Thread: If you post in the classifieds...

Hi all, this came up via PM, and I thought I should explain to all of you. I've taken the specific information about the ad out because it is not relevant here.

While we generally have a hands off policy on classifieds ads, we keep an eye on the ads to see if anything seems 'off' enough to warrant us asking a question or 2. Sometimes ads contain claims that are out of the ordinary, without being specific about how / why the buyer should accept those claims. For example, if I post a razor for sale saying that it is was made in Japan, I should also mention how I came to that conclusion if it is not stamped / etched on the razor.

If I don't say anything at all and it is not identifiable, the ad is a bit dodgy and the buyer would have no way of judging whether the ad is truthful or not. In some cases this is not an issue (for example, the buyer might know and trust the seller) but it would leave newbies completely vulnerable to ebay style sellers / ads.

In such cases if we see something out of the ordinary, we might send you (the seller) a PM to ask you to clarify how you came to the information in the ad

I we do contact you, I suppose you could feel offended that we didn't take you on your word, in which case you have to consider that there are sometimes people who make outlandish claims which turn out to be false. See here for an example of what I mean.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/site-...create-ad.html

Given the choice between turning a blind eye if we think something is missing, or asking someone to clarify something (which should not be a problem), imo the best choice would be to ask the question. The alternative would be to leave the classifieds completely open to ebay style ads / sellers and let our newbie members be shafted every so often, which is probably not something you'd propose either.

So if we do contact you to ask a question, try not to feel offended, but consider our pov and our desire to have the classifieds be a place where people can rely on accuracy. Let there be no misunderstanding: If we ask a question, it is not to be hostile or build up to a confrontation, it is just to clarify something.