Buying and Selling

[Tank]

on a couple of occasions I noted that items had gone, and asked for the thread to be closed, but nothing happened, and I could not delete it myself.

Thanks for the reply, but this is exactly the point I've made.  The threads weren't being dealt with.

perhaps we could keep the buy and sell feature but with some changes :

1. the member who started the post can close / lock / delete it when it has served it's purpose.
2. the post will self destruct after a predetermined time [two or three months ?] so dead posts will not continue to clutter up the site.

I quite agree that in principal it would work, but it doesn't work as people don't go back and monitor their posts.  Therefore it would be up to the moderators to clear up the mess.  The amount of times I'd PM'd members at the beginning of the NGF, and the common response was more or less "Sorry, I'd forgotten about that thread".

if after the time your item has not sold, or you have not been offered the item if a buy, then you can always post again.

Which is the same as the Classifieds. 

by the way, can we use my suggestion of BIN with a price plus ono ?

You can already make an auction with a start price, a reserve, and it can have a BIN price as well.

[Mirrlees]

You can already make an auction with a start price, a reserve, and it can have a BIN price as well.

Sort of misses my point completely.

If the issue is just moderation then I can volunteer my services just to look after the Buy/Selling section.

[Mustermark]

by the way, can we use my suggestion of BIN with a price plus ono ?

You can already make an auction with a start price, a reserve, and it can have a BIN price as well.

I don't like to see that this is giving people an experience of negativity.  We have been such a happy bunch. 

So, I'm just trying to cut through the love-hate thing with a practical solution here and grasp what class37025 suggested. 

Tank... in addition to the features you list there, is it also possible to have a buyer PM an offer, then the seller accept that (even if it is a bit below their BIN price) and then can the seller end their BIN early (i.e. delete the post)?  If this is possible, is there a way to indicate the you would take offers (e.g. ono)?

I think that might mean the new system can allow exactly the same offer and negotiation that some people want to keep.

[Dock Shunter]

I may have missed something or i might just be a  (probably the latter) but i really don't see the need for any of this.
If you had something to sell...say for £20 but would be willing to let it go for £15 then why not just advertise it as a BIN for £15.
As long as any prospective buyers understand that the BIN price was the minimum you were prepared to accept then they either buy it or they don't.
Why would there be any need to advertise something for £20 then go through a series of PMs to end up with a selling price of £15 when you could just advertise it and sell it for £15........ 
The seller gets what he wants.....the buyer gets what he wants...maybe even a bargain..........jobs a good'n......

[trainsdownunder]

I may have missed something or i might just be a  (probably the latter) but i really don't see the need for any of this.
If you had something to sell...say for £20 but would be willing to let it go for £15 then why not just advertise it as a BIN for £15.
As long as any prospective buyers understand that the BIN price was the minimum you were prepared to accept then they either buy it or they don't.
Why would there be any need to advertise something for £20 then go through a series of PMs to end up with a selling price of £15 when you could just advertise it and sell it for £15........ 
The seller gets what he wants.....the buyer gets what he wants...maybe even a bargain..........jobs a good'n......

This seems to sum it up well. Even if it listed as a BIN there is nothing to stop anyone PM the seller and make an offer. I've done the same on Ebay - recently someone was selling two SF SD40 and wanted BIN $120 plus PP of $10. I sent a message offering $110 inc PP and got them.

I don't see the problem     ::   unless people are unsure about the value of items for sale and don't know what to price them at initially. A quick look around usually sorts that one.

I also think the new Classified looks a lot smarter and is easier to read.

Can we have a link in the topic section for this unless you have snuck one in without me noticing  - at the moment I get to it through the link in the first post after clicking the ad on the home page 

[Pengi]

Can we have a link in the topic section for this unless you have snuck one in without me noticing  - at the moment I get to it through the link in the first post after clicking the ad on the home page 

There is a link to the Classified section on the menu bar (it is fourth from the right). Is that what you meant? There is also a link to the Classifieds FAQs in the new 'Help and FAQ' link (which is the third link from the left on the menu bar)

[trainsdownunder]

DOH 

[Mirrlees]

I may have missed something or i might just be a  (probably the latter) but i really don't see the need for any of this.
If you had something to sell...say for £20 but would be willing to let it go for £15 then why not just advertise it as a BIN for £15.
As long as any prospective buyers understand that the BIN price was the minimum you were prepared to accept then they either buy it or they don't.
Why would there be any need to advertise something for £20 then go through a series of PMs to end up with a selling price of £15 when you could just advertise it and sell it for £15........ 
The seller gets what he wants.....the buyer gets what he wants...maybe even a bargain..........jobs a good'n......

If put on 3 items for 20 quid on the board and someone wants all 3 then I would like to do a deal.  Same goes for if I have 10 items on the board and someone wants more than one.  The more you buy the more discount you get.  BIN doesn't work like that 

[Tank]

Tank... in addition to the features you list there, is it also possible to have a buyer PM an offer, then the seller accept that (even if it is a bit below their BIN price) and then can the seller end their BIN early (i.e. delete the post)?  If this is possible, is there a way to indicate the you would take offers (e.g. ono)?

I think that might mean the new system can allow exactly the same offer and negotiation that some people want to keep.

Currently there isn't a way to make an offer, like on eBay, but I can look into it.  If nobody has bid on an item then I don't see any harm in a potential buyer making an offer via PM.  It would be advised that the person making the offer write a comment on the listing, just in case someone bids afterwards - then there's no argument. 

If put on 3 items for 20 quid on the board and someone wants all 3 then I would like to do a deal.  Same goes for if I have 10 items on the board and someone wants more than one.  The more you buy the more discount you get.  BIN doesn't work like that 

Similar to how I've explained above, if someone wants to negotiate items that haven't been bid on already, then there is no harm in members PMing each other.  As long as  comment is left that an offer has been made.  Then the seller can adjust or take down the auctions/BIN's and the seller can pay.  The software doesn't play a part in making sure someone pays or not, so that has always been between the two parties.

Thanks for your offer of being a moderator.  I'm going to see how the Classifieds works out for now.

[Dock Shunter]

I may have missed something or i might just be a  (probably the latter) but i really don't see the need for any of this.
If you had something to sell...say for £20 but would be willing to let it go for £15 then why not just advertise it as a BIN for £15.
As long as any prospective buyers understand that the BIN price was the minimum you were prepared to accept then they either buy it or they don't.
Why would there be any need to advertise something for £20 then go through a series of PMs to end up with a selling price of £15 when you could just advertise it and sell it for £15........ 
The seller gets what he wants.....the buyer gets what he wants...maybe even a bargain..........jobs a good'n......

If put on 3 items for 20 quid on the board and someone wants all 3 then I would like to do a deal.  Same goes for if I have 10 items on the board and someone wants more than one.  The more you buy the more discount you get.  BIN doesn't work like that 

But if you are already advertising the items individually at the minimum price you are willing to accept then why would you want to do a deal for multiple purchases..??

[Mirrlees]

See Dr Al's post.  He has various items up for sale in one post. Which he accepts offers on multiple items.  So they are offer individually and as multiple.

Do the FAQ need to changed to allow ending items early if an offer is accepted.

[Tank]

See Dr Al's post.  He has various items up for sale in one post. Which he accepts offers on multiple items.  So they are offer individually and as multiple.

Do the FAQ need to changed to allow ending items early if an offer is accepted.

Yep, I'm onto it now thanks mate.

[Mirrlees]

I think the FAQ needs to be looked at.  At present a 10 time length is way too short.  30 days sounds about right for all auctions, may be longer.  I would also suggest that offers for multiple listings are only done on BIN.  That way nobody gets disappointed.

[AndyGif]

in the new classified section when you receive a bid message there are two options in it,
accept or reject bid,  what do these options actually do???