this has been used on yoyo forums before!? awesome. i figured as much. also, thats another one of its many uses
Trolling is what NathanC did. I’m providing contribution to the conversation. Note the difference, no matter how both might irk you because we don’t quite agree. Being my senior, I’m sure you realize this.
The whole point you were making was that this is not a BST utopia, and no one is perfect. Thus they are flawed in their judgement, or don’t have a keen eye, thus they need help. I finalized by saying that this is a solution for people that don’t know what to do, given the situation. Is this not exactly what you wanted?
this would also make it Impossible to scam.
while your intent was clear, your presentation was seen as spiteful. if you genuinely didnt mean it in that way, my apologies. the internet is a rather rough place to interpret these things.
i like bananas
is all i hav to say
Heath, I don’t know what tone you read my messages through, but I didn’t say anything with ill intent. Sometimes counterpoints can be read as being harsh simply because they don’t agree. I’ll accept the apology.
Perhaps we could use a third party to inspect our posts before one side is misrepresented wink
Good thought but it would have to involve a trusted 3rd party, a big one at that, that the community would have to organize. And then lets say one of those inspectors has an off throw or the string snaps and the yoyo is damaged, who’s at fault there? It can be done with time and effort there’s just a lot of “what if’s” in it.
definitely. freak accidents do happen, but with knowledge on the subject they are kept to a bare minimum.
Coming in late. Sorry if the ideas have been hit upon before.
Adding a brokerage/escrow service depends upon both parties agreeing to accept the “rating” assigned to the item in question, and then hence value from there.
Does the item go to the broker, and then the broker makes the BST posting with pricing and other information from the seller? Does the broker ship? Does the broker work off consignment or commission or flat fee? What if the broker starts flaking out? Who is eating the fees? Are the fees being passed on to buyers?
While the current system isn’t perfect, I think it’s far more efficient they way it is. I think this whole 3rd party system has merit, but it just ends up raising the prices of items, in some cases making some items more cost-effective to just buy new even for a few dollars more.
I’ve found many sellers tend to be very honest.
To take Jayyo as an example, I bought a MMN off him and it had a YYF bearing in it. He said so. The item was otherwise MINT. I put a 10-Ball in there, plays amazing.
Another guy was selling a SuperStar, and he warned me that the stack posts were super tight and I probably would never get the bearing off it if I chose to stack it again. I intended to stack it. Unfortunately, that killed the deal.
When I bought my BVM, the guy said the bearing was crap. And it was. Now it has a 10 Ball in it and it’s fantastic.
One guy sold me an Aquarius for way cheap because he felt the bearing was shot. I compared it to a couple of Aquarius I got from John Narum: Identical.
I’ve found some sellers to be honest to the point where it can kill a sale. These people seem to want to mostly go above and beyond to ensure that the buyer/recipient/trader knows exactly what they are getting.
I would say if some individual who is a flipper, this would be an ideal thing. They buy on the low, evaluate(assuming they are a trusted person who can rate and rank a throw), and then re-sell.
Concerns:
- $10 to inspect a yo-yo + shipping to the next person = $15 (or more) on top of trade / purchase
- Extra shipping time and risk
- Additional party for blame
Way not have the seller simply take clear photos of all surfaces of the yoyo? If they are selling a $300 yoyo they should be willing to go through the trouble of assuaging a potential buyer with lots of details on the condition. Asking for lots of photos for a high-dollar yoyo should be a reasonable request of a seller. Involving a third party would be a real hassle unless it’s for the rare collectibles.
pictures dont show vibe or bearing quality
this is mostly intended for insurance purposes. IE low feedback selling high end yoyo or high end yoyo buyer requesting 3rd party inspection.
i got the idea from print collecting where 3rd party inspectors are often used. i know that a 30k print is not a 200$ yoyo, but some people like the assurance and security of a 3rd party and are willing to pay it.
i am not insinuating that this will become a reality or that i personally want to be one (i have no time for it either way). i was more wondering why not and if it has been done before
My question is:
My interpretation of mint is probably different than the sellers; as well as the person inspecting the yoyo.
So lets say, I said it wasn’t mint and wanted to send it back, but the seller claims its totally mint. What would make the seller willing to change his mind if the inspector said it wasn’t mint as well?
I’m sure all three parties would be coming in knowing that the inspector has a position of authority over the others, and if he agrees with one point or another, actions are to be taken according to his decision.
indeed
Isn’t this the point of the feedback system? Who in their right mind would pay someone else to play with their yoyo before they got it just to make sure it’s as the seller says? Waste of time, money, and resources, shipping a yoyo can be risky enough(as you know…), not sure why doubling the shipping amount and hands the yoyo passes through would be at all a good idea. As far as bearing quality, who cares? I’m sure most of us have piles of nice bearings laying around, whether a yoyo comes with a nice bearing or not is of little importance, the only exception being a rusted or locked up, unplayable bearing, which would obviously be settled with the seller/trader. The system as it is works fine for most people. Mint is mint, non-mint = ask for detailed pictures if the description isn’t good enough for you and the person has low feedback, if you care about vibe buy from a trusted seller or only buy mint yoyos. I’ve had more people tell me a yoyo vibes before getting it only to find it perfectly smooth imo, than i’ve had supposedly smooth throws that vibed, so it’s all subjective anyway.
Just seems really impractical. Even if the whole thing would work, which I don’t think it would, these people are now liable for the sale of many yoyos they don’t own and that adds a whole new dimension of confusion and anger. If the tester says my yoyo is good, but it isn’t in some way, do they refund my customer? If not, why not? I paid them to ensure a perfect sale.
This also adds probably $20 to the cost of a yoyo sale, after shipping, paying the testing team, and paypal fees. Most people are selling yoyos in the $50-$90 range that are barely worth selling in the first place after the current costs. I’d rather just be honest and take a $15 or $20 hit on a less than perfect yoyo than pay for all this extra insurance and wait a month to make my sale.
Anyway, this is what paypal claims exist for. If someone sells you something that is misrepresented that system heavily favors the buyer. Just threatening this has been enough to get every problem seller I’ve ever dealt with to do what I want them to do.
meh
it works fine for other expensive things. oh well. came into this expecting what i got hahahaha
I think there are certain things that are just tricky to sell used, period. Yoyos are one of them. The fact that a yoyo’s value is tied directly to it’s performance, which comes directly from condition and use, makes for all sorts of potential problems. The testers would just have a bear of a time ensuring that a yoyo was in a specific condition and gauranteeing that the buyer would feel the same.
We actually tried to do this with watches on another forum I frequent, and it made even more sense there. $2k+ private sales are happening all the time. Part of the plan was to have myself, and few other seasoned watchmakers with good trade history “approve” watches for a fee. It fell apart when we discovered that ensuring a mechanical watch movement is perfect is just far too time consuming and nuanced than it was worth. Perfect, in a functional rather an aesthetic sense, is a really fluid concept.
I don’t know…it doesn’t sound too productive to me. People want their yoyos as soon as possible so they can play it and possibly sell it again after 2 days. The time, the cost, it doesn’t add up…I’m afraid.
And I always think myself this, buy/trade yoyos off the BST at your own risk. Always assume that the yoyo you want will be in worse condition than you imagine. I don’t expect the yoyos I look for to be extremely flawless.
It sounds like a good idea, but for a simple toy like yoyos…I don’t think it’s worth the hassle.