"Dealers"

TTony

Prompted by a long discussion on a thread here, we've clarified our definition of what a dealer is.

In our view, and in the spirit of the forum, we define a dealer as anyone who uses the forum primarily (ie you don't get involved elsewhere in the forum or make any other contribution to the forum) as a platform for buying and selling to an extent that it's unlikely the deals are of personally owned, and used, equipment.  This will be our judgement call rather than a pre-defined limit.

We don't discourage dealers from participating in the forum.  In fact, we actively encourage participation where it's beneficial to the wider community.  Sometimes that benefit is in the form of offering special deals via the forum, sometimes its through the dealer contributing their knowledge and experience in other threads, sometimes its through donations of prizes for our periodic raffles.  

In those cases, the dealer's role is entirely transparent to the wider community - you know who they are and who you're dealing with.

We do discourage dealers who use the forum less transparently and solely for their own benefit, often merely to avoid the fees and obligations that other sites impose on them.  

Hence we expect our definition of dealer is going to apply primarily to the bedroom-based profiteer rather than the proper business.

When a covert dealer is identified, normal sanctions will apply.  Access to the Classifieds will be withdrawn, and access to the forum may also be withdrawn.