A Request for Forum Members

**Adam** · 10-25-2009, 10:01 PM

Lately, the site moderators and I have been noticing an increased number of thread reports in several categories, and I'd therefore like to address some of these issues with the community as well as issue a reminder of the forum rules.

1. Marketplace: Price Commenting

We've noticed a large number of replies to Marketplace threads in which users comment on pricing (positively or negatively) of the item(s) being sold. Please note that this is not allowed as we do not want any sale to be unfairly swayed.

Exception: if an item is priced to the point where a sale may be considered a scam attempt, please do not hesitate to post in the thread immediately AND report the post.

We feel that the ability for users to ask questions about items publicly in the Marketplace is something unique to our site, and we don't want to take it away. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate your cooperation with the above rule. Thanks!

2. Marketplace: Trades in the "Wanted" section

Note that trades may not be posted in the "Wanted Items" section. If you have a lens you would like to trade for another, or for another + cash, please post a thread in the main section of the Marketplace.

3. Marketplace: Thread Titles

We ask that all users try to be as specific as possible in their Marketplace thread titles. Please clearly indicate the exact items being sold, as length permits (there is an 85-character title limit).

Examples of bad titles:

Garage Sale
Clearing out Inventory
Lots of Lenses
Many Camera Bodies for Sale
Big Lot for Sale

Examples of good titles:

Pentax K20D, K10D, K100D, K200D
Pentax 15mm, Sigma 20mm, Pentax 16-45mm

If selling a lens, please also make sure to include 'mm' following the focal lens. This makes titles much easier to search.

For example:

Use "For Sale: Pentax FA* 24mm F2.0" instead of "For Sale: Pentax FA* 24 F2.0"

4. Thread Reports

Please only use the thread reporting system to report threads or posts that violate the forum rules (i.e. are offensive, contain illegal contents or links, comment on marketplace prices, or are spam). Do not use it to contact the site staff about other matters.

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In the future, I plan to add several new innovations to the Marketplace, including categorization, automatic thread expiration after a certain number of weeks, and the ability to delete threads instead of simply being able to mark them as "Sold". Your cooperation with the above rules will help bring these improvements to you faster! Thanks in advance!

*brecklundin* · 10-26-2009, 02:15 AM

Adam...

Excellent changes. Have you already tried having sellers post the country they are shipping/selling from in the title? Lots of times I've clicked on a post about a lens I might want only to find it's gonna be an international seller. Not that I wouldn't buy that way, I have many times, but it's nice to know when it's something I need NOW.

As for the pricing-police, being a small business owner myself in a business where we deal with the public directly and often in a situation where price is negotiable, nothing can chase away potential buyers more than some one who stands around talking about how high the price of an item might be. Posts like that can really wreck a chance for a sale online. If a price is high but someone wants to pay it, it's none of my business and good for the seller.

Something else I find I get emails on for items I sell online, especially camera gear are those comments where a person mentions the paid x-price for it last year and my price is more then that price. People should understand what something cost a year, or whatever, ago has nothing to do with the price/value today. because of the type of business I'm in, I am sort of immune to it but others who try and sell might not be have such a grasp of that concept. But to me as long as there are no such comments posted in an item I might put up for sale I can ignore or answer just as I explained. But such comments in a FOR SALE thread are as bad as simply complaining about the price being too high.

Have fun herding the cats!!

*Fl_Gulfer* · 10-26-2009, 10:08 AM

I think If you buy and sell lenses just to make a profit you should stick with Ebay and not post here in the marketplace, Wasn't The Marketplace made to "help" Pentax Forum users?
Just a Thought.

**Adam** · 10-26-2009, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by Fl_Gulfer

I think If you buy and sell lenses just to make a profit you should stick with Ebay and not post here in the marketplace, Wasn't The Marketplace made to "help" Pentax Forum users?
Just a Thought.

That's unrelated to this thread and has already been touched on before; we decided to allow this through the reseller status system.

bdery · 10-26-2009, 02:24 PM

Just a suggestion : I believe removing "sold" threads would be a bad idea. The way it currently works, it is possible to search for older sold items, hopefully see a picture, and hopefully see the asked price for that item. It can help to fix the price for a similar item, decide if the asked price for an item is too high, etc.

It bothers me when people remove the asked price and simply write "sold" in a thread, it would be worse if threads disappeared!

*Ash* · 10-26-2009, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by bdery

Just a suggestion : I believe removing "sold" threads would be a bad idea. The way it currently works, it is possible to search for older sold items, hopefully see a picture, and hopefully see the asked price for that item. It can help to fix the price for a similar item, decide if the asked price for an item is too high, etc.

It bothers me when people remove the asked price and simply write "sold" in a thread, it would be worse if threads disappeared!

Was it ever mentioned that sold threads would be removed from the archives?
I agree with prices remaining after selling items - that had been debated before with most agreeing also...

**Adam** · 10-26-2009, 05:15 PM

Sold threads will never be removed. There was no mention of that to my knowledge.

As far as removed prices go, if you ask nicely via PM, I'll be able to retrieve the original copy of a post and tell you what the price was, unless of course the seller wishes that this information remain secret for whatever reason.

saien · 10-26-2009, 06:02 PM

I think bdery was talking about the future ability for sellers to delete their threads?

Thanks for the clarification

**Adam** · 10-26-2009, 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by saien

I think bdery was talking about the future ability for sellers to delete their threads?

Thanks for the clarification

Ah, I see- I was referring only to threads that weren't yet sold, but rather withdrawn.

*scatron* · 10-27-2009, 12:10 AM

What's the thread reporting procedure? Just PM a mod or admin?

**Adam** · 10-27-2009, 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by scatron

What's the thread reporting procedure? Just PM a mod or admin?

Nope, it's an entirely separate system; see the guide in my signature for details.

lithos · 10-27-2009, 07:58 PM

Since there's a lot of people paranoid about shipping outside the US, can we also make it so the shipping destinations are listed in the title?

It gets annoying having to click through threads, seeing an item I'd like, and then reading down the bottom: "Shipping: CONUS" or something similar.

**Adam** · 10-27-2009, 07:59 PM

Originally Posted by lithos

Since there's a lot of people paranoid about shipping outside the US, can we also make it so the shipping destinations are listed in the title?

It gets annoying having to click through threads, seeing an item I'd like, and then reading down the bottom: "Shipping: CONUS" or something similar.

I may be able to move this field higher so that it's visible in the thread hover text, but I won't be adding it to the standard titles. Added to long-term changes list.

saien · 10-28-2009, 04:10 AM

An big Aussie forum has a system of attaching prefixes in the marketplace which works really well. Maybe something similar could be used here? Just short ones like [US], [EU], [AU], [WW]? I think it would be really useful too but of course it's all up to you and you must be very busy already

*germar* · 10-28-2009, 05:35 AM

While I agree with everything suggested here for the Marketplace, I do wish to note that I've welcomed the posting of independent image samples taken with the lens I'm selling.

I've had several long time forum members state they "liked" the model lens I was selling and post photos they had taken with the lens inside my thread. No opinion of price was offered by the posters. While the guidelines above do not explicitly forbid the practice of posting independent picture samples, I would like to encourage consideration of "sample pics are okay" as long as they don't address price point.

Thanks and Regards

Gerry