Making the Location Field compulsory in profiles (at least Country) Heres Why

[Funkyworm]

Hey,

Ok with (RAD) being a UK based forum its natural I guess to assume that it's members (most of them at least) are from the UK right ??

Recently I bought some items from a guy on here, a seat & some reasonably rare tyres (I wont mention his name) but I was expecting the goods to be here in just a matter of days as so far my experience of making purchases on RAD have been mostly positive & I've found most members to be really competent & Prompt with their postage (as I guess we all get excited about receiving new parts )?

 2 weeks later the goods still didn't arrive & it was only when i contacted the guy I found out that he was based in (((((((Singapore))))))) & the goods were coming from there in 2 separate packages.

Now a month on the seat has arrived but the tyres have not & they don't look like turning up at all. I did check the guys profile at the time but like many members their (Location field) was left blank & i didn't honestly think to ask where he was based as I just assumed due the the average prices he was based in the UK as it wouldn't really be worth posting from abroad due to the postage costs.


My suggestion is that if this field was made compulsory in the signing up process  (City or just even Country of residence) at least members can make a more informed decision as to whether they really want to make an unprotected gifted purchase on an item or items,  as they can take in to consideration the time it might take to get to them or the increased chances of the parcel going missing.

What might be even better (in the rush to DIB items) would be to have a compulsory (country of residence field) tied to your profile which shows on every post or just when making a for sale advert, that way potential customers could instantly see on each advert where the goods are coming from.

To be honest in my case i would not have bought the goods if i had known where the guy was based as I wanted them quickly, the prices were not that super special & I could have found alternative parts that i could have lived with & now I'm out of pocket.


Just a suggestion what do you think

[AKGOFF]

Never thought about it really but now you mention it, i think it's a great idea. Hope it gets approved. 

Adam

[griff]

There are plenty of UK bods on here who take ages to send stuff, so to be honest I don't think this idea will mean you'll necessarily get stuff in a few days
Best advice if you're in a hurry is to check this sort of stuff before you hand over the dosh...

Would this mean everyone would have to sign up again too?

[Funkyworm]

There are plenty of UK bods on here who take ages to send stuff, so to be honest I don't think this idea will mean you'll necessarily get stuff in a few days
Best advice if you're in a hurry is to check this sort of stuff before you hand over the dosh...

Would this mean everyone would have to sign up again too?

Agreed there are some that are a little slow but (theoretically) theres more chance of an item going missing the further it has to travel as nothing goes direct door to door & the further it comes the more sorting centres it has to go through.

 As for Re- signing up I doubt it would be necessary but that's one for the technical bods to sort out . I'm sure they can put up a sticky up like they do with the site supporter tag to remind members to add their location or even go one step further put a block on members from seeing or posting in the for sale board unless they add their location to their profiles . Simples

[Bob_Acid]

I buy lots of stuff from Asia and, thus far, it's always here within ten days.

[80sBMXer]

Not sure it should be compulsory........but it's certainly a good idea, don't think most people avoid putting their location for privacy,just don't update their profiles.

Would make it easier to chose to purchase complete bikes or frame sets if you know where they are !!