This the FOR SALE AD guide..... no rules are hard and fast and all rules are subject to change at the whim or will of the moderators and admins...... these are GUIDELINES.

1. ANY For Sale ad may be removed once the item has been sold or is no longer available for sale. It is preferred that the original author do this but any admin or moderator also has that power.

2. An asking price must be posted in each ad.

3. In the case of used Thinkpads the model and type number should be included in the ad.

4. No brand new Thinkpads may be offered for sale without the consent of the Senior Admin.

5. The For Sale ads are not limited to Thinkpads, so go ahead and offer your powerbook or h/p omnibook or the like.

6. In the case of any who are in need of an escrow holder, I will do that for a fee of $50 + any postage or other costs.

7. No photos for anything unless you put a warning in the subject line. And then, A FEW SMALL photos. This will be allowed until someone abuses this rule.

8. Excessive bumping will cause that for sale post to be deleted. If you MUST bump your FS post, a 3 day limit seems to be fair. Bump it more often and it will be bye-bye.

9. In general, price negotiation should be done through direct communication (PM or email etc) between buyer and seller, not in posted messages.

10. Malicious attacking message over offer descriptions or pricing, and pointless price low-balling, serves no useful purpose. It will be regarded as trolling behaviour and handled by the Moderators as such (see the Rules of this Road message).

11. Warning, buyer beware on laptop sales; Unless the installed OS (or add on software) was the originally supplied version from the factory, then the laptop should be assumed to have no valid OS or add on software.

12. ALL sales offered in the marketplace SHOULD offer accepting PayPal as a method of payment. ALL potential buyers are warned that ANYONE restricting payment to Western Union moneygram (or the like) should be viewed with GREAT CAUTION as that person selling is most likely, attempting to, or engaging in fraud and that the buyer in such a transaction is MOST likely going to lose his money. (Rule added 28-aug-2010)

13. No seller may have more than five (5) active FS/FT/WTB threads at a time.

More guidelines may appear as they are suggested to me..

All very fair rules and simple to follow.

In practice, with regard to rule #1, many people change their listing title from a "For Sale" or "Looking For" or "Wanted to Buy" ad to a "SOLD" or "FOUND" in the title at the appropriate time.

I think this is the best practice since 1) it let's people know the item is gone (or found), and 2) it leaves item description, forum member comments and historical pricing intact, which is very helpful information.

I also think locking sold threads is better than removing them, because that can give the buyer some form of protection. If a problem arises in the transaction (e.g. the specs don't match), having access to the original thread would be very helpful.

I definitely agree with this. Possibly put a max time window like 6 months, and after the fact it will be deleted.

Ron