How We Reach a Verdict in Level 2 Arbitration on OpenBazaar
In our last couple of articles we have covered
- an overview of how we’re getting more involved with OpenBazaar and
- an introduction to our OpenBazaar 2-level moderation policy.
In this article, we’re going to get into
- how, exactly, we reach verdict in Level 2 Arbitration and
- how you can use this information to stay safe (and fair!) on OpenBazaar.
Remember that Level 2 Arbitration is where the “rubber meets the road” in OpenBazaar disputes moderated by us. In other words, Level 2 is where things get serious. And you should take it seriously — because there are considerable moderation fees involved.
Level 1 is where things aren’t so serious and you can reach a reasonable agreement with your counterparty — with minimal moderation fees involved.
So here’s our approach to getting serious!
First, we just look at the verifiable facts.
If there are such facts, often they will be enough for us to reach a verdict.
Take, for example, a situation where a seller sent a product to a buyer with a tracked shipping method. The shipment service lost the delivery and there is no record of delivery.
That’s pretty straightforward. Our verdict will be in favor of the buyer, and the seller can seek compensation from the shipping service.
Second, we look at both sides’ reputations and track records on OpenBazaar.
If the case is more complex, we will review what both sides have been doing on OpenBazaar so far.
If you have an established history of successful purchases or sales that have not led to disputes, that will obviously help your case.
If it is your first transaction — at least under a particular user ID — it will obviously not help your case.
This approach isn’t foolproof — but knowing it can help you plan ahead to protect your interests.
It isn’t perfect because moderating a case in which both parties
- have about the same OpenBazaar reputations and
- claim that the item sent is different than the one received
is going to be tough.
So the recommendation here is pretty simple.
If you know you may be judged based on your reputation, build your reputation ahead of time!
To do that, you need to start buying and selling on OpenBazaar.
As you do so, you can
- Ask for feedback from your counterparties in successful deals. But let’s be honest, that might be a chore. Not all of your counterparties will be keen on giving feedback.
- Act honestly in all deals so that as few of them go into arbitration with us or any other moderator. This is probably your safest and most reliable method for building up your OpenBazaar track record.
Practically speaking, if you’re just starting out on OpenBazaar you’ll probably want to make relatively small, straightforward deals.
Small deals are unlikely to end up in any level of arbitration, especially not relatively expensive Level 2 Arbitration with BlockStamp as the moderator.
When you have an established history of smooth, simple transactions, you can move up to making bigger, more complex deals.
You probably do not want your first OpenBazaar transactions to be big, complex arrangements that could wind up in significant funds being tied up in escrow while we or another moderator sorts through the case details.
Combined with our moderation policy and the BlockStamp OpenBazaar Listing Explorer, this approach will help you get through a couple of (unfortunately) predictable scams that bad actors can run on a decentralized marketplace like OpenBazaar.
Come back next week for a more detailed description of these scams and what you can about them.
Make sure you’re part of the BlockStamp social community and feel free to ask any questions there!
About BlockStamp:
BlockStamp is a Bitcoin blockchain fork hosting an ecosystem of fair play apps, including a true-odds multiplayer crypto gambling platform, a decentralized marketplace listing optimizer, and a private messenger with sword-in-the-stone encryption (launching soon).
