APC For Sale Forum Guidelines

[AaronT]

APC Policy on "For Sale or Trade" Forum Activity

Aquatic Plant Central (APC) encourages its members to buy and sell from each other and facilitates that endeavour by providing an appropriate forum. To achieve a fair and equatable marketplace, these policies have been created. Failure to heed the policies may lead to a suspension of privileges or an outright ban for serious violations.

1. To help ensure that only our dedicated members participate, a minimum of 25 posts are required before being allowed to post in the forum. This includes offering anything in response to 'want to buy' posts. Maneuvering around this rule by making short, meaningless posts (post padding) will result in removal of your posts on this forum.

2. Any items posted in the For Sale or Trade section are subject to the discretion of the APC staff. By posting in this section you agree to that term. The WTB/WTS forum at APC exists to facilitate the exchange of plants, fish, and equipment between our participating members. These are users deemed to be active participants in the exchange and discussion of information on this forum pertaining to our hobby. If you plan on placing items for sale, be aware you are expected to be a participating member first!. If the staff feel a particular post or user does not follow the rules or the spirit of that forum, we reserve the right to edit or remove the thread and/or take action against the offender, who will get a private message explaining why. Additionally, the buying of goods outside of APC for the express purpose of reselling them here is not appropriate. We encourage our members to use more appropriate Internet sites for such activity. Retail endeavors of any size also may not post in the sale/trade forum. This includes any commercial businesses, large and small. We do offer low cost sponsorship opportunities that include a dedicated forum where you are free to post items for sale. Please contact us for more information.

3. All items should have a high-quality photo and/or positive identification of the item, preferably both. Posts with poor quality photos and/or lacking identification of the item may be removed.

4. Descriptions should be as complete as possible. For example, include the number of stems per bunch, the volume of moss, or the size of the plant. Descriptions of growing conditions for sensitive or rare plants are always appreciated.

5. Dry goods and hardware should be described as completely as possible. Age, condition, and known defects should be noted. For lighting, list the approximate number of hours the bulbs and ballasts have been used.

7. Pricing and terms, including shipping method, should be clearly spelled out. Values are assumed to be in US currency unless clearly noted. Auctions and bids are not allowed.

8. The use of the iTrader system is encouraged. This is an excellent tool for all to determine the reputation of others.

9. Communicate, communicate, communicate! By simply keeping the other party to the transaction updated on timing and shipping method (i.e., tracking number) most of the problems experienced in transactions could be avoided.

While APC facilitates sales between members, we DO NOT endorse either the buyer or the seller. All disputes must be handled by the parties to the transaction. APC and its staff will not be held liable for anything related to the transaction. APC WILL NOT mediate on behalf of any party to the transaction.

10. Posting an item for sale will imply your agreement to these terms and conditions, as well as those in our user agreement.

11. Space and a venue for sales is available to all members free of charge.

12. Want ads are encouraged; it's a great way to ask for desired plants. However, please offer a trade or agree to at least cover the cost of shipping. Wanton begging will lead to deleted posts. It is impolite and has no place in this forum. Moderator's discretion is final when identifying begging-type posts.

13. International Purchases – APC is a global community with members form all over the world. Currently there are sponsors from North America, Asia and Europe. APC recommends that members check local and/or national laws and regulations concerning the importation of goods and/or livestock before placing an order with a vendor outside of their home country. APC does not condone the improper importation of goods and/or livestock and will not be held responsible in any transactions between members and/or between members and sponsors that are not deemed legal in the purchasers’ country of residence. APC strongly recommends that purchases be conducted in a lawful manner at all times.

14. All items offered for sale must be aquarium related.


The above guidelines have been implemented by the APC Administration regarding the usage of this For Sale forum. The community has gotten large enough that we felt it necessary in order to keep things as fun and safe as possible.

[Runawaypencil]

How can a new person who is just starting out get going inless he has 25 post he cant post a wtb sheet of what he/she thinks they need to get started i was think of posting a wtb on co2 stuff but was still looking over what i would really need and how i might set it up but still you say i cant post a wtb cause i dont have the 25 post yet..... (this counts as 1) lol...

[Cavan Allen]

I like apples.

[dennis]

You can post that you want to buy(wtb) plants or equipment. A person with less than 25 posts cannot sell only, buying or trading is perfectly acceptable.

Welsome to APC!

[billionzz]

I recently recieved some nice plants from a couple sellers and I wanted to leave them a positve I-Trader rating, can you tell me how to go about doing this?

Thanks,
Bill

[Cavan Allen]

Click on the number of Itrader ratings the person has and it will bring up their feedback. On the left is the button to give them some more.

[erijnal]

Hey, just wondering about this rule:

7. Pricing and terms, including shipping method, should be clearly spelled out. Any pricing in non-US currency should be labeled as to the type.

I've seen a couple threads in the past that would just ask the buyer to pm the seller with the price he has in mind, and generally that seems to be acceptable. I've dealed with a plant I wanted in this manner and was actually happy with the result. However, I approached the person first, not through the For Sale forum. Doesn't the buyer, however, end up on the short end of these type of deals if they're posted here? I'm sure that's why Rule 7 was listed. The question of unfairness is of course subjective because you have to take into account how badly the buyer wants it, and the availability of the product that is being sold. Just want to know because to me personally it seems shady. But again, I want to stress that there are always people that would be willing to buy at a higher-than-normal price to get what they want, which is just capitalism at work.

Just want a yes or no question from a moderator, and also for all future sellers to be aware of the answer.

[gnatster]

The thought process that went into that guideline is that we don't want to turn APC into an auction site. We do try to keep on top of all the sales and request that people put in a firm price when we notice a best offer post. We thought it best that seller is upfront with pricing and shipping costs so there is nothing hidden. We thought of what we wanted to see as best practices when offering items for sale, hence we also thought a picture should accompany the post as well. We've had very few complaints about sellers since these guidelines and the iTrader were put in place. In fact one of the shadiest sellers, the person with far and away the most complaints we had, disappeared the day iTrader was introduced. I'm also proud to say there has no been abuse of the iTrader system.

[turbomkt]

Guilty



But in my defense, James will be the first person to say I don't ask for anything unreasonable

I'll follow the rules next time.

--Mike

p.s. I also know that James is not trying to say anything bad about me, I'm just rogering up that I'm one of those who has made this mistake recently.

[erijnal]

Thanks for making that clear gnatster. Yeah, I really like how iTrader functions. More people are willing to accept cash through the mail with me since others have had good experiences with it . And Mike was right, I wasn't talking about him =].