The For Sale Section will Return in 2012

[Space Bat]

How about members having to subscribe to the for sale board - and have to have a genuine ebay account - this account can be then checked to see if is a trader account...which is easy enough to do..

I appreciate that this would involve some work by mods to verify who is a genuine purchaser seller than those that use the site as an active business.

Another idea would be to limit the amount people could place items on the board or purchase...etc - not sure how that could be policed...but sure some smart coders would know how to do it...

Whatever you decide - I am glad it's coming back - I have purchased from another member here - and although not had much luck getting anything else as beaten to the punch on some of the items that have been sold....Was always on the look out for a good bargain...

Thanks Guys

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

How about members having to subscribe to the for sale board - and have to have a genuine ebay account - this account can be then checked to see if is a trader account...which is easy enough to do..

I appreciate that this would involve some work by mods to verify who is a genuine purchaser seller than those that use the site as an active business.

Another idea would be to limit the amount people could place items on the board or purchase...etc - not sure how that could be policed...but sure some smart coders would know how to do it...

Whatever you decide - I am glad it's coming back - I have purchased from another member here - and although not had much luck getting anything else as beaten to the punch on some of the items that have been sold....Was always on the look out for a good bargain...

Thanks Guys

I do not see why an ebay account should be used. I do not have one, nor do I intend to have one. I do have an account on marktplaats.nl, but adding local derivatives is not the way forward. Some other mechanism of identification would be better.

[PhoenixRising]

Caveat Emptor. Buyer beware. I dont see why moderators should have to be dragged in to monitoring for sale boards. Ive always found the for sale section to be lively and interesting, buying and selling alot of my gear through it. The spped at which some stuff sells is astonishing though!

[tom33pr]

I still don't quite get it... Was it really that hard to spot and ban traders? Would a couple of dedicated [to that section] admins not be enough to monitor the traffic efficiently?

[Kai]

I still don't quite get it... Was it really that hard to spot and ban traders? Would a couple of dedicated [to that section] admins not be enough to monitor the traffic efficiently?

Yes it was difficult , some were using other members to purchase.

It is impossible to view peoples PM's to see what conversations are going on with regards to monitoring traffic , the Traders were mostly buying up the equipment on here to sell on other sites.

[Deneb]

Yes it was difficult , some were using other members to purchase.

It is impossible to view peoples PM's to see what conversations are going on with regards to monitoring traffic , the Traders were mostly buying up the equipment on here to sell on other sites.

Oh ! I thought the Site Admins had this Divine Power to do that !

[ringz]

The Mods have the reputation of SGL to uphold. How long do you think it would take for trouble to break out if they adopted a "wild West" approach to the for sale section?

Martyn.

[Deneb]

Personally I did not see any problem of the For Sale Section before it was closed down...

Traders or no Traders tell you the truth...So long as they were selling the decent stuff at reasonable prices & people were benefiting through it - whats the harm ! or is there ?

[Ant]

There is no easy way of seeing peoples PM's. All passwords are encrypted which is why, when asked, we cannot just tell people their password and send them to the "Forgotten password" link.

I think they [pm's] are probably stored somewhere within the database - but I'm not going to wade through the Gb after Gb of data to find one

Cheers

Ant

[Rols]

Would it look something like this???

SGL is happy to provide a place where sellers and buyers can meet.

SGL does not endorse, sponsor, sanction, or guarantee any of the products that appear in the SGL FOR SALE SECTION.

All sales are private matters between the buyer and the seller. Buyers and sellers should do their own due diligence when buying or selling any item.

ABOVE ALL Caveat Emptor. Buyer beware.

The For Sale Part Of The forum is for private sales of private merchandise only. No ads for commercial merchandise or services are permitted in these forums.

Rules and Guidelines

Here are some basic rules to follow:

If you want to sell here, please participate here. If you are here solely to promote or sell commercial goods, please do not advertise them here.

Do not post for sale or solicit the sale of anything that may be illegal.

Once your item has sold or no longer for sale, please edit your thread title to update the status as "SOLD"

Here are some basic guidelines to follow:

1. Know who you are dealing with. It may be helpful to examine the post history of a user to see if they have contributed in a meaningful way to the other forums.

2. Communicate clearly. If you are the buyer, make sure that you know exactly what you are buying. If you are the seller, make sure you communicate exactly what you are selling. Most problems come up when users misunderstand something about the transaction.

3. Use some common sense. People who feel comfortable sending money to someone they've never met for something they've never seen are bound to eventually receive a nasty surprise. That doesn't mean that you can't trade online. Just use some common sense precautions, like contacting the other party by phone and exchanging all the relevant contact information before proceeding with a transaction.

4. If something goes wrong, don't panic. Don't go public with a bunch of wild assertions. Use the contact information you got before the sale took place and put it to good use. Be friendly as you negotiate a resolution to the problem. If you put the other person on the defensive, your chance of working with that person drops to nearly zero.

Proceed with Caution

Be suspicious of anyone who is vague, uses delay tactics, seems inconsistent, or who is trying to motivate you to close on a deal faster than a reasonable person would expect. Because of the nature of the items typically listed here, be careful of any exchange of funds until you are comfortable with the seller being genuine.

SGL maintain the right to remove items listed in the For Sale Section without explanation or repercussion.

Any member thought to be trading maybe withdrawn from the for sale section.

????

[Rols]

If i could like a post, i would like my own post..

[Jammy]

I'm still new to astronomy and have only been a member of this site for a matter of weeks (everyone has been really helpful offering some very good advice). I seem to have missed out on the 'for sale' section. I do hope that it does return as this would make this hobby much more accessible to people like myself.

I'm sure that the more experienced people here would also like to have somewhere where they can sell their loved equipment onto others with a passion for astronomy; while helping to fund their progression to the next wonder-scopes!

[tom33pr]

Yes it was difficult , some were using other members to purchase.

It is impossible to view peoples PM's to see what conversations are going on with regards to monitoring traffic , the Traders were mostly buying up the equipment on here to sell on other sites.

I understand the concerns here - "let's make sure the stuff go to the newbies (or other genuine members) rather than traders, lets follow some rules" etc... but look at the 'Astronomy Buy&Sell' - no rules, first one to buy, and everyone is ...happy.

(...)some were using other members to purchase... - sorry mate, but that just makes me laugh; it sounds like some crazy, twisted drug operation running here rather than a niche hobby buy&sell section... I mean there are cracking deals on AB&S and they can be sitting there for weeks sometimes, not able to find a customer... and it is not that the SGL buy&sell was that cheap - in fact I find the mentioned AB&S way better for good deals then SGL, always thought that SGL was somehow more expensive...

Anyway - my point is - why not just relax a bit and let it be. Ok maybe it means paying this extra £5 for an item, but I find all this rant about the traders here a bit over the top.

It's only my opinion

Regards.

[Jammy]

I've just read Rols post. If I could like that, I'd like it too!

[Ant]

We have had all sorts of disclaimers in the past and they may or may not get read it's difficult to tell - what you've suggested is broadly in line with the guidelines we had.

It doesn't stop the complaints, the bitch posts moaning that items were sold to someone else, because they posted before a PM was sent (even though they cannot possible know that). Complaining about quality or not as described, the list just goes on and one and one.

People have said that they are not bothered if they sell to traders or not. That's great for you and I can completely understand where you are coming from. But we (the Admin of SGL) have decided that we wanted to try and keep traders away from the boards.

We may have been successful, we may not. It's very difficult to stop traders if they don't want to be spotted - it isn't always as simple as someone who buys and sells a lot.

So I guess you could say that we have made life difficult for ourselves. But it is a choice that we have made.

We are working on a replacement for sale board on the new software literally as I type. We are trying to work out things like entry requirements (if at all), if we can/want to limit the number of adverts, a disclaimer that you have to agree to every time... All sorts of stuff.

Thanks to all the contributors in this thread, you've given us lots to think about, but it's run it's course now.

Cheers

Ant