Matthew, thanks for responding so quickly. I cut and pasted the following classified guidelines from another forum that I frequent. It might help everyone to have some "boundaries" in place to eliminate misunderstandings and lower your stress level.
They have this posted in a sticky at the top of their classified page.
Listing Guidelines:
- No commercial postings allowed, unless you specifically clear it with me first
- No illegal items allowed (items that are counterfeit, or are illegal copies).
- Listing and placing links to items on eBay *is* allowed, providing that you specifically list a description of the item, and then give a link. No blind links.
- You may *bump* your ad, but no more than once every three (3) days. Ads that have been bumped more than five (5) times may be deleted.
- You may not create more than FOUR different posts at any one time, or have more than four posts bumped onto the first page of the classifieds at any one time. The reason for this is to allow space for everyone to sell, buy, and trade.
- If you want to conduct an auction for your parts, please use Ebay. An asking price is not required, but auctions are not allowed.
- The more text and photos you add, the more likely you are to sell. Add as many photos and as much text description as you need to adequately describe the parts.
- Try to avoid using capital letters and explanation marks in the listing titles - these only serve to irritate people and thus they may skip over your listing.
- Make sure you have enabled "Email Notification" and "Private Message Notification," and have subscribed to your post so that you know when someone has posted a comment, question, or sent an email or PM regarding your ad.
- Indicate your geographic location, either in the post itself or by filling out the "location" field of your profile.
- PayPal (www.paypal.com) is a very useful form of payment that is very popular with eBay auctions. People who accept PayPal typically get paid faster and have increased interest in their listings.
- Be sure to list your email address and/or contact phone number in the listing. Also indicate where the part is located and how shipping will be arranged if it can't be shipped in a box.
- When the item is sold, simply modify your post (using the edit button), to indicate that the item has indeed been sold. Posters are not allowed to delete threads - only edit them. Don't remove the original information, as that will render it useless for people to reseach historical price info.
Buyer's Guidelines:
- It is appropriate to respond to an ad by either emailing or sending the seller a Personal Message (PM) through the board. Try to avoid replying directly to the post, except when you have specific questions that may help others looking at the ad. More often than not, PMs and emails reach the seller quicker than do responses to the post.
- Be polite, and don't trash someone else's listing. It's not polite to point out that the person is selling this part when there is one cheaper on eBay. However, if there are visible errors in the listing, it is then appropriate to follow up with comments.
- Check out the seller before sending your $$$. Get full information, including multiple phone numbers and addresses. Do a search on Pelican to see if this person has a lengthy posting history and/or has sold items here before. Bad news travels fast, so double-check the archives, particularly on purchases that are high dollar.
- Use the search engine, but make sure that you check the date on the ad if you reply. If an ad is from 2001 and you reply to it, it will appear like the ad is recent, and the part will probably have long since been sold.
- Use the search engine to compare pricing and availability of an item. None of the previous ads are deleted, so you have access to a vast group of listings that you can use to track pricing trends, and availability.
- Most importanly, COMMUNICATE with each other. Ask the seller how long the item will take to ship, whether he will email you the tracking number, etc. All of this should be settled before money changes hands. Most buying and selling conflics arise because of poor communication. Get each other's phone numbers and addresses!
Policy on Disputes:
Disputes will inevitably arise, but bringing them to the attention of the forum should be used only as last resort. You should exhaust all other options -- phone calls, emails, etc. -- and have a little patience in allowing legitimate packing and shipping delays before posting a complaint. Complaints must be fact-based, non-hysterical, and not personally insulting or inflammatory. They serve the purpose of warning others about someone's poor behavior, and hopefully convincing that person to make the situation right.
Disclaimer:
(insert name here) provides this free classifieds listing service as a courtesy to our customers. By no means are the listings here condoned, reviewed, or edited by (insert name here). Caveat emptor - buyer beware. We will not actively assist in mediating any complaints with respect to any trasactions resulting from the placement of a classified ad.
