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

[JustineMumsnet]

As you may know we have in mind a complete overhaul of the For sale/ wanted boards as they seem to be making many folks' lives (ours especially) a misery.

Clearly it makes sense for us to have classified ads - why not re-cycled used stuff? That should in theory be good for buyers and sellers alike (and it's very green too). But equally clearly, at the risk of understatement, it is not functioning well at the moment.

However, complete overhaul is going to have to wait a wee while as Tech's got quite a lot on... (We are hopefully bringing you improved local listings, blogs and more in the next few weeks and months).

In the meantime do give us your ideas for how you'd ultimately like to see For sale/ wanted working. (I know some of you have already posted some sensible (and not so sensible thoughts around and abou but we'd be super grateful if you'd re-post the best of them here so everyone can see, discuss and refine.)

So... what rules would be fair/enforcable and assist in the smooth working of the thing? (nb we are never going to enforce a no huns policy I'm afraid, so do be realistic - MN is for all parents even those with poor grammar and spelling.)

Should we re-house somewhere off Talk? And will it be used/useful if we do? Can we make it work on Talk if not? What would make it easier to use/ more functional?

Should we charge and if so how. What would you pay to use and how would you like to pay it?

Which other boards do this successfully and what are the best ideas/functionality should we pinch?

To ease the pain of waiting for overhaul, next week we will introduce a couple of quick fixes that might hopefully smooth the operation a little, namely we're going to insist that everyone who posts a for sale notice pays a CAT and we'll break down the boards into categories so things are more easily searchable.

In the meantime, please hang on in there and if it all gets too much there's always the hide thread/topic option .

Thanks for your input and your patience.

Peace and love,

Mumsnet Towers

i have given up in fact i barely bother with mn at all now

Well, I just ventured into the sales boards, and saw one seller with three different adds, bumping around, referring to her trails, offering half price postage to repeat customers, selling so many brand new items, it makes you wonder where she gets it from, and even have her dad driving all over the place delivering... If that is not a business, then I dont know.

yep thats one im on about

QS, did you report her to MNHQ?

has any resolution or way forward been reached?

hey missy.. dont leave because of this!

What a good idea. The more the merrier?

Sellers like her are competing with genuine mums selling to get rid of old, to fund buying the new lot. Having such around is in nobody's interest, not even the regular sellers are she with her deals, and delivery offers, are taking business away from the others.

i don;t know who the seller is to report them

i don;t tend to go there,but have had and given away some stuff on FFP thread

QS did you report this seller? This is not at all in spirit of MN and agree it will surely push out genuine sellers.
I think BNWT things should be banned now actually, thats what ebay is for IMHO.
Hope MNHQ reach a decision soon. Its all getting silly now....

I did.

It is very noticable too. Her threads are the only ones with lots of *** etc, and big capitals referring to trails. Easy to spot.

Think I know who you mean, have a feeling this Mnetter used to have a baby shop and has been referred to before, but dont hold me to that.
Anyway, lets hop MNHQ will let us know soon.

panacotta your suspicions are correct (sp?)

anyhow i am sick of how the for slae bit has brought this site down! its a bloody great big shame

i used to use the whole board loads and now only post here and there

ho hum

ban the whole fecking thing imo

QS, She has been reported quite a few times this last week

If we are thinking of the same one that is.

Has any decision been reached?

Unless the fee to sell is a substantial amount it will not stop the "traders". A fiver is not a lot to them in the grand scheme of things.

I can't see now, how "for sale" can possibly work, unless MN are prepared to police it.

Sadly if we have the for sale boards we are going to get traders. I agree that the for sale boards do not seem to go with the philosophy of mumsnet at the moment.

I have in the last week put a few items up for sale following the guidelines that have been mentioned on this thread ie, description of goods in title, clear and concise messages with my email at the end. No no please buy I want to go in holiday to the Bahamas etc. I kept a very close eye on my threads and they did just seem to disappear without a trace. I have sold a couple of bits which is great but I do feel that they got lost amongst all the @@@ &&&& buy buy buy threads.

It is never going to be an area where all agree. So I think that the only option in this situation is to ban the for sale threads and to only have the free for postage section.

Sighs

Right, have just looked at For Sale for the first time in years.

Bloody norah, it's unrecogniseable over there.

Got to go, surely. Or else put somewhere out of the way where it won't overlap with the rest of the talkboards. These people are taking the mick.

its gone fimbo

The seller I have in mind is still there, advertising her brand new dead cheap goods. On one post she wants to get rid of coat hangers, because all the clothes she gets hold of these days come with hangers...

same one Quint...clearly taking the piss BIG time.

MNHQ..we need some 'classifieds' police who will happily report any posters thought to be taking the piss/trading/not following the rules(when you decide some)/posting wanteds in for sale/linking to ebay etc

I'll volunteer to be a For Sale Warden!
My 2 books have almost disappeared from the For Sale Topic List !

can't mumsnet appoint some volenter (sp?) mums to check rules are being stuck to? that can then report anyone breaking the rules, there must be enough sellers with time on their hands!

me too

Some of you will know from previous posts that I want to see the For Sale board stay but though I remain a defender I am also annoyed with them.

One thing that bugs me is people who put loads and loads and loads of things in their title or picture trails. Because they have so many responses(for their different items) it means mumsnetters selling one thing get bumped down the list very quickly(i.e. whizz).

Why can't there be a rule that you can only sell one item at a time (and by that I mean one type of item i.e 10 nappies or 2 books or 3 boys tops are but not an endless list of different things on one post).

In addition, if sellers could post no more than three threads a week or similar (as suggested by others) it would soon become to much like hard work for traders.

Re charging: no point because traders can afford it and mumsnetters who want to sell something for £2.50 will not be able to post.

The problem with that, like I saw yesterday, was that the same poster has several ads for her few items, and kept bumping.

I think it has to be ONE ad (for all items) and those who wants to buy will have to CAT the seller, and all sales related communication will be off the board so to speak.

It should be possible to amend the ad once or twice, in case there are clarifications, such as, another poster said, farkaboo raincover also fit the fillybango pushchair, etc.

but what about people like me who have clothes in various sizes to sell and loads of toys. i don't want to have to keep posting separate ads. it's so much easier to put it all in one ad.