RE: @dstors Is Not Just An Online Store!!!
I met the creator of Dstores at Steemfest, he seemed to be a good guy. The issue I have is that Ebay is full of well tested scam tactics that have only been remedied by a large and well funded team of support staff monitoring everything and getting involved. From what I gather, the system here relies on perhaps downvoting as a deterrent, which itself relies on large SP levels, so initially the system might be plagued by scams. The classic one is that I set up a puppet account and then sell you a laptop. You pay for it into the escrow system and then I send you a house brick via a courier. Once you open it and discover I have scammed you, we have no way to know/prove who is lying .. So who gets the money?
I'm actually not sure how ebay resolves this - but I do know that when I got caught out by a similar scam a long time ago (before ebay evolved) they basically shut my account down even though I was the victim.
It's a messy problem and I'd love to know of a novel way to fix it using the blockchain.
In India Amazon delivery people needs an OTP after the buyer verifies the item. Only then the delivery is marked as completed. I think now they are also taking the photos of the item delivered. This is applicable only in the case of high value items.
If you get a brick instead of a laptop then you file a report with the police and deliver that to ebay - that's more or less how they deal with such cases. Been working for similar setup - not so big as ebay worldwide but locally much bigger :-)
But there is another much simpler mechanism - paypal. This payment method protects the buyer while sellers are practically uncovered because if you file a claim which is reasonable then they usually either block the funds or just reverse transaction. But you are right that dealing with such messy issues requires a large number of staff to handle all customer service issues and I don't really see how blockchain would tackle that.
Fair enough, though how the police would handle it and prove anything - unless there is a bunch of evidence they can dig up - I don't know. If this had a straightforward solution for a Steem based version of Ebay, I would have probably already created my own version!
The practice: if in doubt you open the package in the presence of a courier or post office clerk. Then you have a proof/third party verification and an option to get signed statement about actual content of the package. That's how it works. But there is also statistics - actually most people are honest - strange but true...
Most of the time we wouldn't really buy anything if we had such a doubt though - so in reality people don't tend to open in the presence of the courier (that's if the courier even meets the recipient at all).
It's good that most people are honest - but in a way that just improves the scope for the 'bad' people to move within - in relative safety and trust.
Hey @ura-soul. While I have thought of measures for damage control, there's something that I believe above all else: most people are good.
@kaliju This project of yours looks interesting. I have an extensive experience with e-commerce so maybe we could discuss this and that. If interested then find me on discord @pibyk#0668
Aloha. Thanks for your response here. There are actually entire regions of the world that Ebay won't allow to use their services - even within otherwise accepted nations. For example, there is a particular region of Mexico that Ebay simply will not deliver to - despite actually allowing the users to transact.. I discovered this last year and it is not public information - they tell you only when you query why the international shipping program won't work properly. My point is that generally thinking that 'people are good' is a huge denial of the reality that there are large and highly organised gangs of fraudsters operating online - they are like locusts in fact!
I will think about solutions, though I imagine there are only so many and Ebay probably has found the optimal ones for a system that doesn't include a blockchain. I imagine a blockchain based improvement would incentivize checking somehow - perhaps paying couriers a bonus for the service or something like that.. but that might be complicated.
Actually, Ebays solution is not good for the seller, which was why I quit selling there many years ago. The buyer is believed every time and will often end up with your item and their money back. The worst (yes, it was the final straw for me) is when after all of that, the crooked buyer leaves you a negative feedback and dings your stars. Many who stayed have to charge more to the honest customers to compensate for the guaranteed theft that Ebay allows from the buyers. I didn't have the temperament for it and minimized sales to face to face.
Has taskmaster ever replied to you btw? I frequently want to comment on these but notice he doesn't seem to acknowledge anyone's existence hence I don't bother.
I guess dstores is just as dependent on trust in ur example.
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PS - I noticed you just got an upvote from Rancherelaxo. Wonder if times are changing there?!?
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