Marketplace Safety and Etiquette

Pitfall69

Was there ever an answer to the "BUMP" question?

CCC

I don't think there was an official answer.

If I just see "BUMP", "BUMP", "BUMP" in a thread, I usually don't bother looking much further. It makes the seller look desperate.

bobabricks

CCC said:

. It makes the seller look desperate.

Why not look further into it? If they are desperate than this is when you can work in a deal. :P

Pitfall69

While there is really nothing wrong with advertising an EBay auction in the Marketplace; I personally find it distasteful.

Also, as far as bumping ones thread; I really get annoyed when a person "bumps" their thread the same day that there have been comments on the thread. Someone commenting already bumps the thread and therefore, there's no need to bump.

mickywrx

Pitfall69 said:

While there is really nothing wrong with advertising an EBay auction in the Marketplace; I personally find it distasteful.

Also, as far as bumping ones thread; I really get annoyed when a person "bumps" their thread the same day that there have been comments on the thread. Someone commenting already bumps the thread and therefore, there's no need to bump.

On some forums, users bump their threads 2 or 3 times a day, which is taking the preverbial.

I have an F/S thread on a forum, car related, I last bumped it on the 14th Sept. It's pointless bumping your threads all the time, as people browsing will get annoyed, as you say.

ricecake

On another forum I'm on, you are only allowed to bump your thread if you have an update. You can't just bump for bump's sake, or you'll get an infraction.

MattPetersen

I think part of etiquette should be buyers/traders please respond to offers made in your thread (especially if you decide not to part with what is listed or decide to go somewhere else to trade or sell them).
its completely impolite to keep people hanging and watch offers stack up with no responses given to anyone. 

TheUltimateTFOL

I'm thinking of listing some sets for trade here and to be clear, I should say where I am and where I will ship to in the title but not reveal any personal information, right? If I get an offer, then I can PM someone my address to ship to and I can get their address to ship my set to them.

Coolguy5000

TheUltimateTFOL said:

I'm thinking of listing some sets for trade here and to be clear, I should say where I am and where I will ship to in the title but not reveal any personal information, right? If I get an offer, then I can PM someone my address to ship to and I can get their address to ship my set to them.

Yeah. List roughly  where you  are and where you  will  ship  to. Don't  put any personal  info  in the thread that's what pm  is for.
Hope  that helps.

plasmodium

TheUltimateTFOL said:

I'm thinking of listing some sets for trade here and to be clear, I should say where I am and where I will ship to in the title but not reveal any personal information, right? If I get an offer, then I can PM someone my address to ship to and I can get their address to ship my set to them.

Yeah, so you'll see that a lot of threads will say "(US) For sale...etc" which gives people an idea of what country you're based in. Other forums I've seen have required the state as well, (ie: "(US-TX) For sale..." or "(US-CA)...", etc). To my knowledge, that's not a requirement here but you can do it if you want to limit where you might have to ship. That said, we can all see from your profile that you are in Texas anyway! :-)

The basic rule here (as anywhere on the internet, obviously) is not to disclose your actual full address in a public place like a forum post. In a private message that should be fine - just make sure you are actually messaging them, because this forum has a Facebook-style feature where you can publicly post on someone's 'wall'. The difference is that the 'post' feature is an open text box on their profile, whereas to message you have to click the little box at the top right that says 'Message'. I remember a while ago people always used to get that confused!

Kaitch

What's the etiquette regarding bumping? I don't wanna spam the thread, but I do want to make the sale. Do I wait a week after last post? Two weeks?

BooTheMightyHamster

No bumping.  Ever.  If you don't get a response you just have to watch your post fade into the distance, unloved and unwanted...

;o)

Having had a quick read through the thread, while there's no definitive answer, the general feeling seems to be:

- If you've got additional info / a price change etc to add, then bump the thread at any time.

- If you haven't had a response and you want to get the thread back to the top of the list, then it's reasonable to expect that you'd wait 24 hours before bumping.  A 'BUMP'  post every three hours will annoy people very quickly.

If your item is not selling, then reducing the price by 50% every time you bump is almost certain to guarantee a sale.

(That last bit is not Brickset policy, just a helpful suggestion!)

CCC

Yeah, don't bump more than once per day and if you have done it a few times, then there is either something wrong with your pricing or nobody wants what you are selling. So either drop the prices then or give up. If you do want to hang in, don't then bump it every day, maybe once per week.

Kaitch

If they don't sell here, eventually I'll have to put them on eBay. Just thought it would right to put 'em here first.

wardm

I’m moving to a new home and I won’t have the space to install my entire collection, so I’m going to try and sell all the sets that I’ve lost interest in. 
If I’d want to sell here, am I obliged to use PayPal ? Because, currently I don’t have a PayPal account...

FowlerBricks

@wardm As far as I know, you aren't. Just use what works for you.

Th1nDiesel

@wardm Nope, no obligation at all, though it is probably the most common. However, I've bought from people on here using bank transfer with no problem. It's all about trust I guess.

NioMarvin83

I visit many sites and forums, so I can say that the best ways to trade is to make sure that you have personal details before you part with any money. I totally agree with the sentiments over paypal cause I speak with many genuine sellers on the phone for example autoxloo and they have been more than happy to share details so that the most basic of checks can be done. There will always be people out there looking to make a trick with you and take you money.