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

Why would you pay £2 p&p when the loal avon ladyy delivers free?

But I suppose if you live in the middle of nowhere or something

??

Oh please, not another

to answer your earlier question, peachy, i think that it has been getting worse for a while so people have been hiding it. but there was a horrible thread on there that those of us who hadn't hidden it couldn't avoid seeing, to the effect that one prolific For Sale poster was a liar and a thief etc. i think word of that spread and people thought 'hang on a minute... this isn't what it's supposed to be about'.

Is this picture trail from a thread in for sales?

Check this out Now they make threads to drive traffic to ebay were they pay fee to sell...

sorry my question was to whizz.

The hidehi thing Aitch?

yes, it was grim. someone posted it on active convos to say 'what the hell is goiing on here', which pointed a lot of trad MNers at For Sale for the first time in ages.

All we need now is Betterware and Kleeneze and we will have a clean sweep.

Yes Quint - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/1910/466835I tried -

Hi, I know there are a lot of so called "traders" on the sale board but is that fair to try removing it as there are equally a lot of genuine mummy sellers on there too.

(and no I don't mean people who sell their mums!)

Whizzz, where did it go?

then they can go to Ebay, ickle.

i don't see what's so hard about that.

this is supposed to be a parenting forum.

Blimey MNHQ - that was quick

loads of mums sell on ebay

most people sell on ebay

Yes I see your point but if you put small bits on ebay like the things mums tend to sell, ie baby clothes, it ends up being a waste of time and you may as well have just given them away in the first place. They take so much out in seller fees and even just for listing and even more if paying through paypal that it just doesn't make it worth the time and effort.

I don't see anything wrong with wanting to make a few pounds back on the hundreds that are spent out on buying the items in the first place. I don't mean making a profit but just something towards the next things the kiddies will need.

but er the talk of kiddies and bits and mums is all very well but that is not the actual scene

oh come on, plenty of people list baby things on ebay and make a profit. 5p listing days, for starters. it's not a big hole in ebay's business plan... baby stuff is one of their biggest sections.

I fail to see why MN should be expected to provide that service for free, ickle.

That's not why it's here, to make people a few bob.

That's what Ebay, gumtree, Craiglist and boot sales are for.

This is a parenting site that began to offer For Sale/Wanted as a courtesy to its users.

But now that courtesy has been abused, very obviously.

Not for some I agree, but it is for a lot of us. I have sold some baby clothes on there before and have bought loads from there too which has helped both myself and the seller. I just don't understand why that is wrong?

Instead of taring us all with the same brush maybe a way of weeding out the "traders" could be found so once again the sale board can be used for it's intended purpose?

I'm sorry but are you having a laugh, I made about about £200 last year selling my unwanted children's clothes, registered for tax? are you joking? you can earn nearly £5,000 per year without paying tax and if you are selling a few of your personal items you don't pay tax anyway.
If people actually sat there and counted all the money we supposedly make, probably less than a tenner a week on average, it's called a treat or some new clothes for our children, not a business.
I really wish people could get their facts straight instead of constantly criticizing others.

i am starting to feel that i am covered in ick and goo and not even on the for sale threads lol

Because it's being abused, ickle. It's an abuse of the forum, as Hula's posts so eloquently pointed out.

That's what's wrong about it, not people wnating to flog on things.

And because it's being abused and would require a lot of resources to moderate it and stop that abuse, and this is a parenting forum, a lot of folks think it should just go.

Especially given that there are numerous other ways in which a person can sell on their unwanted items.

Who are the traders exactly?

Poor MN Towers.

Wading through this lot.

And having to make a decision.

I don't have to read it all do ? Thought I might just see what last post said... don't suppose anyone would like to summarise, would they ?