RTH Forum Selling/Advertising Policy
Mar 8, 2018 15:39:51 GMT -5
sophia13, knave, and 3 more like this
Post by Tommy on Mar 8, 2018 15:39:51 GMT -5
Updated 8/26/2024
The RTH Forum community enjoys a robust marketplace where buying, selling, and trading rocks and lapidary equipment is a fun and natural progression in the lapidary hobbies. Please note that permission to sell or advertise anywhere on the forum is a privilege that must be earned through forum participation, and at least 100 community-quality forum posts. This policy was adopted in 2016 for the protection of our community members against fly-by-nights and scammers and malicious link planters who ran amuck on the forum at one time and will return if we don't keep a close eye on it.
'Selling' on this forum is generally defined as but not limited to the following:
1. Advertising or offering items or services for sale or trade in any post on this forum.
2. Posting links or videos to draw clicks to monetized social media (ie: YT, FB, TT, IG, X, etc).
3. Posting Amazon Associate links - (tagged short-links - see note below)
4. Posting 'owned' links to sales platform websites such as ebay, etsy, etc.
5. Adding monetized websites apps to forum Profile fields including signature.
6. Adding monetized Social Media links to forum Profile social media fields.
7. Phishing - posting photo or stories attempting to draw "can I buy it" type responses.
8. Contacting any member via forum Private Messages for purposes of selling.
9. Any other marketing activity designed to draw the attention of forum members and guests.
Again, selling on the forum is an earned privilege. Before attempting any method of gaining financially from your membership on this forum, new members are required to participate in at least 100 community-quality posts. This allows us to develop a sense of trust before entering into a risky financial transaction or rewarding you with a monetized click or subscription to your content.
Short-Posting - Circumventing the 100 community-quality posts requirement by quickly making 100 posts generally lacking in substance posts like "Hi!" or "looks great!" is easy to detect and will probably result in an extended introduction period, or a ban from the forum with or without notice is possible.
Vouching for a member - In lieu of the community quality posts requirement, an established member can vouch for a new member based on knowing them or having an established trust with them. Granting early access to sell, or advertise a monetized site is at the sole discretion of RTH staff.
Amazon Affiliates - just FYI we know how to expand short-links and identify hidden tags so please don't do it. Secretly tagged short-links are a direct violation of Amazon policy and a deliberate attempt to deceive our members into sending you commissions on their purchases which continues in secrecy until the end of their current Amazon session. This is an egregious action on your part and will almost always result in disciplinary action.
General guidelines for buying, selling, or trading on this forum:
Follow good internet commerce practices and always use appropriate financial safeguards. Know and trust who you are dealing with we recommend that buyers using Paypal do not give away your case rights by using Friends and Family feature. Sellers get paid before shipping any item
Good communication is the key to good trades
Both sides of a trade should be completely honest and specific about their offering including pictures and information about known flaws. Make sure your trade partner knows exactly what they are getting and follow through with the transaction as agreed upon.
If you are selling or trading heavy rocks please protect the integrity of the transaction by packaging each product smartly and thoroughly following the shipping carrier rules (no duct tape on a USPS package for instance) and expect that it will be handled roughly in transit - because it will.
All transactions are strictly between buyer and seller, and this forum is not responsible for the outcome of any transaction conducted publicly or privately, nor can the forum staff intervene if a transaction goes bad.
If you feel that you have been intentionally scammed please private message the details to any or all staff members so we can address the behavior of the specific member and take forum related actions which can include banning if it is warranted.
General Guidelines on Posting and participating in a listing in the RTH Marketplace
1. New listings are easily identified if specified in the title buy it now sale (BIN), (Auction), or (Trade).
2. Bumping a listing back to the top is allowed but please don't go crazy with it. One bump a day is reasonable.
3. It is the sole responsibility of the thread creator to manage the thread at all times
4. It is good seller etiquette to edit the thread title to indicate the thread is finished (SOLD)
5. All sales listings should contain at least one clear photo of the specific product being sold, or a representative photo if the product is being sold by weight.
6. For fairness to all potential buyers (BIN) threads should have the price. "Contact me privately for prices" are not allowed.
7. Freight cost should be discussed in every sales listing, whether costs are available or have to be determined or quoted such as international freight.
8. Auctions must conducted publicly with the reserve price, opening bid, min. increments, dates/times and any other rules clearly stated.
9. TRADE posts typically go private quickly after the thread is created and this is OK.
10. Due to software limitations, threads that have received responses can only be deleted completely by staff. Please use the "report post" feature to contact staff if you need your finished thread to be deleted.
11. Nuking a sales thread because you don't like how it's going is bad form and could result in diminished selling privileges. If things aren't going well contact staff through the "report post" feature instead of deleting the initial post in the thread.
12. Members are free to post comments about the product and ask for additional photos or information, but must refrain from thread crapping (ie: "that's ugly..." or "your prices are too high!" etc.). Any responses simply being negative in a seller's thread, or concerns about product misrepresentations or scams should be brought to the attention of staff using the "report post" tool.
Thanks everyone for your cooperation!
The RTH Forum community enjoys a robust marketplace where buying, selling, and trading rocks and lapidary equipment is a fun and natural progression in the lapidary hobbies. Please note that permission to sell or advertise anywhere on the forum is a privilege that must be earned through forum participation, and at least 100 community-quality forum posts. This policy was adopted in 2016 for the protection of our community members against fly-by-nights and scammers and malicious link planters who ran amuck on the forum at one time and will return if we don't keep a close eye on it.
'Selling' on this forum is generally defined as but not limited to the following:
1. Advertising or offering items or services for sale or trade in any post on this forum.
2. Posting links or videos to draw clicks to monetized social media (ie: YT, FB, TT, IG, X, etc).
3. Posting Amazon Associate links - (tagged short-links - see note below)
4. Posting 'owned' links to sales platform websites such as ebay, etsy, etc.
5. Adding monetized websites apps to forum Profile fields including signature.
6. Adding monetized Social Media links to forum Profile social media fields.
7. Phishing - posting photo or stories attempting to draw "can I buy it" type responses.
8. Contacting any member via forum Private Messages for purposes of selling.
9. Any other marketing activity designed to draw the attention of forum members and guests.
Again, selling on the forum is an earned privilege. Before attempting any method of gaining financially from your membership on this forum, new members are required to participate in at least 100 community-quality posts. This allows us to develop a sense of trust before entering into a risky financial transaction or rewarding you with a monetized click or subscription to your content.
Short-Posting - Circumventing the 100 community-quality posts requirement by quickly making 100 posts generally lacking in substance posts like "Hi!" or "looks great!" is easy to detect and will probably result in an extended introduction period, or a ban from the forum with or without notice is possible.
Vouching for a member - In lieu of the community quality posts requirement, an established member can vouch for a new member based on knowing them or having an established trust with them. Granting early access to sell, or advertise a monetized site is at the sole discretion of RTH staff.
Amazon Affiliates - just FYI we know how to expand short-links and identify hidden tags so please don't do it. Secretly tagged short-links are a direct violation of Amazon policy and a deliberate attempt to deceive our members into sending you commissions on their purchases which continues in secrecy until the end of their current Amazon session. This is an egregious action on your part and will almost always result in disciplinary action.
General guidelines for buying, selling, or trading on this forum:
Follow good internet commerce practices and always use appropriate financial safeguards. Know and trust who you are dealing with we recommend that buyers using Paypal do not give away your case rights by using Friends and Family feature. Sellers get paid before shipping any item
Good communication is the key to good trades
Both sides of a trade should be completely honest and specific about their offering including pictures and information about known flaws. Make sure your trade partner knows exactly what they are getting and follow through with the transaction as agreed upon.
If you are selling or trading heavy rocks please protect the integrity of the transaction by packaging each product smartly and thoroughly following the shipping carrier rules (no duct tape on a USPS package for instance) and expect that it will be handled roughly in transit - because it will.
All transactions are strictly between buyer and seller, and this forum is not responsible for the outcome of any transaction conducted publicly or privately, nor can the forum staff intervene if a transaction goes bad.
If you feel that you have been intentionally scammed please private message the details to any or all staff members so we can address the behavior of the specific member and take forum related actions which can include banning if it is warranted.
General Guidelines on Posting and participating in a listing in the RTH Marketplace
1. New listings are easily identified if specified in the title buy it now sale (BIN), (Auction), or (Trade).
2. Bumping a listing back to the top is allowed but please don't go crazy with it. One bump a day is reasonable.
3. It is the sole responsibility of the thread creator to manage the thread at all times
4. It is good seller etiquette to edit the thread title to indicate the thread is finished (SOLD)
5. All sales listings should contain at least one clear photo of the specific product being sold, or a representative photo if the product is being sold by weight.
6. For fairness to all potential buyers (BIN) threads should have the price. "Contact me privately for prices" are not allowed.
7. Freight cost should be discussed in every sales listing, whether costs are available or have to be determined or quoted such as international freight.
8. Auctions must conducted publicly with the reserve price, opening bid, min. increments, dates/times and any other rules clearly stated.
9. TRADE posts typically go private quickly after the thread is created and this is OK.
10. Due to software limitations, threads that have received responses can only be deleted completely by staff. Please use the "report post" feature to contact staff if you need your finished thread to be deleted.
11. Nuking a sales thread because you don't like how it's going is bad form and could result in diminished selling privileges. If things aren't going well contact staff through the "report post" feature instead of deleting the initial post in the thread.
12. Members are free to post comments about the product and ask for additional photos or information, but must refrain from thread crapping (ie: "that's ugly..." or "your prices are too high!" etc.). Any responses simply being negative in a seller's thread, or concerns about product misrepresentations or scams should be brought to the attention of staff using the "report post" tool.
Thanks everyone for your cooperation!
