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Classifieds - Spice the place up a bit?

Started by VinceBot, 25 September, 2009, 12:32:48 AM

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VinceBot

Hey guys and girls, I've been looking around the classifieds and wondering if a few modifications couldn't help the place out. Please give the few ideas a read and post your comments below.




Rules

It might be about time we had some rules regarding these threads as sooner or later I can see someone getting ripped off (if it hasn't already happened) and the fallout being troublesome.

I havn't given any thought to the rules we might need in here, but other forums seem to have success with the following batch:

Quote
1) Nobody takes any responsibility for ANY transactions that take place here. If you don't get the item you paid for, that is your problem. If you get an item you paid for and it is broken, that is your problem. If somebody does not pay you money they owe you, that is your problem. We simply do not have the time, resources, money, or know-how to investigate every so-called "fraudulant" transaction here. You are using this forum at your own risk.

2) Do NOT start a thread selling something that you don't plan on selling. If you create a thread like "SELLING MY LOVE!", then you will be suspended.

3) If you want to ensure a safe transaction, use http://www.escrow.com/, a site which makes sure both buyer and seller are protected.

4) There is NO way for us to determine if PERSON A or PERSON B was ripped off during a sale between the two. It's simply one person's word against another's, so we are unable to conclusively determine who's lying. As a result, do NOT complain to the mods about somebody ripping you off because we have no way to figure out if you or the other person are telling the truth.

5) NO SHADY ILLEGAL ITEMS MAY BE SOLD! This includes cd keys, beta software, guns, drugs, warez, murder squads, various other obviously illegal items.

6) No type of Money exchanges. (PayPal for Neteller, etc).

7) No trading of Ebooks or electronic texts you don't own the rights to.

8) Safe money transactions include mailing a bank check, cashier's check, or money order. This may take a couple days, but you will at least have the transaction on record. NONSAFE methods include sending an envelope full of cash.

9) If you're not interested in purchasing or selling something, then don't post. The discussion should stay about the item being sold. If it begins to spin into a "Wow, I like that too!" or "That game sucks, because xxxx" take it to another forum/PM/email/somewhere else.

10) Please do not reply to threads with links to places where you can find what the seller is selling cheaper. I.e. if someone is selling a game, don't reply to thier thread with a link saying people can find the game cheaper there. If you feel the need to tell this person they are asking too much, contact them OFF the forums and they can decide if they want to lower the price.

11) Do not deal with anyone that hasn't posted in your thread. IE: if you get emails or aimed about an item, make sure that you have them post in your thread. If they don't and something goes wrong it makes it very difficult to take any action against them.

12) If you are selling an item for £25 or more, you must post a picture of said item. This must be an actual picture of the item you are selling (User name in picture is a plus) not a stock photo.



Trusted Users Only

Perhaps we should lock down this forum so that only "trusted" users can buy or sell from here? This would stop shady types signing up to purchase or sell in the classifieds area and rip people off.

I'm suggesting that you can only see/post in this forum if you've posted, say, 10 posts. This might at least help us guage the person we're dealing with.


Thread Tagging

It might be worth introduce a system whereby we request threads to be prefixed with the text of either "BUYING" or "SELLING" to indicate the purpose of the thread.
IE: "BUYING - All progs from 1987 onward"


Pay it Forward

I don't know if anyone else has been on major forums with Pay it Forward threads, but they are threads were items of little value can be advertised and traded freely, without any monetary exchange.

The system is simple - you must advertise an item to give away in order to request an item from another user. The item you give up should be of relatively the same value as the item you're requesting.

An example:
User A offers up some playing cards, a cup and a hat in the thread.
User B offers a necklace in the thread.
User C requests the playing cards from User A, and in exchange offers a stuffed toy in the thread.
User B requests the stuffed toy from User C.

User A offers a bunch of items up for grabs, while user B spots an item he wants from User A and requests it, while offering another item in its place.
User C has already offered up an item, so can request an item from user B.

The cycle should be self-sustaining so long as people are interested in making these free trades. You can charge the recipient the cost of postage if you wish, and shipping details should probably be sorted out over PM.

The only way these threads fall down is if someone doesn't/hasn't offered up something of equal value - such as requesting a music CD and offering back a pencil.




Thoughts?

I, Cosh

The rules themselves seem fair enough but it strikes me that it's a bit like that thing of putting up a sign saying "No Spitting" in a place where nobody would think of spitting. It discourages the normal clientele from going in because they now have the idea in the back of their mind that people might be spitting when they're not looking.
We never really die.

Hoagy

Walls didn't have ears in the war either. Coughs and sneezes didn't automatically spread diseases every orchestration. You don't have to be pure, is what I'm saying, to be vigilant. Anyone in their right mind and not completely in the constant nervous state of a Gronk would think these things.

Its good to know what is out there and who is looking after number one. Be bold enough to step forward if you have a claim to sell. Hazard your money in the same fashion. If the decision takes you that if it weren't for these guidelines you'd have staked something, then your foolishness is slowing down your computer also.

I think its very straightforward and fair to say classified is for the users and for them to argue amongst themselves if they are in each others marketplace. And if any loss is incurred then your private profile will behave enough to blackball as many names personally and remember them if you see their mischief, waving their snake-oil to others in the future. Whereas you could PM the fellow boarder-consumer with warning yourself.

The marketplace was always a place of self-government. Until the government saught to "protect" consumers with VAT.

This pioneering virtual place is no more dangerous albeit lacking physical harm. However. Finding home addresses is another can of security risk worms altogether.
"bULLshit Mr Hand man!"
"Man, you come right out of a comic book. "
Previously Krombasher.

https://www.deviantart.com/fantasticabstract

VinceBot

.. right.

Rules

Some of the rules are to protect us, while others simply point out the risks involved in any transaction taking place here, in case newcomers are unaware.

The rules listed obviously aren't set in stone so feel free to contribute or suggest revisions/removals. I'm not that big on the >= £25 picture rule or the discussion rule (12 and 9 respectively).


Everything else

Please comment more on the other points mentioned.

Wake

Personally I'd prefer to keep it to the bare minimum. The forum has been here (well other there and before that over there) for years and the classifieds have never to my knowledge had problems.

Could you just have a disclaimer stating that The Classifieds section is for private transactions between forum members and Rebellion/2000AD accept no responsibility for and problems with those transactions.

Even the minimum number of posts rule, which in principle seems okay, would bar the type of people who have basically inherited a collection of 2000AD comics that they don't want and think that someone here might. We can all see how many posts someone has made and anyone who joins the forum to post classifieds for non-2000AD items is likely to get banned as a spammer anyway, so do we really need to tell people what they can or can't do?

Cheers,

Wake

Trout

Quote from: Wake on 25 September, 2009, 01:23:33 PM
The forum has been here (well other there and before that over there) for years and the classifieds have never to my knowledge had problems.

...and the rest of what he said. Wake is wise. There's going to be an element of trust in any transaction over the internet, anyway.

- Trout

VinceBot

Fair point, though my limited posts concept wasn't aimed at non-2000AD related items, more just catching someone whos playing the market in order to steal cash. But you are right, as we can easily see the post count you can know what you're in for.

Rules wise we could trim it down to the list of items you're now allowed to sell, the obvious "its your problem not ours" disclaimer and a list of suggested transaction tips, such as the escrow.com bit.

Any other thoughts?

Trout

I'm not sure anyone's ever bothered to try to sell anything that's not vaguely relevant to 2000ad, comics or science fiction in general. Even the links to eBay listings with a variety of items seem to include something relevant somewhere.

It seems to police itself, just based on expected demand. It seems the existing spam rules would cover anything else.

- Trout

Wake

I'm not keen on the idea of recommending an escrow service (where you are paying someone to be a middle man). Some Internet scams come from cases where the seller recommends a fake escrow, and promptly runs off with the money.

Also, the rules you put seem to be a bit out of date, since they don't mention PayPal.

If you want to have rules about what can or can't be sold then it might be better to phrase it in the form of "This is a 2000AD forum inhabited by 2000AD fans. Use the section to sell stuff that appeals to geeks!" (but probably not in those words).

To my mind less is more. The fewer rules there are the more inviting the place feels.

@Trout Thanks for the compliment. I shall now resort to a smiley :-)

Cheers,

Wake

James Stacey

Escrow.com seem to charge a minimum $25 on any transaction  :o gonna need to be shifting enough comics to do it face to face in the first place to warrant that sort of outlay ontop of the cost.

Kerrin

Wake, as usual, speaks a lot of sense.


And he's got nice hair.

I, Cosh

We never really die.