OP Collectibles Marketplace?

[Ichnob]

I was wondering if it would be okay to make a thread where members could sell various OP merchandise to other forum members, rather than just using the OP Collectibles thread. At the rate it's been going the past few months, I thought it would be easier to consolidate all selling/auction posts under one discussion thread, rather than those being lost under various merchandise announcements and "OMG DO WANT" responses.

Of course, there would have to be some rules implemented as well. First and foremost, this website would not be held responsible for any mistransactions that take place. It would have to be a buyer/seller only type pact. Paypal should be the main way to perform transactions, since there is a 45 day window where you can cancel a payment if it falls through. I wouldn't condone actual auction posts within the thread itself, but if the poster wants to link to his own eBay auction, that should be perfectly fine.

I'd like some feedback for how to punish someone for any type of mistransaction. Obviously, it would have to be looked at a case by case basis, with some being not as severe as others. A late shipment could be attributed to not having time to go to the post office until the weekend. Tampering with merchandise should be noted; such as missing parts, or if it's used rather than new. Selling a bootleg rather than the official merchandise should be strictly dealt with. Perhaps to help with figuring out if it's a bootleg or not, potential sellers should post their own pictures of what they're selling, rather than using stock footage.

Other forum rules will still apply, such as hiding multiple pictures behind spoiler tags, and trying to have decent etiquette within the thread. If someone is selling at a price that others think is "too high," posters should refrain from berating the price and just not respond to the posts. If it's too high, and the seller hasn't been able to sell it, it'll either get posted to eBay or lowered in price.

Any other suggestions? Has this ever been tried before?

[Cinder]

I've seen a thread somewhere else that had a collectibles trading area. A huge explosion occurred after there was someone who wouldn't follow through with their end of the deal. Even though everyone seems very friendly here, just remember it does happen. There's a certain person here who seemed to have pulled something like this on me way back like a year ago, but I'm not going to name anyone.

I'm not sure if any level of ban can justify that sort of stuff, though, so I don't know.

I think good way of doing this would to have a subforum, actually, but I can't go ahead and do something like that without hearing from the other guys.

[Ichnob]

Thanks for that response, Cinder.

I do agree that a sub-forum would be good to have as well. I've been on other places where they had a market place sub-forum, with a section for buying, selling, and vendor announcements (in case someone happens to be a wholeseller, or runs an actual merchandise shop). No posts are actually allowed on the threads besides the opening post, with dealings happening strictly through PMs. The OP can be edited to reflect any transactions.

Sorry to hear about what happened in the past though. That's actually something I fear would happen if this does go through. Even if there are a bunch of positives that could come out of it, dealing with real money transactions always has a negative risk.

[Ichnob]

Here's a set of guidelines I shamelessly stole from another forum that I visit for their classifieds section. I've tried to modify it to fit One Piece and APForums as best I could--
================================================

Classifieds are now a "No Reply" Forum.

Requests for additional information should be made via Private Message.
The information can then be added to the original post by the seller if necessary.

• Ads must be for One Piece merchandise relevant to this hobby.

• Ads must contain item name in subject line.

• Ads must contain contain an asking price. No 'or best offer' only postings.

• Ads are allowed a one month run time. All ads will be deleted after that time

• Limit your ads to no more than two at any given time, be it sales, service, or interest threads. Multiple 'One Piece' related items can be sold using a single ad. Be sure to keep your ad current by marking 'sold' on any item you sell while the ad is posted.

Failure to do so will cause the moderators to have to eliminate the oldest ads, leaving the newest ads posted, and will be done without comment.

• Please DO NOT post ebay ads. We feel this causes a run on auctions and could falsely inflate the price for other members who may be in the bidding.

EXCEPTION to this rule:
If the item is your own

DO NOT POST AUCTIONS OR SALES IN THIS SECTION THAT ARE NOT YOURS. If you do post links to active auctions or sales other than your own, the link WILL BE DELETED.


• Once an item(s) is sold, please go into your post and add 'SOLD' to the subject title so we'll know the sale is done and we can delete the topic.

*Advertisements that do not follow the above rules will be removed with no further comment.

PLEASE offer your items as an item for sale rather than a link to an offline auction site. We are a community of fans who would appreciate having the opportunity of purchasing an item of gear or related piece from another member, rather than have to attempt to fight others outside of our community for the same item in an auction. Try to keep it in the 'family' first, and THEN if it doesn't sell after a period of time, move it to an auction site with a link. Be sure to add your asking price for an item (you can list "asking price"/or best offer) to avoid any on-site bidding wars.

CONTACT THE SELLER BY EMAIL OR PM!! THIS SECTION IS READ ONLY, SO DO NOT POST QUESTIONS AS A SEPARATE THREAD. THEY WILL BE DELETED. CONDUCT YOUR TRANSACTION OFFLINE.


REMEMBER, BUYERS/SELLERS PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK, "CAVEAT EMPTOR!"

APFORUMS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY SALES OF ITEMS OR ARRANGEMENTS MADE THROUGH CONTACT AND/OR CONTRACT OF A SALE BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS USING THIS AREA, NO MATTER IF IT'S A SALE OF AN ITEM OR A SERVICE OFFERED.

THIS SECTION IS ONLY OFFERED AS A CONVIENENCE TO OUR MEMBERS, AND NOTHING MORE. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.


Those ads not conforming to the above rules and are not changed after one warning will be deleted with no further comment.




*note--
The reason why they don't want other auctions linked is so that the seller won't try to influence potential buyers to bid on an inflated price, or to try to sell something that their "friend" is selling and help the "friend" get a better price.

[Buuhan1]

Such a subforum would be handy to also have the OP collectibles thread stickied in along with the general collectibles and other manga/anime collectibles threads that'll need to be created. If we're gonna do this might aswell not keep it OP exclusive.

[Ichnob]

Such a subforum would be handy to also have the OP collectibles thread stickied in along with the general collectibles and other manga/anime collectibles threads that'll need to be created. If we're gonna do this might aswell not keep it OP exclusive.

Probably need 3 sections, 1) Buy, 2) Sell, 3) Sell Other (for non-OP stuff)

There would have to be some sort of limit to something that isn't OP related. Other manga merchandise seems reasonable, along with videogames. But remember, we're not trying to be Craigslist or eBay. If the admins decide to keep it only OP related due to the original intent of this forum, that's fine by me as well.

[Buuhan1]

Limit it for non-OP stuff? Pfft.

[PaperRabbit]

I would like to see something like this too.

I don't think a we need different sections for buy and sell though. Just a OP, Non-OP (we could limit it to manga/anime related items only), Feedback, and Problem Transactions forums should be enough to provide with up to date offers and seller/buyer feedback.

As for the rules, one of the forums I visit has a huge marketplace established, and the rules have worked quite well up to now. Of course bad things still happen every now and again, but that can't be helped since there's no way to keep control over every single person.


Rules

1. To use the Marketplace, all members must meet Marketplace Access requirements (40 posts and 25 days membership). Do not assist new members (or those with Marketplace bans) to access the Marketplace or sell items on their behalf.
   
   
2. Members are allowed to have one WTB and one FS thread per subforum. Multiple threads will be merged or deleted without warning, regardless of how many items are being bought or sold.
   
   
3. If you don't have it, you can't sell it. Having a confirmed order or a lottery "win" is not enough; members may not sell items that are not in their physical possession. If requested by a buyer or moderator, a seller must be able to provide their own photo of the item.
   
   
   3a. The ONLY exceptions to #3 are: splits, commissionable services, group orders, shopping services, and items or parts made by the seller. In a pre-arrival split, the organizer must be keeping a substantial part of the item. All pieces of pre-arrival splits must be sold at a set price that adds up to approximately the cost of the item, no auctions or "taking offers." A split is only permissible before the item has been paid for; otherwise you will need to wait until it arrives to sell the pieces.
   
   
4. Sellers must keep a public record of the full username of the current high bidder and bid price in their Marketplace thread. If a bidder is outbid, they may ask (and the seller must tell them) who has outbid them and at what price. While bidders may not wish to have their names disclosed, this is one way to prevent shill bidding.
   
   
5. No selling "for friends." Members are personally responsible for all transactions under their username and may only transact business on their own behalf. If you are caught assisting a member who does not have Marketplace Access to use the Marketplaces, you will receive a permanent Marketplace Ban. You may only post links to your own auctions unless you are cautioning others against a scam.
   
   
6. No selling bootleg, copied, or stolen items.
   
   
7. No thread hijacking. If you want to buy or sell an item, make your own thread.
   
   
8. One bump per 24 hour period. Only the original thread starter may bump the thread. A bump means any post that brings a thread to the top of the first page, regardless if the post says "bump" or "pictures added" or "price lowered" or anything else.
   
   
9. No "chatting" in Marketplace threads. Only questions, requests for more pictures, etc., may be posted to Marketplace threads.
   
   
10. Raffles / Lotteries (and links to off-site raffles/lotteries) are not allowed.
    
    
11. No price policing. Sellers are free to set the prices on their items; heckling sellers over prices is not permitted. Questions about the source or condition of the item are fine, as are questions about what is included for the price.
    
    
12. When an item is sold, edit the title or thread prefix to say "SOLD." When the item has been received by the buyer (or if you receive the item yourself in the case of a WTB), re-title or change the prefix to say "Sold - Please Delete." If you do not want the thread removed, do not include the word "delete" anywhere in the title... even in "Do NOT delete". Threads marked "sold" for more than 2 months will be removed.
    
    
13. After an item is sold, shipped, and received by the owner, it must be removed from your listing. It may not be mentioned in your post, tags, or thread title.

By buying, selling, trading, or in any way using the Marketplace, you are agreeing to these rules.

Consequences

Breaking the above-listed rules may result in a Marketplace warning. At the Moderators' discretion, members may receive a Marketplace Suspension or ban for repeated rule breaking.

Marketplace dishonesty may result in a Marketplace or forum-wide suspension or ban. Members who appear to be violating the spirit of the Marketplace (for example, by frequently scalping) may have their access removed.

[KaizokuFan22]

this actually sounds cool for a new subforum :D

[Captain Hypersock]

Sounds good to me. I'm all for it!

[Ichnob]

Bumping this to see if there's any new info we can be told of. Yes, it can be implemented? No, we won't implement it to not be liable (even though the site won't be)? I know the Character Tournament is going in full swing, so that most likely takes preference.