We are excited to announce a new feature called Buyer History. This allows users the opportunity to "level up" over time as they use the site and make purchases.
Our site has a lot of data about buyers; however, we have chosen not to give this information directly to sellers in raw form due for privacy reasons. Instead, we've combined a number of factors into an algorithm that will give recognition to buyers with history.
Buyer history can be seen along with other user information on the User Profile, within the Messages system, and in the footer of Inquiry emails.
Each level is represented by a different colored star:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Some clarifications:
- The level is NOT based on ratings from sellers; however, it IS positively impacted through confirmed purchases from breeders through our inquiry system.
- Right now there are only 5 levels. Because there are only a few levels, it is not "easy" to get to level 4 or 5. There are no "bad" levels, but all users can achieve Level 2 in time. We may expand the levels in the future.
- Generally levels will stay at the same value or go up. They will rarely go down.
- An easy thing you can do to help your level is to make sure you've filled out the required fields on your User Profile such as your name. These are "free points" like writing your name on the test. Although, soon this will be required for all users in order to send inquiries, and thus not have an impact on levels.
While Buyer Ratings might have accomplished the same thing, to date sellers have not consistently left ratings for buyers -- but we believe they should still get credit for this activity.
We love ALL our buyers, especially those who are brand new. And most sellers will work with and entertain inquiries from all as well users. However, sometimes sellers may give extra consideration based on history, such when selling a very expensive animal. That's fair, because buyers also take many factors into consideration, such as a seller's ratings, badges, and so forth.
