6: Buying and selling
New members may post items for sale on the appropriate ordinary forums straight away, subject to Mod approval. Access to the UIE is granted only after the newcomer's first three posts have been approved.
The Used Instruments Exchange (UIE) is only for buy/sell/trade notices about used instruments and musically related material. We highly encourage its use. Since it operates solely as a classifieds section, second-party input in the UIE is not permitted (more on that in a bit); in all other forums public discussion remains the rule, so please bear that important difference in mind. Post your topic in the UIE by starting your own thread; do not piggyback onto another's topic, or your post will be deleted. You may also cross-post your topic in the appropriate forum outside the UIE. For example, if it's about a flute, then you may post in both the UIE and in the Flute Forum; if it's about a fiddle, then you may post in both the UIE and in the Traditional Strings Forum - and so on. Please limit your topic to the two forums permitted. If your topic lists items in various categories, please confine yourself to the UIE. Once an item in the UIE is sold, don't piggyback your own thread with a new item. Start a new thread instead.
Under special circumstances, 3rd-party sales in the UIE will be permissible ONLY IF 1) the poster takes on the full role of broker, fielding all matters such as communications, shipping, tax, and so on as proxy for the actual owner; 2) the poster gives full disclosure of his/her role as agent; and 3) a moderator grants approval, which should also be declared in the sale. These strictures do not apply to sales in other forums outside the UIE, although moderator approval is probably still a good thing to have on your side.
Responses to topics in the UIE should be private, by PM or email only. Public replies to topics in the UIE are not allowed as a rule; however, in rare cases we may let some public replies stand because their contribution clearly outweighs their waywardness. Note that we said "rare", so please remember to stick to PMs and email for your UIE inquiries; public replies in the UIE will normally be summarily deleted, and likely without notice. The rare case will be officially noted as such.
You may not simply bump others' topics for them, whether FS/WTB or otherwise, whether in the UIE or elsewhere. Only the topic's author may bump. Outside of the UIE you must post actual content if you wish to assist in keeping someone else's topic current.
Upon the OP's notice of transaction or withdrawal, the topic header will be marked "Sold", "Done", etc., and moved to the Sold and Old archive. Inactive topics in the UIE will be removed, unmarked, to Sold and Old after two weeks or so; in practice we're pretty relaxed about when this gets done, but whether sooner or later, done it will be. In theory, a topic may stay in the UIE indefinitely so long as it remains active. To keep a topic active in the UIE, the OP may bump the topic by means of posts to that purpose, once a week. How you word it is up to you, but "Bump" remains the popular go-to. Updates on price and other newsworthy info are more than just regular bumps, so these are not held to the once-a-week limit (and no, cajolery does not count; that's just a tarted-up regular bump). The two-week window will then run from the latest bump. If your topic goes dead, a Mod can always revive it, or you can simply post anew.
The owner and moderators of this board cannot get involved in resolving disputes about sales and transactions that occur as a result of members' communications here. We're not responsible for the credibility of buyers or sellers and we are obviously in no position to vouch for them. This applies not only to transactions from the UIE, but also to transactions from the Board's other forums. Just as with any other venue elsewhere, if you buy and sell based on contacts made through this website you are, in the end, on your own.
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