Site Suggestion Required posts to buy/sell

I like how things are looking with these new ideas, although I currently haven't reached 50 posts yet and it might make it a little harder for me to start selling here, it can benefit us in the longer run and help prevent spammers with not so good intentions on the marketplace, if I may suggest an idea, fist time sellers could be showing some proof that they have sold items before on eBay.

 

I feel awkward in this thread.. so what about me?

 

Well seeing as you're a 2013-er, I'd think you could squeeze in a few more posts

 

I'm already on my way just having this conversation! I guess I've just been reading and not posting as much on here. You're right, though - as much as it pains me to say it with my current post count & join date. I'm definitely trustworthy, though.

 

I have no doubt given your time. My personal count would be way higher if it counted PMs.

 

Not sure how all that would work out unfortunately, it would bar a lot of people as well especially for some stuff that might sell quick.

The main driver to get me to register with this account was because I saw a piece of dev hardware I wanted to purchase. I was a new user, less than 5 posts at the time, but I was a serious buyer and had a member on here vouch for me to the seller (shoutout @Stipo360).

Got in contact with them, transaction went smooth, buyer happy - seller happy. Of course you'll get your "Se7enWhatever" kiddies come along as you mentioned, but maybe it could be a restriction a seller themselves imposes? Such as you yourself put on there that you won't sell to anyone under X amount of posts.

I'd just hate to use that to punish people, who were in positions like myself, who are honest people that just registered with the intent of honestly buying something.

 

The problem with having the sellers do it is it shifts the blame to them IMHO where right now its simply a rule everyone has to follow.
(and yes those 7s folk will find some way to be bitter and blame the seller)

Honestly its not hard to bypass the market rules, heck I have gotten most of my stuff from taigachat or PM's :/

 

Problem is trades happen too and the one person gets nothing while the other gets two items and then bails. I understand time in and post count won't prevent that from happening. Case and point : David Thomas. Had hard times, didn't necessarily scam but a lot of people were effected because of him more or less disappearing. Turned out for good reason. But that would be an example of something quickly turning into a shit sandwich.

Bottom line is my intention is to protect all of us. Sellers. Buyers. Mods. Members. All of us. Not to punish. Not to add more government. Certainly not to push people away or cause people to not sign up. Because the site is rather free and anyone lurking can see all posts, the two reasons people join is to buy/sell or to join conversation. Otherwise there is no point. That fact isn't lost on me. But, I saw policy be loose and not enforced elsewhere and it quickly got out of hand to where sites like that have the reputation they have. I don't want that here. More rules and stricter policy isn't what I'm going for. Just ensuring we continue to have the pleasant and positive experience we all would like to have here.

 

Damned, another 12 years before I can sell or buy (again).

 

Don't want to sell to people with less than 420 posts? Just state that in your offer. Forcing people to post (and let's not beat around the bush, a lot of those would probably be spam/BS) 100 times just to buy a <$10 modchip wouldn't make a lot of sense.

 

How do you validate a WTB post?? By definition it is something you don't own, so it's a bit difficult to get a picture with your forum name in it.

Also, with your proposed one thread only rule, you could only have a WTB or have a sales thread, but not both. So how would that be regulated? You have to gut your WTB post if you want to do sales? Because old threads still have the relevant info in them. So then mods have to decide when a thread is inactive enough to allow a thread in a different section.

Or if you post a price check thread before creating a sales thread, the price check would have to be deemed as closed??

This doesn't simplify anything. It just seems this would put an unnecessary amount of work on the mods.

 

Those are good points that need clarification.

 

I think retro means you can have one thread in each marketplace sub section.

 

Yes, that is probably the case. I thought that initially, but then he mentioned more than one Marketplace post if you pay a subscription so that's why I questioned it.

Because why would you pay a subscription fee just to have two WTB posts or price check threads, when you could combine them for free.

 

I think that was just a brain fart - he probably meant "price check"...? In which case it would either be an item you own (-> photo validation) or don't (-> explicit statement to that effect), same as today.
Otherwise, "WTB validation" = photo of a stack of cash as proof of liquidity, or what? :b

 

Good point. And I know this is just a discussion, it's not set in stone.

I'll just post a pic of my credit card, standby.

 

Notice the blonde mod in the background shaking her head at another XS asshattery gif

 

Good spot... it was supposed to say price check, leaving WTB out of the equation.

No.. one of each.

Don't forget, they are just ideas for now.

I don't see any restrictions on buying count happening at all. You can't police who buys, other than restricting the Marketplace, and that is counter-productive for the site. Restricting the Marketplace keeps the Google spider out, which means sales posts don't show up in a search, which means people aren't going to come to the site attracted to a sale. We could just restrict people from posting at all in the Marketplace (not just creating a post, but replying to one)... but that wouldn't do much as people will just PM anyway.

We have nothing against users selling to newcomers if they wish. All sales are private transactions and you take (and hopefully minimize in your own way) the risk associated with such transactions. We can't put anything in place to guarantee you protection - we can only enforce rules to try and keep things safer. Likewise, there's no plan to ban newcomers replying to a WTB - it's up to the OP if they want to buy an item offered. The rules aren't there to penalize new users, they are there to help ALL concerned be more confident that the transaction will go well.

Always good to hear... but understandable that circumstances don't always allow. And, whilst my previous example was a generic "you sellers", if I take you personally as an example, you contribute to the site with knowledge on the technical side. You're not someone saying "I have 1,000 betas, I can't be bothered to test them, here's a list" ...and not engaging in conversation with others. It's happened. Conversely, we have beta sellers who will actually post info on something and then decide to sell it on... they've generated interest in their item, they've generated traffic for the site.... we're all good! As @Borman said (and he also contributes in knowledge and time moderating), we don't discriminate against people who don't want to donate. They still have full access to the site.

Perhaps that's our failing... not offering enough value-added content for those who pay. We would rather see a lot of people donate a little than the same few donate a lot every time. We would rather not have to say "hey guys, the server needs paying for!" at all. Rest assured we have our thinking caps on to decide what value-added content we can provide donators. There are some interesting ideas which need to be investigated for feasibility. We certainly hope to bring you something new with the new server. As always, constructive suggestions appreciated... but that's something for another post.

We do pride ourselves in being a "civilized" forum - there's little hate speech, bashing or trolling and we do police these things. We thank you all for doing such a great job of bringing issues to our attention. The report system since moving platform is pretty fantastic and the self-policing if you like from reports (anonymous to everyone but staff) is very helpful and makes our job easier. The discussion here is perhaps of a slightly more "grown up" level than some forums - not wishing to sound snooty, but it's a good thing. @DeChief - relaxed rules usually encourages the idiots, and we don't want that, thanks.

Sorry to hear that you haven't been able to sell anything in the forums here. Perhaps if you had actually tried to post a sales thread since your last in May 2015 (last added to December 2015, last bumped May 2016), you might have been more successful? And you sold the DTL-H10000 in March 2016, less than a year ago and a bunch of PlayStation dev stuff between December 2015 and then... so don't you think your spurious statistic was somewhat exaggerated?

Of course, you're welcome to try selling your PlayStation dev gear on Nintendo Age... seems that would be more of a place for selling Nintendo stuff, though! You're also welcome to sell anything here... but again, you'll have most luck with dev gear as it's our main focus. Not to say we don't like other stuff here, too!