The power of moderators to decide the category my item

I have been having some difficulties today with a moderator who has been going through some of my items.

Whilst I appreciate that the moderators provide a useful service and that sometimes as a seller I make a mistake with a listing, my experience today has been with an overly zealous individual.

He has moved several of my items to what I consider to be incorrect categories and when I moved them back and explained the reasons for my category choices, he ignored my explanation, moved the items back to his choice of category and in what seems to me as quite rude terms, told me not to move my items again!

To give an example, he has moved an old document with some revenue stamps on it from a stamps category to the "old paper" category and whilst I accept that it is an old piece of paper, the collector who is likely to buy it is somebody who collects revenue (fiscal) stamps, not "old paper"! This is one of a number of examples of moved category items today.

I would be grateful for the thoughts of the Delcampe team, on both what appear to be the power of final decision that the moderators have, together with this particular moderators high-handed attitude.

I hope that I am the only seller to experience this issue, however if there are others out there who have experienced similar situations, that I think it would be useful for Delcampe to hear from you.

Regards
Jonathan

I would address your concerns direct to Delcampe. If they agree with you a quiet word to the Moderator will sort matters out especially if he/she is just being intransigent.

Obviously there are many items that may fall into several categories depending on what you are highlighting but if there is justification for you choice then, I believe, it should be upheld.

Absolutely correct and good advice.

I had a similar problem with a moderator some years ago and simply shifted the 3 sales to another site.., where 2 sold quickly. But I find most moderators are reasonable

No point in arguing with any knowitall moderator thpigh.

I have had probably the same moderator, who must be on commission pay to scour through my listings to a tune of over 80 items.
I am not a fan. These people do not offer their credentials nor do they allow for proper discussion. I hate this arbitrary power
with no accountability.

Hello,

Our moderators are not paid on commission but are volunteers, experts in their field, who have the collectors' best interests at heart.

If you do not agree with the moderator's decisions, you can contact him through the link in the message that you receive.

Best regards,

Elise - Customer service

Hello Elise

Thanks for your message. As I said in my original post, I did contact the moderator & his replies where somewhere between unhelpful (I know which category this belongs in - better than you as the seller do!) and outright rude!

To keep things private, I would be happy to send you examples of our interactions. I feel that if you had a clearer understanding of this particular moderators comments, that it could help with the guidelines that you give moderators.

If you let me know the best place to send you the examples, I will be happy to send them to you.

Thanks
Jonathan

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Your comments suggest that sellers are all exemplary when listing items. Regretably this is not the case and many sellers abuse listings by deliberately placing items in wrong categories in order to increase exposure for items that would attract little traffic in their correct categories.

Items placed in the wrong categories are a sure fired way of putting off buyers.

A good example of this has been highlighted before where Japanese phonecards have not been listed under Japan but under the country where the illustration originated. A picture of the Sistine Chapel, for example, on a Japanese card listed under Vatican City. This became so bad it was very difficult to find genuine Vatican City phonecards amongst all the wrongly categorised cards. Buyers if they cannot find what they are looking for easily desert the site and sales go down.

This happens a lot and Moderators do a good job keeping this kind of abuse under control as well as controlling the plethora of fake and other items of doubtful legitimacy that flood some categories from time to time.

Occasionally there will be an overzealous Moderator and I have come across one or two before and I suggest one contacts them politely rather than confrontationally. Usually I ask why the item has been moved/closed and I have found when an explanation has been given I have been in the wrong sometimes. The problem is many Moderators give no reason why something has been closed or moved and refuse to explain their decisions. It should be mandatory and be recorded why an item has been closed/moved so sellers abusing listings on a regular basis can be identified and officially warned about their behaviour. This should also reveal those Moderators that are being complained about on a regular basis.

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"As a seller, I have every right to place my lots in the categories that I consider
more profitable from the point of view of a more successful sale"

You may indeed think this - but you are NOT the owner of the site. It is the administrators of the site and their rules you must adhere to - not your rules. If you wish to be successful on Delcampe then you MUST follow the rules - you cannot make your own. If you do your account will not stay long on here.