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Best practice for when an item is SOLD on BC


Clarky
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Following several comments on my status update/rant, could I suggest the following be adhered to once an item is sold on BC:

1. As soon as is practicable, edit the title to include SOLD so that potential buyers do not waste their time browsing through the thread and mods know when to lock the thread - it will also save the seller having to answer pointless PMs asking if the item is sold.

2. Sold items are a valuable source of pricing information and specifications for potential sellers and buyers of similar/same items further down the line. So please do not ask for the thread to be removed and do not remove all the details. Unless you have some specific circumstances (tax liabilities, ex-partner trying to get hold of your assets etc!) this serves no purpose whatsoever. Photographs of course are a different matter as these take up your attachment storage space on BC, so its understandable if these are deleted.

Thats all folks

Yours faithfully, 

Mildly irritated of Barnes

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We plan on adding a prominent 'Mark as sold' button soon, as well as sending reminders to those with an active listing to update their ad if it's inactive for a while. Weirdly these options aren't included in standard functionality and require custom work to implement, like the location field which took us an age to work out how to do!

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8 minutes ago, ped said:

We plan on adding a prominent 'Mark as sold' button soon, as well as sending reminders to those with an active listing to update their ad if it's inactive for a while. Weirdly these options aren't included in standard functionality and require custom work to implement, like the location field which took us an age to work out how to do!

I wonder whether it would be beneficial to have an "on hold pending sale" status as well. Then potential buyers know that it's, to all intents and purposes, no longer available, but it's easy to make it available again if the sale falls through.

S.P.

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I spent half an hour this morning going through the first 25 pages of Basses For Sale, locking sold threads AND re-instating subject lines that had been changed to just "Sold" or "Withdrawn".

Guys, we mods can do that, and will do that - usually, but clearly it hadn't been done in those instances I worked on today. But do show some consideration, not just for us mods but for your fellow Marketplace users too, and DON'T DELETE THE EFFING SUBJECT LINE in the first place.

I know that some of you think that leaving the info in the post is good enough, but it isn't, as searches are quicker if they scan thread titles only.

To those of you who delete the whole bloody lot, title and text, when they sell or withdraw, well, just stop it. Stop it immediately.

Thank you.

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@ped

 

I understand the difficulties with implementing custom options on a community forum. I will quickly kneel down and do the "We're Not Worthy" stance to everyone involved in BassChat, a huge thank you for making this platform for our low-endedness such a good place to have our community.

I think the addition of a SOLD button is a great idea. Maybe following that, should the software handle it, a function where editing a post isn't possible after a set time - say, a day or so. This would then mean that a poster would be able to edit out spelling mistakes or add extra pictures to the initial post. All further edits or additional information would then be added to subsequent posts, which also become un-editable after a time. I appreciate this could be a problem as it would circumnavigate the bumping rule (but of COURSE everyone on BC is honest enough not to post nonsense on an advert just to get it to the top of the pile right?)

Anyway, there must be a way that we can help users - I don't see this as a way to make life difficult. I expect some would complain that they'd want to have some time to create a good advert - maybe a template can be provided for such times (which I am sure we have somewhere??)

Would welcome thoughts on that one!

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I don't see why people can't  advertise their wares in whatever way they choose.

If the vendor doesn't provide enough info for a possible buyer then is it really that much effort to a) ask or b) ignore the advert ?

I'd find filling out a set template for sales more onerous than just describing it myself.

YMMV of course

Edited by ahpook
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I think we're talking about deleting information from topic titles after selling/withdrawing. That's what seems to be most irritating to users and problematic for searches.

The actual text of the advert is indeed up to the seller, but once again, it would make everybody's life easier if enough information was given to start with, without requiring a series of PMs or posted questions.

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5 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

People will do whatever they want to do, things listed here are only common courtesy, like reframing from using unnecessary exclamation marks!!!!!!!! 

Add spelling mistakes to that.

:ph34r:

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I think there's always going to be imperfections when 1) we're using crappy Invision forum software 2) trying to adapt a discussion forum into a classifieds listings service. For example, why not have a filled in form, then make posts "live" for (say) a week, then they are either renewed as still active, if not they automatically go into an archive (and are not editable). 

Is it possible to simply disallow editing of the subject title and content of the post (say after a few hours, to allow for corrections), that way the info would be preserved and there is no possibility of a seller deleting the information once an item is sold. It could be marked as sold some other way? (For example by the seller posting that its sold).

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15 minutes ago, paul_c2 said:

I think there's always going to be imperfections when 1) we're using crappy Invision forum software 2) trying to adapt a discussion forum into a classifieds listings service. For example, why not have a filled in form, then make posts "live" for (say) a week, then they are either renewed as still active, if not they automatically go into an archive (and are not editable). 

Is it possible to simply disallow editing of the subject title and content of the post (say after a few hours, to allow for corrections), that way the info would be preserved and there is no possibility of a seller deleting the information once an item is sold. It could be marked as sold some other way? (For example by the seller posting that its sold).

That way round would cause a lot more trouble than the way it is now. I’d be getting several emails a day asking me to edit titles for people. At the moment a mod can reinstate any deleted content but I don’t think I’ve ever had cause to do it myself. 

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1 minute ago, paul_c2 said:

So it can't be customised on a per-subforum basis?

We probably could make the title un-editable after a set time but it would just result in lots of people asking me to edit things for them further down the line. As it is, we very rarely see people edit their title in a way that causes a problem so it’s definitely not worth the cost and time to add that option when we can already undo any issues with those who do delete the title or whatever.
 

We also can’t force people to stick to any particular behaviour without adding it to the T&Cs so technically if people want their advert/data removed we have to allow it anyway, although the only few people I’ve messages to ask if they mind putting a title back always say no problem they didn’t realise. 

A ‘mark as sold’ button is the way to go. And people might ignore it, but that’s just how some people are. Sorry!

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