New Privacy Settings For Your Tradeloop Network

Tradeloop's new Connections system lets you create your own trusted network of dealers and now we've added additional privacy options. You control how much information is available about you and your network and decide who can see your member profile, your photo (if you've uploaded one), your network, and even your email address.

Visit your account's privacy settings page to edit/update these options. The privacy levels range from totally open (anyone can view your information) to completely hidden (nobody can see it). Select the privacy options that work best for you right now. You can change them whenever you want, as often as you want.

We encourage all Tradeloop members to form their own personal networks of trusted dealers and we're offering this incentive: a chance to win an iPad! Make at least 10 approved Connections and you're automatically entered to win.

Update your privacy options and start making Connections now.

New Privacy Options For Tradeloop Connections System

Tradeloop members use our new Connections system to create their own dealer networks within Tradeloop. The system is similar to LinkedIn, but offers more security because it's limited to the Tradeloop community. And now, we've added additional privacy options that let members decide how much information (if any) to share about their networks.

We updated the system at the suggestion of a Tradeloop member who told us that he would rather not share the identities of the members in his network. At Tradeloop, member privacy is one of our main priorities, so we created these new privacy options:

Privacy Settings can be adjusted to allow users to:

1. Make their Tradeloop Connections Networks visible to (or hide from) the public.
2. Make their Tradeloop Connections Network visible to (or hide from) members.
3. Make their Tradeloop Connections Network only visible to other people in their Tradeloop Connections Network.
4. Make their Tradeloop Connections Network totally private

Visit Profile Settings to adjust Network Privacy Settings.

You decide how much information to share about your Network. Just visit your Account Profile to adjust your privacy settings.

We encourage all Tradeloop members to form their own personal networks of trusted dealers and we're offering this incentive: a chance to win an iPad! Make at least 10 approved Connections before October 1, 2010 and you're automatically entered to win.

Have you used the Connections system? Share your experience here at Tradeloop's member blog.

Access Your Member Account Options From The Main Navigation Menu

Need to upload your inventory list, tweak your company profile, or update your privacy settings? Tradeloop members can now access these functions and more directly from Tradeloop's main menu. The "Account" tab contains drop-down options that take members directly to many account management functions.

Here's are the new options available under the Account tab:


All these options are also still available at your Account Information page as well and there's no change to the layout or page function. The new tabs simply make it easier to access the most-used account management functions.

Let's quickly review some of the important management tools on the Account Information page. This is the place to go to keep your account up to date. Use it to manage contact information, set up sub-accounts, maintain inventory listings, and more.

• Set Email preferences to opt in or out of Tradeloop emails.
  
• Manage email accounts and keep contact information updated.
• Manage your sub-accounts (learn more about sub-accounts at our multi-user FAQ page).
• Update billing information or upgrade your Tradeloop membership.
• Manage your End User program inventory (visit Tradeloop's End User program details page to learn more).
  
• Change/update your Privacy Settings
• Manage your Tradeloop inventory.

Remember that you need to be logged into your Tradeloop account to access these functions.

We encourage all Tradeloop members to regularly check their account and company information. A simple typo in an email or phone number can mean lost sales. So can a couple of parts accidentally deleted from an inventory list. The new navigation options will make it even easier to maintain information and get the most from your Tradeloop membership.

Set Your Privacy Preferences on the New "Privacy Settings" Page

We've made it simpler for Tradeloop members to contact each other. Now, your email address is automatically displayed on your profile page. Other members can quickly send you an email directly instead of using the member contact form.

Members can opt out - and set other privacy preferences - using our new "Privacy Settings" page. We let Tradeloop members decide how much information they want shared with other members and public users.

We began displaying email addresses in response to member requests. Many dealers wanted the ability to simply click a link and send an email to another dealer without having to use Tradeloop's contact form. When a clickable email address is displayed, it's more convenient for members to contact each other.

This change helps connect buyers and sellers; it's an especially good feature for those who monitor their email reports (like Search History and/or Saved Search reports). When a seller sees that someone has been searching his inventory, he can more easily contact the searcher if the email address is displayed.

We know that some members may prefer to keep their email addresses hidden due to concerns about spam, viruses spread through email clients, the burden of an increased volume of email, or other reasons. That's why we're giving all members control over their information.

You can choose to hide your email address from other members (the public users never have access to that information). Just log into your Tradeloop account and select the "Privacy Settings" link under the "Account" tab located on the top navigation bar. The Privacy Settings page gives you other options too, such as the option to hide your entire member profile from public users.

Even if you opt out of having your email address displayed, other Tradeloop members will still be able to contact you by email. However, they'll contact you via the Tradeloop contact form instead of their own email client.

Note that you can set your email preferences now and immediately begin either hiding or displaying your email address to other Tradeloop members.

Other options on the Privacy Settings page are still in development and will be launching soon. Visit the page now and select your options. We'll save your preferences and implement them as soon as we finish testing and implementing the page's other privacy options.

We welcome your feedback on this and any matter related to your Tradeloop membership. Contact us and share your suggestions.

Anonymous Search Option Protects Member Privacy

Tradeloop offers several valuable market research tools, including a search history tool and list of popular searches. We also supply sellers with reports that list who's searching on their parts. That's information that helps them estimate market supply and demand and set pricing.

However, we realize that many buyers prefer to search anonymously, so we offer that option to Tradeloop members. Protect the privacy of your searches by selecting the "My Account" tab and turning on the Anonymous Search function in the Sitewide Settings section. Then, your Tradeloop searches will carry the notation "Name withheld by member request."

If you choose not to search anonymously, other Tradeloop members will be able to see what part numbers you're searching for and when you searched. Note that this option is a member-only benefit that's not available to registered users. Anonymous search allows members to protect their competitive advantage as they research the market.

New Captcha Helps Capture Spam Emails

Can you add 2+2?

Spam email programs can't, but (we hope) most Tradeloop members and end users can. We've added something called a "captcha" to our sales lead form to let legitimate queries in while keeping spam out.

One of the benefits of Tradeloop membership is the exposure you get in the industry and increased visibility to Web searchers. However, the downside to added exposure on the Web is often an increase in spam emails. That was becoming a problem in our system that generates leads for members by allowing non-members to contact them by an email form.

Previously, an email contact form was the best defense against spam bots because they couldn't fill out the form. They got a little smarter though - and so did we.

Now, when someone uses the sales lead form to send you a message, the sender will have to correctly answer a simple math problem. It's nothing too difficult - something like "What does 2 + 2 equal?" If the sender can't answer, the message isn't sent.

You may be wondering about the next step, should spam bots learn how to add. Not to worry: Customer Support will have the "How to Solve Differential Equations" tutorial ready in plenty of time.

Track Your Tradeloop Sales Leads

Your Tradeloop membership gives you access to a large pool of reputable wholesale buyers and sellers eager to set up deals. In fact, many members report receiving a surge in sales contacts soon after joining the community. We make it easy to track these Tradeloop-generated sales leads. When you receive a query from a fellow Tradeloop member, the email sender name displays as "Tradelooop Leads."

We've made a minor change to the system to make it easier to reply to these queries directly, without having to go through the Tradeloop email system. Although the sender's name appears to be "Tradeloop Leads," the reply-to email address is the actual email address of the sender - not a Tradeloop address.

The email text contains name, address, contact information, and a link to the sender's member profile as well as the questions/comments from the sender.

Now, we know that members do want sales leads, but most emphatically don't want more spam emails. That's why we route the messages through our system instead of just displaying your email address on the site as part of your member profile.

Displaying an email address on a networking site is a huge mistake. It's like issuing an open invitation to email spiders who crawl through sites, harvest email addresses, and send them back to their evil masters. Next thing you know, you're buried in spam emails from phony Nigerian diplomats, fake pharmaceutical offers, and real estate Ponzi schemes.

We upgraded our system five years ago so we could easily handle the extra traffic and route emails through the Tradeloop system. It's part of our commitment to protecting members' privacy and security.

New Privacy Option on Broadcast Messages

We've added a new message privacy option to the Broadcast page. Now, you can choose whether to keep your Broadcast "Private," (only dealers can see it) or you can select the "Public" option to make the Broadcast message contents available to search engines and to public users.

Previously, only "Premium Broadcasts" displayed to the public, while "Regular Broadcasts" were member-only messages.Now, members have the option to make either type of message public or private.Now, there's no extra fee required if you'd like your broadcast message to display to public and search engine users. Note: the "Public" option doesn't display wholesale pricing information. Only Tradeloop members can view prices - unless you're part of Tradeloop's End User program that displays retail prices to end users.

We made this change for two reasons: to give more options to Tradeloop members and to protect members' privacy.

Even though public users could only see the first 100 characters of Premium messages, sometimes the member's name or company name showed up in that content. We added the search engine privacy option to protect members' privacy by letting them to completely hide the broadcast body from the public.

Of course, many Tradeloop members are anxious to have their Broadcast messages picked up and indexed by search engines.This helps increase your overall company visibility and credibility on the Web. Previously, the only way to do this was with a Premium Broadcast message – which meant paying a nominal fee to send your message.

The Public and Private options are on the "Create a Broadcast" page in the "Select a Style" section.