Changes to B&S discussion - SOLD BUMPS ARE BANNED - Page 3

I think many sellers are already managing multiple threads.

I've done it before, most the time I don't. I certainly won't from now on. When I'm getting a barrage of PM's about the same item I think it helps to send the message that the item is gone. I think the anti-bumping sentiment on this forum is a little over the top sometimes.

I understand that and you can see that I myself have 2 threads. What I was saying, and forgive me for not being clear, was that now sellers will be forced to manage multiple threads.

Also really pisses me off. Not only is it against Paypal policy (and you may be awarded a refund) and it is misleading about the price - but the new sellers tend to do it, and I've been scammed already because of the 'send as a gift' thing. I propose that you are only allowed to state the full price, but you can subtract 3% if you send as a gift.

This is exactly my situation. I will not do any sold bumping anymore. It would help to make the rules very clear in the sticky, as it seems that there may or may not have been an amendment that is not reflected in the current sticky.

I think we should also enforce the 5% drop rule more stringently.

I also think that anti-bump sentiment is actually not strong enough in the B&S forums, with the quick pace of how threads move.

Doesn't SF only allow you to edit your OP a few times?..

I've been able to reedit multiple times.

My sentiments exactly.

FTFY

Regards.

I don't have an issue with it - I like to see what's sold and what hasn't, so I know what goes straight to eBay and what I should sell here.

I agree with this. And when the final item is sold, there certainly shouldn't be a "sold" bump.

But allowing "sold bumps" when items are sold in multi-item sales threads biases visibility towards those threads. This is fundamentally good for the forum as it:

a) encourages single threads for each seller at any given time
b) encourages "large hauls" of quality merchandise for sale (which tends to be the NWT high value outlet hauls) rather than single items (which tend to be used one-offs).

Yes, of course, I'm very biased because the "sold bumps" help my own sales threads at times. But I also happen to think multi-item large sales threads are much more interesting from a buyer perspective than single-item threads.

What I DO think should go are multiple sales threads running concurrently by the same seller. That I find far more unfair to other sellers than a single sales thread with, say, 10 items being bumped to inform of a sale. And lots of multiple concurrent single/low item sales threads by the same seller is what would be encouraged if the "sold bump" was eliminated (since you could artificially raise visibility that way). That would be MUCH more annoying.

Besides, it's actually extremely easy to find ways of bumping a thread if you want to, even if you were to ban "sold item x" posts, so it would be a fairly pointless change too.

Finally, let's not pretend that the suggestion of removing "sold bumps" is a selfless gesture designed to increase parity between sellers. It's about driving down the price on SF for buyers, by encouraging more price cuts (which, incidentally since there are more buyers than sellers, will mean a poll will always be tilted in favour of further restrictions on sellers, so is hardly the only means by which a decision should be made). As a seller, there comes a point where it's preferable to go to eBay than price cut (despite eBay's many problems) and this move would encourage that.

For instance, I recently had an RLBL suit for sale here, initially at $599. It got price cut down to $499 over about a week, but didn't sell. I took it to eBay and got $570+shipping. If you encourage people to go to eBay sooner, by discouraging multi-item sales threads, it doesn't help buyers all that much, but increases hassles all round (I think we all prefer to deal direct through SF than via eBay).

Prices should not be struck out of ads. Some replace a price with "Sold",
and that hurts members doing research into past pricing.

Hard to say what is worst, SOLD bumps or making a topic in the selling thread that is not selling any items (e.g., this thread). :P

Or bumping it like you just have.

What about items that HAVE sold, yet the thread keeps getting bumped with back and forth conversation?

I think for a list of multiple items for sale a SOLD bump is OK, along with an edit to the OP. But I see the sentiment behind the rule againsdt it.