Heatware Still Needed for B/S/T Section?

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Man I was looking at heatware but unless I'm missing something this looks like a dead site with like one item in mother boards/ memory/ cpu's

Marketplace | HeatWare.com

Heatware is a user feedback/rating database for user-to-user online transactions. Rate users when buying computer hardware, video games, electronics, etc.

www.heatware.com

So really why is this site important to post here ?

Was originally a post in this topic: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/read-before-posting-the-rules-of-this-forum.11040/page-16

Moved here to expand discussion on Heatware. -Kursah

 

[Kursah]

I do have some heatware rating(s) from 2021, but haven't used it sine then. In the 2010's it was definitely much busier, kinda like our B/S/T section was.

Trader Reviews for Kursah | HeatWare.com

Heatware is a user feedback/rating database for user-to-user online transactions. Rate users when buying computer hardware, video games, electronics, etc.

www.heatware.com

But what I don't see and maybe I'm being daft, is a way to request heatware feedback without including what you're selling on their marketplace, which you're right is pretty much crickets.

Maybe I'm missing something?

But it appears that maybe heatware isn't as useful as it once was, that being a tool to help qualify good sellers and buyers in the used tech component marketspace for forums like TPU, [H], etc. Admittedly a lot has changed in the last few years.

Should we start a poll?

 

[freeagent]

I think we should start a poll..

I have heat too but I have not used it in eons.

Maybe do like some other sites do, have like 100 quality posts before you have access to the buy/sell section. In the end is up to each user if they are going to do a deal.. but heat is good to trap scammers, so there is that..

 

[Kursah]

Maybe this leads to a larger discussion and potential solution where TPU develops its own variant of Heatware? But ya, the way I see Heatware now, not so sure it works for requiring on B/S/T. I agree, maybe setting a post limit to have access here might work as well. But there are some folks that only sign up (or used to) just to post stuff they're selling here along with other tech forums.

@W1zzard, how would you feel about that? I'm sure you want another project on your plate right?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yeah man poll would be nice but the place is dead hehe
I don't know why eBay or even Craigslist couldn't be used as referral I mean they have a crapload of activity although not sure CL has anyway to comment ebay sure does
Only issue with ebay is culling out all the lowballers but pretty easy once you set a minimum offer amount the rest goes auto reject

Post limit is also used on OCN.

Reason obviously is I have at least three items I was interested in offering the TPU community.

 

[the54thvoid]

I'd go with post limit but make it strict. I think the community should help each other, not be used for sales from external tech sites. But, that's just my 2 cents.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yep ultimate protection is how you pay.

Which gets tricky for sellers to since they have items they want money for otherwise they might as well use "pass it along" and expect nothing but giving freebies away with free shipping lol that isn't me hell I'd rather throw the stuff in the bay

 

[W1zzard]

Good poll, will be interesting to see what comes out of it. Heatware was added years ago when it was relevant.

 

[Space Lynx]

Heatware itself was always used as an external site. As a long time, now retired, member of Head-Fi, Overclock net, many sites use Heatware for verification purposes. Even if you take heatware away I would still like the option to require my buyers or sellers provide it, other sites still use it as it helps keep the selling community honest.


I personally won't feel as confident selling or buying without heatware. As I just said in a recent sale thread, my heatware speaks for itself, people can feel confident buying from me because they can see everything i have sold from various sites, reviews, etc. it gives buyers more confidence when buying high end items like my desktop im now trying to sell.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Ive done a lot of trades on TPU but never bothered updating my heatware with those transactions. I think heatware itself is pretty defunct now compared to early to mid 00's where trading of second hand parts was a thriving market.

I would prefer to link my ebay account which tends to see 1000x more action than my heatware. But i'm blessed to have been around long enough and done enough trades with some US and many UK members that people know me, so getting a reference if required probably isnt going to be a problem.

(ive also met a few of the UK crew in person a while back (even for trades) - although some of these members are no longer active on the forums anymore. )

 

[AusWolf]

My vote is on both yes and no.

No because I've tried to use Heatware in the past, but failed, so I've been resorting to the human excrement whirlpool called Facebook Marketplace since. I'd be glad to sell on TPU instead if I could.

Yes because without some form of identity control, mods will have an infinitely harder time, while others will be infinitely more exposed to scam.

 

[Space Lynx]

Ive done a lot of trades on TPU but never bothered updating my heatware with those transactions. I think heatware itself is pretty defunct now compared to early to mid 00's where trading of second hand parts was a thriving market.

I would prefer to link my ebay account which tends to see 1000x more action than my heatware. But i'm blessed to have been around long enough and done enough trades with some US and many UK members that people know me, so getting a reference if required probably isnt going to be a problem.

(ive also met a few of the UK crew in person - although some of these members are no longer active on the forums anymore. )

heatware does allow linking of your ebay account.

that's the great thing about heatware you can show all your reps in one place.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

heatware does allow linking of your ebay account.

that's the great thing about heatware you can show all your reps in one place.

ah great. I never knew they did that, I'll have to check it out. my first login since 2010 probably lol.

 

[Space Lynx]

yeah, if I get a new account PM me that is like two years old with maybe 400 posts, and they say hey i want to buy your desktop from you. and they have no heatware. sorry, i am not selling to them. its so easy to make scam burner accounts in this modern world, the only accounts i would trust without heatware would be the names I know really well here on the site, and unfortunately that would limit my sales chances incredibly.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yeah I made the heatware account not noticing the near zero content up for sell there

That's why I asked also "am I missing something" hehe because maybe people don't post items for sell there and it's just a review of sold items elsewhere site ?

Either way seeing three donuts on my heatware acc isn't all that compelling here/ there plus the inability to link/ associate ebay not sure I see the point of heatware now days seeing I'd still have to link to my ebay or as I said Craigslist profiles lol

ah great. I never knew they did that, I'll have to check it out. my first login since 2010 probably lol.

That died 2-3 years ago it just says temporarily disabled on new accounts lol
But I posted on a ebay issue thread there asking how long disabled or should the message say permanently disabled ?

 

[Space Lynx]

fyi Thrash, you are someone I would trust without heatware based on your post count and seeing your name a lot -

i would say though, one of the benefits of heatware is that it keeps people honest, because no one wants a red negative on heatware - as it can be seen in future sales etc

if someone has a dispute without heatware they are shit out of luck as it will be much harder to come to agreement.

 

[ThrashZone]

fyi Thrash, you are someone I would trust without heatware based on your post count and seeing your name a lot -

i would say though, one of the benefits of heatware is that it keeps people honest, because no one wants a red negative on heatware - as it can be seen in future sales etc

if someone has a dispute without heatware they are shit out of luck as it will be much harder to come to agreement.

Hi,
Well I've sold more stuff on eBay and CL than tech sites but that's likely just hoops I didn't want to jump through I suppose

Of course I have four up atm I was going to offer here or at least three of them.

 

[Fouquin]

That's why I asked also "am I missing something" hehe because maybe people don't post items for sell there and it's just a review of sold items elsewhere site ?

This is exactly how Heatware has been used. It's simply a ledger of trades/sales across various sites. Nobody I know has used Heatware's own marketplace in the last 10 years. It is only used to leave positive feedback on trades done in different forums.

I see no reason to remove the requirement now just because their marketplace is a ghost town. Their marketplace isn't why we use the site.

 

[ThrashZone]

This is exactly how Heatware has been used. It's simply a ledger of trades/sales across various sites. Nobody I know has used Heatware's own marketplace in the last 10 years. It is only used to leave positive feedback on trades done in different forums.

I see no reason to remove the requirement now just because their marketplace is a ghost town. Their marketplace isn't why we use the site.

Hi,
Not sure how the heatware site owner feels about that like other sites usually get a cut of sold items.
I see why there is a donation listing there though and last month alone was pretty low

 

[Fouquin]

Hi,
Not sure how the heatware site owner feels about that like other sites usually get a cut of sold items.
I see why there is a donation listing there though and last month alone was pretty low

Not to be rude or anything, but I don't care how the site owner feels. If the site owner wants to raise hell over the rating system being used for free, he'd charge a subscription fee to use the service, no?

This is how things have operated for the better part of a decade since their marketplace opened. Nothing about this has been a problem for anyone as far as I have seen. From their "About Us" page:

HeatWare is a 100% free site and has helped over 100,000 users in over 700,000 transactions.​

This is literally the entire purpose of the site; host feedback for users from various forums. By all means donate to keep the servers online, but we're using their service as it's provided. If they want to change the service, than I suppose we'll have to change too.

 

[ThrashZone]

Ouch think what you could do with just 1.us for each transaction though hehe

But if I were the site owner there I would be offended by your response.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I setup up heatware but never used it as doing so would would cause a private-life problem.

It does look like a dead site these days. Maybe a better solution would be to just require a valid and verified Ebay & Paypal account. This is as good as anyone can do these days. Paypal requires verifying a bank account to get "verified" these days and Ebay requires jumping through a few hoops too.

Maybe it would be enough just to have those two requirements and then if TPU users what to setup up a transaction they can do so. Private listings are a thing and are easy to setup.

 

[Fouquin]

I cannot fathom how anyone takes offense from using a free tool as it is advertised, for its intended purpose.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Yes and no. Perhaps recommend linking it, but no longer make it a requirement. The only times I'm on heatware is to post feed back if I sold or bought something when someone here on TPU that I worked with asks. That's honestly the only reason I use heatware.

TPUs own sale tracking would be nice, but I don't know if it would be that big of a draw for a thing to design and use. Kind of like how the old game/time tracking program Xfire - I loved using Xfire to track my games and times spent playing them. When it shutdown Raptr took over and I was able to export my time from Xfire and import it to Raptr. Eventually Raptr went kaput as well and I've survived without it. Nowadays I really don't care about tracking my time spent playing games. Would it be nice if something was there to house it all in one place? Sure, but it's not needed. Kind of like heatware, it's nice that it's there, but it seems to be so infrequently used that it doesn't really matter.

 

[Fouquin]

The only times I'm on heatware is to post feed back if I sold or bought something when someone here on TPU that I worked with asks. That's honestly the only reason I use heatware.

in other words; working as intended.

I simply don't see any benefit to rolling out a custom integrated reputation system when the one in use has not changed in utility or function. Maybe W1zzard is up for the challenge and can somehow find time to build it up, but it seems like such a massive waste of time.