Why don't we chat in the For Sale forum?

[penwash]

Just starting a conversation here, I wonder why people don't talk about the pens being sold (or WTB or WTT) in the Classifieds section?

Is it a sense of formality? But we're in a hobby forum, not a Stock Exchange.
It's like there is an unwritten rule that it's taboo to chat with the seller because that somehow indicate interest or obligation to buy the pen? This makes little sense to me.

As one who sell a few pens here and there, I am thrilled if someone took the time to comment on the pen that I restored or the photos or the writing sample (bad or good comments). And I don't expect those who comment to buy the pen, I'm not a pen dealer who rely on this for a living, this is just a fun hobby for me.

I think chatting in a the forum Classifieds can increase the level of knowledge, interest, and yes, the sense of community -- after all, don't people chat in the street markets?

Your thoughts?

[katherine]

I often want to post random questions about the pen -- but I worry that the seller might be excited that someone replied, then annoyed that I'm not actually looking to buy. :<

[top pen]

I can understand others may get annoyed if you take a post that's there to sell an item off topic. Maybe members could say e.g. all conversation welcome for instance. It would make things interesting though.

[Marsilius]

I have tended not to post there based on concept of not wasting space. For same reason that I only use the thanks button rather than typing thanks. I remember the latter from the intro guidelines and extrapolated from that.

[Haga888]

I think asking questions or commenting on the pen is fine. I think commenting on the asking price or haggling for the pen is inappropriate. I'm in other forums where they lock off the ability for others to reply in the for sale section. I think the complaint was there was too much "wow, that's a great ___".

I have a pen listed now that has an unmarked nib that I just assumed must be steel. A kind member PM'd me that it is in fact gold. I think it would have been fine to just have replied directly in my ad for example.

[AltecGreen]

You can end up in some awkward situations. One time I saw an ad for an Omas pen on FPN's classified many years ago. I made the offhand remark that the same pen was being sold new by nibs.com for less and that the pen in question was suffering celluloid degeneration. (The blue celluloid used by Omas is prone to discoloration turning into purple). The seller was less than pleased with my remarks and contacted the admins. This lead to an unpleasant exchange with a mod. I don't think the seller ever sold that pen on FPN.

[KBeezie]

I think 'chat' may be confused with being off-topic, and should be restricted to asking questions about the items currently in sale (though it goes downhill when that conversation involves scrutiny over the pricing/etc).

Some people don't like to ask (probably because in the past I have seen some sellers get defensive), or if they do they do so in a private message.

I don't see a comment as an obligation to buy, it's not one until they're like "I'll take it, what's your paypal?" or similar.

[Jon Szanto]

As others have intimated, I try very hard to not comment in sales so as to not distract from the seller's actual purpose, which is finding a buyer. It is so preciously easy for a thread to drift, humor or vitriol to be injected, and soon there is a long thread where there should really be just focused comments on the sale in progress.

I guess you could say it is one of my rare examples of self-restraint. In my mind, I believe that is appreciated.

[Inkybeans]

I have a WTS/WTT currently open and I would gladly welcome questions about the pen in my mind it means it remains near the top of the 'what's new' pile. However i do understand the false hope scenario as well.

[TSherbs]

I have asked questions, remarked on aspects of the pic or information listed, and used the pm functionality. None of it is chat-like, although kbeezie and I exchanged pleasantries over a pen I bought from a seller here. It turned out that kbeezie had been the prior owner!

[pengeezer]

You can end up in some awkward situations. One time I saw an ad for an Omas pen on FPN's classified many years ago. I made the offhand remark that the same pen was being sold new by nibs.com for less and that the pen in question was suffering celluloid degeneration. (The blue celluloid used by Omas is prone to discoloration turning into purple). The seller was less than pleased with my remarks and contacted the admins. This lead to an unpleasant exchange with a mod. I don't think the seller ever sold that pen on FPN.

I think I remember that incident. That member(not sure if they're still there) tried to make life difficult for
a pen restorer(IIRC) because they didn't think the restorer did the job the way he wanted it done--or
something like that.



John

[AltecGreen]

You can end up in some awkward situations. One time I saw an ad for an Omas pen on FPN's classified many years ago. I made the offhand remark that the same pen was being sold new by nibs.com for less and that the pen in question was suffering celluloid degeneration. (The blue celluloid used by Omas is prone to discoloration turning into purple). The seller was less than pleased with my remarks and contacted the admins. This lead to an unpleasant exchange with a mod. I don't think the seller ever sold that pen on FPN.

I think I remember that incident. That member(not sure if they're still there) tried to make life difficult for
a pen restorer(IIRC) because they didn't think the restorer did the job the way he wanted it done--or
something like that.



John

The even funnier part of that story is that the pen was up for sale for a really long time. After a long time, the seller posted asking for advice on selling the pen so I made my remarks. He kind of asked for it.

[penwash]

You can end up in some awkward situations. One time I saw an ad for an Omas pen on FPN's classified many years ago. I made the offhand remark that the same pen was being sold new by nibs.com for less and that the pen in question was suffering celluloid degeneration. (The blue celluloid used by Omas is prone to discoloration turning into purple). The seller was less than pleased with my remarks and contacted the admins. This lead to an unpleasant exchange with a mod. I don't think the seller ever sold that pen on FPN.

I see where you're coming from.
But at the same time, this is not FPN, so the same thing may or may not happen.

[penwash]

Take a look at this For Sale thread:

http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread....s-Sales-Upload

I think that is an excellent case where "chat" can actually enhance the sale. Because of the friendly banter, I checked out Deb's site and were it not the shipping cost from UK to US, I may have bought that Conway Stewart that winked at me.

[hansdown]

I am new to fountain pens and new to fpgeeks and recently purchased a pen on this forum. I asked the seller a question and explained that I am learning about all the different nib choices. The seller gave me a good answer and then another member also commented saying how they liked this pen and nib, and did state that they were not interested in this sale as they already owned the pen. I really appreciated the third party commenting and I then pm'd the seller and purchased the pen. The whole process worked really well.

[AltecGreen]

You can end up in some awkward situations. One time I saw an ad for an Omas pen on FPN's classified many years ago. I made the offhand remark that the same pen was being sold new by nibs.com for less and that the pen in question was suffering celluloid degeneration. (The blue celluloid used by Omas is prone to discoloration turning into purple). The seller was less than pleased with my remarks and contacted the admins. This lead to an unpleasant exchange with a mod. I don't think the seller ever sold that pen on FPN.

I see where you're coming from.
But at the same time, this is not FPN, so the same thing may or may not happen.

Perhaps, but that FPN was a very different FPN than what exists today. It was more like FPGeeks as it is now with more traffic. It will probably be fine for a while.

[Jon Szanto]

I think that is an excellent case where "chat" can actually enhance the sale. Because of the friendly banter, I checked out Deb's site and were it not the shipping cost from UK to US, I may have bought that Conway Stewart that winked at me.

No one is saying you can't do it. You can. And probably, in most cases, it will be fine. But with light-to-no moderation, and no rules about this, who will take the blame if a flame fest occurs, or a sales thread gets buried in unrelated chattiness? Really, anything can happen, both good and ill.

After all, human beings are involved.

[stub]

plus it sort of can just look like that chat is being milked as a way to bump the thread over others ... Not being too chatty in your for sale add is in some ways a courtesy to the other sellers who want the sunny spot to sometimes too.

[Sandy Fry]

I have only bought one pen from the " for sale " section ( so far ) and I asked all my questions via PM.

I see no difference in asking a seller a question here ( or via PM ) or a salesperson in a B&M store. If I want to buy the pen I will and if not, I won't.

David

[penwash]

I think that is an excellent case where "chat" can actually enhance the sale. Because of the friendly banter, I checked out Deb's site and were it not the shipping cost from UK to US, I may have bought that Conway Stewart that winked at me.

No one is saying you can't do it. You can. And probably, in most cases, it will be fine. But with light-to-no moderation, and no rules about this, who will take the blame if a flame fest occurs, or a sales thread gets buried in unrelated chattiness? Really, anything can happen, both good and ill.

After all, human beings are involved.

Sure. I wasn't asking whether it's allowed or not.

I'm simply wondering what are the reasons that we don't. Lot's of good thoughts expressed here and as you said, most of the time, I think it will end well.

In light of the recent 'beams of sunshine' from FPN, I thought it'd be very neat if FPGeeks starts to be known for not only a good Classified section, but also where people are having fun. After all, aren't we aiming for fun when we adopt Fountain Pens as a hobby?