Linking to eBay (or other Stores) in the Swap Shop

The Banjo Hangout recognizes that there are many other web sites where members can post their banjo-related items for sale, including eBay. Hangout members aren't discouraged from using these sites to help sell their items--but if they want to link to those for sale pages from the Swap Shop forum, they must follow the guidelines below.

1: Swap Shop posts referencing an eBay listing (or a for sale listing in another store) will be allowed if members can still purchase the banjo directly from the seller by contacting them through the Hangout (or through contact information the seller posts on the topic). In this case, the listing serves more as an "additional info" page for the item, and that's a good thing. The seller must explicitly state something along the lines of: "Hangout members can contact me at (...) to purchase the item directly" in order for their off-site link to remain in the Swap Shop.

2: Swap Shop posts that simply say, "I'm selling my banjo on eBay (or any other web site), go here to buy it!" will be moved to "Other Banjo-Related Topics." This is because those types of posts typically violate a few of the most important aspects/qualities of the Swap Shop, namely:

• the banjo/item has no set price
• there aren't any photos or further details about the item, and
• most importantly, there is no way for a Hangout member to purchase the banjo directly from the seller (without going through the third party site). This of course means that there is no way for a seller to know if their eBay winner came from the Hangout. The potential potential lost donation isn't the issue--the bigger deal is that the Swap Shop exists for people to buy/sell/trade directly with other people--not to list links to other sites where people can buy stuff. In that sense, a link to an eBay listing is just like linking to an online store's for sale page for an instrument. Links to these pages aren't bad in themselves, but they will not be allowed in the Swap Shop forum, but it opens up the Swap Shop to lots of "click here to buy this banjo somewhere else" posts. The Swap Shop is already very active, without the addition of these types of posts!

3: Swap Shop posts which reference an eBay item, but also list a few other items for sale directly through the seller will not be allowed, unless the eBay links are in accordance with #1 above. If the links are in violation of #1, they will be removed from the post, and the valid "items for sale" info will stay.