Used stamps exchanges.

Dear fellow stamp-exchangers.
I like to start a discussion about the new rule in this club added by the moderator.
Members are limited to give 2 negative ratings and not more.

In my opinion; when you are a member of this club and send out a lot of good swaps you are punished and "bad swappers" are in advance here.
When you send out a lot you also receive a lot. More chance of getting a bad lot but not more than 2 negative ratings can be given.
When someone gets your address and they see that you already gave 2 bad rating they can send you trash and don't get a negative rating.
Of course we must trust eachother and hope that people wont do that. Not everybody is fair always.

I understand that this rule is added so people get a chance to re-send and upgrade their bad rating and when you get many bad ratings you are not able to send out anymore. In my opinion when you try to get in touch with bad swappers you don't get a reaction. I have several examples of this.

But still....it doesn't feel right
I am I the only one who has this feeling or do I understand something completely wrong?

I do have something to say about ratings... First of all.. folks need to remember, if their profile is not followed, it is not a reason for a negative rating, neither is sending cto's, or stamps on paper. If you have read through discussions, the moderator has stated, it is alright to send stamps on paper. And I have recieved stamps on paper.
I myself do not collect cto's except for specific countries, I do not mind stamps on paper, if they do not soak properly off of paper. If I recieve stamps that are in good condition, and the person took the time to use commemorative stamps... and make an effort then they get a 4....
So... please enlighten me Mr. Moderator if I am wrong to understand that as long as the stamps are in good condition... ones you would accept yourself... regardless of cto, paper, definitive... it is a good rating yes??

And of course, thanks again for Danubius for his effort.

Kozou, I don´t think that there are members that rate 4-5 regardless they receive, but I don´t want to continue with this.
I´m deeply sad as edvasc, but, I have met here nice people, so I will continue.

Lipp, you did miss a point i was trying to make ...some members do rate 4 or 5 no matter what they receive -not because they are only receiving undamaged nice stamps but because they probably do not care about the rating or only use rating 4-5 in general ;) i do not believe that those members only receive undamaged commemorative stamps from all senders but for some reason they do not rate 3 or less no matter what ^^ so even members who may "categorically" send lot of damaged stamps (or mostly common definitives) can have some lots rated 4 or 5 ;)

Hello to all

I am deeply sad with most of the messages above. What is this? An arguing club?

First I want to thank Danubius again (and again) for all the work he has (and had). Good or bad is the opinion of each one, but still it is work (and a lot). I must remember you ALL that, contrary to other exchange systems that exist, NOBODY here has paid an entrance fee to participate. Danubius has given us all this for free! So I think some must read their messages again and change some words.

I haven't exchange any stamps for 2 monhs now, and I don't know if I will exchange here again. Just for the record (as asked by someone in a previous message), I am a member who complains about the lower ratings I receive from some specific member (and my average sending rate is 4, so take your conclusions ....). And at least a 4 can be a 2 for some members ... ( I already got that!)

So please dear member partner, read again the topic and think about all of what you are saying. Respect is the most important thing above all, even when someone is mad with another one. I will thank you all for that, and I hope that we can still be an exchange club in the following years.

Regards

I agree with you kozou, specially when you say that some members don´t accept some kind of stamps, but that´s what they send.
If all the sendings were uploaded, I think those problems would dissapear gradually.
I don´t think, however, that a member who rates 4 or 5 is receiving crappy lots. It is simlpy that a 4 or 5 for someone can be a 3 for other person. But I don´t really think that a 5 can be a 2 depending on the receiver.

well in the past 10 exchanges i did not have such crappy ones but earlier there were certainly more than 2 out of 10 that had many damaged stamps AND/or mostly definitives. i do not give low rating if i receive stamps out of my wishlist ! eg. i received 100 italian stamps and i dont collect italy but they were not damaged and majority were commemoratives so i rated the lot 5.

i have also rated 4 some lots that had FEW damaged stamps if the majority were commemoratives -cos sometimes a broken stamp may have by mistake passed in, i know it has happened to me too... once i offered to re-send for stamps i got myself rated 3, asking how many were damaged -but the member did not reply me :(

im annoyed by members who write in their profile eg. "No definitives. No Germany" -and that is exactly what they send themselves. Why would i send them what they want as they don´t care what they send and check receiver´s preferences? so once i did return the stamps i received, after rating them 3 ! but he never registered my stamps -which he should have done and rated 3 as they were not damaged....

it is not fair to write "i want beautiful stamps" and then send damaged definitives with people´s heads... it makes me wonder who wants those anyway as in the photos scanned i often see the same people head stamps again and again -the majority already has them or just passes them on... and funnily the only thing i write i really just do not like is "people head" stamps and some users still send lots of those -i wonder if they really have nothing else or they just want to offend me ^^

did you guys note also that some members categorically rate all received stamps 5 (or 4)? im certain they also received crappy lots but do not care perhaps... so if a member who got many low ratings has also ratings 5 does not automatically tell us that he has improved his lots or chooses whom to send crap and whom to send undamaged/commemorative stamps ^^

This question is been recurrently been treated.
Again I have to support Danubius effort and patience.
Totally agree with him, he has to balance the views of the different users.
I can´t understand why some users are always complaining about quality.
Some sendings are fine, some others are worse.
Some users are too exigent, some others are less exigent.
If the builder and programmer of this site, Danubius, gave "free bullets", two or three "exigent" users could ban half of the community.
It is more than enough two bad ratings in ten.

If I gave two bad ratings out of ten, be sure that I would give up this club.
It doesn´t worth for me to belong to a site from which I receive so many low quality sendings.
But it is not the case, fortunately.
And I repeat again, this is by far the best swapping site I know.
It is now one year already working. Happy birthday for the site!
And, yes, for some users, 30% of exchanges are bad, and for some others only 3%.
I have given my opinion three or four times:
Low ratings should be explained by at least uploading a photo, so that everybody can see why.
Nobody should be punished because you don´t like the stamps, or the stamps are not "in the list".
100 stamps in good condition, mainly comms, that´s all.
And, in my opinion, always keeping in mind that this is a hobby to relax, and the ambient of the forum should be relaxed and friendly.
We are only swapping 100 stamps, it is not a matter of death or life.
And, finally, we all know who is behaving bad, because we are only 100 persons, more or less.

Regards

I like the idea of the comment (it's not a message right?) and somehow I agree that pictures should uploades each time. The reason I stopped that, was that I gave 5 stars to 100 commoratives from The Netherlands, absolutly worth 5 stars, but after that I got a lot of stamps from The Netherlands, my guess was it was due to the picture and the rating. Stamps from the Netherlands are fine, but I just dont collect them. When I rate a lot it's all about the amount of "crappy" stamps (definitives, CTOs and so on), I dont think it's fair to rate the lot after how many stamps from my wishlist, as many dont have those stamps and that shouldn't be punished

The latest comments by Danubius: negative ratings (2% about 30%) are insulting. Did you really study every negative rating? If that's your opinion you have to mention too that perhaps the same swappers send 30% better swaps. I think people like Kozou (and I know more of them, there are very very good Dutch swappers f.i.) are very/too tolerant, I do respect those people for that kindness, but I can't (and believe me, in reality I am a very kind and pleasing woman, haha), I do not give a part of my collection build in 35 years away to receive ...............

I think it will help if you will express your point of view equally when you agree or you disagree with a review.

Yes eventhough the rating should be objective, it can never be. I agree with Danubius both sides should be handled and I think it can work this way. By the way, I have also got a complain about a rating I gave, that user was very fair, some weeks after my lot was rated with 5 stars

I will change the limit to 5 (no one reached this) and I hope that comments on exchanges will help clarify what are fair or unfair reviews.

Yes Anne, some people did complained about unfair low ratings. I have to look at their point of view as well. Some claimed that among the reasons where "not in my theme". Someone claimed that he offerred to resend some stamps that they had to replace broken stamps. He offered assical stamps. But he was refussed.

All bad exchanges should receive negative reviews. My dilema still remains. Most people receive 2% bad lots while other receive 30%.

Kozou, you estimate that 3-4 out of 10 are bad exchanges? Meaning 30-40%? I see that you didn't gave any negative reviews for your last 10 lots received. You only received good/neutral exchanges or you were simply more tolerant with those exchanges?

Since yesterday I have added a way to add mesages to the exchanges. I started this some time ago but didn't had time to complette it until last night. I hope this will help.

I think the explanation regarding the percentages (Danubius) does not feel honest, I'll stick with my previously written opinion: If I receive a really bad swap (I make pictures of everything, these days even of the swap I send) I have the right to rate negative and if that is not possible, at that moment I'm going to look for other solutions. I absolutely disagree that such a person gets "3", that's a confirmation, even worse, a compliment.
Danubius wrote:....... I'm looking at two things here, members that have received low ratings above the average and members that give low ratings above the average........... Personally I feel this as a bit of a charge.

i have to add that it is clear by now, to us all active longtime members, that more than 2 out of 10 exchanges done are damaged stamps. i would say it´s rather 3 or 4 out of 10 that are clearly so damaged stamps that a negative rating is fair...and 3 or 4 are average (rating 3) and 2-4 are positive.

well what if someone does receive more than twice damaged stamps in last 10 exchanges? how can one expect to give positing rating for damaged stamps? i think it´s important to post pictures of the stamps received, if possible, and i wonder why there is still no chance to write any comments on them... if the stamps are damaged, a negative rating is a must. and everyone could see this. if stamps are all definitives but not damaged, rating can be 3. and if anyone complains about received rating, a picture should be given to verify it :) cos it can be the damaged stamps senders complain unfairly...

Members complaining about receiving low ratings????????
Did you see the stamps they sent????????????????
I received and I was not amused. :((((((((

Two negative ratings in the last 10 exchanges. Very important this aspect: last 10 exchanges.

The average of negative exchanges for the club is 2%. Being able to give 2 low rating out of 10 means 20%. So, you can give 20% low rating while the average is 2%. Is way above the average.

I have to deal with 2 extremes here, not just one. If low ratings can ban a member then I have to look at the other side as well. There have been members complaining about receiving low ratings unfairly.

I'm looking at two things here, members that have received low ratings above the average and members that give low ratings above the average.

The way I see it, both extremes should be avoided.

Is there a rule about have many negative rating you can give? That doesn't make sense, I thourght that it was that the sender only could get two negative reviews before they are getting limited.
In general I don't see that we have a big problem with members giving very low rates nor members sending many bad lots (in general of course!).

I rated 1 for an unacceptabel bad lot, not accepted! I was not allowed to give a negative rating anymore. Rating 3 means receiver is satisfied and sender -perhaps- will/can do that again. This site should protect her good swappers and be carefull with the bad ones instead of rewarding them. In this case I feel forced to make my own rules.