Third-Party Sales?
- Thread starter Runner
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macclellan
New member
"These forums exist as a service for our members to trade or sell their reef related items." - from the used equipment rules thread, emphasis added.
Runner
Active member
The context is in that of running a business.
If that is their interpretation, then all chatter we have had about selling stuff for people from our local reef clubs at a frag swap is illegal unless it is ours -- possibly up including picking up stuff for other people (a 3rd party transaction).
Also, every post I have ever made about the local paper having some equipment posted is an illegal 3rd party sale (even if I am not "brokering" it).
Funny thing is, all these things are highly relavent and beneficial to our local membership. To ban them is one more argument towards moving to our own forum for local discussion.
If that is their interpretation, then all chatter we have had about selling stuff for people from our local reef clubs at a frag swap is illegal unless it is ours -- possibly up including picking up stuff for other people (a 3rd party transaction).
Also, every post I have ever made about the local paper having some equipment posted is an illegal 3rd party sale (even if I am not "brokering" it).
Funny thing is, all these things are highly relavent and beneficial to our local membership. To ban them is one more argument towards moving to our own forum for local discussion.
macclellan
New member
It specifically says: "Hobbyists only. No Businesses."
I do agree generally though, and you point out some slippery slopes about the usage. The Mods here are awfully heavy-handed.
I do agree generally though, and you point out some slippery slopes about the usage. The Mods here are awfully heavy-handed.
I agree that we miss out on things Scott.
You are welcome to start the website up again. People that want to can even put a link to it in their little red house. Maybe that would help it get more traffic than it did last time.
Edit: I edited this post as I didn't see you posted tangboy and It looked like my comment might be aimed at you. It most ceartainly was not
You are welcome to start the website up again. People that want to can even put a link to it in their little red house. Maybe that would help it get more traffic than it did last time.
Edit: I edited this post as I didn't see you posted tangboy and It looked like my comment might be aimed at you. It most ceartainly was not
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geo
Premium Member
I am sorry you do not care for or agree with the rule Scott, but it is nothing new and is not going to change any time soon. The forums are moderated no more or less than before. When violations are found or reported the posts are either removed or edited.
When something happens that someone does not necessarily agree with the moderators are accused of be too harsh or power hungry.
From my chair it appears you are trying to rally the troops into supporting a forum you host or want to host, and are making a big deal out of nothing for that reason
When something happens that someone does not necessarily agree with the moderators are accused of be too harsh or power hungry.
From my chair it appears you are trying to rally the troops into supporting a forum you host or want to host, and are making a big deal out of nothing for that reason
We tried the other forum and it did not work out... And as far as our website goes, we are still actively searching for a webmaster to improve the website... I think Eddie has found someone... But understandably, Eddie has more important things going on right now...
We have discussed the pros and cons of RC at length... IMO the pros definately outweigh the cons... We have to remember that RC has their rules for a reason... They are in tact to protect the buyers as much as the sellers...
We have discussed the pros and cons of RC at length... IMO the pros definately outweigh the cons... We have to remember that RC has their rules for a reason... They are in tact to protect the buyers as much as the sellers...
Nope, it's not. I wrote that part of the post (in an earlier thread that smiller incorporated). It means selling your own stuff. Period.
Nope. Nice try to paint a broad brush across everything for shock value though. When you are talking about things being sold at a frag swap (a club event, btw), you're generally not selling something for someone else. If you were, your post would be removed as commercial.
Again, nope. If you were profitting from the sale, that would make you commercial. Somply mentioning something in a local ad is quite different than actually "selling" the items for someone else.
As was mentioned, we stopped allowing third party sales simply because they were being used to get around both our commercial and time/participation rules for selling.
Yep, so would allowing every commercial business to spam our boards with their "deals," not to mention our PM and email functions. You could also get some good deals from undercover sellers who are selling for commercial entities as well as turning this into either an E-bay or Craigslist.
We are concerned first and foremost with providing a forum for the exchange of unbiased information. There are many other forums specifically dedicated to sales and commerce. That's not why we're here. If this is such a big deal for you, we encourage you to use sites more friendly to your needs, but don't expect us to change our focus - it works for us.
And thank you to those who understand why we do what we do (and those who at least own that we CAN do what we do
), but we really don't need to have these types of divisive conversations every time someones sale or selling gets cut of. Let's get back to the information!Kevin
Anemone
RC Admin
Runner
Active member
No need to apologize. The ToS was not clear on this issue and you did not know the rule. The mods have made it very clear now. I would have done the same thing if somebody I know was selling his stuff (in fact, I have done that on at least one occasion for somebody from work without the posts being commented on).
@geo: I wasn't trying to "rally the troops", but find out if others saw the apparent lack of reference that I saw (and still see). The rule is harsh because it harms (however slightly) our club membership as a whole not to be able to readily pass info about such sales between us. We are used to depending on this board for such things.
@Kevin: The statement about selling your own stuff is listed ENTIRELY in the context of not running a commercial business. You should add text to the 50 post / 90 day requirement paragraph explicitly banning 3rd party sales if you don't want to cause hard feelings with others. Hard feelings happen when something apparently legal is slapped down without reference that can be tracked.
As for our own web board, it would be nice to have again, but our first foray showed the members did not want it. Our membership would need to use it for it to be worth the effort. Allowing 3rd party sales benefits our club directly, but it wouldn't be worth the effort of running a board just for that.
EDIT: I just noticed a trend in my thought versus your thought: I've been thinking of this board as the ETRC board when it is actually an RC board where we have been allowed to post. You are thinking exchange of reef information and I am thinking support of club activities (at least in the ETRC forum). I need to change my thinking.
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Angela Short
New member
I agree it may seem harsh to ban such inocent sales as a freind you know wanting to get rid of a cheap 55 gallon at a great price. We all need deals on stuff in our hobby but I totally agree with the adm. on this stuff as the leeaches of the world will just run up a nice post count in sensless board activity only to sell, sell, sell and use this as there own craigslist or ebay sight and have a direct link to the reefing comunity in there area. Talk about free direct marketing 
.
I was gigged awhile back on selling a ATO "for a freind" even though I pretty much bought it for her with my money I still wasn't upset when they pulled my ad in the selling forum. I just shouldn't have put "for a freind" in the description but we hated the thing and I didn't want to explain why "I" was selling it :hmm2: I just figured it would be easier to say for a freind than say it flooded her house so she went with a Tunze.... but you really need to buy this one from us :hmm2: ...And once I got pulled for selling enkamat at my cost and for shipping cost only and making no proffit, just sharing my supply but again I can see why they have to hold to such rules even if it seems harsh. The mod even let me know who posted a reply on the thread via PM locally who wanted some enkamat which was very nice and they did not have to do that. I fell under the umbrella policy of banned stuff even though my stuff was totally not for profit but I was OK with it.
I have seen someone I know kinda local get booted under many screenames but he totally was trying to fly under the radar and use RC as a selling point for his personal gain. He is a nice guy but still, when I go to the coral selling forum I am expecting quality tank raised frags from someones overgrowth, not a fresh caught coral chopped up soley for profit or a deal on used goods that someone really knows the history since it was there stuff, not stuff they buy cheap to turn a proffit on!
I love this line I have read so many times...I just bought XYZ and just don't need it... Thing is XYZ for some folks happens way more often than a average reefer has sitting in the closet and I am glad the mods flag the ones who do this. Sadly honest posts like we have all seen get put in the category of breaking the rules for thease reasons. Also the mods don't have time to monitor all the people personally to see if this is a trend with a certain poster that they are always selling for a "freind" so they have to stop all 3rd party sells no matter how inocent they are.
I personally applaude RC for letting us have such a nice local board at there dime. We all pretty much get off topic and post a lot of off topic threads and are very seldom called down. I think abiding by a few rules is not much to ask for a FREE site to hang out on and chat with your local reef buddies. Just my 2 cents ....or was that more like a dimes worth
. I was gigged awhile back on selling a ATO "for a freind" even though I pretty much bought it for her with my money I still wasn't upset when they pulled my ad in the selling forum. I just shouldn't have put "for a freind" in the description but we hated the thing and I didn't want to explain why "I" was selling it :hmm2: I just figured it would be easier to say for a freind than say it flooded her house so she went with a Tunze.... but you really need to buy this one from us :hmm2: ...And once I got pulled for selling enkamat at my cost and for shipping cost only and making no proffit, just sharing my supply but again I can see why they have to hold to such rules even if it seems harsh. The mod even let me know who posted a reply on the thread via PM locally who wanted some enkamat which was very nice and they did not have to do that. I fell under the umbrella policy of banned stuff even though my stuff was totally not for profit but I was OK with it.
I have seen someone I know kinda local get booted under many screenames but he totally was trying to fly under the radar and use RC as a selling point for his personal gain. He is a nice guy but still, when I go to the coral selling forum I am expecting quality tank raised frags from someones overgrowth, not a fresh caught coral chopped up soley for profit or a deal on used goods that someone really knows the history since it was there stuff, not stuff they buy cheap to turn a proffit on!
I love this line I have read so many times...I just bought XYZ and just don't need it... Thing is XYZ for some folks happens way more often than a average reefer has sitting in the closet and I am glad the mods flag the ones who do this. Sadly honest posts like we have all seen get put in the category of breaking the rules for thease reasons. Also the mods don't have time to monitor all the people personally to see if this is a trend with a certain poster that they are always selling for a "freind" so they have to stop all 3rd party sells no matter how inocent they are.
I personally applaude RC for letting us have such a nice local board at there dime. We all pretty much get off topic and post a lot of off topic threads and are very seldom called down. I think abiding by a few rules is not much to ask for a FREE site to hang out on and chat with your local reef buddies
. Just my 2 cents ....or was that more like a dimes worth
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knoxtnreef
New member
i agree with starting the club forum up again. the rules are not very clear here which is why i basically stopped posting all together but then again i didn't renew my club membership so i'm irrelevant. I agree with Runner though.
Angela Short
New member
I never "read" the rules even when I hit the "I have read the rules" box signing up is probably why I didn't understand the rules :lol:
macclellan
New member
But seriously, some modding is better than none and even a bit too much is better than none.
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