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 actually think that each member should have a limited number of 'for sale' threads they may start - one a week or something, and that they may only be bumped once a day. And I think that should apply to everyone.

It may make people think a little more carefully before flooding the board!

and if it was linked to from the homepage - and not Talk - what would happen to "Wanted"???

Havn't read all thread so don't know if it's been suggested but I would want it away from these boards into it's own place and I think although I have no idea if it's possible it should just be the ability to post an ad, not an open thread that can be replied to so no bumping etc possible. Put info of whats being sold into ad along with contact details of the seller and thats it.

What CD said.

Well i dont think all the for sale/wanted boards should go completely because 1. i can get rid of all dd's things she has outgrown and 2nd people can pick things up cheaper than ebay. The whole idea is to help other mums out. I do agree to paying CAT fees this is a must. Could you only let people sell on the boards after they have been on mumsnet for at least a month?? Surely mn hq know if people have name changed so these people wouldn't have to wait another month or so to sell?? on hotdeals forum you are only aloud 2 bumps if you do more than this the ad gets removed and you get a 1 day ban. Also with the likes of hotdeals you get a pm feature maybe mumsnet could introuduce something like this then people wouldn't be able to give out personal emails. Also i would add a rule if you complete a sale before any money is sent, the seller has to send the buyer there home/mobile phone number and address this could stop scammers. Sorry rambled on a bit

Classifieds was originally seperate, and moderated too. Why did it come into Talk in the first place?

Hula - because most people didn't know it was there and never looked!

Ah right - so take it out again and publse it more clearly then? Have it as a link on one of the tabs, ror as s sticky in site stuff?

Bin it.

It is more trouble than it's worth. I'm with marina 100%

no I'm still here honest LL - playing games on a different website (haven't tried the ones on the Games link yet as the site I was playing on has a nasty habit of crashing if you start mucking around with too many Java and whatever else games at the same time)

sorry if this is repetitious as I don't have time to read the whole thread.

My personal pref would be to make the whole thing free-for-postage only. I agree recycling second-hand stuff is laudable but I don't think the main ethos of mumsnet should be people making money.

Failing that:

1. All sellers need to pay mumsnet a small fee (say £5) with a valid, UK credit card registered in their name to the address they are selling from (basically to prove they are who they say they are and their selling address is their real address). Then they would be a registered seller and "allowed" to sell on mumsnet under a single seller's name. Any one not a registered seller with a registered nickname would not be allowed to post in "for sale"
2. Clear description in title
3. No bumps, and posters replying doesn't make the thread bump up the listings. They should be listed in the order the items were listed.
4. Ideally not part of talk - I think in practice most regular talk users hide the topic anyway, it might as well be on a separate listing to spare everyone.

I haven't read most of this thread because I'm too lazy.
But another site I use have the rules that your posts on For Sale have to be under 50% of your total posts, so you have to post on the other boards.
And also maximum of 1 post per person per day.
I only remember there been one scammer there in all the time I have used that site.

I also think the subscribing to CAT would be good.

And please they must learn to do links berofe posting!!

For sale should be kept, but MNHQ need to set some basic rules and enforce them OR get a moderator for the board.

LL's idea about registering personal details with MN before any selling takes place is a good idea.

Picture trails should be got rid of and done via email. I have managed to sell some bits without any photos as I don't have a digital camera.

There shouldn't be a charge. It defeats the purpose for many people. I only buy or sell a few times a year (usually when dd has grown out of three pairs of trousers in 6 weeks and I need to replace them for example). Childminders also buy and sell as they often need multiples of things.

Ok, I haven't read the whole thread yet (but I will) but presumably this thread will not be seen by many of the posters who only frequent the For Sale and Wanted threads as they don't know where the Active Convos thread is, therefore they will lose their right to voice an opinion (which i'm not bothered about) and which could cause problems when something is finally decided... done without them being able to discuss it etc.

Personally I think that the FFP should stay, possibly the wanted stay, but the for sale to go, which would be a shame as I have sold a couple of things, but hey ho, can't have everything, the way mumsnet is being known as a good place to sell is not what mumsnet is about and not what I joined for.

That'll teach me to read a thread properly before posting eh.....

I have no problem paying Cat fees, but can we pay via Paypal
I don't have a debit/credit card so have been unable to pay so far

I haven;t read all the posts so apologies if I am repeating what's been said to death, but I would also like to see them moved out of Talk to a separate area.

The things that I think would help make it more user friendly and discourage abuse would be

• Threads are like classified adverts with no ability to respond on the thread, so just contain the item for sale with contact details of seller, so any transacting is done off board.

• One type of item for sale per post - could be a bundle of clothes, or a few books, but not a list of 15 different random items, or link to multiple picture trails.

• Item for sale described in thread title to allow easier searching

• Categories for items

• No links to external sites e.g. Picture Trail - but posting of 1-2 photos per item allowed

• Posts would be removed after a certain amount of time.

Don't shoot me (Im not a regular poster) but like to see things come up on Active Conv like this.
i think Freecycle is great and do use it but sometime people have items they would sell for a small fee which they can't put on FCycle. Could it be on the Talk but split differently ie Requests (Wanted); For Sale - Parenting items (ie Buggy, cots), For Sale, Toddler items etc and non-parental ones such as For sale: Jewellery - Then people can post items in the proper places.
Also there could be a non - traders policy ie 1 warning to not post trade items and the items deleted - and if done again a member ban?