The For Sale/ Wanted boards - update from M Towers and post your ideas/thoughts here

Of course not, madamez, but there is a distinct difference between you selling off a few books, or a few things, and thread after thread after thread from the SAME person selling brand new things. A person who does not participate anywhere else on the site and who could be, for all you know, a shopkeeper taking advantage of MN's free service to overload their surplus stock.

And there are places like eBay for that.

Well actually (and this is probably why this annoys me), I am a trader. Fucking shoot me. Among the dozen other ways I try to keep myself and DS fed and housed, I have a market stall that I sell things on, which is not all that economically viable (I have probably run that bit at a loss, when all is said and done, for years. But stalling out sometimes brings you in a few quid in cash when you need it, never mind that when you factor in what you paid for the stock last year you're still losing). And, following a discussion thread on MN, I put a listing in For Sale relating to a book I had co-edited and published, 10 years ago, that I still had some stock of, offering copies to interested MNers at a very cheap price. I regard that as being the same as, when a thread involves someone wanting a service that a MNer offers, mentioning that one is the MNer who can provide that service (ie someone asks where they can get an antique cuckoo clock rebuilt, and someone just happens to be reading the thread who either mends clocks themselves or whose grandad does - and therefore says so on the thread).IF someone was a failed or former market trader in clothing, choosing to sell off old stock on MN for about a tenth of what it cost to buy, because you can;t bear to bin it and you need a bit of cash, doesn't make you a shoplifter or a chav or a moron.

fletchaaaar, I love those seagulls! great analogy.

Can I just say that if nothing else then stop the bumping

Make it so they can't be bumped

Make it so that for sale is only listed by time posted

I have looked at a few today that were bumped every 2 hours, or even more frequently, with no other traffic than "." by the OP

I have finally worked out what it reminds me of...
.. the seagulls in Finding Nemo

Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine

Becomes

Buy, Buy, Buy, Buy, Buy, Buy, Buy, Buy,

yes, it lends gravitas don'tcha know... sleep well, rabbit.

ooh Aitch, sporting the "classic" look this evening!

I'm off to bed, this "work" lark is exhausting!

i think if the habitual sellers had tried harder to put their own house in order in the last few weeks rather than attacking people i personally would be more convinced by this 'we are all mums doing our best' bit.

Whizzy, I have a trick for you. Half the posters on those boards don't know that MN doesn't have moderators - they are used to Bounty and Netmums - -you often see them saying "oh yeah, well the mods haven't done anything, have they!" So change your name to "BoardModerator" and you might have more luck

And the lady whose thread I linked to has NEVER posted anything but items for sale, she doesn't have a profile and has never mentioned her children - so how do you know she's a mum? In fact, how do you know she's a she?!

ARGGHHH and people still don't get posting things that they WANT on the WANTED board NOT on For Sale, thereby clogging up For Sale further "because people don't look on the Wanted section" -well for gods sake start looking in the Wanted section !!!!!

I've put a little 'tip' on about 4 threads this evening suggesting that items wanted may be better posted in the Wanted section. Think I'm going to get myself a peaked cap & a notebook & start issuing fines

but that's the point!!!!!!!! icklegem, some of these people are only here to make money from trading, it's not mothers like you that piss people off.

I think a lot of us have been making sensible suggestions to help For Sale survive, it hasn't just been a chorus of "regs" saying get rid of it.

I hate your name, by the way, I nearly choked on one of your kind when I was three

yummylittlelapin - it just seems like we are all tarred with the same brush when the sellers are all referred to as the "huns"

Doesn't really help with the "them and us" situation. At the end of the day there should be no difference. We are all mums and here because of that very reason.

Lapin - that was the same job lot of stuff that MN deleted the post for a few days ago! Now that is taking the p*ss

I know that, and I don't think ANYONE has suggested that all sellers are the same, but the problem has arisen precisely because a few traders are exploiting the system.

No I understand that but we are not all like that

icklegem, this is 20 pairs of brand new earrings; tonnes of brand new children's tights, LOADS of stuff. This is not a few extra things someone has bought.

Just because someone might have something BNWT does not make them a trader.I, for example, have in my room 2 tops I bought in the summer that I forgot about, never been worn and are BNWT but I have decided I no longer like them so I will be selling them on for a lot less than I paid for them. Same goes for the tons of baby clothes I bought and that were either too small for her when she was born (she was a big one!) or just never got used before they were too small as they were forgotten about.

If I now sell them on MN does that too make me one of your dreaded "traders?"

i think a dedicated site branded with mn but separate would work

And joblots!

The thing is, madamez, a lot of the "traders" are selling things that are BNWT - brand new with tags - This is not selling on stuff you have used.

i think mn could make some serious dosh by getting a business plan on mn ebay as a separate site so diversify

but they would have to develop different skills

dragons den?

Totally agree with madamez, couldn't have put it better myself

I had an idea for this that I see from a quick whizz through today's posts has been mentioned by Peachy-so I agree with her!
The For Sale section should be run as a sub-board to the main Talk board with a permanent link from the bottom of Active Convos-that way its easy to find if you want it and easy to ignore if you don't.

Once into the For Sale section why not have the posts divided into categories i.e. maternity wear, toys, childrens clothes, prams(of course)etc. Then if what you're selling doesn't fit into one of Mumsnet's "approved categories" then bad luck -this isn't the place to sell what you're offering e.g.discount perfume.

Wannabee I dont think thats what most poele meant by traders- tehre's at least one example where it seemed a poster formerly owned a stall, another where someone was touting for wedding dress sales, and tehre seems to be a culture where if a seller will post 'For sale: farkaboo maxi in Muff Extreme' and someone else will reply 'Sorry hun got that colour have you got it in mini discharge colour?'

Now, we're looking for a second hand car at the moment. If we see a car for sale, we assume thats the one they have. We would only contact to see if they had another variant if we knew they were traders- as in real traders. So presumably there is some actual, real trading going on? IYSWIM?

didn't see that thread, madamez, it sounds atrocious. did you report it?

as a matter of interest, this providing of an address thing... what's the point of that? how will it be verified?