG swaps since they aren't a vegas forum site but I would think LVA swaps should happen on the LVA forums (unless they don't allow coupon swapping). This was JMHO. I don't swap coupons so I am not affected either way though.


As for minimums, I don't know, are we going to allow sales or swaps of other products also?

I guess like ebay and other sites, we should also have the + and - feedback system to make sure that our members don't get conned or ripped off by sellers.


Whatever you guys decide.

 

[pultzar]

I am a first time trader on here and have made several trades over the past month. Everything has been great with solid communication. I would say it ain't broke, so no fixin needed from this dude's perspective.

 

[Kaylynn]

View from the other side - I've been lurking this board for years and rarely post. I almost missed a coupon swap bc I couldn't figure out how to direct message the person. And I think it worked for both of.

 

[Coffee]

The magic number should be no more than 50, but I may also point out that this is my 50th post.

 

[jgates8]

My instinct is 25. That being said, I ended up shorted by someone who was a long-time member & poster. So you just never know.

 

[Loki]

My first post ever was a trade. Worked out fine, and actually got me hooked on the site. Never did another swap after that but kept coming back.