original text is
here
MARKETPLACE FOR SALES OF HIGH-QUALITY SERVICES
* * *
Electronic System of Honest Rating v2.0 - Simplified Version
Checking the quality of a product isn't difficult. Simply submit it for
inspection. Each product has certain minimum specifications it must meet. If
it doesn't meet these requirements, it must be returned to the seller, and
certain penalties are also applied.
я
But in the service sector, things are much more complicated. You can't simply
"submit a service for inspection" because a service isn't a physically
transportable object. Services are also much more difficult to standardize
than simple goods.
Add to this the fact that, thanks to the spread of the internet (video
conferencing) and electronic money, some services (consultations, lessons,
lectures) can now be provided remotely. And when the seller and buyer are
located in different parts of the world, this greatly complicates the process
of recovering damages through the courts (the courts themselves become quite
expensive).
This has given rise to a group known as "infogypsies." Those elusive sellers
of air.
But there is a way to combat them. You just need to organize your reviews more
carefully, because the quality of a service provider can only be assessed
through them.
We need to create an electronic "honest review" system, the main purpose of
which will be to generate the most honest reviews possible for service
providers. This system should operate as automatically as possible (with
minimal involvement of third parties). We want the system to be simple and
convenient for both the service provider and the buyer.
We want it to be well-suited for all popular services, such as plumber,
hairdresser, auto repairman, computer technician, appliance repair, home
renovation, handyman, sewing services, photographer, lawyer, doctor, sports
coach, teacher, tutor, consultant, etc.
__________________________________________________________________________
Electronic System of Genuine Reviews v2.0 - Simplified Version
The "Honest Rating v2.0"
electronic system can be created as follows:
A dedicated marketplace is created, designed exclusively for selling
services.
*) Registering a service seller account is a paid service. There must be a
minimum deposit, as well as a certain percentage (for example, 10% of the
value of all first 20 orders). This is to protect against scams like
"creating multiple disposable accounts."
You can use some elements of the "Honest Review v1.0" system - for example,
when connecting an external website to a profile, a direct link to the
profile must be posted on the external website (to prevent impersonation and
other people's PR efforts).
*) After registration, the seller receives an ID number and can create a
name for their company (their real name and information are not publicly
visible). They can create service cards for the services they sell. Similar
to product cards, the service card must fully describe the service. In the
service card, the seller must clearly (and if possible concisely) state
their guarantee to the buyer, what is included in the service, and what the
expected result will be. The service card also specifies the time period for
which the service is provided (e.g., "The lecture lasts two hours").
*) The buyer selects a service from the service cards, chooses the time they
would like to receive it, and pays the preliminary request. The money is
then processed in the "Honest Rating" system.
*) Every service purchased from a seller automatically receives a positive
"5-star" review with the purchase date for both the seller and the buyer.
Both the buyer and seller have the right to change their review to any other
within 12 months. Buyers and sellers can also add text comments to reviews
(and edit them).
To open a dispute for a service of a certain value, the buyer must upload
their basic passport information (full name, photo, date of birth, and place
of birth) into the system. This is necessary to protect against dishonest
buyers (likely referring to someone who received a good service but doesn't
want to pay).
After opening a dispute, negotiations with the seller begin, which may or
may not result in the seller agreeing to refund part of the buyer's payment.
After the buyer opens a dispute, if a compensation agreement is not reached,
the entire amount paid for the service is permanently transferred to the
marketplace's bank (meaning both the buyer and the seller forfeit the entire
amount for the service). Both the seller and the buyer are notified of the
dispute and the amount they both lost.
The more positive reviews a service provider has, the greater their
credibility. However, positive reviews can be inflated (by purchasing them on
the black market). To protect against this, the seller is required to pay a
3-5% commission to the "honest review" marketplace for each service rendered
(or positive review). The seller's profile must always display the total of
all commissions paid—this is one of the criteria for verifying the honesty of
the seller's reviews. Additionally, the seller can optionally add the amount
of taxes paid for each transaction to the displayed "paid commissions" amount.
To do this, they must provide tax statements. The marketplace must also verify
that the legal entity has paid the taxes and has not subsequently received tax
deductions for these taxes (otherwise, this would be a scam to inflate
positive reviews).
By comparing the amount the seller spends on fees for positive reviews with
the amount lost on disputes, buyers can assess the quality of the seller's
service and accurately determine whether positive reviews are fake.
Disputes and negative reviews can be manipulated by competitors, who pay
fake buyers to discredit competing sellers. Two system features protect
against this scenario:
a) The seller can always view the buyer's profile first. A legitimate buyer
won't pollute their profile with unfounded negative reviews, which will
greatly reduce their likelihood of future purchases on the marketplace.
b) an attack by competitors on a seller will always cost them a significant
amount, while the seller can register an unlimited number of new accounts, and
if they provide high-quality services, they will be able to eliminate the
unfair negative rating they have inflated, remaining in the market and
recovering relatively quickly.
This "Honest Review" system is designed primarily for selling services, not
goods. Low-quality goods are easy to return to the seller. However, this isn't
the case with services—it's impossible to return the service, which tilts the
balance in favor of the buyer, making it easier for them to pressure the
seller of a service already performed. This will, in turn, encourage many
dishonest buyers to leave unfounded negative reviews for sellers, hoping for a
significant refund, even after the work has been completed satisfactorily.
To protect against such dishonest buyers, the system has built-in
safeguards:
To leave a negative review above a certain level, the buyer must upload
their passport information. This measure helps prevent the registration of
fake accounts and duplicate accounts. Once registered, the account is
permanently linked to a specific person, and all their actions (all reviews,
all disputes) become completely transparent. The buyer's profile records all
their actions, including all services purchased: the initial price of each
order, the percentage compensation received for each transaction, the amount
of fees paid to the marketplace, the total cost of all orders, etc.; the
buyer and seller's feedback is displayed for each transaction. This
information is extremely useful for understanding the buyer's propensity for
fraudulent activity.
Before agreeing to provide services, the seller will be able to review the
buyer's profile and decide whether to do business with them.
* * *
The v1.0 version of the Genuine Review System is more complex and
sophisticated than v2.0. It's more meticulously designed, but it will be
much more difficult to implement in practice. Therefore, it's easier to
initially introduce a simplified version, "Honest Review v2.0."
V2.0 will have the following differences from v1.0:
* negative reviews will no longer be subtracted from positive ones, and
there will be a simplified rating system for both sellers and buyers.
* passport information will no longer be required for sellers (although it
may be added in the future).
However, the following will remain:
* mandatory system commission from sellers for each positive review (minimum
3% of the service cost).
* passport information is required for buyers when leaving a negative review
with a large invoice.
The above measures will simplify the system and make it easier to use.
In short:
The seller's profile will display two amounts: the lost amount, which is the
monetary amount frozen and lost by the seller from all negative reviews, and
the amount of the 3% system commission paid by the seller from all positive
reviews (i.e., this is the minimum amount the seller would have to pay if
all positive reviews were fake). If the lost amount is significantly lower
than the 3% commission, the seller is a reputable service provider and their
reviews are genuine. If the lost amount is close to the total commission,
they may be of poor quality or simply a scammer.
Passport information is not particularly necessary for service providers;
this will provide additional protection against paid negative reviews from
competitors. After developing this system, we realized that it will be
difficult for competitors to pay for negative reviews (it would cause them
significant losses).
In such a system, everything will hinge on whether the seller can actually
provide high-quality services and whether their quality corresponds to market
prices. If the services are high-quality, then another account can be quickly
boosted. If not, then faking positive reviews will be pointless, because
they'll have to pay a commission for each positive review, and the final
amounts will be higher than what they earn.
Example of the system operation:
A man needs to renovate his bathroom. He goes to a specialized marketplace
for "all possible services" (services only, not goods). There, he selects
service providers based on their ratings.
He finds a suitable seller
who already displays 30 completed orders for which the seller has paid a
commission of 50,000 rubles into the system.
The buyer submits a
request to purchase a service. The seller reviews the buyer's profile (see if
they have any negative reviews, how much they have paid for, and how many
services they have already paid for in the system. If there are negative
reviews, the seller will consider more carefully whether to engage with the
buyer and what final price to quote). The seller then accepts the buyer's
request. The buyer transfers the entire amount to the marketplace. It remains
there. The seller performs the service.
The seller then decides that
the service was poorly performed and opens a "dispute" (leaving a preliminary
negative review). To do this, they must verify their passport information if the
service cost more than a certain amount. A dialogue then ensues with the seller,
and both parties agree on the amount of possible compensation. If an agreement
is reached, the transaction is considered successful, and the seller
automatically receives a 5-star rating (this can be changed to 4 stars at the
buyer's discretion). Part of the buyer's payment is refunded, and the remainder
is transferred to the seller's account.
If the seller doesn't agree
to compensation (the buyer has demanded a large refund), the buyer receives no
compensation, and the seller receives nothing either. The entire amount goes to
the marketplace account. At the same time, the buyer's and seller's profiles
will display a negative review and the amount paid. Subsequent buyers and
sellers will see this amount and the negative review before agreeing to purchase
or sell services. They will use this information as a guide.
This is
essentially similar to the system used by eBay and AliExpress (where the amount
is blocked and not immediately transferred to the seller). However, since the
seller is selling a service rather than a regular product, the dispute procedure
is slightly different since the service cannot be refunded.
ABOUT THE MARKET OF FAKE POSITIVE REVIEWS
It's possible to predict in advance how the situation will develop with
the inflated fake positive reviews by both sellers and some buyers.
Some
sellers will 100% buy fake positive reviews for themselves. At the same time,
there will be buyers who would benefit from receiving a positive review without
paying full price for it. This creates a black market for fake positive reviews.
Let's try to figure out how this will work.
SELLERS:
Fake
positive reviews are extremely important for newly registered sellers, as the
chances of purchasing a service from a seller with no reviews at all are
minimal. This will encourage every seller who creates a new account to buy at
least some fake positive reviews.
BUYERS:
Paid fake positive
reviews may only be important to a buyer who has been caught buying an expensive
but low-quality service for which they were unable to obtain compensation.
Moreover, the more expensive the service, the more carefully the buyer will
choose the service provider, so this scenario is rare.
Free fake reviews
are beneficial to any buyer, but their supply will always be limited by seller
demand. There's also the risk of being banned from the system for such actions
(which will discourage people from engaging in such schemes).
Overall,
the market will be such that almost the entire burden of paying for fake reviews
will fall on sellers. At the same time, buyers who receive free fake positive
reviews will have additional opportunities to post fake negative reviews (in an
attempt to obtain compensation), but this proportion will not be critical for
the overall system. It will be only a very, very small percentage of the total.
___________________________________________________________________________
Electronic system of genuine reviews v1.0 (A more complicated
version).
You can create the "Honest Review v1.0" electronic system as
follows:
1) All online service providers are required by law to register
with the "Honest Review" system. To register, the seller must
provide some basic passport information (photo, full name, date of
birth, place of birth), but without serial numbers or signatures (to
prevent loans being obtained using this information). If the
seller's partner also provides the service, their basic passport
information must also be registered in the system—this is necessary
to protect against fraudulent sellers registering under fake
passports.
In their Honest Review profile, service providers can connect any
online sites (social media, any internet resources). All connected
resources are publicly displayed in the Honest Review system.
Service providers can place advertisements on connected sites, but a
link to their Honest Review profile is required. If a third-party
site isn't listed in their Honest Review profile, the service
provider is prohibited from advertising their services there.
Service providers themselves and website owners are responsible for
monitoring this (they will be fined if they don't).
2) After registration, the seller receives an ID number and can create a name for their company (their real name and personal information are not publicly visible). They can also create service cards for the services they sell. Similar to product cards, the service card should fully describe the service. In the service card, the seller should clearly (and if possible concisely) describe the guarantee to the buyer, what is included in the service, and what the expected result will be. The service card also specifies the time period for which the service is provided (e.g., "The lecture lasts two hours").
3) The buyer selects a service from the cards, chooses a convenient time for it, and pays. Their money is then stored in the "Honest Review" system. During the time period selected by the buyer, the seller connects with them via the video link integrated into the "Honest Review" system and displays several fields from their passport (photo, last name, first name, date of birth) – the data must match the information in the seller's profile. If all goes well, the money is transferred to the seller's account in instalments. This is done every 5 minutes of service. The buyer can click "stop" at any time and cancel the service and payment. The seller will also see this immediately (there should be a notification).
4) Each service purchased from the seller automatically adds a
positive review - "5 stars" with the date of purchase.
The buyer has the right to change their review within 12 months to
"4 stars" (generally OK, but with some negative aspects), "3 stars"
(poor service quality), or a negative review (minus xx stars). They
can also supplement their reviews with text comments.
To leave a negative review for a service, the buyer must upload
their basic passport information into the system (full name, photo,
date of birth, and place of birth). This is necessary to protect
against fraud (more on this below).
After submitting a negative review, the buyer is not automatically
refunded. The seller may, at their discretion, agree to refund part
or all of the money, but the negative review will disappear from the
seller's profile (and the transaction will be completely deleted).
To do this, the "Accept Seller's Terms" button must be enabled in
the "Honest Review" system.
The more positive reviews a seller has, the more trustworthy they
are (the higher their rating). However, sellers can also buy fake
positive reviews—there are plenty of schemes for this online (like
ordering services from yourself through proxies). In this case, for
each fake review, they will be required to pay at least the "honest
review" system's commission, and often also income tax. This means a
minimum of 2-3%, and more likely as much as 10%, of the service
price. Negative reviews can also be faked by competitors—they will
pay proxies to discredit competing sellers. To prevent both fake
positive and fake negative reviews, a well-defined security system
with a well-defined balance of power is needed.
To achieve this, one negative review left by a buyer should be
outweighed by several positive ones—they should completely
disappear from the seller's profile, thereby reducing trust in
them and making them appear less experienced in the eyes of the
consumer.
Example:
If the "honest review" commission is 2% and the income tax is 8%,
then after selling a service worth 10,000 rubles, the seller will
receive only 9,000 rubles net (the rest will go to paying the tax
and the service commission).
For the specified parameters, one negative review should hide 9
positive reviews (because with the 9,000 ruble profit received from
the service for which the competitor left a fake negative review,
the seller can in return buy 9 fake positive reviews (at 1,000
rubles per review) and automatically delete the negative
review.
This means that a balance will always be maintained, and even much
stronger and larger competitors won't be able to drive a seller out
of the market by ordering a ton of negative reviews. Neither
positive nor negative reviews can be inflated with impunity.
This "Honest Review" system is designed for selling services, not goods. Because goods can easily be exchanged for money, this isn't possible with services. It's impossible to return a service. This will encourage many fraudulent buyers to leave dishonest negative reviews for sellers, so they'll get refunds even after the work has been done properly. In other words, they'll try to keep their money and get the work done for free. To protect against such dishonest buyers, the system includes the following safeguards:
a) To leave a negative review, the buyer must upload their passport
information (this will help prevent fake accounts and duplicate
accounts). Once registered, an account is linked to a specific
person for life.
b) all reviews left by the buyer (positive and negative) and the
cost of each order are recorded in their profile. Before agreeing to
provide services, the seller can review the buyer's profile to
determine whether they are worth doing business with or just some
shady individual best avoided.
The system's operating algorithm:
A buyer purchased a service and had some complaints after it was
completed. They leave a negative review seeking compensation. The
negative review immediately erases a ton of positive reviews from
the seller and requires a resolution. The seller reviews the buyer's
complaints and then has three options:
1) They'll ignore the buyer and use the money they received to buy
fake positive reviews, thereby restoring the deleted reviews.
However, if the service was truly poor and the seller knows about
it, the buyer might also leave negative reviews on other platforms,
make a video for YouTube, etc. This could ultimately damage the
seller's reputation.
2) The seller will negotiate a partial refund—refunding part of the
service cost, explaining why. The negative review will disappear,
and the positive reviews it had hidden will be restored. The
transaction will be completely removed from the seller's
profile.
3) If the buyer refuses the second option (i.e., there's something
really ugly there), the seller can refund the full price of the
service. In this case, the negative review also disappears, and the
positive reviews it had hidden are restored. The transaction
completely disappears from the seller's profile.
More nuances:
After a negative review is posted, existing positive "star" reviews
for the same service are hidden first. If none are available, then
reviews for other services of the same price are hidden (to maintain
balance, according to the formula above). Only "5-star" reviews are
hidden. "4-star" and "3-star" reviews technically shouldn't be
hidden (participate in this scheme), because they already contain a
partial negative review (or a small part of it). However,
theoretically, if necessary, two "4-star" reviews could be equated
to one "5-star" (i.e., twice as many "4-star" reviews as "5-star"
reviews should be hidden).
The key to the "honest review" system is to accurately calculate
the balance—how many positive reviews should be offset by one
negative one.
If a seller receives a negative review for a service for which they
do not have enough positive reviews to deduct the negative review,
then the positive reviews are deducted from their other services
(the proportion is calculated based on their cost).
If a buyer cancels a service mid-payment (i.e., doesn't transfer
the full payment) and then leaves a negative review, the score for
such a review is half that of the positive ones.
In the specified customer feedback system, three options could be
created:
1) The buyer's profile displays all reviews they've left (both
positive and negative). The price for each review is also indicated.
Negative reviews do not erase positive ones.
2) everything is the same as in the previous option, but negative
reviews left by the buyer are deleted from his profile after 3
years.
3) everything is the same as in the first option, but negative
reviews erase positive ones in a certain proportion (the same as
with the seller).
But only the first one is the most efficient. Below is an
explanation.
In the first scenario, the following happens. Some sellers will
naturally want to buy fake positive reviews for themselves. At the
same time, there will be buyers who frequently leave negative
reviews, and for them, it would be extremely profitable to get a
positive review for free (by leaving the seller one as well). This
way, positive reviews will outweigh the negative ones. This will
allow them to leave negative reviews more often.
As a result, demand for fake positive reviews arises on both sides,
creating a market. The law of supply and demand sets the market
price. As a result, buyers won't be able to get positive reviews for
free.
When creating a fake positive review for a seller, the tax amount
is deducted from the service price. This tax is credited to the
seller's pension, not the buyer's.
Therefore, when creating a fake review, the seller will most likely
ask the buyer to also pay a portion of the tax, but it won't be a
50/50 split. Rather, it will be somewhere between 75/25 and 90/10,
in favor of the buyer.
But it still won't be free for the buyer. Therefore, trying to
cover up negative reviews with fake positive ones will only result
in unnecessary additional costs for the buyer.
In the second option, everything will be the same as in the first
option, but negative reviews that disappear over time will encourage
buyers to leave fake negative reviews more often in order to get an
additional discount (after all, negative reviews will disappear in 3
years anyway).
The third option would be as follows. Erasing positive reviews with
negative ones on a seller's profile is a way to punish them for poor
service. But even in this case, the buyer is still penalized (they
have no guarantee of a refund for the money spent on poor service),
plus their profile will still have a negative review, which could
confuse and even discourage some future sellers.
It's important to understand that reviews from sellers and buyers
are not equivalent. They have completely different strength and
importance. Reviews in a seller's profile are more important than
those in a buyer's profile. A buyer with no reviews (at all) will
easily buy any service. However, a seller with no reviews at all
will dramatically reduce the likelihood of selling their
services.
Therefore, the scenario where the seller needs fake positive
reviews will arise much more often than the scenario where the buyer
needs fake positive reviews.
A seller selling services typically focuses on a single, narrow
area, so reviews for such services can be aggregated (negative
reviews subtracted from positive ones). The results in their profile
can be used to determine the overall quality of their
services.
But buyers typically don't buy services in just one area. They buy
a wide variety of services. Reviews for these services can't be
combined. Therefore, the only option is to simply display all
reviews together. The aggregated reviews in a buyer's profile can
only be used to determine whether they behave appropriately and
whether they're trying to harass every seller by leaving exclusively
negative reviews in order to get something for free or at a steep
discount.
Also, please elaborate on the points about "if an organization
hires workers, how are reviews provided in that case?" and "every
10th service is a freebie (protection against this)." Names of
suitable professions.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
What will the above system give?
Once the above-mentioned system is implemented, providers of low-quality services and various scammers will completely disappear. And those who cannot provide services of sufficient quality will be forced to significantly reduce their prices.
For example:
An electronic system of "honest reviews" will allow filtering of similar employees (similar companies).
The buyer will first look at the company's existing reviews, then contact a company representative, pay for the service in advance (discussing all the details), and then have it performed. Finally, they'll submit a review. There's no way to get a refund. Everything will always be prepaid, and the quality of the work will be assessed solely by the review system (with protection against fraud).