A Hone/Razor Collectors For Sale Thread

[JimmyHAD]

I suppose best offer is OK in the classifieds?

IIRC just posting something as 'best offer' is not okay. An asking price is what is required in the rules. OTOH, you're free to edit the ad and reduce the price, and maybe even mention that you're 'negotiable' on the price, but there has to be a price. That is with, or without the BIN (buy it now) option.

It's all in the rules accessible in the left hand column on the main SRP page. They put 'em there so the mods could get to them easy .......

nobody else reads them .....

[sharptonn]

So it's the classifieds! Put a price on. OK to say it's negotiable. PM. Negotiate. Done
Like I said. The Classifieds are underused. Don't be bashful! If you meet the criteria, throw it on there!
Let's keep this cool stuff in the family, so to speak?

[s0litarys0ldier]

It's all in the rules accessible in the left hand column on the main SRP page. They put 'em there so the mods could get to them easy .......

nobody else reads them .....

Well you learn something every day.. I never have read them and don't plan on it. I just do what I do until a mod removes it and learn from those experiences.

[sharptonn]

Well you learn something every day.. I never have read them and don't plan on it. I just do what I do until a mod removes it and learn from those experiences.

Probably best, Soldier. Be yourself 'til you can't anymore. Then adjust as you can!
Still, some interesting reading there!

[Frankenstein]

IIRC just posting something as 'best offer' is not okay. An asking price is what is required in the rules. OTOH, you're free to edit the ad and reduce the price, and maybe even mention that you're 'negotiable' on the price, but there has to be a price. That is with, or without the BIN (buy it now) option.

Last time I tried 'negotiable' the ad was promptly suspended until any ambiguous language was removed.

I'm glad to have been such a source of amusement here, lol. I know that sometimes I don't explain my ideas clearly, and perhaps that's what's happened here. I would have assumed that anyone using a straight long enough to become proficient with it would know what 'collectable' meant, but maybe not. I said 'more expensive' cause we all know some of us collect any old things, meaning there was to be a distinction between the intended thread and the classifieds.

I was going to try to clarify again, but I do basically agree with the idea that it's maybe not as useful as I originally thought. I never intended prices to be posted - cause you could just refer someone to recent ebay sales for a guide. The main purpose was it would be a place where all the 'good stuff' was. But as you say that is too subjective.
For those of you who have only been around here a few years, the classifieds often used to have some really great stuff. Although the occasional nice thing comes in these days, it's mostly just for beginners, or those who want something cheaper but still reliable.

[sharptonn]

Last time I tried 'negotiable' the ad was promptly suspended until any ambiguous language was removed.

I'm glad to have been such a source of amusement here, lol. I know that sometimes I don't explain my ideas clearly, and perhaps that's what's happened here. I would have assumed that anyone using a straight long enough to become proficient with it would know what 'collectable' meant, but maybe not. I said 'more expensive' cause we all know some of us collect any old things, meaning there was to be a distinction between the intended thread and the classifieds.

I was going to try to clarify again, but I do basically agree with the idea that it's maybe not as useful as I originally thought. I never intended prices to be posted - cause you could just refer someone to recent ebay sales for a guide. The main purpose was it would be a place where all the 'good stuff' was. But as you say that is too subjective.
For those of you who have only been around here a few years, the classifieds often used to have some really great stuff. Although the occasional nice thing comes in these days, it's mostly just for beginners, or those who want something cheaper but still reliable.

Dang! I would like to thank you, Frankenstein! It has been quite interesting!

[RezDog]

It has in fact been an interesting thread. I did not know negotiable was allowed in the ads. I do use the classifieds here, as it is less complicated than ebay. I have not had many bites on more expensive items and other that were snapped up within twelve hours. I have had a couple of random PM's offering me 1/3 of the asking price minutes after putting up an ad. I think as long as everyone can be grown ups about stuff is where some of the problems arise and the mods have the rules set to make it easier for even challenged people to play nice.

[gugi]

It's certainly possible to commercialize SRP a lot more, but that will change things. I'm not sure most would like it anymore if buying and selling becomes front and center.
Usually when a moderator has asked me why can't we switch the classifieds to forum threads I have asked him to take a look at the places that do it that way and to make the case that the problems that come with it are worth it and for specific proposal how are we going to deal with them. They've never followed up on it, and reinventing the wheel by trial and error is not an option.

The way we've set up the classifieds prioritizes the community aspect of the site over the commercial.
(1) There is a pretty high initial bar of involvement in the community before one can advertise for sale (there is no barrier for WTB).
(2) There is a requirement for fixing a price - people should know what they want for an item and be upfront about it, rather than 'whatever the market will bear'.
(3) There is a limit on the number of ads (6) - again to prioritize community over commerce. (This is the simplest way to do it - it is also not hard to tie number of ads to number of posts, but we don't seem to need even this little complication.)
(4) There is a requirement for 'recent forum participation' - again it's meant to be as simple as possible. Without it we used to have people who have been active in the past come back on a regular basis to only list things for sale and never get involved in the forum discussions. Those things went for years, so the argument that 'as long as they come to SRP may be they will start helping others again' never materialized. A weekly post sustained for four weeks seems like a pretty low barrier and we made it even lower than that by formulating it as 2 posts per 2 week period.


In any case, as you can see, things are the way they are for a reason. No rules work perfectly all the time and that is why we can make exceptions when they are warranted.
Plus, we can always change everything if we want it to work differently. I've asked the moderators every now and then, especially after we've had a change implemented for six months to a year and I don't remember ever reverting something back.

We are always looking for constructive feedback how things can be improved. There are many ways to skin a cat and we're certainly not married to any particular one.


Edit: As far as the original post, it's entirely up to the seller whether they want to use the classifieds here or go to another venue. There are no fees here, while ebay charges around 10%, so there is some incentive to list it here, but may be they aren't part of the SRP community, or they prefer to run an auction more than not paying the ebay fees.

[Prahston]

A simple work-around may help somewhat with the OP's initial direction... I'm not sure how everyone else posts on eBay but I typically added a "see my Feedback on SRP/Prahston" as a Flag to let anyone from here or who may not have known my eBay Username a chance to contact as needed... As long as there are no Bids you can pull Auctions with impunity.

Does the OP know you can set up Alerts on the Classifieds here? I used to think similarly that there were more Beginner Items... Turns out I was just WAY too late on the good-stuff as so many have Alerts that fly after the Post is made.

Case in point... JimmyHAD's Neil Miller Strop Post (... A WEEK before Christmas!!)... Got the Alert, saw who was posting and what was being posted, got up to grab my wallet and that's the last thing I remember before waking up in the ER with a body-wide tingling sensation and my left foot tapping to the rhythm of "I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt"!! SWMBO was standing over me and as my eyes cleared she says, "I saw that look in your eye and knew it was about Shaving or Freaky Sex Stuff and you know I have the will to do what needs to be done."!! Found out she bought a Tazer, also.

Haven't had the guts to see if the Strop is still up.

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap...