Rules for posting in The Market Place Forums

Major Rule.
All correspondence between Buyers and Sellers is to be done through the board. PM's and Emails are for exchanging personal contact information only once a deal has been done.

Anyone found flouting this will have their posts deleted.


To keep the Market Place user friendly and easy to manage, please observe the following rules when using the Market Place:

FOR EVERYONE

1. Read these rules.
Also read the Guidelines to Starting a New Thread

FOR SELLERS
2. Location. Include a location in the Title Box and the Message. Your State can be added via a Prefix to the heading. More detailed location information should be placed in the body of the post e.g. town or suburb.

3. Pictures. If possible, attach an image of the item for sale. See the tutorial at the bottom of this post if you do not know how. If you do not have the means to attach an image, for example, you do not own a camera, please say so. That way you won't get harassed by members requesting an image.

4. Price. Price must be included, add ONO (Or Nearest Offer) if the price is negotiable. If you are not not sure of a price, add a ballpark figure.

5. Price changes. If you decide to lower the price, place a new post in the thread and/or report the thread with a new price for the item. Do not create a new thread!

6. Shipping. Indicate if the item is for pick-up only, or if you are willing to post or organise freight or other delivery methods.

7. Status updates. When an item is sold you are obliged to SAY SO in the thread. So please post SOLD in the thread as soon as the item is sold. If no longer available or withdrawn from sale, please say so in a new post. Sellers should also state in the thread who they have sold to as soon as is practicable.

8. Listings on eBay and other external sites.Items listed on eBay or other external sites must not be listed for sale here whilst the eBay auction or other sale is current. You can, however, direct members to the eBay auction or other external site sale by placing a notice in the FOR SALE on eBay and external sites Forum which is also found in the Market Place.

9. Description and presentation. Do not mark your items for sale as "RARE!", this is not eBay, so just say what the condition is and leave it at that. Similarly, fancy fonts and colours are not to be used.

10. Competing sales. Do not, ever, post a competing item for sale, or post a link to a competing item, in a thread started by another member.

11. Items per post. Try to limit the items for sale per thread to one or just a few, otherwise management is difficult and the thread becomes difficult to follow.

12. Commercial Sales. No commercial sales are allowed without Admin approval. (see glossary below)

13. GST. All prices quoted in the Market Place to be GST inclusive, no $xxx+GST please. If GST is not included in the original post it cannot be added later at any stage.

Please note: these items WILL be deleted:

  • Auctions,
  • Non-approved commercial sales (see glossary below),
  • Private Message (PM)/Email/phone me an Offer, and
  • those without a price.




FOR BUYERS
14. Noticed a problem? If you think there is something wrong with an item for sale that needs to be clarified, such as price or damage, please do it via a Private Message (PM) to the seller. The seller should then post any further clarification in the thread. The buyer should not post "PM sent" unless he/she details why eg "PM sent to clarify the freight options". "PM sent" by itself confuses people into thinking an offer has been made when it has not.

15. Need to say something? If you think it is important enough that something should be said in public - notify the moderators by reporting the post using the symbol.

16. You want it? When an offer to buy is made, post a "I'll take it" in the thread.

17. Risk and common sense. Use some common sense, if you are dealing with a seller with only one post then you just may need to exercise more caution. Because a person is a member of the forums it does not mean they are trustworthy.


Special Market Place Forum Rules


FOR SALE on eBay and external sites
1. No regular sales are permitted in this forum.
2. This forum is purely for directing members and visitors to eBay items.
3. The items listed here can be your items or an item you think other members and visitors may be interested in.

Items listed on eBay can be listed here whilst the eBay auction is running. This listing is purely to direct members and visitors to the eBay auction, You cannot list the same item for sale in the general Market Place whilst the auction on eBay is still current.

All the threads in this forum will be closed upon posting as they are here to direct people to eBay and not for general discussion.

You may attach an image of item for sale. See Tutorial below if you do not know how. You can put a full blurb in the post describing the item in detail if you wish. You must not display a sale price.

Items listed here can be moved to the general Market Place if the eBay auction is finished and the item didn't sell. This can be done by reporting the post via the on the bar above the post, and asking for it to be either moved to another forum in the Market Place or deleted. As part of the move the asking price will also be added to the post.

Your Ad will be deleted after 2 weeks unless there has been a request to move it into another forum.


FOR EVERYONE (again)

General Notes:

If you send a Private Message (PM), email or phone that you wish to buy an item to a seller there is no visible record. Instead, post a record of "I'll take it" or similar so there can be no doubt of the date or time an offer to buy was made. If an unscrupulous seller gets a number of PMs they may not accept the first one and no-one is any the wiser. Sellers should insist on only accepting offers made in the thread, not PMs.

Ensure you put ALL your communications into the thread so there is a RECORD FOR ADMIN STAFF TO ACT ON LATER if you are gazumped or the sale goes sour. Admin can only deal with a written record and will not be able to act on word of mouth.

The only thing that should not go into the thread are your private details - addresses, phone numbers etc.

Buyers who only send a PM - be careful, if a dispute is raised the administration team will attempt to settle it by following the postings. Since there is no visibility of PMs available to the administrators they will not be usable in a dispute.

CAUTION: IF YOU RENEGE ON A DEAL OR OTHERWISE BREAK TRUST ON THE AGREEMENT YOU MAY HAVE YOUR RIGHTS REMOVED FROM THE MARKET PLACE FORUMS OR EVEN BE BANNED FROM THE METALWORK FORUMS ENTIRELY (WHETHER YOU ARE A BUYER OR A SELLER).

The principles of the Market Place have changed and using PMs, emails and phone calls to conduct sales are now high risk to both parties if there is a dispute. Admin strongly suggests their use be ceased immediately except for passing personal information.


Glossary:

What is a Forum? A 'forum' is a grouping of threads on a particular area of interest. They can be arranged into forums and sub-forums. Think of it a bit like a table of contents. This is a link to the Home Page (Contents page) for Metalwork Forums. Inside a particular forum you will see more forums and inside each forum you will find threads. Here is an example of a forum METALWORK FORUMS TERMS OF USE (TOU) READ THEM! inside that Forum you will find one thread titled Metalwork Forums Terms of Use (TOU) READ THEM! (why not read them while you are there!).

What is a thread? A thread is a discussion on a particular topic or item. A thread is started with a single post that others then add to. A thread can have from one to a few thousand posts or more.

What is a post? What you are reading right now is a post. It is a note written by a single member. Typically they are 5-6 lines but can be considerably longer (like this post).

Commercial sale. Businesses or anyone else who manufactures or purchases goods specifically for sale and blatantly advertises them here.

Non-Commercial sale. Someone selling something that is theirs to sell and not purchased or manufactured by them specifically for commercial sale or resale.

A Quick How-To On Adding Images To Your Message






That's the basics in a nutshell.
If you follow the info shown above people shouldn't have any problems seeing pics on all sorts of mobile devices.

Hopefully this might clear up a few problems some are having seeing pics.

You may not see all pics if you are not logged in or are a Newbie. Viewing of pics is a privilege that must to be earned by contributing to the forums.