Is it time to charge fees for selling?

[MerlinsBeard]

OK i know that is extreme but there seems to be posters who only ever post on for sale board with LOADS of items to sell.

Surely those sellers should be on ebay?

[lulumama]

what difference does it make? you can exclude buying and selling from your active convos, so never need to see them...

[WideWebWitch]

Agree, wish they would go to ebay/elsewhere.

[MerlinsBeard]

i usually do lulu, thats not what i mean though.

it seems that some sellers are taking advantage of the fact that it costs nothing to sell on here and sell sell sell.

Am annoyed from MNHQ POV where they can be getting some cash

[MerlinsBeard]

and i know its an old chestnut

[lulumama]

i see what you mean.....

if mumsnet starts charging, then it is more admin , more work for MNHQ...

i dunno, i just exclude it...

[LyraBelacqua]

I agree the admin costs would be huge so it's probably just not worth the hassle to MNHQ.

[NotADragonOfSoup]

Maybe charge a one off or annual fee to register as a seller? Like the CAT fee.

[MerlinsBeard]

thats a good idea Soupy (assuming you are soupy and not an imposter?)

[policywonk]

I do exclude buying/selling, but you still get threads that should be in buying/selling but get started in Chat or Products or something else. There's one at the moment about perfumes. I know it's a tiddly concern in the scheme of things, but it does annoy me.

[tissy]

good idea, soupy

I exclude them as well, but do see threads that are thinly disguised ads, and report them if I'm cross enough!

[LadyVictoriaOfCake]

i sell most of my stuff on ebay, but do offer some bits on mumsnet, tbh the ebay fees are extoriatnate, and i do like the option of a free board for selling, but dont list loads on here.

[roisin]

I excluded them ages ago, and had completely forgotten I had done so, and virtually forgotten their existence!

It's a great facility to be able to hide them from view.

[meemar]

unless it costs MNHQ money for people to sell their goods I don't see why they should charge. It would simply be profiteering.
I can see why you would charge for CAT as there is admin cost involved. But private sales between members doesn't cost MN anything. (I don't think?)

[pipsqueeke]

there seems to be loads of late from bounty. it annoys me when people join and are only selling - I don't like to go with them prefer regular posters

[Nbg]

IMHO its a bit blooody cheeky for people to sell stuff on here if they dont post.
They only do it to get out of paying ebay fees.

At least with ebay you have the advantage of their rating system so you can make your own mind up if you trust them or not.

Exclude the convos and if you do ever buy, buy from regular posters IMO.

But yes I think there should be a charge if you want to sell.

[amidaiwish]

MNHQ could set up a buyers/sellers feedback site which would be very valuable.
This would also justify charging a "registration" fee for sellers.

[beansprout]

The majority of items sold on here are child/baby related and as such, I think it's nice to just be able to buy things from other parents (who presumably could do with a bit of cash) without all the hassle (e.g. waiting a week for the auction to close) of ebay.

[amidaiwish]

so the seller registration and CAT fee could be one? therefore regular posters register for free.

[Whizzz]

I'm selling a few of DSs grown out of things on here at the mo but I must admit I get a bit cheesed off when people only use the For Sale section & not anything else & then ask for things like 'trusted' buyers/sellers lists & end up putting Ebay type feedback.

To be honest I think there are so many things for sale now, that its getting very hard to sell anything even for silly prices

[Ladymuck]

But potentially Mumsnet (the company) benefits from the fact that it has a larger number of registered members than might otherwise be the case which helps it attract advertisers. Also potentially the selling/buying sub-community also click through ads etc.

[pipsqueeke]

waht really annoys me - I saw a thread the other day was a poster (no idea of who it was) but it had 80 odd posts all form her biuumping it up and every other one said check out my trails xyz and there was a list of about 4 trails - I mean fair enough bump a few times. but to do 80 wiht everyother one having the link I thought was a bit much - esp as only one link is needed unless you have a differnt trail. iycwim.

[DontlookatmeIamborrrring]

I think it's up to buyers to be vigilant and remember that not everyone is who they say they are (no matter how many 'huns' they use) check how long they have been members for/previous posts, ask for more detailed pictures, maybe see if you can collect the item. I am sure any genuine seller would not mind you checking things out before parting with a large amount of money.

[OliviaMumsnet]

Hi there
Just to let you know I've added this to the list of things to discuss at our next meeting.
MNHQ