Change to For Sale advertising

Post by **Bootsy** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:54 am

In light of the For Sale etiquette being ingnored I am going to have to make a change to the way the For Sale (cars) forums operate.

From now on when a car for sale is offered the threads will be locked and any disussion with the vendor will need to be carried out via PM or email.

Hope this is ok with everybody?

Sorry to do this but the classifieds is the one area of the forum that creates the most complaints to deal with and I feel it's only fair for a vendor to have the oportunity to offer a car for sale without attracting discussion that ultimately detracts from the advert.

Nige · Post by **Nige** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:24 am

Good idea, I've noticed lock downs on for sale ads on other forums and they work well.

Obviously the seller needs to make sure they put a price, pictures and contact details.

Helen · Post by **Helen** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:27 am

Nige wrote:Good idea, I've noticed lock downs on for sale ads on other forums and they work well.

Obviously the seller needs to make sure they put a price, pictures and contact details.

yup agree
its not a major problem if they need to change something, they just need to let a MOD know or place a new (corrected) advert and delete the old one.

julian911 · Post by **julian911** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:33 am

Agreed. Only (slight) frustration can be if you have not already got all the photos, and then once you have placed an ad, you can't go back and unlock it and add extras things (which happened to me on IB) - such as a sunroof

or if the car is LHD etc...
But generally, a better approach IMHO.

Del · Post by **Del** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 12:10 pm

good idea

Bertroex · Post by **Bertroex** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 12:56 pm

Aaargh, the nanny mentality is coming to DDK! Most complaints come from advertisers who seem to be a bit cagey about this or that about their car.

Moreover, is there an option whereby the original poster and a mod can edit the ad? Asking to open up the ad and then relocking it is just.... frustrating.

In my experience, if your advert is describing the vehicle (type and specs of engine/gearbox etc), original and retrofit options , current condition and any work done to it to justify its condition, 6 picture minimum of the front , rear, roof, both sides, interior then that results in:
1. Serious enquiries of informed prospective buyers
2. Not needlessly repeating the same old story
3. eventually a happy sale.

As I am putting my maverick lateral thinking hat on, can we have a "marketplace discussion" place then?

Because this is after all the online version of a discussion between like minded minds whereby we have the decency not to break a members car down?

Bert

Post by **Bootsy** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:45 pm

Bertroex wrote:Aaargh, the nanny mentality is coming to DDK! Most complaints come from advertisers who seem to be a bit cagey about this or that about their car.

Moreover, is there an option whereby the original poster and a mod can edit the ad? Asking to open up the ad and then relocking it is just.... frustrating.

In my experience, if your advert is describing the vehicle (type and specs of engine/gearbox etc), original and retrofit options , current condition and any work done to it to justify its condition, 6 picture minimum of the front , rear, roof, both sides, interior then that results in:
1. Serious enquiries of informed prospective buyers
2. Not needlessly repeating the same old story
3. eventually a happy sale.

As I am putting my maverick lateral thinking hat on, can we have a "marketplace discussion" place then?

Because this is after all the online version of a discussion between like minded minds whereby we have the decency not to break a members car down?

Bert

I want to avoid the nanny state mentality, trust me.

It's just that there have been a few cases recently where inappropriate comments are made on a for sale thread which lead to complaints recevied (and quite justified in most cases) which can be time consuming to deal with.

Maybe a marketplace discussion is the answer?

I'm not sure. May be if the for sale etiquette was followed we could leave as is.

Disco · Post by **Disco** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:03 pm

Whilst I agree that some of the For Sale adds have turned into a book on their own, I think there should be an oportunity to discuss the cars that are for sale. As a novice porsche owner, part of what attracted me to the forum was the exchange of views and comments about.... cars for sale. Someone like Bert ( hope you dont mind me using you as an example ) recently wrote a pretty lengthy article about a LHD 911S - he had obviously seen the car and gave what has to be said ( in my view anyway ) an excellent description of the car. - it wasnt a plug - more of a here we have an X with this right and this wrong. - if you were to lock this down, we wouldnt have this kind of gold dust...

Perhaps, and thinking radically here, rather than lock down the adds, perhaps you could detail in the 'READ THIS BEFORE POSTING' Section that forum members may discuss your car that you are trying to sell and that if you feel it inappropriate you can either withdraw the car from sale, reply to the comment or in severe cases ask the mod to remove the comment.

just a thought.

Bertroex · Post by **Bertroex** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:06 pm

Bootsy wrote: It's just that there have been a few cases recently where inappropriate comments are made on a for sale thread which lead to complaints recevied (and quite justified in most cases) which can be time consuming to deal with.

Maybe a marketplace discussion is the answer?

I'm not sure. May be if the for sale etiquette was followed we could leave as is.

I understand your conundrum. Pragmatists like JG over on Ib.com just have the for sale adverts locked and deal with the issues (such as original poster edits) as and when they occur.

The polar opposite is probably the early S registry in the US, whereby, to my uninitiated eye, cars seem to be mercilessly dissected.

However, the latter makes damn good reading and either the car and seller stand up to the critique or a prospective buyer gets an idea whether it is worth valuable time to pursue that lead.

If there is a restriction, I feel that it ought to come with a recommendation of an "ideal for sale" advert, guiding prospective posters, so that you evade the typical

For Sale:

1974 porsche 911 with a 2.2 engine, green, 4 new tyres on alloys, bit of rust, drives great, bit of history, not being used enough.

On a continental porsche forum, there is a list such as:

- Type: Porsche 911 964 Carrera 4
- Model year/ registered: 1991 registered 1991
- Colour: Rubin Red -original repaint
- Interior: black leather
- mileage: 164.000
- History: Bills from 1998 onwards, service history stamped from new
- Remarks: airco, cup-3 wheels, cup mirrors, cuprohr exhaust, small dimple above number plate, 2 sets of keys...

6 pictures.

Best regards,

Bert

Nige · Post by **Nige** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:18 pm

'marketplace discussion' area would be more suitable I think. Nothing worse for a potential buyer having to wade through a load of waffle that could be misleading or not applicable to the car. If they wish to discuss it, then do so in a separate area.

Post by **Bootsy** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:19 pm

Bertroex wrote:
Bootsy wrote: It's just that there have been a few cases recently where inappropriate comments are made on a for sale thread which lead to complaints recevied (and quite justified in most cases) which can be time consuming to deal with.

Maybe a marketplace discussion is the answer?

I'm not sure. May be if the for sale etiquette was followed we could leave as is.
I understand your conundrum. Pragmatists like JG over on Ib.com just have the for sale adverts locked and deal with the issues (such as original poster edits) as and when they occur.

The polar opposite is probably the early S registry in the US, whereby, to my uninitiated eye, cars seem to be mercilessly dissected.

However, the latter makes damn good reading and either the car and seller stand up to the critique or a prospective buyer gets an idea whether it is worth valuable time to pursue that lead.

If there is a restriction, I feel that it ought to come with a recommendation of an "ideal for sale" advert, guiding prospective posters, so that you evade the typical

For Sale:

1974 porsche 911 with a 2.2 engine, green, 4 new tyres on alloys, bit of rust, drives great, bit of history, not being used enough.

On a continental porsche forum, there is a list such as:

- Type: Porsche 911 964 Carrera 4
- Model year/ registered: 1991 registered 1991
- Colour: Rubin Red -original repaint
- Interior: black leather
- mileage: 164.000
- History: Bills from 1998 onwards, service history stamped from new
- Remarks: airco, cup-3 wheels, cup mirrors, cuprohr exhaust, small dimple above number plate, 2 sets of keys...

6 pictures.

Best regards,

Bert

I think we'll leave as is.

However, I will have to edit if I feel a comment is made that is not on. There was last night/today that was simply not helpful or constructive. It's been now moderated so no problem.

Nige · Post by **Nige** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:40 pm

So you get all huffy, lets make a change and all that and now you can't be ar*ed!

Helen · Post by **Helen** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 3:08 pm

oh shite. thanks alot Mr Boots.
trying to be helpful i've just been through and locked all the newer threads as per your original announcment.
now i've got egg on my face.

julian911 · Post by **julian911** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:41 pm

My only(!) comment as someone who has advertised two cars, one on IB, and one on here recently, was that both were courteously received in both places, and people did what they said they would do - ask decent questions, come and see the car, very nice when they came over. I only had one problem from the PMs and then I think the person just wanted photos to add to his collection

, not based in the UK, and he was OK really, I just knew it wasn't going anywhere.

I think Bert's suggestion to the types of photos to take is also a good idea - sometimes you just forget(!) Actually John Glynn on IB has even coached some people in terms of adverts they have placed to get more out of the car in terms of viewings/interest.

Post by **Bootsy** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:43 pm

Nige wrote:So you get all huffy, lets make a change and all that and now you can't be ar*ed!

trust me I'd rather just leave it as is. However the thing I can't be arsed with is when inappropriate comments are made on a for sale thread and I have to deal with the outcome.