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

Absolutely expat, but I am just hypothesising based on the assumption that they decide to keep it

I'm really, really, totally... ambivalent on this. On the one hand I can appreciate the annoyance of those who really only want to flog a used cot or bundle of preloved nappies (sorry if that sounds a bit yucky) and keep getting bumped off the board - because if you just fancy making yourself the price of a pint on something that you have bought and used, and do not have a RL friend or relative who's likely to need it, then Ebay can be a bit of a hassle. On the other hand, some of the shuddering distaste expressed by the Boden end of MN towards what they percieve as the 'chavvy' side is actually pretty revolting. The 'witty' attack on a woman asking for branded tracksuits for her baby was really just smug, nasty bullying and probably the worst example I've ever seen on MN. (Her thread title wasn't full of &^, she wasn't bumping it every 5 minutes, it was just a request and yet a couple of people thought it was OK to pile in and call her a stupid chav. Repeatedly. Even when she asked them to back off and expressed what seemed to be some major distress.)
Also, the snottiness about people who are 'trading' in a small way is a bit much. It's a slightly grey area but selling off oyour own belongings doesn't quite count as income for tax purposes. SO if (this is the example I was once given and it's a little dated but serves the purpose) you have replaced all your vinyl with CDs and therefore want to sell your vinyl, then that doesn;t count as taxable income if you get anything for it. And selling off used baby clothing, cots, buggies etc is usually just a way of contributing towards the cost of the next batch of stuff your DC need - or just maybe something like your first new pair of boots for yourself in 2 years.

SO what I actually think is: separate board or at least locked off from active convos, small initial registration fee and you must provide a full address - and a maximum amount per transaction: if yo uwant to sell something for over £50 it's worthwile doing it via either Ebay or the small ads in the local paper.

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?

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?

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.

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

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?

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.

And joblots!

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

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?"

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.

No I understand that but we are not all like that

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.

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

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.

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

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

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?!

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

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.

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

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

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

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,

fletchaaaar, I love those seagulls! great analogy.