PICTURES REQUIRED
Pictures are REQUIRED for posting personal items for sale in our forum. Pictures must be posted at the same time as your thread. (Ravelry provides an easy way to do that, for a small yearly fee - link here.) We will NOT accept ads without pictures – if you don’t provide one, your ad will be removed. If you are at work and can’t post your picture until you get home, then wait until you are home with your pictures to post your ad. You must provide a picture of YOUR ACTUAL ITEM - it is not acceptable to post a picture from a commercial website of an item “just like it”. Here’s a link to the Ravelry instructions for adding a picture.
PRICING
You MUST list a price for your item (the price is up to you and whatever the market will bear). Don’t offer items up for bid or ask buyers to “make an offer”. If it’s bidding you’re interested in, eBay is a better option for you than our forum.
NO YARN, NO WEAVING, NO KNITTING, NO LIVE ANIMALS
Spinners’ Marketplace is intended for the sale and trade of spinning equipment and supplies only. Listings for yarn and/or other non-spinning items such as knitting needles or weaving looms will be removed, and listings containing such items along with spinning items will be edited to remove the non-spinning items. Commercial Sellers posting a collage picture, make sure that spinning items represent the majority of your picture, or you will be asked to replace it. Added 5/21/16: Sale of live animals in this group is prohibited.
COMMERCIAL SELLERS/VENDORS
- One commercial thread per vendor: Start your thread topic with “AD” or, if appropriate, “ETSY”. Make it plain that you’re advertising a commercial enterprise. Keep all your updates in this ONE thread. Sell all your items in ONE thread. If you wish to start a new thread, notify a moderator first (either flag your thread or PM a mod) so we can archive the old one.
- Updating your thread: Retail sales can only be owner/author bumped (that’s what happens when you REPLY to your thread with a new post rather than editing the last post - it “bumps” up to the top of the discussion forum) once every 7 calendar days. This gives other sellers a chance to stay on the front page for more than a blink. If you have more frequent updates, EDIT YOUR LAST POST to prevent bumping.
- Oops! Someone else bumped your thread: If a customer or admirer bumps your thread before your 7-day limit has passed, it will be deleted to keep your thread clutter-free and easily readable by potential customers. If there was a legitimate question, a moderator will copy that question and PM it to you so you can contact the customer yourself – and you can EDIT your post to add more detail as needed. Customers – Don’t post in Vendor threads! Posts from anyone but the original vendor will be deleted.
- You too can destash and ISO: Ravelers who run a commercial thread here are welcome to also post a FS thread for used personal equipment or stash, just like everyone else.
FS - ISO - AD
Thread topics should start with “FS” (for personal destashes) or “ISO” (in search of) or “AD” (for commercial sellers).
ONE THREAD AT A TIME PER PERSON
Combine all your items in one thread (or sell one item at a time, and reply to your thread with SOLD for archiving before starting a new one). Multiple threads will be whooshed together, which might be confusing - avoid confusion by posting only one active thread.
CROSSPOSTING
You have blanket Moderator Permission to crosspost from other groups to this group - you don’t have to ask us. Seek Mod approval for any other group you crosspost to, per Ravelry Rules.
ETIQUETTE
- Don’t POISON SOMEONE ELSE’S AD - don’t argue with people’s prices in their destash threads. It’s rude - you wouldn’t like it if it happened to you. This includes “advice” about lowering their price. PM that advice instead, if you feel you must. If you’re interested in their item, but you don’t like their details or price, walk away or PM to negotiate.
- Don’t GUEST-STAR– don’t jump into someone’s ad with your expert knowledge about their equipment and its details (PM those details if you must)
- Don’t ARGUE about shipping (if a person prefers to sell locally, they don’t have to state their reasoning)
- Don’t ANNOUNCE that you’ve PM’d the seller - Posting that you’ve sent a PM isn’t a guarantee of getting your item and doesn’t serve to “stake a claim” to an item, nor does it put a time stamp on your PM. Please only post a reply (which bumps a thread up) if you have a Public message with information that’s different from your Private message.
- Don’t THREADJACK (jumping into someone’s ISO thread with a “me too!”– start your own)
- Don’t BEG for donations of free fiber or tools, for yourself or charity.
NO CROWDFUNDING OR AUCTIONS
While we wish all success to new businesses trying to get off the ground, we only host ads for immediate buying and selling, not crowdfunding future efforts - when things don’t fully fund, the rewards are not issued. So no Kickstarters or Indiegogo or other crowdfunding ads. We don’t host eBay auction ads here - they violate our “name a price” rule. EBAY “BUY IT NOW” IS OK, because a firm price is listed.
BUMPING
Daily bumping is considered obnoxious. Destashers can bump their threads every few days if they feel it necessary, but please don’t bump repeatedly (unless you have a legitimate reason, such as a price change or an item to add). If it’s not your thread, then don’t do it! And don’t bump a commercial vendor’s thread. PM vendors with comments or questions. When you post a question or praise to a vendor’s thread, this bumps their thread up to the top, giving them an unfair viewing advantage over the others, and it will be deleted to keep the vendor’s thread clear. Use the Feedback thread to recommend vendors to others, or give testimonials about happy (or unhappy) purchases. And of course, if the vendor has a Rav group, please go there and praise them too.
AFTER YOUR ITEM HAS SOLD
REPLY to your thread with the word SOLD– this will bump your thread back up for a moderator to read and archive. DO NOT DELETE YOUR POST. This is a buy-sell-trade forum, and on those rare occasions when an exchange goes badly, the moderators need a way to see what’s been said in the course of arranging the trade or sale.
SHIPPING
For some tips on shipping a wheel, here’s a discussion and here’s another. Please don’t post a new thread to ask about shipping - we’re not a discussion group, ask those questions in one of the many spinning groups.
EMAIL – PHONE
Posting email addresses on public forums opens you up to spammers, and we discourage you from doing it - but we’re not going to remove email addresses. Phone numbers WILL be removed – that’s a safety issue.
DISCLAIMER
Ravelry and its moderators are not responsible for swaps/sales gone bad - they are the responsibility of buyer and seller. Caveat Emptor! We have a Page set up with a list of known Naughty Swappers.
MINORS
No one under age 18 may buy or sell in our forum.