Overstock Sellers Form "Trusted Overstock Auction Sellers Affiliate" Group

[bargainbloodhound]

In a continuation of the fallout from Overstock Auction's introduction of its Trusted Merchant program, a group of Overstock sellers have formed the Trusted Overstock Auction Sellers Affiliate.  Sellers who meet the criteria for membership will be able to display a "Trusted Member"  logo in their listing descriptions. 

The criteria for membership is:

   1.   An active Overstock seller for 3 months before applying
   2.  At least 20 ratings from unique buyers (ratings received from the selling of recipes or gmail accounts will not count towards this total)
   3. Sellers with less than 50 ratings need at least 90% positive feedback.  Sellers with over 50 ratings need 95%+ positive.
   4. Sellers listings and home page must not violate Overstock's TOS.
   
#5,6,7,8. some other requirements, including listing at least 20 items per month to maintain membership after being accepted.

The group's web site is at:  http://www.toasa.org/  and the complete membership requirements are at: http://www.toasa.org/criteria.htm

[amy]

17 sellers are signed up for this thing.

[bargainbloodhound]

36 now

[bargainbloodhound]

Here's the link to the Overstock page on this:

http://auctions.overstock.com/cgi-bin/au...AGE=static&pagenum=852&caller=m

[ginger]

Looks like it is starting to implode already :o

http://forums.auctions.overstock.com/vie...php?t=9615&sid=c563f8fcc3e49e5ade7e95d647ae91c8

When are you going to start an O trade association BBH?

[ginger]

Hi Ginger,

We are in the process of reviewing your application to TOASA and wondering if there was a particular reason that you haven't left ratings for your Buyers since the end of October.  Ratings are important for many buyers to drive repeat business and evaluate the transaction from both the Sellers and Buyers perspective.We would be interested in your response to help us understand. 

Thank you for your time and attention,

Quality and Standards
TOASA

[bargainbloodhound]

HAHA L'IL GINGEE WAS BAD AND DIDN'T LEAVE FEEDBACK OR POST ENOUGH ON THE O BOARDS AND NOW SHE'S GONNA BE REJECTED HAHAHA 

We applied yesterday just to see if they'll reject us for having a Trusted Merchant logo besides our name. 

I think a seller's association is definitely a good idea BUT I think membership should be based on something more than message  board popularity.

By the way, your Overstock forum link sucks .  Try this one--its much much better-this board has been taken over by disgruntled O sellers and there are many threads by a lot  of people who have been banned from the Overstock boards (and many from O itself) for daring to complain on the O boards.

http://www.theauctionman.info/forum/viewforum.php?f=65

[ginger]

I think a seller's association is definitely a good idea BUT I think membership should be based on something more than message  board popularity

I agree.  I missed the part where how many feedback you leave was part of the criteria of acceptance to the club.  Since they're so interested in my response to help them understand - I think I'll go ahead and tell them what I think.

By the way, your Overstock forum link sucks

Compared to yours it did.    I just thought it was funny that one of the "executives" quit on the O forum without telling them.  BTW, I checked out your link - funny stuff - I'd never been to that board before.

I'm getting quite a few sales on O, hopefully the auctions stay around at least through the holiday season.

[bargainbloodhound]

renaming the thread based on this quote from the head of TOAST 

We had a difficult time evaluating the applications of a few exceptional sellers who have allowed their strong feelings to impact their public message board presence....

In our attempts to take into account the frustrations and strongly held beliefs of a few, we have decided to identify an amnesty period for those sellers who have previously demonstrated exceptional customer service, professionalism and maintained a constructive presence on Overstock.com Auction message boards. The amnesty period begins from this posting until September 15th. We have already observed some sellers begin to return to their past helpful nature on the message boards, and we are encouraged by the sense of community.

I'm sure buyers will be really impressed by a seller's ability to post on message boards and will be  rushing to buy from sellers based on  the seller's message board post count.  Its good to know that posting pictures of food on a message board is the primary qualification to be on the governing board of this new "Professional Association"

http://forums.auctions.overstock.com/vie...php?t=7817



*gee, I'm being mean this morning, now I'll never be accepted to TOAST *

I'm getting quite a few sales on O

So are we which is surprising since our post count on the O boards is only 3.  :twistedevil: :twistedevil:

[Angel]

Reading all that makes me soooo glad I dont sell on Overstock

Its become another soap opera over there just like ebay..."As the O turns"  :


Angel