Linkshell Better Business Bureau

After experiencing some frustrations with shells in the past, even ones in which I've been a member of, I often wished that there was some avenue that the practices of various shells could be made known to their respective servers.

If a Linkshell is offering services for gil and/or goods -- be they mercenary services or items for sale -- they are a business. As such, the way in which they run their business is subject to praise as well as scrutiny since they will be involving players outside of their linkshell.

That praise or scrutiny should carry consequences that either enhance or diminish their business. But for that to be a realistic outcome in any practical amount of time, the customers must be knowledgeable of the linkshell's business history.

That is the purpose of this thread: To ***, rate, and publish the services provided to customers from various linkshells to assist Ragnarok in creating a better business environment. A friend of mine asked me, "Why not just make a 'LS Warning' thread?" My response to this is that I do not want to list only bad linkshells that do not satisfy their customers; I wish to have good linkshells that satisfy their customers receive renown as well.

Another traditional process I wanted to deviate from was that of creating a thread to comment about one shell only to have it go into the archives. I felt it would be better to have a centralized location for people to find this sort of information. This way when one is interested in an item or services a shell may be offering and wishes to do business with them, they will have more information readily available to them. I know typically people look at a price in a bazaar a leader or a sack has posted, but as time progresses I hope that people will remember that there is a thread in their server section where they can see beforehand if doing business with "x" shell is worth it.

I will keep the original post updated with a ranking of the shells that are discussed.

The format for this thread for one who wishes to discuss their experience with a shell should be as follows:

Experience

- Linkshell Name
- Item/Service Provided
- Story (summary of what happened in the transaction)
- Poster's conclusion and Ratings (see below)

Ratings will be on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best service/experience possible. There will be several factors to rate:

Rating

- Public Display of Items and/or Services: A rating of "1" indicates that a buyer has to send in-game tells to obtain information regarding items/services. A rating of "10" indicates that the buyer is easily able to browse items/services offered by a shell.

- Price: A rating of "1" indicates unreasonable prices for the market. A rating of "10" indicates a very generous price.

- Pre-transaction Communication: A rating of "1" indicates that the shell doesn't schedule the transaction with its customers and the price is not agreed upon before hand. A rating of "10" indicates that the shell schedules a transaction to the liking of the customer and the amount paid for an item/service is what was originally agreed upon.

- Politeness: A rating of "1" indicates that the shell is rude to its customers and does not respect their business. A rating of "10" indicates that the shell is gracious to their customers and respects their business.

- Organization/Time Efficiency: A rating of "1" indicates the the shell isn't organized and takes a great deal of time to fulfill their agreement. A rating of "10" indicates that the shell is very organized and very quick with fulfilling their agreement.

- Communication: A rating of "1" indicates there's a high chance the buyer's time will be wasted. A rating of "10" indicates the shell has effective communication with itself and a buyer's time is unlikely to be wasted.