Marketplace Thoughts

From the rules:

Selling or offering services on other sites other than Talkfreelance Sellers can sell on other sites but are not allowed to mention the alternate sale in Talkfreelance, or link to it. This way you can't artificially pump up the bidding via other sites. At the end of the day if you get a better response from other sites, you sell to them, not to Talkfreelance members. You can't use other sites to fuel a bidding war here. If you do mention you have received better offers elsewhere, your thread will be removed by the staff, you could be warned and possibly go on vacation. Remember you do not have to sell here unless you have a BIN. At all times keep your alternate offers from other sites/people anonymous.

Sorry, but it is common courtesy to let potential bidders know of current bids for the site and where they are coming from. Most forums agree with this as it improves the seller credibility. If I were I bidder I would want to know what the current highest bid is so I do not bid under it. I would also want to know where each bid came from, otherwise I might think the seller is stating fake bids in order to hike the price up.

Your stance appears that you must list your site sale with us and only us, which makes it difficult for the seller to sell their site. By posting on multiple sites, the sale gains exposure and increases the chance of the site being sold.

How do others feel about this? This is an unpractical rule that bans the use of common courtesy towards bidders. With this rule in effect I will no longer be participating in Talk Freelance.

As stated in my PM reply

You seem to have the rule wrong, we dont allow bid reports of any kind, regardless of if you say the site or not. It prevents scammers from artificially pumping their bids (I'm not calling you a scam). So you can list your site in as many sites as you want, you just cant give progress from those sites. Should you receive a higher bid from say sitepoint, you can reject the TF members bid.

I am not misunderstanding the rule. The rule is unpractical for bidders. For example, if I were I bidder and I made a bid, I would want to know for sure whether or not it is the highest bid or not, otherwise my bid may be pointless and a waste of my time. If I knew about outstanding legit bids, I would be able to bid above them and make my bid worthwhile. Otherwise at the end of the sale, I might find out that it was sold for $10 more to someone else, when in fact If I had known about that previous bid and really wanted the site, I could have increased my bid so that my chances of winning would have increased. The rule makes it harder for bidders to win a sale for a site that they honestly want.

Letting bidders know of all legit outstanding bids imo is common courtesy. The rule also makes it harder for sellers to sell a site. All around, it is unfair.

Please do not continue to bash my stance. I want to see if there are others that agree with me.

I am not bashing your stance, I am trying to sort this out with you.

In the interest of transparency, and providing all information for current and potential future bidders on any sale item, surely they would like to be kept informed (publicly) of current bidding positions whether the bids are made here or elsewhere. Looking back to the word 'transparency' because I feel this is an important point to consider.

If someone bids $50 on "item" at Sitepoint and the highest bid here is $45 then surely our members would like to be told about the highest bid to ensure that someone new doesn't come along here and bid $48 needlessly. I would personally love to see all bid updates provided with an appropriate hyperlink to the sale/auction on another website where the bids are being made -- in the interest of transparency -- as proof that a higher bid was indeed made.

It is stated that this new ruling is aimed at artificially pumping up bidding by pretending to have high bids elsewhere. If appropriate proof is provided of legitimate bids elsewhere, I think that can only help bidders over here on TalkFreelance to make their decisions. Sure if all we get is a response of "$50 at Sitepoint" with nothing to back that up, then (as before this ruling was made) the buyer should be cautious of the legitimacy of the claim.

If you're worried about scammers bidding highly on their own products on other websites and linking those scammed bids in the topics here -- couldn't the scammer just do that here and avoid the new rule whilst still artificially pumping up bids? (Not to give anyone any ideas... Don't scam, kids!)

I'm interested in hearing others' points of view on this new rule. For? Against? Non-inclined?

I would personally love to see all bid updates provided with an appropriate hyperlink to the sale/auction on another website where the bids are being made -- in the interest of transparency -- as proof that a higher bid was indeed made.

That is what I suggested, but I dont make the rules, I just enforce them.

Originally Posted by Village Idiot That is what I suggested, but I dont make the rules, I just enforce them.

For once I actually agree with you.

I agree with a lot of what you are all saying, I am going to rewrite this guideline to better suit our members sale requirements.

Thanks all for your comments, the guideline was there for one reason, to "you can't artificially pump up the bidding via other sites". There has been concern of people using fake bidders/friends etc from other sites to boost the bidding here. At least here we can check members details to ascertain whether or not they are scamming. But i'll change this to reflect your needs. If there are problems with scammers from this it's your problems, not Talkfreelances problem.

Update:

I have edited the guidelines to reflect the new requirements:

Selling services or products on other sites

Sellers can sell on other sites but are not allowed to artificially pump up the bidding via other sites. You will need solid proof of other bids at the request of staff, bidders or potential bidders. If you cannot provide solid proof of other bids you could be warned and possibly go on vacation. Please note that you have to observe the guideline above this one as well. You need to post all relevant information about your sale here, and not use other sites to solicit Talkfreelance members.

Buyers, this is a case of buyer beware. If you are in any kind of doubt as to the legitimacy of an outside bid, it is up to you to research the outside bid.





Thoughts, comments?

sounds better, but you should allow double posting in such a case as this when an outside or private bid was received and you were last poster but the post is semi-old, you should be allowed to double post it.

if you get what i am saying.

Sorry I don't understand sm?