Craigslist forum?? (1 Viewer)

[Diesel]

Not sure where to post this but I'm calling all Supporting Members to consider to change some rules in the Mashian Market for sale on livestock and equipment.

As important it is for our sponsors it is also important for Marsh.
I hear complains going around from sponsors (no names needed) and Supporting Members that the market is turning into a Craigslist type of deal.
Any time you open up the NEW POST all what you see is for sale post and the importance of this Club is info as first foremost.
Not saying at all to stop this but we need to have some new rules or change some of them for the sake of this club.

That said I suggest;

A firm asking price must be listed in the thread.Sellers may not ask buyers to PayPal as gift. Any selling fees should be included in the asking price.
Items listed for sale must be yours and in your possession. You may not sell things on behalf of someone else or list items that are yours but being kept by someone else.
One for sale thread in the Livestock Selling forum per every 2 weeks. If you have multiple items to sell please post them in one thread.
Auction type sales threads are not permitted.
Links to Ebay, Craig's List or other sites are not permitted
Posting to bump is permitted once a day
Payment must be worked out in private via PM
At anytime you may be asked by the staff to post a pic of the item for sale with a piece of paper that has your MARSH username and the current date. If you fail to do this, the thread will be removed.
Staff may ask at any time to show proof of ownership or the thread will be removed.

Most of them are already in place but we need to change and tweak some.
If you have some other ideas lets hear it but Members need to be more involved in this as slowly Marsh is spiraling down.
I understand also that I stir the pot with this but I have seen this happing before.
Not much will change IMO.

 

[itstonyyy]

Nice write up, but make it free for all members to post in for sale thread like all other sites. Several years before I got out the hobby, anyone can post...just sayin my 2 cents.

 

[Diesel]

Nice write up, but make it free for all members to post in for sale thread like all other sites. Several years before I got out the hobby, anyone can post...just sayin my 2 cents.

Thanks my friend, but out of the question for Guest members.
One of the being it's is to become a supporting member in order to sell.

 

[Diesel]

This needs to stay in one sub- forum!!
I don't see anything putting it in the marshan market...
Sadly most of our members are only on marsh to sell their items..what's even more sad Is that some people would like it if they weren't at all!
We can't control Everything and having an open market here brings members like it or not!!

If sponsors are complaining to you they are going to the wrong place!!


You missing the point here, we should not alloud it to turn it into a Craigslist.
Read the points I posted.

 

[Miller]

Is the issue the amount of for sell post or the fact that members that aren't selling are also not posting? You can easily go to the forum sections without sales post. So if the complaint is we have more sales post than actual post maybe the question is how to get non-selling members to participate more in the forum?

 

[Mark L.]

Hi Ben,

I'm always here to support the club and it's members ideas/decisions 100%. I'm going to watch this thread and see what kind of replies you get. Every couple years we have a thread like this where a member or BoD would like to review our BST forums and their rules. We HAVE made changes over the years. If our paying members feel more changes need to be made then they will happen.

If this thread gains traction I will create a poll in the members only forum for us to decide which changes will take place. That way the results will not be skewed by guest votes.

A couple points I'd like to make......

It is always a difficult struggle to balance between keeping our members and sponsors happy. We need both to keep MARSH the great club that it is.

the BST forums exist to help our paying members get back a little money they put into this hobby. We all know it can be an extremely expensive hobby. The idea behind the forums are, when you upgrade some of your older equipment with the latest and greatest, you can post up that old stuff for sale to help pay for the new. Is your tank doing awesome and those corals are growing like crazy? Great! prune those SPS/LPS and post up the clippings in the BST for sale.

Unfortunately all too often members see just how easy it can be to purchase corals for the sole purpose of growing them out cutting them up and selling with no intention of adding them to their own personal DISPLAY tanks. They have $$$ in their eyes and want to make as much as they can. This IS against our MARSH rules. We have had members in the past doing this and we have had to ask them to become a paying sponsor. Members cannot use our BST forums as a means to run a business. I've had lengthy discussions with members doing this because it can be a very grey area. In the end most have become a paying sponsor. Other times we decided that the member simply had 4-5 beautiful tanks in their home and they truly were selling clippings from those tanks. That is ok.

I encourage all members to speak to a BoD if they feel another member is farming corals for the sole purpose to sell on MARSH. I feel our sponsorship packages are priced extremely fair for a home seller and a LFS. There's no reason a member can't support their club by becoming a sponsor if it is the club that is purchasing their goods.

Lastly, everything I've mentioned above includes selling for a friend. To me, this really shouldn't happen all that often. If you have a friend that continues to ask you to sell things for them it's only in your best interest to ask them to become a member.

We BoDs/MODs try to monitor all threads on MARSH. If anyone ever feels a thread is breaking the rules please use the report button and let us know. We will investigate and take action if needed.

 

[Diesel]

Thanks for addressing this Mark.
Lets see where this thread goes as I already have an idea but will talk to you about it just to bring up some important points.

 

[reeftopia]

I am 100% behind controls and keeping people from abusing the generosity of this club. While I agree with Ben on most I can see where a member has an emergency and he needs to sell out. 1 listing every 2 weeks might be a problem. Think there could be exceptions to this proposed rule. Also think if people are abusing the sell sections Mark should have the power to take what steps necessary.

 

[reeftopia]

I buy and sell on this sight love to do both. Do think only members should be able to sell. Like Ben says we are a reef club not a classified.

 

[G-reef]

only paid members are allowed to post..

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

 

[R33FM4N]

Let me start out by saying that I have been a paying member (under a different username) as well as a guest. I have never had an problem with the market. So am also not clear on what the issue is. The market is nowhere near being like Craigslist.

I have a couple of ideas that might solve your concerns. First would be to require a certain number of post in other forums on order to be able to post on the market. The other would be to charge a small fee for non-members to post on the market.

R33FM4N

 

[cobraden]

I guess i don't see the problem. If only paid members can sell, then that could potentially drive some people to become members. If I don't want to see the ads I don't go to the marketplace areas. What are you trying to accomplish by changing/adding rules?

Diesel, I'm not sure what you mean by "we should not alloud it to turn it into a Craigslist."

Now if you would like some rule ideas, I have a couple. Have a price, have a location, and if you are selling a tank, state the dimensions (any idea how many measurement config get you to 100 gallons?) I think 2 of those 3 are already rules that often don't get followed.

 

[steveb]

Not sure where to post this but I'm calling all Supporting Members to consider to change some rules in the Mashian Market for sale on livestock and equipment.

As important it is for our sponsors it is also important for Marsh.
I hear complains going around from sponsors (no names needed) and Supporting Members that the market is turning into a Craigslist type of deal.
Any time you open up the NEW POST all what you see is for sale post and the importance of this Club is info as first foremost.
Not saying at all to stop this but we need to have some new rules or change some of them for the sake of this club.

That said I suggest;

A firm asking price must be listed in the thread.Sellers may not ask buyers to PayPal as gift. Any selling fees should be included in the asking price.
Items listed for sale must be yours and in your possession. You may not sell things on behalf of someone else or list items that are yours but being kept by someone else.
One for sale thread in the Livestock Selling forum per every 2 weeks. If you have multiple items to sell please post them in one thread.
Auction type sales threads are not permitted.
Links to Ebay, Craig's List or other sites are not permitted
Posting to bump is permitted once a day
Payment must be worked out in private via PM
At anytime you may be asked by the staff to post a pic of the item for sale with a piece of paper that has your MARSH username and the current date. If you fail to do this, the thread will be removed.
Staff may ask at any time to show proof of ownership or the thread will be removed.

Most of them are already in place but we need to change and tweak some.
If you have some other ideas lets hear it but Members need to be more involved in this as slowly Marsh is spiraling down.
I understand also that I stir the pot with this but I have seen this happing before.
Not much will change IMO.

the forum rules are clearly explained here -- 2nd sticky'd thread in the BST forum -> http://www.marsh-reef.org/used-equi...-wtt-/19738-buying-selling-trading-rules.html



-- sponsors should be contacting the BOD to express their concerns... sponsors discussing their issues about MARSH with a non-BOD member, is really not the correct way to deal with issues.

-- IMO let the buyer/seller decide how to move money for payment. I don't think MARSH should be in the business of being a financial nanny.

-- addressing the number of times someone can post items for sale... commercial selling is already NOT allowed (never has been) for members and is addressed when someone has the appearance of doing so by the BOD. I know I have had to have those conversations in the past...

At anytime you may be asked by the staff to post a pic of the item for sale with a piece of paper that has your MARSH username and the current date. If you fail to do this, the thread will be removed.

Staff may ask at any time to show proof of ownership or the thread will be removed.

I don't think MARSH should be the selling police, period.

I am not sure why it would matter to anyone if I sell something for a friend of mine?

I sure hope MARSH doesn't turn into one of the national boards with a bunch of rules that do little to enhance the member experience.

 

[G-reef]

Thank you i agree 110% ! Finally some real support.

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

 

[Diesel]

By all means I know the forum rules but as mentioned before not always lived by, and I understand that some new members can make these mistakes.
It was never my intention to start this thread to become a rant, I made some valid points IMO and just wanted to start a discussion to rejuvenate some of the rules already place.
That said I had a feeling that this topic was going to have some head wind and toe stepping
Lets just rumble this out and hoping that other members will give their opinion.
If not than I made my point, my voice got heard and marsh will continue as is.

 

[Jamesonfamily]

Very well said steveb. I agree 100%!!

 

[Mark L.]

OK all, This thread kind of blew up last night after I made my post. I realized this morning there had been 2 threads going on about the exact same topic. Instead of deleted the other thread and losing our members comments and concerns, I have merged the two threads together. Because of this, some of the posts may seem a little out of order.

I just want to remind everyone that we are a big family here. Let's be courteous to each other and respectful of each others opinions even if they are not the same as yours.

 

[Reefkeeper]

I for one agree with Ben , he asked a valid factually based question. Marsh is turning into craigslist........ that is all I use it for hence I no longer pay,.... Many experienced members from marsh use other forums with more frequency than they do on marsh ,... Perhaps this is a sign something is wrong?


Edited: There will be no personal attacks.
Mark L.

 

[malira]

I've taken advantage of frag sales and other items. It's one way we get to know each other. But lately most posts are selling something.
I like getting information here on MARSH because I can have face to face meetings.
When I joined over a year ago I got a lot of good information here, from hobbist. Sometimes I still do, but not as much. Unless I'm the one posting about issues with my tank, which lately is often.
I don't know what the answer is but sometimes it does look like Craigslist.

 

[steveb]

I for one agree with Ben , he asked a valid factually based question. Marsh is turning into craigslist........ that is all I use it for hence I no longer pay,.... Many experienced members from marsh use other forums with more frequency than they do on marsh ,... Perhaps this is a sign something is wrong?

Edited: No reason to reply to personal attacks. Just report the post.

Mark L.