Ok, a couple of comments.
1. You're going to need a lot of people to vote.
2. What kind of thresholds are you thinking?
Rating Books on the Marketplace
The Hyraxia Marketplace is designed as a place where you can find collectible books without having to trawl through pages of paperbacks and reprints. The difficult part is adhering to this. The main reason for this is that collectiblity is subjective. You could easily argue that any book is collectible. A copy of Stephen King's Misery in in a brand new NEL paperback is collectible to a person who wants a copy of every edition ever printed (these people do exist). The initial plan was for a minimum price of £5, but this doesn't really do justice as a 50p may be collectible to one person but not to another. So, the lower limit was removed and replaced by a ratings system. The idea being that the market can dictate whether a book is collectible or not.
To rate a book you must first consider how collectible it is on a scale of one to five. Some books will be obviouse five-star collectibles, others may be collectible, but not as rare or desirable, and others may be new or very common and probably unlikely to find sellers at any price. If you've deemed the book to be collectible then you need to consider the book's price before giving it a final rating. Condition and provenance must be taken into consideration when rating both the collectibility and the price.
Here are a few examples:
George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty Four - First UK Edition - £900 - Good Condition in a Jacket
Collectibility, this book probably rates 4/5 as it's marked as good condition. The price may be a little steep in this condition so I'd probably give it a 3/5 for the price. Overall I'd probably average it to 4/5.J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone - First Paperback Edition, Third Impression - £5000 - Good Condition
Collectibility, probably a 2/5, it's reasonably easy to find, but some people might still like it. For me though, the price would really put me off so I'd give it 1/5 for price. Overall I'd average it down to 1/5. If it had been priced at say £50, I'd still say it was very high, but not ridiculous like £5000 and rate it 2/5.Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man - Penguin Modern Classics Paperback Edition - £0.99 - As New
Collectibility, definately a 1/5. I wouldn't even consider the price here even though it's reasonable. It's not collectible so I'd give it 1/5 overall.C J Sansom - Dark Fire - First UK Edition - £10 - Fine Condition.
Collectiblity, maybe a 3/5 as it's quite collectible but easy to find, the price is very good though - 5/5. Overall I'd round it up to 4/5 as it has a very good price.
Your feedback would be very much appreciated on this. One of Hyraxia's aims is to keep as close to the reader as possible, so I need to know when you're dissatisfied, or if you think something is a really bad idea. If you think your books have been rated unfairly then send me a message and we can have a look. And if you, as a browser, find something that just isn't quite right, then start rating.
Ultimately, the plan is to remove anything below a certain threshold and reward the best listings - and encourage good pricing - by featuring those books more prominently. Don't worry though, we will take into account the number of votes by individual users by seller so somebody couldn't just vote all of a single seller's items poorly, they wouldn't be counted.
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