I was wondering if there may be any interest/use for a dedicated classified section on the forum? Could add a disproportionate amount of modding/policing to prevent a lot of spam and scammers? Could be for anything from reasonably priced DVDs to bots/bot parts?
What do you think Sirs?
Something similar was suggested for physical KS items that folks may not need/want but others would. There would need to be some set rules, certainly. Below are the rules we have in place for a Doctor Who forum I help moderate, if you’re looking for ideas on how to run such a section:
SECTION GUIDELINES: Shada
If you are a fan and are selling legitimate merchandise like pre-recorded VHS or DVDs (not off-air recordings), CDs (legitimate purchased ones, not home-burned), books/novels or otherwise, then please use the Shada section. You are welcome to post information there, including any links to eBay Auctions or other auctions you are running yourself or for someone for sale items. Postings are permitted for ANY legal items whether related to Doctor Who or not. Marketing posts are NEVER allowed in any other areas of the forum. Any posts outside this section that offer products or services will be relocated here when found. Too many violations of this guideline may result in administrative action.
When creating a thread, we encourage you to use THREAD PREFIXES. You are not allowed to use this forum to buy, sell, trade, or even give away for free off-air recordings and/or downloads. This goes for Doctor Who episodes, reconstructions, burned audio CDs, MP3/AVI files, or any other items. Retailers are allowed to have threads with the “Retailer” prefix. We will pin them when we see them. However, they will be unpinned if they have no activity for 4 months.
No automatic revenue-generating links are permitted anywhere on the forum (except for the forum’s own Amazon UK link). “Affiliate” links to vendors such as Amazon (or any other kind of affiliate links) are not permitted. Also, links to eBay auctions for unlicensed and/or illegitimate items - including links that point out unlawful sales such as sales of reconstructions or unreleased episodes - are absolutely not permitted. Even if you are trying to bring it to someone’s attention, we will not allow links posted here.
To be fair to everyone, do not create more than four new threads in this section in a 48-hour period. The staff will arbitrarily delete any threads that violate this rule. It is highly recommended to start a single thread when selling many varied items. Merchants who have dedicated pinned threads should not create other threads. Violators of these policies will lose their access. The Directors of [redacted] believe in supporting copyright laws as fiercely as possible.
New Shada rule beginning October 2014: Anyone offering any item for sale or trade MUST have the item in their possession. Upon receipt of more than one complaint that this rule has been violated, the seller will be barred from Shada, and there is no recourse.
[redacted] provides Shada as a courtesy for people who wish to engage in fan-to-fan bartering but does NOT provide any additional framework or support for such transactions (for example, we do not provide any dispute tracking or claim investigation); thus, our judgment on blocking Shada from any particular member’s access is final.
Yes! This would be fantastic, and maybe … Just MAYBE people can get some of the oop Rhino sets without getting supremely price gouged.
I like this idea! It should include a ‘Wanting to Buy’ (WTB) section or tag.
Any traction on this? I bought a piece of MST3K-related memorabilia and my wife bought it for me at the same time. I’d like to sell the extra one to a dedicated MSTie at a loss.
I’ve wondered the same. I have some swag from the first Kickstarter which I simply don’t have room to display. I’d like to parcel it out to other fans who’d put it to good use… with a preference to any fans in foreign lands who’d have a harder time getting hold of such things.
At most, I’d want to be reimbursed for postage via PayPal if it ran into the double digits. (But that’d depend on what I was sending, probably.)
I’m guessing Alternaversal doesn’t want a trading category on here due to all the oversight it would likely require. Plus it would have the official brand imprimatur on it here, and if fans have a bad experience with it then that reflects negatively back on the company.
I suspect it might work better to set up a trading site elsewhere. Call it something like “Moon Two Trading Post”.
Yes please. I need to buy stuff! 
I think this would be a great idea, and I think it’s actually quite doable. @SandyFrank makes good points, and maybe that’s exactly how Alternaversal would see it, but I do think it could work.
I’ve encountered this on another forum, with a similarly tiny budget for policing/oversight, and it seems to work just fine. Alternaversal can cleanly protect themselves by disclaiming all liability – making it clear that all transactions are governed only by the trust of the two participants. If something goes awry, we’re on our own. Seller/buyer DM to work out payment types, etc., and sellers are kindly asked to update posts to indicate when things are sold or no longer available (vs. deleting posts).
Anyone can browse the thread, but posting/selling (and probably buying, too) should be gated behind fairly robust requirements. Member for X amount of time, perhaps also acquired X badge(s).
That will almost certainly kill any attempts at posting spam/scams, and any that somehow make it through can then be escalated to mods’ attention. We’re a good bunch here; while the notion of trusting other users with financial transactions anywhere else on the internet is laughable, I think it would absolutely work here.
I do think there are some tangible benefits to Alternaversal hosting it here. One is that they can have direct oversight into what is being traded, and thus are able to keep bootlegging and such to a minimum. A big ol’ disclaimer at the top would help give them culpability distance, too. Ultimately it really depends on their risk/reward calculus for adding such a thing, and how much they think it might stretch their admin duties.
There would be SOOOOOO many legal things that could go wrong with a Gizmoplex “selling area” not 100% controlled by the Gizmoplex. I would doubt there would be anything more then suggestions of where to go for selling stuff.
I don’t know. Granted it’s nothing official, official, but the Doctor Who forum I help moderate has had a Buy/Sell/Trade section for decades with no issues.
I say not official official because the production does know about the forum and many of the production staff and cast are members.
A Doctor Who forum? Where is this?
Thanks!
I think its a good idea.
At least, it’d help me move my 15 boxed sets I’m trying to sell:
Among them being the sought after Final Sacrifice, and my favorite Godzilla vs. Megalon!