BST Etiquette - friendly reminder on a few rules...
 

The past few weeks, I've been spending time almost every day responding to "Reported Posts" and other inquiries about rules being broken in the BST area. So I thought I'd take the time to remind everyone about a few of our guidelines for this section -

1.) Please no more than 3-4 threads at one time on the first page. We want everyone to have a fair chance to have their cards/requests listed in the most visible locations.

2.) Please don’t bump your thread more than once every 3-4 days. Again, we just want everyone to have a chance to have their threads seen.

** Regarding rules 1 and 2, I have had to delete several posts lately when I’ve seen that people are ignoring these two rules. I really don’t want to have to be deleting or consolidating anyone’s threads so please remember to keep your fellow board members in mind when posting/bumping in BST.

3.) Only persons involved in a potential transaction should be responding to a BST post, however benign or favorable comments are generally permitted by third parties. Here is an example of the type of commentary that I'm seeing more and more of which is NOT permitted.

- seller lists a Cal Ripken PSA 5 rookie for $100
- someone responds and says "But you can get a PSA 6 at such-and-such location for $25 cheaper!..."

Or another one…

- “Is that price a typo??”

These sort of responses are against the rules. If you feel you need to contact the individual about the price, please utilize our "Private Message" feature to contact them discreetly. Any response to a listing that is critical/negative in nature or otherwise interferes in a potential transaction is against the rules on the board. The only exception here is if the item in question is fake, grossly misrepresented or any other situation where fraud may be a concern. Aside from those extremes, this sort of communication needs to be handled privately moving forward.

Thanks all, much appreciated!

Thanks, Brian!

This seems to be an issue especially in the '50s-'79 BST. I don't understand why people can't consolidate their threads. If you are selling a Clemente RC and an Aaron RC only, there is no reason to separate those into two different threads. Just an example.

I believe I'm the culprit of the "typo" post. :o My apologies Brian.

Hey Jimi, I here where your coming from on that.

If I were to sell those 2 cards, I would list them in separate threads IF I wasn't selling anything else. I would only have 2 threads, those are pretty iconic cards, Id consider both high value and would want to make it as easy as possible for people to view/interpret and 2 threads would suit that better IMO. Now listing multiple 54's or 55's in separate threads would yank my chain a bit though.

Thanks for all your hard work Brian!

Daryl - No worries man. Actually, I wasn't aiming that comment at any particular person. I've seen several variations of that question - "Is that the right price....", "Is that a mistake...." and so on.

Good point, I didn't think of that. I guess if I just had those two cards, I personally would list them in the same thread and have the title reflect that. It was just an example of the type of stuff I see in the BST.

Hi Brian--
 

As a frequent lister in the Auction BST, I find everyone pretty much plays by the rules & it seems to run pretty smoothly.

I have 1 suggestion regarding Rule 2. Since most Auctions are only 1-4 days long, why not allow only 2 bumps per listing--use them when you please, but only 2 bumps per!

That's about what everyone uses anyhow--just make it official!

How does that sound?

That is a great suggestion for the Auction section Fred. I second it.

I was wondering if we had decided to blow off the above bit of etiquette. Thanks for posting this.

Bummer - Now that I know the rules the number of my posts will be greatly reduced. I always thought that Frank's auctions were fair game hassling him. Oh well - I guess that I could actually buy some more stuff.

Hassle bumps are always appreciated.:D

^^^^ wonders if he should offer up his services as a "shill bumper"? :eek:

...

Yes it is. I don't have paypal and send $ for payment and I rarely get confirmation that the payment was received or cards shipped. I have had many great transactions with some great people there just seems to be very little communication with the transactions.

The part that was weird to me at first is how many people ship cards in a PWE.

I don't have paypal either,and when I send the payment,I always let the seller know the payment is on its way,and ask if they would let me know when they get.They usually do.

I don't always confirm receipt but I always let someone know if something doesn't make it. I admit I usually use the "no news is good news" rule....but best etiquette is to confirm.

Is it possible or would it. Be a good idea to have a sub forum to provide feedback on transactions?

Where topic of the threads can only be a user id. If you want to know about a seller, just check their thread.
I know people put names of successful transactions in their signature, but personally the list is too long sometimes or it contains mostly the active sellers, and anyone that uses tapatalk never sees signatures.

There is a way to do it but not sure it's right for our forum. I understand there are some issues but they aren't that prevalent and the need hasn't outweighed the other issues WITH having one. As we have stated, the less involvement from mgt the better. I am on some other forums with lots of rules....and they might need them.

Generally, as stated, if you click and see the members tenure on the board, previous posts, threads and interactions you get a good idea of who they are. And you can always PM me, Brian, Dan (the other mod) or another member to get feedback on someone too.

I think when people would start giving opinions of others it could get sticky and the mods would have to get more involved (and we don't want that)...

I actually started adding a "#4" to my original post here that just focused on communication, however since nothing involving good communication is mentioned in the actual rules, I left it off so that I could drive home a couple points about the rules that we actually do have down in writing.

But yes, in our community, a little bit of good communication goes a long way -

Should you take the time to respond and/or thank someone who took the time to send you scans of a card you might like? Yes. Should you let your trading partner know that the expensive cards he sent you made it? Yes. If you would prefer to pass on a particular card or transaction in a potential swap, should you politely let the other person know so they can move on to other transactions and not be stuck holding a card for you? Yes.

Like someone said earlier, generally speaking, it's best to over-communicate rather than under-communicate.

Communication points like those up above aren't in any sort of rules listing that we have but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be utilized. The black and white reality of all this is, if you're wanting to do business on the board, people are going to need to feel comfortable working with you and trusting you with potentially hundreds or even thousands of dollars of their hard earned money/collectibles. I've seen a few people on here earn themselves bad reputations because their communication skills are lousy, amongst other things.

I am laxed on communication when it comes to receiving cards unless I am asked for this information (as I recently was), in which case I comply.

When sending cards that are deemed high value I do signature confirmation with tracking, so I tend to just confirm by looking at the tracking. If tracking isn't working correctly than I may send a note asking if they received it. Generally though I am like Leon and go with "no news is good news".

As far as confirming people. If I haven't seen the person interact on the board or hasn't dealt with me before I have asked other member's for their opinion (in PM not in it's own thread). Every time I have gotten a response back and the deal was completed.

I agree. HOWEVER, please communicated via email or PM. It is a bit irritating when a dead thread gets bumped when someone responds 10 days after "Got it, love it!" Along this line, I believe proper etiquette is to EDIT the thread title to show the item is sold or sent to eBay, etc., rather than bump the thread.

Just my $.0214 (including tax)

I agree with this. Dead threads being bumped for no reason and people bumping thwir threads just to say the item is sold are both annoying and not necesary. If your item is gone, then your thread does not need to be bumped to the top. Seems pretty simple.

Another pet peeve to be mentioned.:eek:

A poll with 47 replies currently, all resulting in bumps, is selling nothing and is on top of one of the BST sections.:eek::eek:

I think this violates the 2 bump rule by 45 and will not result in a sale if it is bumped 400 times.:eek::eek::eek:

If it is the same thread I am thinking you are wrong it is about to sell several $10 beaters for $60-$70 each.:D

I totally understand the annoyance. Pero au contraire et y compromiso, caveat emptor has always been a caution on the BST. In the words of Sr. Al Natural, "if you don't know by now don't mess with it.":)

I won't name any names, but my threads used to be buried by some guy, who had no intentions of purchasing a card, but he would randomly pick threads and say "Nice Card", "Good Luck with Sale", "She's a Beaut" etc. Never once did he make an offer. Just didn't want to see my thread at the top. I had no idea who this person was. When I PMed him about it, I was met with crickets. To me, that type of response is not necessary.

When I see idiots like that, my assumption is they're just doing it to get their post counts up.

One of your BST threads got buried.....


Impossible!!!!

You should PM me on things like that. I will take care of them...

I'm a firm believer in communication. Whenever I do business with a seller, I post to let them know if a PM or an email is on the way. I specify if I am considering a purchase, or if I am definitely buying a card if it is still available. I feel that not only helps the seller, but other potential buyers as well. If I can let other buyers know a card has been purchased, that saves them the trouble of messaging the seller. It also helps the seller by cutting down on the number messages they have to respond to.

Once a card has come in, I send a private message to the seller to let them know it has arrived, and to thank them. Then, I amend the post I made on their thread to reflect that the transaction has been finalized satisfactorily. If a card arrives quickly, I'll post that. If I was impressed by something, like how well the card was packaged, I'll include that, too. I figure future buyers might go back and look at the sale thread. I also include that seller's name in my signature, so if anybody wishes to ask me about my experience with a seller, I can help them.

Actually, if someone makes a comment on a thread, does not that move the thread back to the top as the reply pushes it upwards.

But if the person is doing that to push all of Bobby's threads upwards so he gets bounced, then that is not right and the mods should warn that poster

I think what he meant was the guy was replying to all of the other threads (pushing them to the top), and not to any of Bobby's, therefore it had the effect of pushing the Bobby threads to the bottom.

He don't do it anymore. This was around 4-6 months ago. It was almost like it was a game to him.

I guess he got bored with the game!

I like to post in the BST when I receive a card. That way other buyers can look at the thread and get some feedback.

On a side note, Blowout has a pretty good feedback setting for the BST.

Two ways that a couple of posters frequently bump their threads on the memorabilia and autograph side is by one -- listing many items together, and then posting a new reply every time a single item is sold (instead of just editing the original post).
Two -- starting an item at a high price, and then posting a new reply every day with a price drop.

Greg

People get riled up about this.

Yea they do. And as much as people here like to rag on me, they can actually learn a thing or two from me. On the Ebay thread, CONSOLIDATE YOUR THREADS!! No need to put up a separate thread for EVERY SINGLE CARD you got ending on Ebay!

I've not sold anything using the BST portion of this site (or any others, for that matter) so I'm not complaining on my own behalf but I do feel bad for sellers who are respectful and appropriate in the number individual threads they start at one time and in not bumping themselves up needlessly. When someone abuses a BST forum, I think the mods should not hesitate to step in. Of course, that means more work for them and I'm mindful of that. Bottom line is that folks should be respectful of others posting on what is a collectors' forum and not a commercial sales site. Not that I think BST is overrun with this problem, but I do notice it from time to time.

Learning it
 

I am doing my level best to learn it. It can be tough

Kinda surprised that no one has mentioned anything about "non-card items" showing up on multiple forums when they should be listed in the Everything Else BST.
Just my $.02 (no tax here).

I just had to remind someone of this as we speak.

Let me reiterate and clarify what was previously said. I, and the other mods, don't read every BST thread (or forum thread for that matter) but I believe I have acted, some way or another, on every PM ever sent to me concerning issues on the board. Don't be afraid to PM me if someone is out of line. I will handle it and you will stay anonymous, unless you don't want to be. I won't promise I will always side with the person sending the PM but I will always look at the issue and try to be fair. Overall, that section gives us few problems relative to the amount that goes on. Also, please remember it is always CAVEAT EMPTOR, buyer beware on the BST. Besides normal US and state laws there is no protection.

I refuse to believe you don't read everything :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Curious where the board stands on the friends and family vs. goods and services on PayPal. I generally prefer to pay the 3% extra and be able to submit my address info, etc. just to be safe. Is either way frowned upon?

I don't use friends and family. If I'm buying I'll add the 3%. If I'm selling I'll eat the 3%.

I think, though I'm not positive, but you get buyer protection using goods and services.

I've done a hundred gift transactions and never had a glitch on this site. This is, however, probably the only site I would feel comfortable doing so regularly save for some low dollar transactions or members I know well. I also have common sense and if my gut tells me to protect myself I do so. There is another board I frequent that has strict rules against gift transactions, which I amount to: "you're not smart enough to make sound decisions." If I pay gift and get burned I have no one to blame but myself and I accept that risk.

I agree with Steven. This site is unique in how close-knit it is. I don't know if this is the norm, but Leon called me personally when I signed up just to make sure I was someone he felt comfortable having on his site. I see all these posts asking for a feedback forum. Is anyone actually having unsatisfactory transactions? I bet I've done around 500 transactions on here, and the only hiccups I ever had was when one of my packages never made it to my buyer (and I refunded him in full). I feel totally secure making deals on this site, as long as the buyer has been around awhile. If it's a big $ transaction, of course you should do your homework, but I feel like we are pretty secure in this little community we have here.

BST Etiquette & Assurances about My Raffle:
 

Hello All-

I just wanted to assure everyone that I will not be adding any more updates, etc. posts to my Raffle thread.

Instead, I will edit the appropriate post directing readers to the specific numbered post to read details of the next 'contest'.

I have asked that anyone with questions about any part of the Raffle use PM to contact me rather than unnecessarily add to the thread.

Now, to make their guesses, they will need to post, however, just as I edit my updates, they can do the same with their posts (i.e. more than one answer per post) - even though the contests have different deadlines and I'm asking only one edit per post, I am trusting our 'group' to be honorable and 'draw between' the lines.

I sincerely hope that this Raffle does not fly in the face of BST etiquette as my aim was to add fun and interest.

-Raymond

There is no rule on this board concerning how you pay someone.

My experiences using F&F for pymt is similar to Steve's--MANY trannys on BST w/ no problem from any buyer nor PayPal themselves. Using F&F enables me to offer items that I never would on EBay because of the fees.

I'm a long time EBayer in good standing w/ PPal and they have never questioned my use of F&F for off-EBay transactions--they offer it & I use it.

I might add that my good name & reputation as an honest Seller supercedes any safety net offered by PPal for a deal made w/ me, so whether they cover a deal or not, you can rest assured you will not get screwed in a transaction bearing my ID.