The Trading Forum Rules and Guidelines

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setaside
Posts: 2343
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:17 pm
Location: Kansas City, MO

The Trading Forum Rules and Guidelines

Post by setaside »

Trading in the Octopus Overlords forums is a simple process, as long as you abide by the following complicated list of rules. Actually, they're a combination of rules and guidelines that will make trading easier and help to prevent problems:

Folks having difficulty sending or responding to Personal Messages, would do well to check out this thread.

1) No warez or pirated material. Octopus Overlords would like to keep its reputation as a sea of good on the gaming Internet, and this means that we do not want people trading or asking for pirated materials. This includes backup copies, burned CDs, and stolen cars.

2) All types of (legal) materials may be traded. This includes original PC and console games and hardware, DVDs, music CDs, books, and Elvis paraphernalia.

3) Cash trades are allowed but auctions (and links to auctions) are not. Feel free to list prices for your items but please keep any haggling to private messages (PM) or email. This forum is for trading with your fellow minions, not for advertising your auctions . Links to the auctions of other people may be allowable as a response to someone who is looking for a game, but please be sparing.

4) Be open and up front about the condition of your trade. Let people know whether the game includes the box and/or the manual, or if the cover of the book you're trading is damaged. No one wants a nasty surprise with a scratched game or skipping DVD.

5) If you have a list of items you're interested in trading/acquiring, please look for an "Everyone's List of . . . " thread and post there. Not only will this help to keep the forum easier to navigate by avoiding having a lot different list threads floating around, but it helps to ensure that your list will always remain near the top of the forum, as those threads are frequently bumped. (Of course, if you're no longer interested in trading, please be considerate and remove your list. It will save a lot of e-mails and some frustration.)

6) Individual threads asking for or offering items are fine. You may choose to remove your post after your trade is complete, but this is not a requirement.

7) Use the Trader Feedback thread! This is a great way to make sure that good traders are rewarded for their good deeds, and it is also important to warn others in those few instances where there is a bad trade.

8- If you're a new trader, please do not be offended if someone asks you to ship first. As you become more recognized and gain positive ratings in the Trader Feedback thread, people will likely stop asking you to ship first. Remember, the people asking you to ship first likely had to ship first when they were new traders, too.

9) Communication is the key to good trading. Please be sure to respond to reasonable e-mails and/or PMs from your trading partner, and feel free to ask your partner about the status of your trade. Each person keeping the other informed will help to prevent concerns about a trade gone awry, when you've really just been snowed in.

10) Try not to clog up the forums with too many separate posts. It's fine to have more than one post, and it's fine to post different deals in different threads. Please be considerate of others, though, and be reasonable about how many threads you start. It's a little out of hand when you have four or five threads in a row on the forum. Where possible, and where it makes sense, combine your proposed deals in one thread.

11) Bumping is fun and all, but please show some restraint. There's nothing wrong with bumping a thread to give it some additional exposure, but don't get bump crazy. As a general rule of thumb, bumping a thread within twenty-four hours of posting is probably excessive. Also, please think twice about bumping more than two or three times. Is it really necessary? Finally, please do not "ghost bump" (posting to a thread and then deleting the post, just to get it back to the top). With very few exceptions (the ELOG and Feedback threads come to mind), it's unnecessary.

12) The Octopus Overlords accept no responsibility or liability for any trades entered into by members of the forum. Trade at your own risk.

If you have any questions about the Trading Forum, please feel free to address them in an e-mail to the forum moderators and/or the administrators.
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