Swap and Shop Guidelines Suggestions

[ChrisW]

Now that we have a Swap and Shop section (thanks to Joe and Paul for setting it up) I think we should decide on some guidelines. Of course all users trade here at their own risk, but it would be nice to provide some guidance for both buyers and sellers.


So... What suggestions do people have. Does anyone have experience trading on other forums (like style forum, for example). We should probably decide upon a format for sales topics, and have a minimum time between bumps.


What does everyone think?

[jason_carreira]

I don't have experience on other forums, but Glen and I traded some stuff a couple weeks ago and I'm very open to future swaps.

[Ben]

Everything you post should have a tag to let people know what you're looking for. I'm sure there are more, but these are the most basic ones.


WTB = want to buy

FS = for sale

WTT = want to trade


Example thread titles--


WTB: Walnut Strands 9D


or


WTT: Walnut Strands for Chelsea-style boot


that way we at least have a sense of what's going on before opening a thread.


Also, of course: everything is buyer beware. We have a small community right now, which is wonderful for things like this, but as it gets larger inevitably there will be some people that may not be as reliable as we may like. Make sure you get information.


We are also all here because we like clothes, and we like good deals on clothes. The majority of stuff won't sell for MSRP, so don't expect it to. Please don't try to flip things which you got on here for a good price for profit. Bad Karma.


Try to know sizes and condition of things you are selling. Don't just say you have brown shoes for sale.


And lastly, please package things you are selling so they arrive in the same shape you are selling them in. And USPS is usually the cheapest way to ship things. Especially clothes and shoes that can fit in the flat-rate boxes.

[bruschetta]

I have a few things from my college days that I'd like to get out of the house. Heck, I might post a few things for free with the caveat that returns are definitely not accepted!

[glen_delossantos]

BenR's suggestions seem sound. What's the tag for "For Sale or Trade"? FS/T? FSOT? FS/FT?


My "transaction" with Jason didn't involve money, just pure trade. Is anybody experienced with selling for money? Paypal, I assume?


Thanks for the thread, ChrisW. A noob like me needs all the help he can get.

[chern]

I've used PayPal (not for things like these - for being a fantasy football commish), but it's ridiculously easy for personal transactions. All you have to do is link it to your checking account with your routing number, etc and that's free. But if you want to connect your account to a credit card, I believe PayPal charges about a 2.39% transaction fee.


After your account's been validated by PayPal (it takes a few days - just follow the steps) all you need to transfer a personal payment is just put in the recipient's email address.

[chern]

Also, I don't know about you guys but I've never gone to the bottom of the homepage to look for the forums since every new post updates the thread towards the top of the page. If you're looking to differentiate b/w forums or not clutter the "latest discussions" section so that swapping threads don't get lost, maybe the "forums" header and subheads should be moved up top. Or removed, maybe. I don't know it doesn't really bother me at this point since the community and variety of threads are pretty limited thus far. But maybe that's something to think about as the site goes. Sorry if that rambles or no one else sees it that way.

[Ben]

On paypal you can get around the transaction fee if you send the money as a "gift"


this works out well, especially when sending small amounts