MarkPrince Moderator Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 4,653 Location: Vancouver Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Frankenstein'ed LM Linea Grinder: Anfim Super Caimano Vac Pot: 1922 Silex Drip: Krups Moka Brew Roaster: Hottop
Posted Tue Oct 5, 2004, 1:34pm Subject: IMPORTANT: READ THIS before posting in the BST Forum! (updated Mar 2007)
Hi folks.
Here's a new update for the Buy, Sell and Trade (BST) forum on CoffeeGeek, for March, 2007. I've amended this post quite a bit, so if you've read it in the past, please read it again before posting a new thread here, or a reply to an existing thread.
Why this forum exists Well it exists first and foremost because the community demanded it! Happy to oblige.
But second, this forum, one that reaches 1000s of potential buyers of your private-sale product, exists to serve the community and to help private individuals to save eBay fees and such if they want to upgrade their equipment, sell an unused coffee roaster, etc.
Here are some do's and don't's to follow when posting in this thread. Please read all of this, especially the "don't's" section below, before posting.
Simple "Do's" to follow when posting in the BST forum
- Make sure your profile page is up to date, with your real name and an accessible public address before posting any for sale, wanted, or trade thread. Why a real name? Because a) it gives confidence to people considering purchasing from you, b) it helps people better communicate with you to arrange the purchase, and c) because it's now a rule of this forum, for this particular section (see below for more on this). Ditto on an accessible email address. About 1/10th the posts in this forum are from people who have either not set up an accessible email address, or have put a completely fake one in the "public email" field in their profiles.
What's "accessible email address" mean? It can mean a real email address, like joe@site.com or a spoofed one that a human can easily modify, like joe.removethis@site.com.
- Give as much detail as possible about the product, including where bought from, condition, age, any problems or cosmetic defects, etc. This is not required, but believe it or not, will help your sale - the more honest and forthright you are with your description up front, the more people are willing to pay your asking price if they decide to contact you.
- Post a photo or two. Again, not required, but valuable in helping sales. You can post one photo per "post", but you can reply to your own post, adding more photos if you like.
- If you make a sale, please go back to your original post, and edit it, changing the title from "For Sale" (or "Wanted" or whatever else) to "Sold" (or "Found!" or whatever else is suitable). This will help other community members to know which products may be still available vs. sold.
- Give locations, states, countries, whatever you're willing to ship the product to.
- Always post an asking price. State your conditions (OBO, Firm, WTT, etc etc).
I went over this entire forum the other night, and saw that well over 1,000 items, probably closer to 1500 (the site isn't showing the posts from the first two years) have been sold, exchanged or traded in this forum - let's keep it going!
The "Don't's of posting in the BST Forum The BST forum is provided as a community service to our site members for private, one off transactions in getting that well-loved espresso machine or grinder a new home from time to time. It is not provided as a place to sell anything or everything (ie, stuff not coffee related). Nor is it provided as a place for someone to start their business on a shoestring.
- NO commercial posts at all. This means if you in any way profit on a regular, irregular, or occasional basis from the buying and selling of anything related to coffee, you cannot post an ad in this forum. It doesn't matter if it's a 'private sale' or a one off or whatever. If you sell espresso equipment, you can't post in the BST forum. If you sell beans, you can't post here. If you occasionally find espresso machines, clean them up, and flip them on eBay or Craiglist - keep using those resources, but you can't post here. We have a wide range of very cheap ads for your products. Please use them and support this website.
- NO business postings. This means no cafes for sale, no roasting companies, no web domain names, no cup jackets, nada like that. This forum is only for the sale of consumer-owned equipment (even if it is light commercial - if you just use it in your home and want to change equipment, that's fine - the rest are subject to the next rule).
- No liquidations or eBay sales of commercial machines: Simply stated - if it's a commercial machine and you have an eBay listing for it, you cannot post a link to it here in the BST forum. What is a commercial machine? Any multigroup espresso machine, or machine bought from a cafe or restaurant. It also includes any machine originating from a business venture - planned, failed, or realised. This does not include grinders, except when the grinders originate in a liquidation or are sold from a business venture - planned, failed, or realised. Please use eBay or another service to sell your equipment if it falls in this category, or purchase a sponsorAd on CoffeeGeek to sell it.
- ONLY coffee and espresso related products may be listed here in the BST Forum. There are exceptions to this rule, and while this may seem unfair, the exceptions apply only to the site owner and the moderators. The mods do such a great job answering untold numbers of questions, etc, that they are cut more slack in this forum, and provided the slackness as a courtesy for the great work they do. But regular site members - if you're selling something not coffee related, please use eBay or your local classifieds.
- New: Do not post a new thread to this forum if you do not use your real name on your profile page. You can, of course, post replies to to other people's threads, even if your real name isn't listed on your profile page. You can still have your forum "nickname", but your real first and last name must be accurate on your profile page, to post a new thread here. We've enacted this rule to prevent people from using multiple identities and / or pseudonyms only when selling items in the BST forum, as well as to create better trust for the people buying or trading items.
- New: If you have less than 10 posts on CoffeeGeek, and/or have been a member for less than 1 month (both criteria must be passed), you cannot post a link to an eBay sale. Posting links to private eBay auctions are grudgingly tolerated here, but in the last few months, we've had too many cases of people signing up for a membership to CoffeeGeek, only to post one time only to this forum with a link to their eBay sale. In some cases, we've discovered one person using multiple identities to post to different eBay auctions for the same product. Because of this, this new rule exists.
- New: Lately, a few people have been trying to slip under the radar, and sell a few machines that they claim were bought for friends. It's not fooling anyone - please stop that. Even if it were 100% true, if you have 3 or 4 models of a machine to sell, you're not someone who falls under the scope of acceptable usage for this forum. So because of this, any case where a person is selling more than one machine in a short period will have their postings deleted, and their account given a warning or a strike. This will be up to the moderators' discretion, but bottom line is, the rules are very, very simple:
If you have a machine or cup set or whatever that you bought, you used, you had in your kitchen or wherever, and have decided to upgrade or move on, the BST forum is here for you to help find someone else to take it off your hands.
If you in any way derive normal, occasional, weekend, whatever profits from buying and selling equipment, cups, or other coffee related items, the BST Forum is not for you. Please use Craigslist, eBay, other auction sites, or buy a SponsorAd from CoffeeGeek.
Thanks, and enjoy the BST forum. With these rules, our hope is every deal made here will be on the up and up and fair.
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Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
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