If negative feedback gets removed, it's because it doesn't meet the grounds for feedback under the site rules. If it's not agreed to in PM, it doesn't count. Screenshots of texts, or anything other than PM do not matter.
Rules & Guidelines
www.theoutdoorstrader.com
Feedback
Our feedback system is designed to help you make an informed decision about who to deal with and to hold users accountable for their actions. Please be sure to check a user’s feedback before any potential trade and be sure to follow our guidelines for completing a deal so you have the option to leave a negative rating if necessary later.
Positive Ratings -
Positive ratings can be left for any deal that went positively.
Negative Ratings -
Our members take their feedback scores very seriously, and that means we must have very strict rules when it comes to giving negative ratings. Please review our requirements carefully for leaving a negative so you can keep it as an option in case a deal doesn’t go according to plan. Any negative rating can be challenged by the recipient by posting in the private help forum.
If a negative rating is challenged then a mod will review the user’s private messages to investigate. In cases involving shipping we will accept tracking information from a major carrier as proof of sending or receiving an item. We will NOT accept texts, emails, voicemails, snapchats, instagram posts, tweets, police body cam footage, etc. as proof of anything. We just don’t have the time or resources to get into anything that isn’t directly verifiable here on the site.
A negative rating becomes an option once these terms have been agreed to by both parties:
The reasons for leaving a negative are limited to the following:
- Date/Time of meeting. (Up to a 2 hour range is acceptable)
- Location of meeting.
Negatives do not have to be permanent, in many cases they are used to force a member to follow through with their commitments. At any time a user can choose to reverse any negative that they have left for another user by posting in the private help forum and letting the site staff know which rating to remove.
- Cancellation of meet after committing to it.
- Failure to show up to meet.
- Failure to send payment or item.
- Item is misrepresented or damaged and it is discovered after the transaction is complete.
Members are allowed to inspect and reject an item or trade at a meet, there is no requirement that they must purchase the item, they are just committed to showing up to the meet.
We recommend that once you have all the details worked out that you send a private message detailing every item involved in the transaction and the time and location of the meet, and ask them to agree to it or accept it. Save this response until you are satisfied with the deal. Once it is gone you lose your leverage.
Disputing a Negative Rating - If you feel like you’ve been given a negative rating unfairly then you have 30 days to dispute it in the private help forum. Please remember that we only accept info that is verifiable in a private message.