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Original poster

For Sale Board.

70 replies

jayzmummy · 29/08/2005 12:59

There has been quite a bit of discussion recently about the For Sale board being abused by posters who only visit MN to sell their "unwanted" goods.
Many of the frequent users of MN feel that the For Sale board is being used as a cheaper alternative to ebay.

Would it be at all possible to restrict posting on the For Sale board to only memebers of MN who have paid their subs??

This would mean that those wanting to use the For sale board have subscribed to do so....MN would reap the benefits and regular users wouldnt feel that they are being duped into purchasing from those out to make a fast buck.

OP posts:
Yorkiegirl · 29/08/2005 13:04

Message withdrawn

Original poster
jayzmummy · 29/08/2005 13:09

It was DH's suggestion!

OP posts:
Hattie05 · 29/08/2005 13:10

I think this is an excellent idea.

SoupDragon · 29/08/2005 13:10

Except that you could pay only a £1 sub, say, and be able to sell as many things as you like. Not everyone can afford subs and these are the people most likely to want to make extra money from selling unwanted items.

moondog · 29/08/2005 13:11

Excellent idea.
All the buying/selling ruins the tone of MN.

Hattie05 · 29/08/2005 13:13

Or could stricter rules be put in place. (not sure of current rules as i don't use it).

But could it be stated that MN has the right to ban people who appear to be selling inappropriately. Such as things that are knowingly given away for free from catalogues etc

SoupDragon · 29/08/2005 13:15

Stricter rules are what's needed. Or maybe you have to register seperately to sell and/or have been a regular poster for 3 months. No trading. The board needs its own moderator too.

Original poster
jayzmummy · 29/08/2005 13:16

Soupy....its the people who are only using MN as a cheaper alternative to ebay...the users who never post anywhere else, that are the ones who are causing the debate.

If paying subs is a problem for regular users then maybe the For Sale board could be restricted to either those who have paid subs or those who have posted x ammount of times in other subjects.

????it was just a thought.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 29/08/2005 13:20

I wasn't saying it was a bad idea, just that it wouldn't quite work . You can pay any amount in subs so you could just pay a minimal amount and it would still be cheaper than Ebay.

SoupDragon · 29/08/2005 13:22

And the point baout the people who can't afford the subs was that if you restricted it to sub-payers only, it would rule these posters out.

The more I think about it, I don't think any one solution would work actually. Better policing together with notifying MN Towers of persistant offenders (rather than smart remarks on the relevant thread which only serves to bummp it up active conversations) is probably the way to go. They can issue a warning followed by a ban for repeat offending.

rickman · 29/08/2005 13:22

Message withdrawn

Nemo1977 · 29/08/2005 13:23

jayzmummy i agree in principle but am one of the mners who really cant afford to pay subs, i have listed my sons toys this week in an attempt to get money to buy our food. I do post regularly [maybe too much ]and maybe if it is made so say if people have posted on other threads x amount of times then that would benefit true mners..as has been suggested.

SoupDragon · 29/08/2005 13:26

How about a £10 annual sellers registration fee or 3 months regular posting? Won't stop traders posting bargains (which I don't really have a problem with other than the using-mn-a-cheap-ebay issue). The £10 gives you a seller:nickname name like the media ones so you know immediately that it's not a regular user. Someone would have to police this I guess but it might mean a few extra £s for MN.

Miaou · 29/08/2005 13:37

I agree rickman - however I am in the opposite situation at the moment. I will be clearing out dd2's wardrobe in a couple of months and would like to give away her things to regular mumsnetters (they are not good enough to sell!), but when I did this before they were taken by at least a few people who did not use talk at all (and who I suspect may have sold them on). I don't know whether I would have the balls to put "regular mumsnetters only" on my ad - so don't quite know what to do really.

Kidstrack2 · 29/08/2005 13:41

Moondog I don't think buying and selling ruins the tone of Mumsnet at all. It gives other parents cheaper alternatives than buying everything new!

MarsLady · 29/08/2005 13:54

I tend to stay away from the ones that I think are "ebayers".

hmmmmm I quite like the sale board as I've managed to pick up a few bargains, clothes that the kids have really liked and worn to pieces (almost). Also, now that the DTs are bigger I'm starting to clear out and have started selling them here.... so I'm deffo for the sale board, but completely agree that people are using it as an alternative to ebay.

RTKangaMummy · 29/08/2005 14:00

How much do you have to pay for ebay selling?

I would love it if MN could get somne money from these traders

I have invited one of them onto talk but they didn't come on.

I wish we could report them and get them banned.

I feel they are trying to con members.

nutcracker · 29/08/2005 14:00

I sometimes sell stuff on here, infact i am at this very mo compiling a big list of stuff to put on, but I haven't paid subs for a while because I don't have the money, hence the selling of stuff.

RTKangaMummy · 29/08/2005 14:01

but we know you nutty

surely if MN towers understand people's financial situation then that is ok

RTKangaMummy · 29/08/2005 14:02

Actually just realised the traders would just lie and not tell the truth then wouldn't they ?????

giraffeski · 29/08/2005 14:03

Message withdrawn

munz · 29/08/2005 14:04

good idea - or could MN take a small fee - say 2% or somthing?

WideWebWitch · 29/08/2005 14:06

I don't know whether I really have an opinion on this but I just looked at the for sale topic and there are 3,500 threads! Blimey, and that's AFTER deleting threads over 30 days old! I guess it's a question of whether this has any impact on the speed of the site or on server space. I just ignore them in active conversations but I can see that mumsnet oughtn't to become ebay, that is a large volume.

expatinscotland · 29/08/2005 14:07

I agree w/the small fee idea munz suggested. After all, Ebay and PayPal charge a fee.

I'm stony skint at the mo' - sold some stuff on Ebay and Cash Converters just to pay for food last month - but still think it's only fair to charge. Everyone else does!

nailpolish · 29/08/2005 14:09

agree with soupy - its the people who cant afford the subs who benefit from buying and selling the most, so defeats the purpose

and anyway, ive noticed that a lot of things are being sold (very kindly) for p&p only, ie for free. sums a mn a bit for me

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