Just to Clarify

Responding to customers on your thread is now an infractable offence. Just wanted to make sure.

 

It's not responding to your customers if it contains an answer to a question or is some sort of confirmation post that has been requested by the buyer/seller(I THINK.)

But things such as "Added, thanks, more in supply, still selling" etc, if these are stated within the 8 hour bump period, that's an infractable offense.

 

This again?

If its within 8 hours of your last response, then it counts as excessive bumping, thats what the rule states.

 

Looks like they've expanded it to encompass everything now. If you respond to a customer on your post in any way, after 8 hrs has elapsed, you get infracted. I really think it's gone too far here. If I really need my thread bumped, I can still do it. I could have any customer of mine post on my thread.

If people want to bump a thread, they can and they will. I think we need to change the rule back to disallowing double/delete posts within 8 hours. Posting after a customer should always be okay. This discourages people from excessive bumping but also allows for dialogue on our threads with our customers. kmjt is right, I enjoy thanking my customers publicly and showing the community that I am online and individually responding to my orders.

The rule doesn't state this. It says not to say "thanks, added, etc". But now, mods have decided infracting for everything. I think the rule is anti-communication, and our forums are here solely for the purpose of communication. There has been unwritten rules in the Gold Exchange for ages that essentially were: don't double post, feel free to reply to a customer. So long as everyone is on the same playing field and treated equally, what is wrong with these rules? Are threads truly "excessively bumped"? What caused the Gold Exchange to transform into Nazi Germany?

 

http://screensnapr.com/v/phuHV3.png

First post, legitimate bump.
second post, unecessary, you do not need to reply on the thread 'thanks', as its normally already done via MSN or even PM, you/your employee abuse the fact that people have posted on the thread to get another bump, its not about trade etiquette or some other silly reasoning you're going to pop up with.

 

Not like I didn't warn you...

http://screensnapr.com/v/ggMbb3.jpg

 

I agree, it has become ridiculous. I can't picture any other forum having such specific bumping regulation that simply replying to a customer after a successful trade/posting for confirmation is something that can get you banned after the first warning.

 

We have a PM system for a reason, it isn't like sending a PM for conformation or for concluding a trade is going to ruin your business. When the rules are in place and are there for you to know, failing to follow them falls on your shoulders.

 

Big sellers reporting each other for excessively bumping their threads above their own is the main reason and small sellers complaining about big marketeers threads staying at the top like a sticky. I personally believe the bump rule should be 1 bump every 24 hours and no posts in between each bump apart from answering questions which may potentially be asked multiple times.

Your thread like many large gold sellers gets several posts/ day on it if you are thanking every single customer who bought from you your basically bringing your thread to the top of the section every hour or so, if that seems fair to be thanking people every hour or so I don't even see a reason for the bump rule if it is going to be ignored by giving a simple compliment to bring your thread to the top.

Also when you get a vouch on your thread it acknowledges they had a nice trade with you and were satisfied with the service, there is no need to thank them on your thread when it can be done on their vouch thread which were created for giving feedback/ appreciation of a trade.

 

if you want to talk about fair, then lets see this: http://www.sythe.org/misc.php?do=whoposted&t=699214

unfortunately for you I don't see posting 'thanks!' after 2hrs of a trade when its already been said on MSN/PM is fair AT ALL.

 

It makes sense that the owner of the thread will have the most posts, he has surely been allowed to bump his thread once per day since the creation of the thread in 2009, also replying to customers etc used to be allowed so it pretty easily accounts for that number.

 

I think that alluding to Nazi Germany is a little bit overkill, but I most definitely agree with you, r2. With so much competition, large businesses here rely on trust and friendliness. Even if saying "thanks, glad you enjoyed it" would bring back or bring in (again, friendliness brings in a sense of trust) one customer, that is still profit.

Personally, if I were buying gold I would purchase from the user who I knew was online at that point because it would mean better and faster customer service.

 

As Arcus said, with the creation date of my thread, that puts me at a little over 1 post per day. For an active shop owner, that seems right on par with where it should be.

Fair means equal. If the rules are the same for everyone, then it is fair. You would be allowed to do the exact same thing.

 

Responding implies a question that needs replying to. Are you sure you 'responded'? If you're talking about this infraction: http://www.sythe.org/showthread.php?p=10568979#post10568979

That was not a response. Hence, I'll answer your original question, NO responding to customers is not an infractable offence.

 

He posted an order form and never added me on MSN, yet he posted his own MSN. He either:

a) Didn't understand order process [He didn't realize he had to add me]
b) Changed his mind / went elsewhere
c) Was added by an imposter

For both a) and c), my response assists him and keeps him safe from potential scams.

 

Sure, but that can just as easily be accomplished via a Private Message, could it not? Let's assume that the person has logged off (for some reason), could you not edit your "response" in your last post (it's usually on the same page)?

Also, to further clarify, you're not responding to him at all, you are making a statement directed at him. That statement can be made in several ways, here are the 3 most common ways:

(a) A new post on the thread.
(b) A private message.
(c) Editing it into a previous post.

Is there any particular reason why you abstain from (b) and (c)? They both accomplish the same outcome, preventing imposters, and assisting him in the ordering process. The plus side is, you don't break the rules!

 

B and C are both less convenient than A, and when dealing with multiple customers at one time as big gold sellers do, wouldn't it seem more appealing to you if you were a big gold seller to simply be able to use the quick reply box that is right there?

That's what i'd assume anyways.

 

The inconvenience is negligible.

Quick Reply:

Quote.
Type message.
Enter.

Private Message.

Click on Profile.
Click send private Message.
Type message.
Enter.

Editing.

Press Edit.
Edit message.
Enter.

These are the steps required. As you can see, inconvenience as an argument is a rather poor one.

 

Honestly if we wanted our thread bumped its not hard. I could discreetly ask any of my many customers to do so and they would listen, but I don't.

When will there be a change? Clearly sellers are unhappy, and it is our part of the forums after all.

Unfortunately I hate to say it but some people are clueless about forums. I've gotten many customers that have no clue what a private message is so don't assume everyone knows what it is. Noobs, the majority of my sales, will lurk the selling forum and find my thread. My thread is what they know how to use and communicate, not private messages in most cases.

Karl my previous thread was locked probably three times without the answer I wanted. To be clear I wasn't complaining about my infraction. I asked a question near the end of my thread and before I could attempt a discussion regaring, it the thread was closed.. I tried PMing you the same question with no response from you. How can I be clear of a rule, as impractical it may seem, if you guys won't take the time to thoroughly explain it to us without hastily locking our threads. Clearly the rule regarding bumping needs to be more defined.

Anything of that nature? How about instead you list exactly what "that nature" is and this rule won't be broken as frequently.

Look here on Wulfspade's suggestion of the mod way to get around this rule:
http://www.sythe.org/showpost.php?p=9956163&postcount=611

So basically this is the way around this rule? Whats the point? So I asked if I could create 2 separate vouches/posts on my thread, instead of how Snow Patrol does it in one post. Here is Alteranz's response:

Thanks for closing the thread so fast however there was still so much more to talk about.

What if the users don't have vouch threads? Many customers don't have vouch threads but want a vouch in my thread for the future in case they decide to ever make one.

What if they both asked for a vouch at different times? It seems odd to edit one vouch post to add in a second vouch for a different customer.

I have near 900 vouches. Not a single one is mixed in the same post of another user's vouch and I find it odd that it would be. Personally I wouldn't want my vouch to be mixed in another person's post. To me a vouch is my way of personally thanking someone for their great transaction with me. If I start mixing my customers' vouches they may feel like they are part of an automated process and aren't as important as they should be. You may think this is little but even if dealing with 1000 customers I can guarantee 1 would feel this way, and if he is disheartened by this probably insignificant gesture, that is still 1 customer too many I lost. People pay more to feel appreciated.

This can be really tricky for mods to deal with or very simple. I suggest no double posting within 24 hours + no delete bumping. If new sellers don't like it well too bad any market is dog eat dog. If everyone follows the same rules it is a fair system. And once again stop assuming that everyone knows what a private message is. Forums are meant for posting, after all.

Malakadang you can't seriously suggest that editing a previous post is a convenient way to communicate with customers, let alone in most cases for me anyway new users that barely know how to use the forum. Even I rarely look at posts I have already read to determine if something has changed. I don't expect a new user to. Our threads are very active and by the time they had posted my latest post would probably be far back.

And looking up I don't believe it fair that you infracted him for this:

I get so dam annoyed when I see people posting order forms and not contacting me because I know a lot of the time they had no intentions of buying but only wanted a free post count. But on the off chance the person is just clueless and occupied in real life, maybe that person honestly did forget and was just reminded. Maybe it was just a sale saved, and sales are why we are here. Were sellers. Were here to push people into buying, and thats what he's doing. Let another guy make your girl smile and you may lose her. Let another GP seller talk to your potential customer and you may lose the sale. Someone looks to buy a car. I've made the exact same post in the past many times frustrated when people don't contact me as an attempt to get them to. Give him a dam break. Your rule is so iffy there is nothing there that says you can't push a customer to contact you when they haven't.

Might as well point something else out here. I find it absolutely disgusting that a legitimate seller would even have to ask this question because he is scared to get an infraction:

And the sad thing is Quatakai is telling him to deny the in thread confirmation because no one knows exactly what this rule is saying.

Since when should we jeopardize customer safety, ever, because of an iffy rule? If I deny someone's in thread request in most cases I just lost that sale because I come off as sketchy, which is not acceptable to me.

And to be honest i'd like to see some market mod input in here since they have past experience and can probably actually relate, those who have owned shops anyway. Most in here had never had a significant shop. No offence of course.

 

I've done around 700 spam reports this month and most of the excessive bumping ones are people who do actually just post "bump" every hour or so. Very rarely I got a spam report about "that nature" or in other words somebody trying to sneakily bump their thread through their wording.

Each case is subjective and to me it's:

• thanks
• Bump
• Confirming
• talking to on msn
• posting two separate vouch post (i'll explain it later on)
• advertising new sales
• saying you've gotten a new vouch
• didn't get your msn request
• adding now

Now to me you honestly don't need to update the client with those posts. Hence just bumping your thread.



We can't add all of those to the rules because it'll just become too long winded and people won't bother reading it. Not to mention some smart ass might find one and say "it's not on the rules so i can bump my thread every hour", but since we use the wording "that nature" it groups them and most people understand what a bumping post is.

Once again it's subjective and I wouldn't infract Snow for posting a vouch in his thread. And to answer your question you can always edit it a vouch so you don't need to post twice. There's no need to post twice to vouch especially when they're hours apart...

By all means vouch for them, but doing it hours after they vouch for you is just another way to sneakily bump your thread.

edit it in.

Should take a look at my old pin shop:

http://www.sythe.org/showpost.php?p=6876247&postcount=291
http://www.sythe.org/showpost.php?p=6819903&postcount=254
http://www.sythe.org/showpost.php?p=6801529&postcount=208
http://www.sythe.org/showpost.php?p=6807635&postcount=219
http://www.sythe.org/showpost.php?p=6808800&postcount=232
http://www.sythe.org/showpost.php?p=6797025&postcount=184

Now I could of vouched each one of them individually and have my thread almost like a sticky. See how much abuse can be done if you don't just edit it in one post. Also, does somebody really care that they didn't a whole post to themselves for a vouch? Like, honestly, if that's your biggest problem - look yourself in the mirror and ask a few hard questions.

We take all suggestions on board, but the problem with no double posting (I was a fan of the no double posting rule till yesterday) is I can simply wait a few hours to thank a client to get my thread to the top - rather thanking them a few minutes after they post.