Now back to topic and suggestions.
The itrader is a good initiative but I believe it's under utilize. It should be encourage further. It'll be good if every buyer can give the feedback once sales has been concluded. And even when things goes wrong but was resolve privately, this should be place into feedback. This builds up credibility of the seller and also the buyer. But this will need all hobbyist help to make it work. A fellow hobbyist might want to even give a short story or what I will call a RTS or rate the service. Give a bit of recognition to some of our passionate hobbyists.
Buy/Sell should not be use as a platfom to make a profit. It should be use to offload used items or excess fauna and sold as used pricing or below retail. This allows and encourages new hobbyist who are low on budget to start.
However, there are some of us who are passionate in breeding. Eg. Shrimps and Guppies. these are people who have spend loads of time, effort and money on this hobby. We should recognise this people as breeders. They would always have excess stocks they want to offload. To sell or give. It's hard to define if a hobbyist putting up a sale a real breeder or just someone who flips. (Buy from somewhere cheap and sell them for profit) I can understand some breeders will sell their stock above retail. This is understandable being that they have put so much effort in breeding them. I will not argue with that. So whether they are selling below market or higher, its entirely up to them. Buyers are responsible to research, check etc. Once the exchange is made; deal is done. Both Seller and Buyer is responsible to resolve their own dispute privately.
Just a suggestion,
- increase the criteria for someone to post sales. this will slightly deter mass sellers (who are flipping)
- a seller can only put up 1 post to sell. seller can only post new sales after 30 days.
- for hobbyist who have registered themselves as breeder, can post up to 2 and must wait for another 30 days to post new sales.
- seller must post current pictures of the item sold or else the sale will not be posted.
- seller is responsible to provide specific detail of the item
- seller must display their mobile number. Seller can demand that they be sms/whatapps or call.
- "Breeders" must register themselves. Breeders are passionate hobbyist who breed their shrimps, guppy etc from home. they give or sell their fauna. If they sell, they may sell below, retail or above market price.
- To be a breeder, they must register. The criteria to be a breeder will be more stringent. For starters, as I mentioned earlier, they can register first. Mods discuss and decide to approve or not. Or a thread for vote.
- AQ can set a cap for a number of breeders per year.
- application is for 12 months and must be reapplied.
- Members who abuse; accusing the seller of something without proof will be banned from Sales. If Seller retaliate, same banned for seller. There's no need for any party to argue to say I'm right you're wrong. Again dispute must be taken outside of the forum. AQ is not a mediator and not oblige to investigate and give their judgment.
In other forums I know of, they divide Seller into two kinds. Non Commercial Ad and Commercial Ad. Non Commercial Ad is define as used, hand me down, opened or 2nd hand item. While Commercial Ad are unused and sold for profit. They charge members who uses Commercial Ad. However, this forum was created with no thought of monetary gain. By Hobbyist For Hobbyists right? Haha. Its easier for them as the product are non living.
Selling life things are different. It is the responsibility of the buyer and seller on the transaction. Try going to LFS. Buy some fauna. Bring home, one fish die. Do you go back to the store and ask back for refund? It is a living thing. Buyer check the fauna closely. Don't rush it. You're not sure what you are doing, get a friend who is experience to come along. AQ only provide the platform and in no way responsible for any dispute that may arise. AQ shouldn't even bother to investigate, eventhough its noble act. Dispute between seller and Buyer should be done privately. If it cannot be resolve, find a mediator; unbias to help come to a compromise. Should it not; one can pursuit the matter and bring it up to case. Members who feel "cheated" should not post or whine in AQ. Be a better person, learn from it and move on. Any such post, AQ to bring it down immediately.
The Buy/Sell is a simple platform provided to us. Let's use it as what the owner intended it to be in the first place. AQ is non profitable. The mods don't get paid. They can't be in here all the time. They are merely doing this for the passion and selected to be one. I'm very sure the owner have their own reason in selecting the mods base on whatever merit they're looking for. They are here to help. We're shouldnt be going against them or the people running AQ. They are not the enemy. We're here together to make AQ a place where we can share our hobby and learn. They are trying to make things better for everyone. Sadly, regardless of any forum you go to, there will always be a few bad apples. Hence, it is our responsbility to keep it "clean". As one mentioned, it doesn't cost a thing to swallow a humble pie.
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well said Draka. Supported 
~~Steven ~~ 
BIG Tank comes with BIG Responsibility...as they makan a lot of $$....lol
Originally Posted by Shrimperax
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