Stealing this from another forum that I feel is MUCH more organized and regulated for classifieds…
YOU MUST STATE A PRICE and have in your possession. Any “Make offer” or “feeler” threads will be deleted. If it’s a trade post please list a value of the parts you are trying to trade.
YOU MUST POST A PICTURE of each item (the actual item not a link to one like it), If no pics are posted, the thread will be deleted without warning or notification.
YOU MUST POST A LOCATION of the item and or Zip Code, and add your location City to your profile. This will let people know where the part is coming from, aid in shipping quotes and help with finding local buyers for large items that are difficult to ship.
NO COMMERCIAL SALES, only your personal items, No retail sales that are in competition with our sponsors! They pay to advertise here! If you wish to sell retail items you must become a site sponsor first, no exceptions! Non-sponsor posts advertising goods or services in here or in other parts of the forum via links, emails, PM’s, or signatures will be deleted and get you banned!
NO THREAD CRAPPING ALLOWED, this is posting links to similar items of a lower price or in general saying an item isn’t worth what it’s listed as. If you don’t like it then move on.
DO NOT POST MULTIPLE THREADS. Multiple items for sale must be posted within ONE THREAD with the exception of an entire vehicle. You can always ‘Edit’ your post later to update the number of items for sale and/or which items are still available.
YOU MUST HAVE PRIVATE MESSAGING ENABLED, or a valid email link in the post or in your profile. People interested in purchasing must be able to contact you via PM or email.
E-BAY AUCTIONS ARE PERMITTED, (HOWEVER); you must be the seller and auctions cannot be for commercial product sales. Links to your own off-forum ads or ads likely to be of interest to members seen at Yahoo Auctions, eBay, Craigslist are welcomed as long as the ultimate seller is a private party, NO Commercial Business ads.
DO NOT POST YOUR ITEMS FOR SALE IN SOMEONE ELSE’S THREAD.
BUYERS MUST CONTACT SELLERS in the sellers thread that you want to buy the item & then PM the seller.
NO CLAIMING “DIBS” on an item unless you have contacted the seller, and the seller agrees in a replying post. All items will remain for sale until paid for and marked as “Sold” or “On-Hold” by the seller. Dibs are not accepted unless the seller has stated otherwise in the thread.
SELLERS MUST UPDATE SOLD ITEMS, within 24 hours when items are sold. Simply mark the item as “SOLD” in the thread.
CLASSIFIED ACCESS REQUIREMENTS, users must be registered users with a minimum of 30 valid posts. Spamming to get classified access is not permitted and may result in posts being deleted and bans being given.
By necessity, the overriding policy here is “caveat emptor” (“let the buyer beware”). Please do your research on fair pricing, compatibility with your application, and review the seller’s comments/feedback/posts before committing to making a purchase. A word to the wise: use PayPal in case you need to use their arbitration service.
Ideally, we’re all here to play nice, but unfortunately, just to keep us on our toes, human nature dictates that there are a few bad apples in every bunch.
These rules are designed to protect you as a buyer and seller on this site. While we don’t want to take away the freedom on every thread and post within this forum, be advised that anything you buy or sell outside of the classifieds, that doesn’t conform to these rules is at your own risk. Any violation of these rules can result in your thread being deleted, access to the classifieds section being removed, and/or being banned from this site.
Agree with everything but #5. This is a small local community forum. If someone is posting a price that’s terrible or an item that’s junk I think it’s perfectly acceptable for forum members to call out the seller, which watches out for other members who might not realize they’re being ripped off.
Like I said in the thread with the Volvo with non-matching paint on the body panels… If you don’t want to list the issues with your item in the description and don’t like being called out when someone notices them, go post your shit on craigslist where people can’t reply.
No time to read them at the moment, but we’ve been working (albeit rather slowly) on software that makes input of some of that mandatory before a classifieds thread can be posted.
All good guidelines.
It would be nice though if the moderating team would try to keep the BS bickering out of the classifieds.
It’s not a bad thing to have the community keep “things in check” but some of the BS that goes on in there is ridiculous.
Dint even read the thread as I disagreed whole heartily with the first two right off the bat…
While im all for organization to make things clearer for prospective buyers, feelers have their place for many people, and ive also sold several tangible items on forums without pictures. If people cant throw together coherent and legible ads, theyll be punished by their inability to move the item. Its not like we have this massive flooding of the classified section that needs to be addressed.
If anything, id just like to see a designated mod assigned to all things classified to help clean up some of the OT crap that goes on in there.
I disagree, I happen to like #1 and #2
If someone is posting a picture of something for sale, i shouldnt have to ask how much. How pissed are “you” when you go into a store to buy something and the price isnt there. Or when you look for something and its not on the shelf but the price is there. Its a PITA having to track someone down just to find a price just to see if I want it or not.
I would like the ability to change the main title of the thread. I know at one point that went away. I would like to see it come back. One benefit is if the seller is sitting on something for a while and wants to ditch it, he can change the title to something that will catch a buyers eye. Otherwise if he cant, a person might just skim by it and think “eh, probably just a bump” when in reality the seller may have posted a dirt low price to move on the item.
My general philosophy is to rely on common sense and not rules. This is not kindergarten and we are mostly adults.
If someone posts up a half assed ad with unreasonable expectations I expect the community to weed that thread out by destroying it. Making a rule that prevents this natural selection to occur would be a step backward. Now derailing a decent thread is already not allowed but decent is a very discretionary thing, that is where the mods and the report post button come in. Also I don’t think telling someone that they must post a price and a picture and this that the other thing matters. If you want your shit to sell and not have your thread bagged on by everyone else, post a good ad. If you prefer to keep your shit and have your thread look like a flock of seagulls hovered over it then go ahead and post “For Sale: Car”.
That said, I have a classified system installed and tested to change things a bit. We are just not rolling it out yet.
