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

Where the fuck hell do you find those links??

I would also like to add mumsnet is a part of my life, not my whole life, I have 4 children and a partner to look after, All our meals are home cooked, we have an allotment and try to grow as much fruit & veg as possible, so that does not leave me much time to go on the computer. I enjoy coming on mumsnet and joining in as much as I can, I lurk more than I post although I do post on 2 other topics regularly, but because I haven't made x amount of posts that does not make me a bad person or not a regular mumsnetter, it just means I am a normal mother with not much time on her hands.
I have not posted on the for sale boards for a while, but that does mean when I do post again I will have quite a bit for sale, but I will only be selling baby/children's items worn & used by my own children.
I agree there is far too much bumping going on, I think maximum 3 bumps per day ie: morning, noon & evening, if everyone sticks to the same rules there will be no need for bumping anyway
Traders should pay the £30 fee and that includes people who sell their goods on chat threads, which I saw happening last November, they should practice what they preach and leave us mums to earn out £10 a week.

no no no - no bumping at all

once bumping starts you are just competing against other people bumping and it is a vicious circle of bumpity bumpity bump bump bump .. .. .. .. ..

Put it in a seperate place, no bumping, purely listed by posting time. Why would you need to bump then?

And categorised

No bumping. Listing by time of OP is much fairer, it gives everyone an equal opportunity to have their threads seen (ie someone who only gets on MN once every couple of days compared to, er, me for example )

tooooo sllllllooooooooooooww

It doesn't really matter whether it's 1 bump or 2 as long as everyone sticks to the rules everyone will get a fair chance

our not out

Nope - still no bumping

What is the point?

it is like saying ME ME ME ME ME

the rule should be none

why should you bump

Especially if there are categories, people will look down the list for what they want

Did I say No bumping??

This is presuming that it is taken out of talk which it has to be to stop all of this

I agree with fletchaaaar (nsf?)
I have things I could have sold on the boards, but I am going to ebay because I see no point in there. I dont have time to sit and bump and bump just to stay on the first page. (Designers Guild Towelling Bathrobes anyone???)

I had this great idea in bed last night was convinced of its genius

after I had swopped my nappies on our local email swopshop and ended up with more wine, I was thinking that we could have a swop board and then MN towers could come up with some gift voucher system and we could buy mn gift vouchers to psend in mn stores and that would help mn and we could also buy our friends one if they did something particularly nice

well it seemed a good idea at 4am

Cappucino, you send me vintage wine, I send you bathrobes?

Sorry I am being cheeky and straying from the point. No wine for Quint.

yes Quint that's how it works

I got wine for my nappies and my cot sheets and beer for my travel cot

you could wait till you had enough gift vouchers and then get what you wanted

but it would also mean that any proceeds would help mn rather than it being a way for small businesses to naughtily bypass ebay and make real proper hard cash

So the wine and bear was mostly like a token, as you would have to get a lot of beer to cover the cost of a second hand travel cot?

Right, have finally read the whole thread, and would just like to make 3 points;

1. People who say 'if you don't like For Sale don't look' are deliberately missing the point. You can't avoid them if half of the Active Conversations are *For Sale one Farkabug**

It cannot be avoided, it is rammed down our throats, so we don't have the luxury of 'not looking' So scrap For Sale.

1. People who argue that 'I once/last year/last century came to MN via For Sale and For Sale did not put me off MN' are also deliberately missing the point. Once/last year/last century For Sale was a small section of MN, so of course it would not have overshadowed the real MN. But it does now, can anyone not see that?

So scrap For Sale

1. Argh, cannot remember what 3 is, but I think it ended in Scrap For Sale.

I thank you.

yes QS exactly just a token

just a kind of thank you gift if you like

Thats an interesting thought, and personally I would like that.

But, I have a feeling that giving wine to mums who are hard up and try sell a few bits and bobs to fund the next lot of clothing, is not in the .... erm spirit of things....

Hippopotami.

I dont know why I still bother discuss this. I already came to the same conclusion yesterday evening, lol.

LOL Hippo

Re the voucher idea - I suspect that MNHQ, who have to administer everything and presumably pay someone to do so! will want a really simple solution.

AS I SAID

If you have something for sale, you put it in your profile (in a special box to be added by Tech grin)

If you want to buy something, there is a Sales Search button on the main board - NOT a for sale topic. You click on the button and choose from a list - feeding/prams & pushchairs/clothing/adult clothing/music & audio/toys/misc - you get the idea. You also type in a keyword, so in prams & pushchairs, you may type "quinny" = then, you get a list of what is available. Possibly, we have a private messaging system, and all deals should be made through that, so MN can have a nosy look in case of dispute "you said it was blue!" "no, I said it was aqua"
justinemumsnet "no, you did say blue" etc

PROS - no endless bumping, regulars can sell if they want to, MNHQ can keep an eye (via the private message thingy) without having to actively be involved in every blardy sale. Could still pay a once yearly fee to be able to have the "sales" box in your profile - £5 a year like cat?

CONS - more work for Tech!

ISNT THIS A FANTASTIC IDEA!

You can thank me later hunnis

Nope, still don't like it.

Chat will be full of posters saying "hey look at this lovely picture of my child/kitten/sausageroll on my profile, oh and while you're at it, check out my farkabug"

Orlando couldn't believe the crazy idea from the otherwise sensible MamaG

but they can save their mn vouchers to buy darling little children's clothes from mn suppliers Quint

I didn't mean actually to make everyone use wine as currency just because I do

morning bump

has there been a decision by MNHQ yet? can't be arsed to sift through the thread...

post-elevenses bump