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

Oh, and a £50 charge for any false (and childish) accusations of bullying.

Bullying being intepreted by the for-salers as posting on their threads without using HunXXXXXXX or with a vague criticism / question, right?

Mums in Huns out

I have just noticed there is an ebay topic

WHY?

CD that has been there for AGES nearly a year (or more?)

It was because there were so many people discussing ebay problems/with ebay questions on the other boards.

AFAIK it's not been used to "link" to people's personal ebay auctions (apart from when we had an ebay challenge early last year)/

I'd like ot see the Classifieds taken off the main Talk board. The rubric at front of Talk and on Home Page can link to it as a separate entity with a code of practice. Not read all the posts but can a charge be made per thread set up which gets deleted a month later. You usually have to pay a nominal fee for a card in a shop window, which is removed 2 weeks later so why not similar here. If any small businesses want a general ad there can be a fee for that as at present.

My top preference would be to get rid of it altogether, as I don't see the need for it on here.

But if it is to stay, it should move out of talk and be a completely separate little world, along with the Feedback that goes with it. TBH I think it already is a separate little world, but it is intersecting with my MN world rather a lot and only in bad ways... How it operates once it is separate wouldn't bother me in the slightest - exactly as now, or with new rules, no worries to me at all...

Glad to find this thread, I might not put my stuff in the loft awaiting car boot just yet then.
By all means take it off talk. I always make a point of going to classifieds before 'last 15 mins' to see if anyone has any bargains that would be good for my family anyway, so if its completely apart from chat I would still go there.
Like the idea of separate sections - I get really fed up with my small for sale bits getting swamped with people selling their millionth buggy.
Oh and i think it would be an idea if you limit it to baby and childrens items and maternity. Stop all the phones etc. Have an 'under a fiver' section free and charge for higher value item sales. Or have separate section for over a fiver/tenner items that you have to register in some way to list there which might put off the scammers, ie you need to have your profile made public or have been a member a certain amount of time.
Sorry if anyone else has posted these suggestions but no time to read all the posts.

I purposely haven't read all the posts, but here are my views :
A limit to the amount of money that can be exchanged in one transaction, purely to protect people - I am that now large sums of money are being handed over with little form of protection (which is why I think for larger sales people should use something like Ebay - that has complaints procedures etc)
A limit to the constant bumping of one thread - if people don't post that they want your stuff, then no one wants it ! Don't then re-list the same tat goods under a different thread title!
Maybe separate the sale board my themes, eg. girls clothes 0-5, books, toys etc so that if you are after something you can easily scan down the thread titles to find anything you may be interested in
Sellers should be prepared to pay a fee (eg CAT) to have the benefit of the use of the boards
Any problems with buyers/sellers should be dealt with via MNHQ (sorry guys!) & not using online 'lynch mobs' to discuss possible motives, posting users RL names etc

best of luck MNHQ

I'd just like to defend the For Sale section.

Yes it is messy and hard to follow and lots of things about it bug me (hun??).
I can also see the issues about people being ripped off (why can't there be a way of checking who is a trusted seller which doesn't require a haul through a huge thread i.e. can't it be linked to our 'names' a bit like ebay)

But all problems aside....

1. it's a great way to pass on presents from my mother in law which don't fit or that she gave us last year aswell LOL.
2. I often sell things v cheap or give them away for free just because it's to other mumsnetters. I love the fact that on the whole it's a trustworthy community. 3)I'm not interested in ebay and profits and I don't think I'm alone. I know some people are more professional but are they really the majority? and can't they be screened out?
3. I've bought and sold quite a few things (books, tops, a toy or two) to genuine mumsnetters and it's always been efficient and painless. 5)What's wrong with bumping a couple of times? The list is so long that you might just have caught the wrong time of day to come to anyone's attention. I've bumped a several of my items which then sell immediately.
4. Categories would really help.

My view: DON'T get rid of and don't charge fees. And....if you don't like it, then don't read it.

I'm probably not adding any new ideas.

Please take Buying/selling off the talk board
Is there any way that we could link it to local listings?

MNHQ - have you posted this in the For Sale board too?

I know LL has started a thread there and a few people have seen it and posted here, but imo people who mainly post only on that board need to see this too.

I don't care very much about buying and selling and its presence on the board doesn't bother me, even when people using it are, how shall we say, quite active

but the threads in the last couple of days have shown up the fact that as people had suggested, many people using the buying / selling boards have absolutely no respect or consideration for anyone else on MN, or indeed for MN as a whole. I don't really know what if anything MNHQ can do about this, but I have gone from thinking 'oh leave them alone you snobs' to 'jesus what a bunch of scrotes'. So you can get shot of them if you want, AFAIC, I for one will not be objecting.

In essence, I quite like the for sale section - I've picked up a few very reasonably-priced second-hand bits and pieces for my babies, and sold on a few things which they have out-grown: I really like the whole recycling aspect of it

However, I don't like the agressive, guilt-tripping tone of some of the ads, and I reckon taking it off Talk would be great; too many for sale threads bump off 'genuine' threads, which is crap for people looking for advice etetera

I'm not really on Mumsnet enough to feel proprietoriel (sp?) abpout it, the way some regulars do, but I can see how it could be irritating if I was

I think the for sale boards should be ONLY for the sale of used baby and child-related things, and maternity wear I suppose.
I also think there should be a limit of , say, one for sale thread a week per member.
and I think we should have to pay a subsciption (I haven't yet, but am prepared to )

Just cracked up at Franny's post
'jesus what a bunch of scrotes'

I'm not here much, so miss pout on a lot of the controversy that goes down, and never seem to have time to catch-up

real thread, for something thats really free. Kthnx

I hide them and only take a peek in horrified (and wildly snobbish) fascination when someone posts a link. Then I feel bad.

They're easy to hide if you feel strongly. Live and let live and all that...

I think madamez is right, and a lot of this did start about class, but it has gone further than that in the last couple of days. I don't care about spelling and all that, but a lot of the posters on buying and selling have shown themselves as rude, grasping, aggressive, revelling in name calling and insults, anti-community minded and almost trollish in their behaviour. I think their behaviour is divisive and has a negative impact on the boards. I can think of plenty of other posters who cause controversy or who annoy me or whatever, but this is a group of people who seem to be deliberately set against the spirit of MN and only out for what they can get. I don't include all buyers and sellers on here! There seem to be some good sparky people on there also. I hope they stick around and join in with the rest of the boards more.

I think when it was discussed with some regular sellers about possible self regulation and guidelines it seperated the wheat from the chaff tbh, quite a few of the reg sellers were wonderful, spoke to other sellers, were happy to have the guidelines pointed out to them etc, but some took it upon themselves to decide they werent going to do it, which made it worse for the decent peopel amongst the sellers.

I really hope for the ones who have trieds sakes that the boards dont get moved.

Take it out of talk altogether.
If MNHQ really want to keep it, I think a classified ad section linked to the home page not to talk. All replies direct to the seller via email.

Personally I'd prefer to get rid of it altogether.

Alternatively, If it has to be kept then, like others have suggested, there should be
categories so you can brouse it easier
rules about posting i.e. list items in thread title
Only one 'bump' per day?
Insisting that anyone who uses it has paid cat fees is good.

Would be much easier to get rid of it altogether. If people want to sell things, ebay is available, is fully regulated, has some degree of accountability and safer to use.

Those who want to get rid altogether, I have to say I agree with the sellers that say 'Hide it', if you dont want to see it you dont have to, but for those who may use it, it needs a rehaul.

You can only hide it in active convos not in last 15mins/hour or on search. so "hide it" doesn't work that well.

oh Justine, do you ever think ''I've created a mhuns-ter....''

personally, while I approve in principle of a place where ordinary mums can buy or sell a few unwanted bits, I think it has become a haven for greedy ebayers who have found in MN a free loophole for dealing.
However I know there are plenty of 'normal' mums using it for the 'right' reasons.

Is there any way of having a limit on how much someone can sell per month/year?