There have been some discussions over the last few weeks with many members, and this post is to clarify APS Administration's position on both Positive and Negative Feedback in regards to people selling things.
Positive Feedback
If you have something positive to say about a seller, we have a Positive Feedback Forum at http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=46 where you can leave your comments.
And if you are buying from someone you haven't dealt with before, you can see what other people have said about dealing with that seller.
But please be aware that a seller's absence from the list doesn't mean they are bad or dodgy, just that no-one has bothered to say anything about them.
Which leads to -
Negative Feedback
It has long been suggested that we have a negative feedback forum, so people can 'warn' newcomers about dodgy sellers. APS has resisted this, I can state quite categorically that APS will NOT have a negative feedback forum for the following reasons:
Legal reasons - negative comments about a seller could be libelous, slanderous or defamatory. Such posts could damage someones reputation or business, and that could give them a legal case against APS.
For this reason, there will be no more negative threads about bad petshops. If you think a petshop is bad, report them to the authorities to investigate.
Personal Vendettas - we all know that various members on this site don't get along. How would you feel if someone posted some negative feedback about you as a seller? It might be a complete lie, but mud sticks and you would have to fight to prove it was a lie. Of course, it doesn't even have to be someone who doesn't like you - I can think of a couple of banned members who would lie about you just because they thought it was funny. I know that would bug the freddy out of me if I was targeted like that.
Honest Mistakes and Inexperience - we had an incident about three years ago. A relative newbie posted that her hatchy had died. She had contacted the seller to demand her money back, but he refused. She was convinced it was sick when he sold it to her, so was getting it autopsied at the vets as proof.
Sympathetic members rallied around her, jumping on the bandwagon, with posts like "he should give you your money back, or another snake". From memory, the seller was named and promptly branded unscrupulous and untrustworthy, as well as many other names. After three pages of posts, someone asked "why did you wait until the snake died before approaching the seller - why did you not contact him when you couldn't get it to feed?"
"Because it's only been the last three weeks it wouldn't feed"
Further questioning revealed that the snake had several feeds in her care - she'd owned it a couple of months. Yet it died and she thought she deserved a replacement. The autopsy found it had died from a gut impaction.
So a seller was unfairly blamed for something completely beyond his control, had his name blackened, all due to a misunderstanding resulting from incompetence by a newbie.
And many sellers will tell you that this is not a rare thing.
That's why APS doesn't have a Negative Feedback forum.
Positive Feedback
If you have something positive to say about a seller, we have a Positive Feedback Forum at http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=46 where you can leave your comments.
And if you are buying from someone you haven't dealt with before, you can see what other people have said about dealing with that seller.
But please be aware that a seller's absence from the list doesn't mean they are bad or dodgy, just that no-one has bothered to say anything about them.
Which leads to -
Negative Feedback
It has long been suggested that we have a negative feedback forum, so people can 'warn' newcomers about dodgy sellers. APS has resisted this, I can state quite categorically that APS will NOT have a negative feedback forum for the following reasons:
Legal reasons - negative comments about a seller could be libelous, slanderous or defamatory. Such posts could damage someones reputation or business, and that could give them a legal case against APS.
For this reason, there will be no more negative threads about bad petshops. If you think a petshop is bad, report them to the authorities to investigate.
Personal Vendettas - we all know that various members on this site don't get along. How would you feel if someone posted some negative feedback about you as a seller? It might be a complete lie, but mud sticks and you would have to fight to prove it was a lie. Of course, it doesn't even have to be someone who doesn't like you - I can think of a couple of banned members who would lie about you just because they thought it was funny. I know that would bug the freddy out of me if I was targeted like that.
Honest Mistakes and Inexperience - we had an incident about three years ago. A relative newbie posted that her hatchy had died. She had contacted the seller to demand her money back, but he refused. She was convinced it was sick when he sold it to her, so was getting it autopsied at the vets as proof.
Sympathetic members rallied around her, jumping on the bandwagon, with posts like "he should give you your money back, or another snake". From memory, the seller was named and promptly branded unscrupulous and untrustworthy, as well as many other names. After three pages of posts, someone asked "why did you wait until the snake died before approaching the seller - why did you not contact him when you couldn't get it to feed?"
"Because it's only been the last three weeks it wouldn't feed"
Further questioning revealed that the snake had several feeds in her care - she'd owned it a couple of months. Yet it died and she thought she deserved a replacement. The autopsy found it had died from a gut impaction.
So a seller was unfairly blamed for something completely beyond his control, had his name blackened, all due to a misunderstanding resulting from incompetence by a newbie.
And many sellers will tell you that this is not a rare thing.
That's why APS doesn't have a Negative Feedback forum.