Should they be allowed??

winds me up when you get certain folk buying stuff on one forum ad then trying to sell it at a profit on another forum.

Traders as such, should they be allowed on here or not??

yes, but they should have a tag on the log in telling us such.
like on other forums that allow traders to sell.
that way people can steer clear if they want to.

The ‘spirit’ of our forum is one where users can turn their old, surplus or unwanted kit into extra cash to enable them to buy new bits to help them get out and continue riding. The Classified Forum is not a place where users can trade parts bought elsewhere and then sold at a profit. If we suspect that a user is exploiting our forum to earn additional income or solely for the purposes of making a profit then we are very likely to consider that as ‘Trade’ activity and we’ll ask you to stop. We will look at each instance reported to us or spotted by us on a case by case basis and then we will act at our discretion.

According to the rules, no:

The Classified Forum is not a place where users can trade parts bought elsewhere and then sold at a profit

According to the last mega thread on this, most DGAF.

the thing is how do you tell if someone is trading or not??

see here …………………

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/full-sus-xcam-frame-2008-onwards-stumpy-epic-fuel-remedy-zesty-or-similar

This one is really taking the Michael then ……..

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/where-to-find-a-kitchen-fitterbuilder-london

his one and only post was to promote his business !!

Is that against the rules though?

Dont know but I bet he doesn’t own a mountain bike !!!

the lad in my link has said the he isnt a trader but likes buying and selling but not to make a profit, yet he is bragging about being able to buy a 3k bike after buying and selling over the past year???

Yeah, this winds me up a bit. I’m not a hardcore poster on here, but my primary purpose is chit-chat and advice. I have sold a couple of things to folk on here, but like to think I’m helping out the “community” rather than making a profit.

Seems a little like high-frequency trading and flow trading on financial markets. Are these guys providing liquidity? Or just sucking out bargains that the rest of us might have got?

Seems a little like high-frequency trading and flow trading on financial markets. Are these guys providing liquidity? Or just sucking out bargains that the rest of us might have got?

Not just bargains, but from selling on here for the first time in the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed that posts dissappear of the page incredibly quickly to those who do nothing but buy and sell on here. As a reasonably regular contributor in the main forum it is a little frustrating when these folk don’t contribute otherwise.

Perhaps we need another buy/sell forum for people that actually use the chat forums?

Can’t you just work it all out for yourself?

I think my brain has finally failed after being invaded by my 2yr old. I thought you said toddlers as opposed traders. Very confusing.

It happens. I took offence at someone buying a frame I wanted just to sell it on for a profit, told them as much, received some abusive emails, reported it, nowt happened. People have bought things from the guy and been happy, but it is clear that he is trading to make money and it riles me.

Maybe I’m just getting old.

No. Traders belong in a shop or on line. Classified should be more like a boot fair in my opinion.

I’ve got some really special magic beans, your’s for a fiver, 😉

Another trader, as seen on other forums.

do you mean traders like this one!

It’s not as simple as it first seems though, is it?
EG – I buy a set of forks, say, for a bike which I either never end up using for whatever reason or sell on hardly used.
I sell them on ebay for double.
I’ve done nowt wrong. The origional seller got his price, the new buyer wasn’t ripped off.
(I currently have some forks I bought off here sitting in the garage waiting. I do intend to use them, but if I need money for new plans, I’ll sell them on. And I’ll try and make a profit)

Taking it a step further I could buy a bike for the asking price, and either split it or add value to it by working on it, and sell it either whole or in parts for more money. I’d have done work to add value. I’d have not ripped anyone off. (I haven’t actually done this but I know those that have)

I could also buy a bike for one part (Wheels, say) and split the rest to cover the cost of the bike, giving me free wheels (I have done this on an ebay bike)

Now I don’t buy and sell much on here (Check if you like) but, again, I know those that do, and buy from many sources. These people have NEVER been compained about, they never rip anyone off, and I know at least one that trades as a hobby, but ploughs all the profit back into cycling, and his own bikes (and I’m talking £1000s here)

There’s nothing morally wrong with any of it, but it’s a grey area according to ‘the rules’
I know I’d rather take my chances with an honest ‘trader’ who has previous form than certain other characters……

Just saying, like! 😀

The cynic in me thinks the Mods don’t mind the extra page views (read: ad impressions) that the ‘regular’ traders provide, while browsing for things to buy and sell.

Would be interesting to see the comparison in page impressions between a ‘trader’ and those complaining about them…

Narks me a bit too.

I sold a Cannondale F800 frame to R7CTR for £90 who then re-advertised it a week or 2 later with a £100 mark up (Looks like he sold it 2 weeks ago for £135). I did notify the mods who did nothing as far as I can see, makes a mockery of genuine sellers and of people who genuinly NEED a bargain.

Xiphon, here you go.

R7CTR

Konastoner

if it is allowed then there should be some obvious way of telling that they are a trader.

As it is not allowed it should be better enforced
EDIT: Having read that enforced never mind better

@konastoner – that doesn’t tell me page impressions, only posts they’ve contributed to.

To find one ‘bargain’ they want to buy, they could ‘view’ 150+ pages.

You might only ‘view’ a handful of threads which interest you.

Therefore STW makes more money through advertising via R7CTR than yourself.

Hence a possible reason for turning a blind eye?

Xiphon I agree totally, it’s not right though that a classified’s trawler should effectively “Steal” from the wider sometimes needy community.

@peterpoddy,

That is exactly what I have done in the quest of building myself a really high spec bike, which I would not be able to afford otherwise.
If you see my posts that you will not I mainly buy parts and frame, build a bike up run it for a month or so and then either upgrade it or sell as whole and build myself a newer model, if I make a few quid than it is pumped back in to bikes.
Does this make me a trader?

Does this make me a trader?

To me it makes you canny. 🙂

Nobody buys anything for more than theyre prepared to pay for it and nobody let’s anything go for much mess than they’re willing to accept. I dont see it makes much difference what happens in between. If you’ve missed a “bargain” on here ( as we all have!!) then that’s bad luck for you unfortunately.

covbuggy, some of the stuff you have bought has been back onto the various fourms in well less than a month with a mark up.

I remember a yeti frame you got quite cheap on bikeradar and then sold it on pinkbike for quite a bit more as a full bike.

http://covbuggy.pinkbike.com/buysell/

from one of your ads……….. “Hi, I am looking for a good condition full suss frames, any size, carbon or alu. Will be very interested in a s work stumpy or epic, trek fuel/remedy or similar.
Please let me know what you have and price.”

edit…… if you already ahve a 2012 trek remedy as you pointed out in anouther thread then why do you still need to buy frames etc??

TRADER.

If there’s going to be traders, they should have their own (well regulated) section.

They don’t belong in classifieds, imo.

I remember a yeti frame you got quite cheap on bikeradar and then sold it on pinkbike for quite a bit more as a full bike.

Stalker?

Not really Rob.

Trader making big money on the side? you can always report them to the taxman 😈

Surely it’d be relatively straightforeward for ST to have a filter through the database once a month and see who’s posted more threads in the For sale than they have posts in the main forum (or some similar search).

Obviously this would need some kind of Ton/Hora clause that allowed for serial bike swappers.

plenty of them
shouldnt be tolerated

and all the excuses from morally corrupt greed driven users fall on deaf ears.

A page and a bit and I’m still not sure why it worries people… If a trader makes a profit selling something on, what of it? The initial seller got what they asked for the product, and the second buyer paid a price they thought fair.

Disclosure, I don’t buy stuff very often, and sell even less!