Replying to [Admin]: Simply allowing buyers to rate sellers instead of this forum that can easily be missed by another buyer. The rating would appear by the sellers profile just like eBay so we'd know all the buyers experiences with him. Simple and effective so why hasn't it happened?

I've been thinking about that and call me cynical but I think Alibaba management recognizes that it's more profitable for them not to do this. It would drive away all the fraudsters who are more than happy to pay for the worthless TrustPass in order to reap the rewards from foolish buyers like me who thought that it meant something.

So Alibaba thinks, hmmmm, lets make money by offering sellers this TrustPass thingy, it gives us much needed revenue and the sellers legitimacy in the eyes of the buyers. We both win. Unfortunately, the buyer is the loser because he is being defrauded by both the corrupt seller and Alibaba. But hey, he ain't paying us so who cares?

Replying to [Admin]Would a Paypal payment/service be helpful?
Transaction difficulties would be handled by them or is this to big for them? I have been scared off by all the fraud that appears via Tradekey and will not use this service unless some money is invested in their security and fraud departments.

Replying to [Admin]:I believe,like many other members that there should be some kind of score to rate suppliers, this would help choose a supplier or at least you know how he has dealt with other buyer.
I am a trust Pass member and I know that a third party did verify my company information to certify that we are real. But this only certifies that the company exists, that it has a phone number under that company name, but not the overall performance of the company. They do not request Trade references, or a license from the city or state where the company is operating to know that it is legit.
I also notice a lot of alleged companies that work with emails from yahoo and Hotmail. How can you trust a company that uses these kind of emails?, that have no type of verification either.

I think that ALL the companies that register to SELL, should be TRUSTPASS member ONLY, because after all ,the biggest risk involved is of the Buyer, who is risking to send money to a company that does not know 10% sure that exist. That would give US , BUYERS a sense of confidence. Because I have contacted alleged buyers and received fraud invoices that are listed in your website under the fraud section. But nothing was done to remove this member from the site. That Means that you really don’t care if there is fraud or not .Posting the examples of fraud invoices or emails is not enough, if you want to be known as a respectable trade website.

Another important aspect would be to verify ,like pay pal does. Otherwise this website is going to be used only for “ fishing” to see who can be scammed next , because the legit, serious business will go to another site that does have all the scores and verification that several members like myself are requesting, not only for our protection , but for the reputation of the website and Trade.

Replying to [Admin]: Everyone who has a verified person/company that has resulted in a scam, to email the name in to Alibaba. Once Alibaba has received a few emails stating the same name or company, then the name/company can be added to a warning list for members to view. (This way if the company is really legitimate and they happen to see their name on the list, they can contact Alibaba and go from there.

Another idea is what I did when I asked a question regarding an email I recieved. I emailed Alibaba and they responded. They informed me that the persons account had been closed

A third idea is that when signing up, all correspondence at the beginning should be done through Alibaba. If the corresponder ask for you to email them through another email address right away, then flags should go up. As a business, if the person is really honest, he/she should already have your business information to contact you. You should be able to contact the business via phone.

Last idea is Alibaba can state at the beginning when people sign up that as a warning if they are found to be scammers, everyone will know about it. This way it will hopefully deter unwanted people from signing up.

Anyway these 4 ideas may help us and save us all time and energy.

Replying to [Admin]:

The solution is in everyone's hand, they just don't know yet. There's currently a forum on alibaba.com that called "comment on companies" that members can freely inquiry about trustworthness of any company they want to do business with.

I agree with some member's suggestion of installing an address verification system. Pay Pal has been doing it for a very long time and being exceptional successful.
Yes it is true that scammer can set their address to be a P.O. box. But will you buy merchandize from a company whose mailing address is a P.O. box?

That's why except the very few exceptional case of account hijacking, there's no phony pay pal account opened by scammers.

I do not think feedback system will be useful. It will be just like the feedback system of ebay. You feel in one way or the other you are compelled to give a positive feedback. For a very simple reason. If you give someone a negative feedback, you can guarantee you will get a negative feedback in return and in the end, both will be compelled to do a mutual feedback withdrawal.

An escow-system is not very necessary although possible. The reason is simple. All the banks and financial institutions offer "letter of credit" also known as L/C for a very long time already!! The L/C fee is usually 1% of the face value of the L/C. Letter of credit in all ways is more flexible and better than escrow, and functions the same way. Funds released to seller after buyer satisfied with goods, or funds released back to buyer if buyer unsatisfied with the goods and buyer return the goods.

However, the good thing of L/C is that both buyer and seller decide the contractual terms on the L/C instead of the escrow company setting the terms, if it's luck enough that it's not a faked escrow company.

Since similar products are widely available, there's no urge for alibaba.com creates an escrow service. And even if alibaba.com provides it most people will not use it. And if it's compulsory, most people will use other online market place instead.

So I recommend members use the "comment on companies" forum more often. And yes I do see an urge for alibaba.com to add address verification on alibaba.com. It will effective eliminate 99% if not all scammers on alibaba.com.

Yes I do realize a lot of phony companies in Afria, or east europe with very funny address offers unbelievable deals. I usually delete all these messages right away. But I am sure inevitably a lot of new members will fall prey to these scammers. Implementing an address verification system like pay pal is the only way out.

Replying to [Admin]:Hello everybody,

there is an other way. You can send the stuff through the mail, but first you have to write a protocol whats inside the packet. There is an option to secure the load and when the buyer is getting the packet. He can check the delivery by using the protocol and when everything is allright than the postman will get the money and everbody is happy. The responsibility has always the mail company. So the buyer and the seller doesn`t loose the money or the load.

But i would prefer as well pay pal like its on ebay.

have a nice day

Totally Agree!! An eBay type system is tried and tested and even if it is a bit older it works! Even incorporating a paypal type system in which the money is held pending verification from both parties, that waythe scammers know if they send shoddy goods or no goods at all, they will not get their money.. stops them cold!

This is the only way to win this game against Fraud, withhold their money, it frustrates them, and they give up.. Great Example

Replying to [Admin]:

I Agree with Feedback option, that way buyers can see positive and negative deals.

However the positive and negative scores cannot stack from same company that has already provided feedback.

Ie, you provide feedback once and will count to score, other times and it wont but will add a feedback notice.


Also Quoted from this "Back to Homepage
Huaxia D&B China A&V Liability Disclaimer

The company information contained in the TrustPass Profile has been provided by Huaxia D&B China, and has not been verified by Alibaba. Neither Alibaba nor its affiliates represent that the information is accurate, correct, complete, reliable, or otherwise valid. Alibaba does not endorse or recommend, and expressly disclaims all liability related to the information. Therefore, the information is provided "AS IS" with no warranty of any kind, and your reliance on the information is at your own risk. ALIBABA AND ITS AFFILIATES EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE INFORMATION, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. Some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of warranty, so the above exclusions may not apply to you.

A note on Chinese company names: Registered/incorporated companies in mainland China are not required to register corporate names in English. Often, the English name of a Chinese company is either a phonetic or semi-literal translation of its Chinese name. Chinese companies' official registrations have been verified in their original registered form, which is Chinese. "

Alibaba.com should check these references and information that has been submitted with these so called 3rd party creditors, or better yet establish Alibaba's own credit check department.

This way Gold members / TrustPass will be 100% validated and it wont be filled with 100's of other bogus scam'ers out there that is ruining the business for buyers and for sellers.

Replying to [Admin]:Since i have had some bad runs,
I think the raiting system many want to see is very good beeing a E**y user I buy only using these raitings.
A second thought would be, having a page that lists known scam sites, companies, sellers and byers by country, using the feedback from byers and the results of members that know how to quickly access relevant information. alibaba could help by folowing up complaints with the parties and giving out a (antitrust pass) or as in ebay getting the parties to resolve the issue

Best regards to all and good luck

Michael

Replying to [Admin]:
I think Alibaba.com, should organize Polling...Voting...Recomendtion...ratings. Each member should be voted, recommended and give voice if necessary. For instance if I make 1 deal with Alibaba member and if I am having success with them for instance for 1 or mor years, then I should give this kind of recomendation on Feedback section. This would give other members that this Seller has been doing a business for a login and trustworthy. I think it is better if everyone share their successful stories in Feedback section...This will give more Reputation to that Seller and otehr buyers could be get inspired. Only giving status like TrustPass and Gold I think are not enough. Cause I have seen some of TrustPass and Gold members that they seemed to be unreliable. They have had offer of unrealistic prices that was very low from worldmarket.

So I think rating system will provide Alibaba to grow better, attract more members and inspire them. And for members it will give satisfaction.

These are just my opinions, if anyone has good and the best idea \, let's share and make Alibaba our homesite