GlitterKill

Welcome to the Apex Community Trading Post! Please take a few minutes to read the rules, info and tips contained in this announcement. These guidelines are in place to ensure that Forum Apex is a safe & enjoyable site to trade on.

The Rules

 

These are rules, not guidelines, so they must be adhered to and they are non-negotiable. Posts that fail to comply with the rules will be locked/deleted at the discretion of the forum moderator or your new thread may never even show up in the forum listing since the majority of new threads are queued for approval before they go live.

1. All traders must have a valid ISP e-mail address assigned to their ForumApex account. Free e-mail accounts (i.e., Yahoo, GMail, Hotmailetc.) are not acceptable. This protects the seller, the buyer, and the website. ISP e-mail addresses are billed to a real person at a real address.

Posting your valid ISP address with a trade listing is not required; however, if a person you are conducting a transaction with refuses to give you a valid ISP e-mail address, contact an admin or other staff member immediately. If you do list your e-mail address with your trade post (which we encourage), please use the Mail Hide feature from the reCATPCHA project. You will be able to protect your e-mail address while helping to digitize books. This is the main human verification method that we use across all Apex sites and it has proven to be very effective.

2. You must post a selling price in US dollars. The phrase "...or best offer" is a No-No since we do not allow bidding wars here. If you link to an online auction you MUST be willing to terminate the online auction at the time of the sale/acceptance in the Apex Comunity Trading Post thread, at the originally posted price, and at your own cost(s).

3. You must have the item in hand and ready for sale.

4. You must describe what is included in the sale, and the condition of the items.

5. There will be no thread crapping. Everyone is capable of making their own trade decisions. If you are interested in an item, but think a price is too high, send a PM. If you think a price is too high, and are not interested, keep your mouth shut. We can all go to Newegg and look up fair market value.

6. There will be no illegal / unethical trading. Software must be the complete bundle with legal and appropriate product keys. Do not offer the 8800GTX you killed while overclocking it for sale to anyone with a receipt that would like to try an RMA. Another example is selling an online game account. Threads like these will be immediately locked or removed and, depending on the severity of the attempted activity, your Forum Apex account may be set to probationary status or even banned completely.

7. If you think you have been ripped off, report it to a moderator. If you suspect someone is a bad trader (based on other forums etc.), report it to a moderator. Do not publicly condemn the person in an open forum.

8. We reserve the right to restrict the trading priviledges, or ban, any member with a proven poor trading record.

9. We have absolutely no responsibility to the buyer or seller. Buying or Selling is completely and totally at the risk of the individual.

10. These rules can be updated at any time and without any notification. It is the responsibility of the member to check for any updates.

11. By posting in the Apex Community Trading Post you have officially agreed to abide by these, and all, rules of ForumApex.com.

12. Flaming is offlimits in the Trading Post. The members who break this rule will most likely find themselves with a MASSIVE hit in negative Reputation and maybe more. Those that don't take this as a big enough hint and continue the flaming can find themselves on probationary status or worse.

13. Please enter feedback on a trade in the Apex Community Trader Reputation system or via HeatWareupon completion of a trade/sale.

Remember, just because someone might be a n00b, doesn't mean they are dishonest and just because you have seen them online a few times, doesn't mean they are honest. Buyer beware!

 

Trader Reputations

 

All people interested in trading should get a heatware account (www.heatware.com). Heatware is a free service that allows traders to leave comments for each other about their trading practices. The feedback can then be used for references when entering other trades. Heatware is very useful, but it can be faked. Always check that the heatware account is tagged to the same e-mail as the forum trader you are dealing with. Also, send the heatware address an e-mail ensuring that they are selling the item in question. Please leave each other heat feedback (good or bad), or enter trade feedback via the Apex Community Trader Reputation system upon the completion of a trade, so that others can be reassured (or warned) by your experience. Two other trading reputation services that carry weight here are EBay and the Apex Community Trader Reputation system.

Nobody wants to get ripped off (trolled). The question inevitably comes up, who is going to pay/ship first. Well, generally people who are new to the forums (and lack trader reputation) should be prepared to ship first. If they are not prepared to do so, don't trade with them. No need to flame them or berate them, just don't trade. They will soon learn that trust is gained in baby steps. Always get the name, address, and phone number of the other party for any trade of significant value. Don't be afraid to call the number and ensure it is legit.

Speaking of trolls, everyone should visit www.trollhunters.com to view their extensive list of known bad traders. It is kept reasonably up to date so always check that your prospective seller is absent from their less than distinquished list. You can also check the Official Bad Traders List here at ForumApex as well. If a deal "doesn't feel right", then you probably shouldn't go through with it.

Conduct your trades in a professional manner by using exceptional communication, fast payment / shipping, and using good packing and your reputation will quickly build. Pretty simple, right?

 

Trading - Best Practices

 

 

Listing the item:

1. Follow all rules posted above.
2. Include information about shipping.
3. Describe the item as best you can and provide pictures if possible.
4. State other information regarding your policies.
5. Show some feedback, eBay, HeatWare, Apex Trader Rating, etc
6. Use an organized listing, so potential traders can see stuff easily.
7. Posting a dozen threads regarding the same stuff gets old, and no one takes your threads seriously. Edit your threads with new stuff.

Packing the item:

Processors: Use the blister packs that CPU's are shipped in. Put that into a small box, like a jewelry box and place that in a larger box with bubble wrap, etc. Make sure to seal the small jewelry box very well, as bent CPU pins are not good. Always get insurance if it's a CPU worth $50 or more.

Motherboards:
Keep the original box and anti-static bag. Double box the motherboard box with bubble wrap or packing peanuts to spare. Use peanuts inside the motherboard box to keep accessories from moving around.

Video cards:
Keep the original box and anti-static bag. Double box the video card box with bubble wrap or packing peanuts to spare. Use peanuts inside the video card box to keep accessories from moving around.

Harddrives:
Place inside an antistatic bag, then cover with bubble wrap. Place that into a small box, and then place into a slightly larger box. Or, if you have the packaging from an RMA'd drive, use that.

RAM:
Use the original packaging if you can, the blister packs or the cases (Geil). If not available, put into anti-static bag, and tape up. Cover with stiff cardboard that is larger than the ram and then bubble wrap. Place into padded envelope.

Cases:
Use the original box with the styrofoam supports. If not available, use a hefty ammount of packing peanuts.

Shipping the item:

1. Keep the receipt to show the buyer if he asks for it!
2. Ask the buyer or notify him of your shipping method.
3. Notify the buyer of when you will ship and when you do ship.
4. Purchase insurance on high cost items and ask the buyer if they would like to purchase insurance on anything and everything.

 

Shipping internationally:

1. Find out brokerage, border crossing, etc fees before shipping. Do not stick your buyer with a $80 fee for a $50 item.
2. Always use tracking. Stuff tends to ship slowly. Rather than someone thinking you stiffed them, the item could be tied up at customs.
3. Pack well. If opened by customs, they will not repack as securly as you did. Insurance is a good idea. Do not pack suspiciously, like an exactly 1KG package.

 

Communication:

1. If something happens, let the other party know!
2. Not everyone lives at the computer, so if they don't respond your 14 emails in one day after the transaction (my experience on eBay once), don't threaten to involve the police or something.
3. Be honest, if you forgot to mail it, you forgot. If you forgot to insure it, you forgot.
4. If something comes up, you leave on an emergency trip, post in your sale thread, and PM all involved parties.

 

Refunds:

1. Don't PM a seller three months later and ask for a refund of something you broke when overclocking. After you've fired it up and seen it work, you're on your own. The seller doesn't know how hard you beat on something, how much you overclocked it, etc.
2. Don't ship something back without working something out.
3. When in a dispute with someone, get a third party mediator, a forum mod or staff or anyone you can both agree to follow.
4. If you decide you don't want the item anymore, its upto the seller to let you return or not.
5. If the item is broken, or damaged, take pictures and show the seller. He probably didn't know it was broken, or it broke during shipping.

 

Feedback:

Leave feedback for all transactions so others know what to expect.

 

Paperwork:

1. If PayPal was used, keep everything a minimum of 45 days. Chargebacks and disputes can be filed for upto 45 days.
2. Keep shipping receipts until the person gets the item. I keep mine for two months.

 

Payments:

1. Who pays or ships first if upto the two of you to decide. Usually, the seller with the highest feedback gets his stuff/payment first.
2. Follow payment instructions. Do not send a credit card PayPal payment if the seller says he doesn't want credit card payments.
3. Keep your copy of money orders.
4. Use PayPal when possible in order to file disputes and get refunds.

 

Happy trading!

Thank go to Putwig, DuckWarrior, Rob & Spectrum for all their hard work on these rules and tips!

GlitterKill

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