The Buy Section Rules Have Changed

Buy & Trade
1

Hi All,

In response to various issues with buy threads and our commitment to making E4 the best collector environment, we have adjusted the buy section rules.

The rules now read as follows:

Buy Section
5.1. Members must have 50 posts in order to create a buy thread. You may view or respond to buy threads no matter your post count.

5.2. ALL BUY THREADS REQUIRE A PRICE. Any thread without prices or undefined cash offers will be removed. This rule was voted in by the members.

5.3. Bumping your buy thread is only allowed after seven days have passed with no activity on your post.

5.4. Only if a member is interested in purchasing a card in their buy thread may you respond its for sale. You are not permitted to hijack threads and state you have cards for sale that are not requested by the buyer.

5.5. The buy section is the only area in which members are able to buy.

5.6. Do not create multiple Buy Threads unless your previous Buy Thread was completed or it expired beyond the week bump time frame.

  • Once you’ve acquired your item(s) feel free to post in your completed buy thread and it can be locked by the mods.

The largest change is that members now must have 50 posts in order to post in the buy section. This is to encourage organic participation on the forum and to support our mission of being a place for collecting discussion. We have worked to discourage utilizing E4 as a marketplace in the past by removing sales and trade threads. We believe that using the forum as a place to buy cards is important, but this should be limited to members who have shown an interest in participating in the forum to begin with.

No matter your post count, you may view the buy section and respond to posts in order to gain a better understanding of market values and to find offers for cards you may be selling.

The rules regarding bumping posts and multiple buy threads remain in effect. You can only bump your buy thread if seven days have passed without activity on your post. Acquiring some (not all) of your wanted cards or adjusting your prices does not mean you may bump your thread. If you acquire all of the cards/items in your thread, post and the mods will lock it, and you may post another.

If you have any questions, please message me.

54 Likes
2

Whoops
 Looks like I’ve violated rule 5.6 a couple of times already. :zipper_mouth_face: I have a WTB list for my Pikachu cards, and one for all other wanted cards. I usually bump them once a month instead of the mentioned 7 days, but I do bump them at the same time, haha. I will alternate bump them from now on, so there are two weeks in between them; that should be fine, right? If not, I’ll merge them together again. Although I’d prefer to keep them separated if possible.

Great rule change, btw! It’s great we can have buy threads on the forum, but the main purpose of the forum is to enjoy and share PokĂ©mon-related collections and information with one another in the community of course. Let’s hope we won’t see “nice”-spams like we did with Secret Santa two years ago to get the 50+ post threshold. :wink:

Greetz,
Quuador

4 Likes
3

Nice

10 Likes
4

If I have a buy thread from a week ago and less than 50 posts and bump it am I safe from the ban hammer?

2 Likes
5

Your profile picture makes this question sound so sad. :sob: :slightly_smiling_face:

Anyway, I’m not a mod, but if I read rule 5.1 carefully it states you must have 50 posts to create a buy thread. You already have one though, so if you bump it (without breaking any of the other rules) you should theoretically be safe. Just my 2c though, don’t quote me on it.
@fourthstartcg What happens to new members like @prettymellow that have already created WTB threads before this new rule came into effect?

Greetz,
Quuador

2 Likes
6

Yes, you are fine! The rule is not retroactive, you may bump a previously created thread before the implementation of the rule if you have less than 50 posts.

7 Likes
7

I like this change. We had some new members that came in, made great buy threads for high value cards and it worked out. On the other hand I cant imagine the running around (that’s what it looks like in my head) that the mods have to do with a lot of the new threads that could have been solved with searching and reading before asking.

8

Gotta get out of the sandbox to sell to big daddy now!

6 Likes
9

Heh, just did my first buy-thread few days ago which was my first post so i guess my timing was excellent :blush: anyway i try to post other stuff too and be an active member of the forum, my inner critic is usually just a bit cruel when i’m judging if the post i’m writing is relevant or just non-interesting garbage :grin:

10

Regarding: 5.4. Only if a member is interested in purchasing a card in their buy thread may you respond its for sale. You are not permitted to hijack threads and state you have cards for sale that are not requested by the buyer.

I think you mean “only if a member is interested in selling a card in their buy thread may you respond its for sale”. Right?

Also in relation to the “you are not permitted to hijack threads”, can there be something regarding the 3 pages of people saying someone’s buy price is too low? It’s one thing if someone posts a source to be helpful with a buy thread price update, but it’s usually a full on hijack and super shitty/annoying when 20 people just say “doubt you’ll be able to find at that price, blah blah” when they don’t have the damn card to sell anyhow.

Usually, people aren’t looking for validation on if people think their prices align with random members opinions. They have a rough pricepoint in mind that they are willing to negotiate, are fulfilling the rules of the buy section, and only care about people who have the cards available saying what they’re willing to let one go for.

4 Likes
11

No, that is incorrect. 5.4. is designed to avoid situations such as someone posting a WTB thread for a PSA 10 1st Base Chansey and someone responding that they have a PSA 9 1st Base Venusaur for sale. The only time you may publicly say you have a card for sale on the forum is if someone requests that card. I don’t know why anyone would be selling cards in their own buy threads.

If you are suggesting that we should limit buy thread responses to people who own the cards that are being requested and are willing to sell, that is unenforceable. The vast majority of people who post in buy threads are simply looking to help people obtain the cards they want. Adding recent price information is not derailing a buy thread. In fact, it is a free bump post. Occasionally buy threads do get derailed and we take action when that happens. If you feel that a thread is being unnecessarily derailed, you’re more than welcome to utilize the ‘report post’ function and a moderator will be alerted.

If you have further questions on this, we can discuss in PMs.

12

Got it.

That just sounded confusing to me. I didn’t know why someone else would be saying they wanted to buy something in someone’s buy thread. I understand what you’re saying there now

I think it’s more than “occasionally” and I’ll definitely start reporting. Thanks!

2 Likes
13

This might be getting off topic, but I’ve always thought auto locking each buy thread as soon as it’s created would be the best solution without any work from the mods. That would solve what @chrisbalestra is talking about.

4 Likes
14

This would be difficult as nobody could respond with price information or negotiate publicly. It would also prevent OPs from bumping threads when a week has passed, or posting that they found their card. A moderator would have to be messaged to unlock and then re-lock each time an OP wanted to make a post in their thread, which would actually create much more work for us.

3 Likes
15

Those are very reasonable rules.
Just to make sure I understood it correctly:

Does this mean that if my first buy thread didn’t have activity for 7 days, I can either bump it or create a new one?

16

@fourthstartcg , those are good points against this idea. If a thread could be created and only edited by the creator, that would be ideal. That way the member could edit wants, bump the thread and share if the card was found. However, if that can’t be automated, then it won’t be worth it.

The commenting with price info leads to derailment and shouldn’t be part of WTB threads. If you don’t get any PMs, then raise your price and try again. It will encourage people to research market value for cards before making a thread.

7 Likes
17

@charizandrew

This is a fantastic idea, especially considering most deals are negotiated through PMs anyway. If the mods can find a way to do this, it would be great.

3 Likes
18

That is correct. However, as @quuador noted, if you have multiple buy threads you need to be on top of them and when you bump one, you cannot bump the other(s) until seven days have passed.

We’re always listening to suggestions on how to improve the forum, but we’re hesitant to implement big changes. The buy section is probably the area that requires the most moderator attention, and hopefully this rule change will make things better. If we continue to have issues, we’ll revisit the issue and may change more rules. Feedback from members is important for us staff knowing what people enjoy and what they don’t on the forum.

3 Likes
19

Solid new rules!

20

I did have a successful “Buy” thread with fewer posts but I think these are still fair rules. I’ll just have to meme my way to 50 posts.

17 Likes