Earlier this month Entrecard launched a Marketplace in order to allow it’s members to trade products and services in exchange of Entrecard credits (EC). It is really a good idea and I can see that more and more bloggers are using the marketplace. If you are a member of Entrecard, I am sure that you have visited this new Marketplace. Am I right? Today I have decided to write this blog post for those users who uses the Entrecard Marketplace. Beware of frauds!
Entrecard had this market feature in the beginning. Many people offered different types of services in exchange of EC. Like many other blogger, I also ordered some services via the market. In the beginning everything was fine. But soon frauds started to ruin it. I still remember 3 or 4 service providers didn’t delivered the promised services, despite of my reminders. So, I stopped using it and eventually the admin closed the market. I don’t know what was the reason, but it relieved me. Because, I saved lots of EC that people earns by dropping and displaying ads.
Why I am talking about the old system? Because, I can see that despite there is escrow system, there are chances of frauds in this marketplace. Let me give you two simple situations where frauds may cheat you:
- The sellers may not keep the promise. It is applicable for long term services like one month ad space. Let’s take an example: I purchased 125×125 ad space for 5 months in exchange of 5000EC (this is not a real offer). My 5000EC went to escrow, the seller accepted the order and delivered it after one day. Now, my account shows that the product has been delivered and I need to confirm the delivery. I checked the particular location and yes, my ad is alive. So, I confirmed the delivery and the seller got the EC from escrow. Everything was fine until the seller removed my ad after two days. So, what you gonna do in that condition? Curently I don’t see any options for taking action in such condition. Do you?
- You may not get what you expected to get! For example: You purchased text link on a Pagerank 3 blog for 5 months, for which you paid 5000EC through escrow (not a real deal). Why you want to purchase a text link? The most probable answer will be “link juice” which will help your blog in getting a good PageRank. So, you ordered the text link package and the sell added your link with your own anchor text. You checked the URL and everything is fine. You confirmed the delivery and only then you realized that your link is posted with a “no-follow” tag. Can you accept this? I think you must accept this, as there is no official way to give pressure to the seller to add a “do-follow” tag. In fact he/she didn’t mentioned “do-follow” or “no-follow” in the sales page. Now think, was it a right service to spend your 5000EC? I don’t think so.
With this, I am not trying to tell that Entrecard marketplace is a bad place to do some transactions. In fact I am happy with most services delivered to me. But, there are chances that you may end up spending your ECs by purchasing services offered by frauds. I can see that some sellers are claiming to add links on good pagerank blogs, when they only have Zero Pagerank blogs. So, before ordering a service think twice and read carefully what the seller offers. Also do some manual searches in case the service you are interested in is somehow related to Pagerank. Keep your eyes and ears open as Internet is full of frauds. Enjoy Entrecard Marketplace, enjoy blogging.
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Both of your examples could happen anywhere, ie you could arrange advertising on a blog directly and pay $$ for it. How do you know that your ad will not be removed tomorow?
In the second example, if you’re not happy with the link you do not accept it. That is the advantage of escrow.
Another option for both your examples is not ‘accept’ that the ad/link has been delivered until the 5 months is up. whether the blog owner will keep it there without you accepting for that amount of time is a different matter.
Greg
Thanks for your comment. Yes, this can happen in other platform also. I just want to warn those who just started blogging and have no idea about these kind of practices.
But, I must add that in some platforms the buyer can charge back when the seller is not following the wanted guidelines.
Entrecard marketplace is really good and that’s why I’v written this post. I hope that sellers will continue to provide their services in true spirit of blogging and professional service.
Thanks for the mention, Earnblogger.
Creating a safe and useful marketplace is a priority for us here at Entrecard. We have created an escrow feature so that sellers of items only receive credits once the buyer marks the item as received. Buyers should not release the credits until they have received the product as described.
However, in the chance that you are defrauded some how, we have an additional precaution. A user-feedback system, a la eBay, has been put in place, so that you can leave negative feedback for a seller if they do not deliver the item as promised.
We are addressing these concerns every way possible.
Hi Graham,
Thanks for leaving your comment here. As I’v mentioned above, I love your service and I don’t want to see it ruin just because of some bad people (I’m not pointing to any particular person here). With this post, I just want to tell the newbie that there may be some catches in certain service ads. So, they must think before spending their ECs. One can easily identify fraudulent activities just by initial observation.
Thanks for mentioning about the user-feedback system. I hope that it will help in keeping Entrecard Marketplace clean.
Thanks again for your comment and all the best for your success.
hey nice post and some good points and am glad the people at entrecard are looking at ways to make it as safe as can be.
might see what i can buy my self
Great post. Even as I type this I am waiting for well over two days for advertisers to complete their services after I have ordered them (they were supposedly ‘very quick’). I don’t know if 48 hours is long enough to complain, but I would imagine it doesn’t take that long to stumble or digg a link.
Good show of concern on the part of EC by Graham replying here.
I haven’t looked at the Marketplace yet, so I will bear this in mind. So far though I have never have enough credits to spend as I usually spend them on ads as soon as I get them.
Its alwayss good to post stuff like this. Its a sad fact of life that this happens – and not just on the net !! In my view the best way to deal with it is bad publicity for the perp.
thanks for this useful info..
I was not even aware of such existing opportunity called marketplace.
Thanks for the post.
I always appreciate someone taking the time to warn Entrecard users of potential problems. Having said that, I am fairly new to Entrecard, and therefore, I was not around when the first Marketplace was launched. I can only base my opinion on the current Marketplace.
What I can say is that I’m very pleased that Entrecard has a Marketplace. It has been beneficial for me so far. Whether you have a Marketplace at Entrecard or somewhere else – it is always a case of BUYER BEWARE. Fraud is a fact of life today, and you can’t be too careful anywhere on the Internet these days.
I’ve been ripped off before, and I’m sure I’ll be ripped off again. If a person is ripped off at Entrecard’s Marketplace – it’s not Entrecard’s fault. The buyer takes that risk when they enter a sale. Entrecard is merely the vehicle for a Marketplace.
this is a very good post.
as an entrecarder with several listings in the marketplace; I can tell you that there is a responsibility factor.
before you accept that order, you must be ready to deliver. plain and simple.
I do a combination of services which all involve my personal interaction, and the response from the buyer. that means all parties are committed to each step, from purchase to delivery.
hope this article is featured on entrecard’s blog, soon.
You got the point! It is ‘responsibility’ that is needed to keep the things balanced. And suddenly at the end of the day everyone is happy! I hope that others also thinks like the way you think. Thanks for leaving your comment here. Happy blogging.
This is interesting. Nothing like this has happened to anyone and I trust that Entrecard is ethical enough that if we go to them with an issue, they will take care of it.
However, everyone jumped on the bandwagon here. Very interesting human nature.
NOW – I challenge you to write a post with what is GOOD about the new marketplace. Let’s change the focus. You game?
I wrote this post after some initial observations. I don’t want to mention any particular person here, but I must say that I saw some possibilities of fraud there. First of all I saw most sellers don’t mention whether it is do-follow or no-follow. If you are a professional blogger, you will mention it in the first place before a transaction happens. Do you think that it is good? If not mentioned link must come do-follow. But I can see that some sellers are intelligent enough to add no-follow without any mention. Is it fair?
Then I saw one particular seller claiming to add link on his/her good PR blog, which actually has PR0. Well, I’m sure that most of you know how to check the PR. But what about a newbie? Think about it.
How you came to know that nothing like this happened? OK no one is causing any problem so far. But, can you say with confidence that it will never happen? I don’t think so. This is Internet.
That’s why I was just pointing towards the possibilities. I hope that Entrecard market will remain clean and innocent.
You missed my point entirely. I did not say it’s not possible and I’m not naive enough to believe that anything will ever be “clean and innocent”. I also said:
“I trust that Entrecard is ethical enough that if we go to them with an issue, they will take care of it.”
The point was:
FOCUS on the positives
The positives well outweigh the negatives. Not to mention the fact that you get more of what you focus on.
My experience has been mixed. I was about to give up on EC entirely when the Marketplace opened and it has renewed my interest for the time being. I have purchased some valuable services for what I consider low fees and gotten more than a fair return in all but a few cases.
Some buyers, however, don’t seem to understand how to complete a transaction. I have several that still need to hit the “Delivered” and rate the transaction when a week has passed after completion.
How long do you think one should wait before requesting moderation?
Same here. I am happy with Entrecard market. I think you should wait one week and inform the person via the internal message system, before requesting moderation. Thanks for your comment.
Note: Most of the services that I purchased through Entrecard market are of excellent quality. So, I would strongly recommend it to all. But, as I said before keep your ears and eyes open. There might be some frauds also. If you spotted something fishy inform the support.
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