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For Sale Etiquette

11K views 50 replies 15 participants last post by  Mrboots2u 
#1 ·
Following a number of threads that have required moderation in the For Sale section of the site, please take a minute to read the For Sale Rules

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?11866-Coffee-Forums-UK-Classifieds-Usage-Guidelines

The key points that should be respected are:

8. You may only reply within a For Sale thread if you are interested in purchasing the item

9. Prices offered are buyer beware and all buyers should do their homework before placing an offer

Please keep discussion of the pro's and con's of an item that is for sale to the relevant area of the forum

eg Grinder = Grinder section, Machine = Machine section

If you believe an item is priced inaccurately then please PM a moderator who will contact the seller with the evidence provided

If you are interested in an item and wish to place an offer then please feel free to do so and state the reason why the offer is substantially lower

The seller can then respond and accept or decline your offer

Any other side discussions / debates will be removed as it is not fair on the seller who is genuinely trying to sell an item
 
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#2 ·
I've seen sale threads go completely off topic and can understand the reasoning behind making the rules clear. I'm just checking that it is acceptable to reply to for sales threads in the following scenarios:

1 Adding a material fact to the sale that may be of interest to buyers i.e. "I've seen that machine in use and it's in really great condition" etc

2 Posting if you believe another member of the forum may be interested in the sale.

I'm not looking for rule changes just checking if the above would be at the discretion of moderators

Cheers:coffee:
 
#3 ·
GS11 said:
I've seen sale threads go completely off topic and can understand the reasoning behind making the rules clear. I'm just checking that it is acceptable to reply to for sales threads in the following scenarios:

1 Adding a material fact to the sale that may be of interest to buyers i.e. "I've seen that machine in use and it's in really great condition" etc

2 Posting if you believe another member of the forum may be interested in the sale.

I'm not looking for rule changes just checking if the above would be at the discretion of moderators

Cheers:coffee:
1. I don't see a problem with someone qualifying the condition of the machine if they have seen or used it . That's really helpful

2. There is nothing to stop the pm function being used for someone to alert an interested member
 
#4 ·
With Glenn 100% on this. Once someone pitches in with a comment, however helpful, it opens the door to other comments and then one thing leads to another. Let's keep to what Glenn is suggesting. There is no reason why a thread cannot be opened up in relevant forum sub section to records views on the item for sale.
 
#10 ·
I agree with point 1 from GS11

Re: Point 2 - I would prefer PM was used

The seller can bump his/her for sale post - and this gives them an opportunity to add further details or adjust the price
 
#12 ·
Personally I think that positive chat around a machine in the FS section is only beneficial to the seller and potential buyer, helps it stay bumped and can help inform about a machine without the need for a separate thread elsewhere.

Just my 2 pennies tho, I'm happy to abide by the cleaner rules
:)
 
#13 ·
I also think that if there are positive points that a seller may not have pointed out...it's helpful. I fully understand the "usless" comments that bury for sale items, but surely common sense can prevail here. Mods can, and should remove "bollocks" and leave the useful. People will pretty soon get the idea as to what is useful and what is not.
 
#14 ·
DavecUK said:
I also think that if there are positive points that a seller may not have pointed out...it's helpful. I fully understand the "usless" comments that bury for sale items, but surely common sense can prevail here. Mods can, and should remove "bollocks" and leave the useful. People will pretty soon get the idea as to what is useful and what is not.
Positive points might help the seller but deciding what a 'useless' comment is more problematic and is likely to lead to mods being accused of being high handed in removing posts.
 
#17 ·
welshrarebit said:
Moderating can be tricky business, but anyone not showing interest in the item or offering constructive feedback pertaining to seller or item should expect to have their post removed.
totally agree...with the addition of a public humiliation by being forced to wear one of Spazbaristas hats for a day....perchance
 
#19 ·
welshrarebit said:
I can understand the need to reinforce these rules, as often lately for sale threads have become feeding grounds for squabbles.

Moderating can be tricky business, but anyone not showing interest in the item or offering constructive feedback pertaining to seller or item should expect to have their post removed.
Clearly there is a wide range of opinion on the subject of what is and what is not an appropriate and/or relevant post on a for sale's thread.
 
#20 ·
The Systemic Kid said:
Clearly there is a wide range of opinion on the subject of what is and what is not an appropriate and/or relevant post on a for sale's thread.
Indeed, just seems a shame to disallow all opinions because certain individuals would be upset at being 'moderated', I would hope people are sensible enough to know when to keep quiet, if they have an issue with the would be seller or item then disclosing it to the interested parties in pm would be more suitable?
 
#21 ·
What I think is that recently what has been an easygoing fun loving forum has started to become hidebound by rules and a degree of censorship exercised on posts that has never before previously been deemed necessary.

Too many rules and the unflinching enforcement of them will eventually come to destroy any community. Any moderator on any forum should moderate with a modicum of common sense and through the general sentiment of a community and not be driven by any personal beliefs.

In the case of a for sale thread a third party may have an idea regarding how a potential buyer could circumvent an issue that may stop them buying an item, after all do we really want a string of posts in whichever subforum saying "should I buy X item in the for sale forum"

Simply adding rules upon rules and then removing posts ( which tbh is bordering on the same level as book burning) if they don't actually offend anybody, what's next a list of proscribed words? which then by it's very nature will get removed as it contains those words?
 
#22 ·
With some recent sale threads, the item has got lost in a flurry of non-sale related posts. When contacted, the seller has been grateful to have all non-sale related posts removed in order to bring the thread back on track and feature the sale item without the distraction of non-related posts however well meaning. Usually, non-related posts start innocuous with comments like 'wow great machine' with further posts either in this vane or taking the thread inadvertently away from the original purpose which is for a member to be able to sell his or her item. There have been instances where members have posted their thoughts on the merits of the machine good and/or bad. That's fine but not on a sale thread. Recently, where a sale item has become somewhat lost, non-sale related stuff has been split from the thread and moved to a elsewhere.
 
#24 ·
Charliej said:
Too many rules and the unflinching enforcement of them will eventually come to destroy any community. Any moderator on any forum should moderate with a modicum of common sense and through the general sentiment of a community and not be driven by any personal beliefs.
The forum is actually growing quite substantially with over 47,000 hits in the month of May up to the third week, i.e. not a full month.
 
#26 ·
Feeling a bit sorry for the people behind the scenes , who moderate and keep things running where their intension is for the good of the forum/community and they appear to get quite a bit of flak each time they try and address an issue. Must be a little bit disheartening .
 
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