Classifieds

tut · Post by **tut** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:07 pm

I can not post a reply on Classifieds, but does not anyone else get slightly pissed off as I do, that the only ever post that someone puts up on the Forum is to sell their car, and they do not even put a price on it?

Not that I would buy it, even if I needed a third one, on principal...........

tut (grumpy old men faction)

ExigeKen · Post by **ExigeKen** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:14 pm

N2 TUT

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:35 pm

Chill out Tut. Where better to sell an Elise than on an online Elise forum - so what if the owner has a life and doesn't want to swap it for an internet persona - OK, so in this case they didn't do a good job of the ad and probably won't sell it - but c'est la vie, eh?

Cheers,
Robin

woody · Post by **woody** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:41 pm

Noted it as well. Someone might want to PM them about the rear tyres

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:48 pm

It always strikes me as a bit cheeky that some folks only contribution to a forum is to use it to try and flog their car. Mind you there is always the flip side in that while its considered poor tinternet etiquette it may well provide a bargin buy for another member.

Most users are usually wary of one-off-post sellers anyway.

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:03 pm

No different than some geezer on Autotrader or Pistonheads - you don't know them either?

<league>
This is a local web site for local people
</league>

Cheers,
Robin

tut · Post by **tut** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:04 pm

Probably right Robin, but what would happen if Pistonheads advertisers decided that it was a good idea?

I know that it is not likely, but it still irks that the first post that you see from a member is advertising their Elise for sale, and in many cases not even putting a price in, or asking us what we think it is worth.

tut

Lawrence · Post by **Lawrence** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:34 pm

I too was disappointed with some of the ads, and I wanted to clarify one of them in particular which I thought poorly described the item for sale, but I was unable to post.

I later heard that the item in question was sold and the buyer was not informed of the true condition of said item.

Very poor show

What can we do about this sort of situation?

deano15482 · Post by **deano15482** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:40 pm

on hondatech.co.uk you had to have a minimum of 50 posts before you were allowed/able to post up a 'for sale' item

maybe an idea...noticed a lot of 'one post punters' of exiges.com recently

Dean

robin · Post by **robin** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:34 am

As it stands, the classifieds section of this board should be treated as no more or less reliable a source of information as any other classifieds section of any other board, or even autotrader.

If you *know* someone is misrepresenting what they are selling, you should contact the mods (not sure what the procedure is, but PMs to one or all of them (us!) should work). It's easy enough to delete/amend the ad and /or provide feedback to the poster as to what needs fixing, depending on severity.

I suspect the only other solution (if there is really a problem) is to open up classifieds to follow up postings again. Then ads will be open to scrutiny from the assembled SE massive, and dodgy ads will get some suitable follow ups to help clarify them, or perhaps to provide a different point of view on the value of an item. Call it Quality Control if you like

The downside of this is that people can make unfairly negative or flippant posts that might detract from a perfectly reasonable item - so I would suggest we use (self) moderation to limit follow up postings in classifieds to the strictly relevant.

That way the difference between advertising here and elsewhere is that you need to be able to participate in healthy discussion about what you're selling. Hopefully this will lead to only the more genuine sellers advertising here.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Robin

Post by **campbell** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:36 am

Bottom line is, Buyer Beware.

Can PM any seller for more info, and if anyone wants to start a thread to share info, that's fair game too I guess...polite protocol says agree said thread with seller first, but who ever said we were always polite on here

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:45 am

Probably more than what is required here but as an idea this is the rules we use on the CTR forum. With 25,000 users the Classifieds are massive and heavily moderated, but simple things like stating a price and no thread crapping would be useful here.

In addition to our forum wide policies, the following rules have been drafted and will be enforced by moderators and administrators.

The For Sale section is provided for the benefit of individual members to buy and sell items, not for businesses to make money.
Businesses are not allowed to use the For Sale section unless they have Trader status. PM mods/admin for details.

1. You cannot charge VAT on top of an already stated price, charging VAT would imply that you are a business and thread will be removed.

2. You cannot sell something you do not have in your immediate possession.

3. We do not allow adverts for any of the following :
Alcohol
Tobacco
Drugs/pharmaceuticals
Pornography
Weapons
Goods that may infringe copyright
Sale of items that you have obtained for free ie PAYG SIM cards unless you are only asking to cover postage costs

4. A sale thread's initial post must state a firm asking price. Of course you can haggle, but an initial price must be stated. A post simply asking for offers or conducting a PM auction is not allowed. A price must be stated in initial post.

5. Leave an email address for contacting.

6. The thread CANNOT be a link to an Ebay auction (or any similar off-site auction), or a jump page that leads to an Ebay auction or another advert for your item. The CTROF Classifieds space is not meant to be used to gather attention to a potential bidding war. Advertising Ebay item numbers or other methods of identifying online auctions of items are also prohibited.

7. "Thread crapping" will not be tolerated. If you do not intend to buy and have nothing positive to add to the sale, refrain from posting in the thread. This includes stating "the price is too high", if you think the price is too high, inform seller via the PM service or an E-MAIL. If you think your post may be in any way interpreted as being "thread crapping" then take the safer route and send your message via PM or E-MAIL to the seller.

8. Most importantly, buyer and seller beware.

9. Do not bump more than once every 2 or 3 days....pick your time wisely.

10. Once a sale has been agreed it is the sellers duty to finalise the deal to enable feedback for both parties.

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:45 am

Agree with everything in the thread.

Not sure there is a particularly good solution though.

Ultimately if you want to sell something though a thorough description and putting a price in would be key to not having people call you and waste your time?

Robin, could we put in a mandatory price field for classifieds?

Post by ed » Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:29 am

What happens if someone genuinely doesnt know what its worth?!
ie my tyres that ive got in classifieds. Ive no idea what they are worth hence why i put offers......

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:32 am

kenny wrote: 3. We do not allow adverts for any of the following :

Pornography

Lets not be too rash