Re: mympxplayer.org certification
 

Now I like this idea. There is one problem though [excluding other problems that my fellow members have identified] - How long does it take a good person to be a bad person? 1 second! He could get the certification, Sales could increase and then suddenly on his new found publicity he could go bad.

Although I like the idea very much. Instead of just a static "Certificate" we could introduce something dynamic that periodically checks. Like a set of rules or standards defined to Sellers operating with certain protocols. Adding more dynamic rules and introducing changes as and when necessary. [You know this just sounds like one of Cisco's exams! :) ]

Also distance factor must be taken into consideration. A seller in China may not be able to send his product to New Zealand [after all costs are an important factor] we should have designated members in certain regions to do this. Also a general warning for buyers MUST be attached with the certification so that buyers are aware when the certification was given and when it expires. That would at least bring the level of problems to a lower height.

Yes there will be cheaters, but there have always been cheaters. This could be a good way for some poor Sellers whose business is affected because of them. No battle is won without a fight. We need backups in place to ensure a streamlined process.

A best bet is that "Put your trumpets out!". The best we can do is promote MpxPlayer. I put a post on my blog regarding the Memory hack sometime after Christmas and its a huge hits taker. [10 hits per day for a single post is large for me!] It has some links to the good posts on this forum. Most of the Google search terms have been "MP4 Hack" "MP4 Less Memory" etc. Even if one of them clicks the link, I have a satisfaction of at least making one person wiser. If such a movement was widespread we could be gaining ground. [Giving one post on your blog a primetime slot for a day won't take anything away from you will it?]

Also opinions should be taken from buyers of the certified seller to ensure that his products still conform to the Standards. Any report and he is blacklisted. This could make very big inroads in these scammers territories. That's frankly my opinion. :)

[Sorry for the warish look, but being a Strategy fan all of my short computer life... it just happens! :) ]

Re: mympxplayer.org certification
 

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions and concerns.

Let's try to cover them and see what you all think.

Starting from the top...

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lattesurf,

"Some non-certified sellers could just use the certification logo" - I agree with this. I will look into a script of some sort that 'hides' the URL so non-certified members can not link to it directly.

"Some sellers could send a non-hacked player and get certified, then sell hacked players subsequently and make a quick buck." - That is a valid point too. What we want to do is charge a fee every month for the seller to be certified. This will put off some as they have to pay for it. If a certified seller is caught selling hacked players, then they will be put on the blacklist.

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Que,

We won't be putting an eBay store in a hurry. I think we have our hands full with supporting these players :). We'll try our best to minimise the theft and misuse.

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avionik99,

Refer to my reply to you earlier in the thread.

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arviverona,

Can you explain that alittle more? We will put together a WHITELIST which will list good sellers who are certified with this scheme.

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lddrizzt1,

"...copying it and changing the name to theirs.." - I will look into a way to stop people from linking to the banner directly. Maybe some script or java code that doesn't show the location directly. Also, we will create a banner with a 'watermark' which has a date on it so it will expire. Combine this with a WHITELIST, hopefully it will minimise this problem.

I totally agree with opinion on a WHITELIST.

The problem with "self contained auction area that anyone, including any vendors can sell their products" is that any vendor, good or bad and advetise on it. It can also be a place for spamming. We choose our sponsors carefully. UXcell has been great in that it gives us prizes for it's members, but also selling a large range of good value products. Ok, there are some with problems but that's with every product and seller I guess. Nothing is perfect in this world. I'm sure Sony, Panasonic etc products can be faulty too.

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geekwrestler,

I totally agree with you on a dynamic certification. I will have to search how I'm going to do it though. But that is the way to go. The dates will change per month and certified members will have to pay a monthly fee. It will be similar to SquareTrade's scheme. This will filter out the bad quickly as suddenly they have to pay for it. Paying for a certification puts VALUE to a certification than getting it 'free' I feel.

"distance factor" - Very good valid point. I will definately consider that to be one of the options to take on board. I will source volunteers from around the world to do the evaluation.

"Put your trumpets out!" - That's a great idea! The more we let people know the better. I've found that a large % of the people with hacked players find this site AFTER they've put a hacked player and find errors. If we can spread the world as much as possible and warn people/educate people before they buy, it will definately make things easier that's for sure.

"Opinions should be taken from buyers" - That is also another good suggestion. I will have to take that onboard too.



Please, if you have any concerns, suggestions, opinions about this scheme, let us know. It's really good to discuss this and hear everyone's thoughts.

Re: mympxplayer.org certification
 

instead of the cert being a static make it a flash applet and when its clicked on it could bring you to a page telling u if its still valid. add a warning to the applet that if its unclickable its definitley not valid.

Re: mympxplayer.org certification
 

let me help you out on 1 concern, someone named joe_seller steals bob_sellers link, when the bidder goes to the page of the items cert results, the first thing they will see is that the the names of seller is differant.... if that doesn't send off an alarm then there is something wrong. if the address of the report is something other than mympxplayer.org...then there should be an alarm going off in buyers head as well. if someone pays for 1 cert and tries to use it on more than 1 item....that will be very easy to discover.....so easy its not even funny.
there are many things that have been thought out, but to talk about it in public would give those who would do us harm ammo...forwarned is for armed

geostar,

Great idea.


ronnieray,

Also great idea.


EVERYONE: If you have any suggestions, please PM or email them to me. This will keep it away from potential scammers trying to 'cheat' the certifidcation process.

i agree of the dynamic cert. anyway..after a cert is issued to a seller.. the buyer must have a feedback option in case the buyer receives a fake product directly to the admin..so updates to the certification can be more immediate...

some sellers may take benefit of the cert and do good for a while and may use their own cert to their another seller site which they own too but, selling fake products unlike the site which they own too that has the real certification...
i hope theres a way not to make a certification work for another selling site...
well i have a little knowledge about how this is done

just for laughs i contacted a consumer law attorney and asked him the following question. If bittorrent sites were found to be guilty of breaking the law by hosting torrent files, even though the offending downloads are not on their servers, and have been shut down by the dozens for faciliting the download of protected material. ( here in america anyways ),
then using that same logic, isnt ebay guilty of breaking the law by hosting fraudualnt sellers and knowingly allowing it to continue after being notified of such.And also I asked, If the Attorneys way of handling these bittorrent sites was to first send a letter of cease and desist, alerting them to the laws being broken and of the offending parties ID's. Does the same apply to Ebay, would it be proper to have an attorney send such a letter to ebays legal department spelling out what laws are being violated, who is violating them, and what action needs to be taken in order to comply with the law. will let you all know what his response is, if and when he replies to me

ronnieray,

Wow, that's an interesting idea actually.
Love to hear of the result....

here's a thought about donated players, put them up on ebay and for the items description page you advertise it as such
You are bidding on a 2GB black MP4 player donated to mympxplayer.org from ITS LEGIT Certiffied seller PROXO, he has several models for sale that have all passed the mympxplayer.org standards of excelance.Please support our sellers and bid with the piece of mind that what you see is what you get...bla bla bla. The proceeds from the sale of this MP4 player goes to support the operation of mympxplayer.org and bla bla bla bla... get the idea??? This way even if someone bids on the item and loses they still know where to go to get a real MP4 player, and the seller gets some good advertising, anyways just a thought, tell me what you think

Re: mympxplayer.org certification
 

I think that the this whole idea has a great concept. However, keep in mind that these scammers have been at it for quite a while now, and seem to have perfected their scamming ways. Even one problem/scammer that gets associated with this site will ruin this sites reputation with ebay buyers, and make new members suspicious and less enthusiastic to join us here. It may appear to them that this site may be working in union with the ebay scammers.
Hopefully, a fool-proof way to make this work can be ironed out, so that this plan can become a reality.