Posting Guidelines & Fraud warning

Private Small Ads only. Dealers, traders or commercials will be deleted.
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Graham
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Posting Guidelines & Fraud warning

Post by Graham »

CTC Online Forum - Small Ads

This is an online "small ads" facility, intended for private individuals (only), to buy, sell, swap or give cycles or cycling-related items.

What can be advertised ?
"Cycles or cycling-related items" - Mostly obvious. If you are uncertain about whether your item is appropriate or not appropriate then please ask a moderator, by private message (PM) or email.
Do NOT post private accommodation/holidays whether cycling-related or not.

Who can use it ?
This facility is open to the public as well as CTC members. We cannot tell who is and who isn't.
( It may be useful to ask the person you are intending to transact with if they are a CTC member and judge whether the answers are acceptable & credible. )

Is this a safe place to buy and sell ?
The vast majority of people using this facility are decent and honest BUT . . . . .

There are a few cases of these small ads being used by liars, crooks, tricksters.
Mobile devices are making it increasingly difficult to determine their ISP(s) or geographical location.

This is a small ads facility NOT an internet sales system/process.
We do not and cannot provide any guarantee of intervention.

Please exercise due caution - Caveat Emptor.
Do consider using an Escrow service if the value of the transaction is non-trivial.

CTC staff, the moderators & administrators of these boards cannot get involved in the resolution of misunderstandings or problems.

Spammers,
Fraudsters,
Dealers ( in cycles, cycling-related-items or whatever ),
Commercial users . . . . .
. . . will have their posts removed and will be banned without warning.



Posting an item - the Subject / Title

Please give with a concise description of the item.
e.g. Brooks leather saddle B17

If the post contains a redirect to an ebay sale then the subject line MUST start "EBAY:",
e.g. "EBAY: Brooks leather saddle B17"

When the sale is complete please edit the Subject of your original post to tell us !!
e.g. "SOLD - Brooks leather saddle B17"

You can always redit if you need to revive the sale.

If you make an effort with the SUBJECT - as above - others will silently thank you for saving their time/effort.

Posting an item - Content / Details. Add a photo whenever possible/appropriate.

Please describe your item(s) as fully as possible.
A photo is hugely beneficial in terms of attracting interest and setting appropriate expectations.
If you don't know how to load a photo to the forum, please make an effort to learn-how-to. ( The most significant thing to know is that you can only load to the forum if the filesize is less than 256k. )
There is a user-written tutorial here.

Please do NOT post your item more than once
Multiple postings confuse & annoy.
Always use your original topic.
- You can bump it back to the top ( at couple of times if necessary ) . . best to have a new price or additional info
- You can edit your original post : subject line and contents, if necessary.

The only practical reason to repost as a new topic is if the original one was auto-deleted after 30 days of inactivity.


Auto-deletion
Once a topic has become inactive for 30 days it will be automatically deleted.


Caveat Emptor
Remember this board is open to the public as well as CTC members.
This is an online "small ads" facility only. CTC staff, the moderators & administrators of these boards cannot get involved in the resolution of misunderstandings or problems.
Please exercise due caution.


Fraud and Confidence tricks
Most of the time your will be dealing with reasonable, honest people (whether CTC members or non-members who choose to advertise here ). However, always be careful.

Anonymous, Odd and foreign email addresses
If an email address or other contact detail is unusual, be on your guard.

Wire transfer, Western Union
If ANYONE mentions payment by "wire transfer", "Western Union" or other exotic means of payment . . . . do NOT DO IT unless you are totally in control of the transaction and know exactly ALL the types of frauds associated with these methods!

Paypal "Gift" ( friend or family ) option
Please be aware that using this "fee-free" option has NO Paypal purchaser protection procedures. i.e. There is no Paypal protection. Not any! None !!
In addition, the receiver will be not be able to refund either the full amount or a partial amount to the giver using Paypal, even if they wanted to. It is blocked by Paypal.

Your own bank details
Never give your own bank details to anyone.

Dodgy provenance
If the topic/response contains stilted english or unusual phraseology, this should be a warning to you.

Personal Details
If someone asks for an unusual amount of personal details from you, be very careful what you reveal.

Item lost in the post
The "Lost in the post" situation is one that most people don't seem to consider and it can lead to distrust and disappointment.

* If an item is lost in the post, who bears the loss/responsibility ??
* Is the posted item adequately insured ( or insured at all ) ? Who pays for the insurance - buyer or seller ?
* Should the seller send it "registered" to check that the item is received ?



140708 - GK - Please do NOT post your item more than once : Caveat Emptor updated.
271108 - GK - Fraud warnings added to this post.
150309 - GK - Minor amendments to reflect division into separate boards : For Sale : Wanted . . . .
030111 - GK - Reorganisation of information.
170711 - GK - Added the "Lost in the post section".
211015 - GK - Strengthening the fraud warning in the Introduction.
Last edited by Graham on 21 Oct 2015, 8:47am, edited 5 times in total.
Reason: WHole post copied from the For Sale - Parts section
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