Is there a hard guideline on monthly/yearly total sales revenue on a per person basis or is this specifically not addressed due to too much grey area/too difficult to enforce? Is there a point at which hobby sales and business sales overlap or is the concern with piggybanking on members of a multinational private sales forum too subjective (on a multinational private sales forum) to be part of the guidelines for selling rules/seller etiquette?
I’ve seen this be a problem elsewhere so for my own benefit I’d like to know if there is anything stronger than a discretionary guideline in place? I’m not so concerned about this as pertaining to what exists outside of a private context, because there are too many people/countries of origin involved for there to be any consensus about any cross-national regulation in regard to, what is essentially, a big garage sale of adults at their own discretion dealing in private sales/purchases.
The question just addresses what constitutes abuse of good faith. I’d also like clarification in regard to whether multiple listings should be condensed into one “parent post” or is “per item” listing encouraged to make it easier for mods to more easily be able to keep track of what is available or “live” in the marketplace?
I don’t think the mods give two hoots what’s live. They’ll lock a thread when the seller says it’s all done, but I don’t think they’re doing stock checks to see what’s currently for sale.
Things are fine just as we have them, until they’re not, at which point we’ll make them fine again. Anyone who needs to know inevitably gets to know, there’s no need for hypothetical clarification.
Arbitrary price-vetting/bumping/chatting/meme-ing of sales posts is a growing concern though - it’s better to allow an organic ebb and flow free from favour/bias
Unofficial private/third-party sales listed are discouraged (especially in the unrestricted parts of the forum) as it blurs the lines and is open to abuse.
Maybe focus on raising ‘real’ concerns when actively selling and something doesn’t sit right. Administering the marketplace takes enough time already to be fussed with fielding what-if scenarios. When something is important it’ll be added for clarification; like ‘price-vetting’ posts (either way)
One other aspect brought to our attention recently has been the manner with which some members are ‘policing’ the marketplace [“acting like moderators” was raised as the concern] when a flag would suffice or maybe a quiet PM or a polite reminder. Basically a hands-off approach is advised.
The only clarification required for group/individual listings is to continue to use common sense … posting 20 eurorack adverts in one go is a bit spammy, so cluster those or post at intervals to avoid raising the concerns we do see expressed.
There’s no hard and fast rule on this, it’s just adopting common courtesy.
Re-using a thread time after time isn’t ideal as it doesn’t allow people following a topic/title to see it through to completion/closure - so it’s for this reason we may note on a wiped topic the item which was listed
One aspect of titling/grouping which is a pain is listing sold in the title for part of an offering - in this case the seller should remove the sold item from the title and only ‘print’ sold when the full listing is to be closed
Amending your title to reflect that it is SOLD is also a courtesy (to everyone), rather than assuming that all posts are read for a reply in topic !
Linking your Sales post from the general area (non-marketplace areas) of the forum is to be avoided, as are discussions about ‘thinking of selling’ … those should be marked up as a [Query] within the Marketplace area !
It would be nice to require sellers to leave the original item that was for sale in the title or body and not erase all traces of what was sold and what the last asking price was.
In my opinion, it is a disservice to the community to remove all traces of what was sold. It is useful information for those that might’ve been interested to know what was sold and what the last asking price was.
Unsure how this can be moderated after ‘the damage is already done’ other than to have a canned/highlighted response that says to leave the information intact. This would let other sellers know what is considered good etiquette within the community while only requiring mods to copy/paste the information in before closing.
In the context you are looking to use the data it is a useful request, but it’s asking sellers to leave a permanent record of the business they’ve done on the forum and giving a rough estimate as to cumulative sales and final price. I believe if you read the response above, you will find that this is addressed as a hypothetical non-concern and the larger concerns of the sales forum as a whole are laid out.
Also agreed. Sometimes I’m kind of watching an item but I’m not necessarily following the post, especially if it’s something I only have a casual interest in. When it gets overwritten, it’s hard or know if I’m just not seeing a post, or if it sold or was removed.
What is the actual problem here? There is a difference between keeping up the last version of the listing including the last asking price, and publishing the final price. Most markets are stacked against the buyer, I see no problem whatsoever with handling this in in a fairer way in a community forum. And if the seller is not ok fine with transparency, they are free to sell elsewhere and pay the fees.
It’s a question I asked. The response is written in yellow block font. I’m not the one to ask, I’m just advising you that the answer you’re looking for is already written above.
As they should. They’ve been given a space where they can market used items. It is fair to ask that the item and last asking price are kept up. Even just having the item that was sold is helpful.
Personally, I don’t need to know what the item sold for but I would like to know that a certain item sold for around whatever the seller was asking for it.
This information can help guide others in their purchases.
I agree with you as well and see it as part of being in a “community” vs being on a selling platform and with that said all the selling platforms I use allow you to search for sold listing so to help you determine the going rate.
One is a community driven forum that graciously allows its members to post items for sale while only requiring that a simple set of guidelines be followed.
The other is a purpose-built marketplace to connect buyers and sellers for music-centric items.
anyone who doesn’t understand go to your messages page on reverb and read what it says right above the message list, see if it requires any further clarification about the difference between the service they provide and the privilege of leaving well enough alone, as is indicated by the blocked yellow font.
% agree