Policy on swaps and selling

[Rachel (mumsnet)]

To avoid confusion we thought it a good idea to clarify our swaps and selling policy.
Emails regarding a swap should not contain advertising and email addresses collected for swaps should not be used for advertising purposes. Your privacy is very important to us. We don't and won't ever sell your email address and ask that Members don’t use emails gained through Mumsnet for reasons other than originally intended (eg swap details, communication through Contact Another Talker).
With regard to selling, please don’t advertise, offer to sell or offer to commission work on the discussion board. If you have used or unwanted goods, you can advertise them on the For Sale topic plus there’s the option of advertising on our Small business ads topic for, well, small businesses. We do understand that this topic is helpful to those setting up arts and crafts businesses, but to be consistent across the site and because discussions flow better without advertising, we ask that you use the classified boards for selling purposes.
Many thanks,
Mumsnet Towers.

[UCM]

Am I missing something here. Was a thread deleted cos' someone was hawking their wares????

[auntyquated]

hi rachel,
sorry if anyone has flouted the rules but i'm sure it was unintentional.
but could you just clarify for us ...

"...please don’t...offer to commission work on the discussion board."

sometimes a MNer who doesn't regularly visit A&C comes along and says they are looking for a specific card; one of us (or more often than not, many of us ) will then offer to do the card does this maen we are 'offering to commision work' or are we still OK to do this?



thnaks, and again apologies where/if necessary.

[JayzMummy]

Hi Rachel

Could you also clarify this point...

"Emails regarding a swap should not contain advertising"

Quite a few of the crafters and other MN users have websites that host the images and prices of the products they sell and therefore have links attached to their signature lines....if we are replying to emails from other MN users, are we to remove these links?

IMO its going to be almost impossible to "police" this as I often receive emails from other MN users, which have links to their ecommerce sites!

Thanks

JM.

[UCM]

Thanks Girls, I was a tad worried there for a minute.

[Carolinett]

Oh my god do you think is this my fault if it is I'm realy sorry

I just thought I was doing Radley a favour selling her the Kandi Kane. I wasn't making a profit. I could of sold it on ebay and made more.
I realy thought I was doing another crafter a favour.

I paid £20 for it when it first came out last year it's brand new and only been used once it's still in the box with all the bits & the instuctions. I didn't know what CAT me mend so I put my email address on the thread.
I'm realy sorry if I've caused a problem.

[UCM]

Carolinett, even if that WAS the reason (I doubt it) it's a bit strange. I have made precisely 8.50 from cards I have sold via mumsnet since I started making cards. That is hardly a reason to pay 25.00 for a small add. After all Mumsnet do advertise and without the input from us Mums wouldn't exist.

I thought this was meant to be a crafts thread under the umbrella of a parenting forum (Cod - Say Nothing).

I doubt very much if anyone on here is becoming a millionaire from their cardmaking anyway. We are all simply doing it as a hobby and certainly a couple of quid in the box does help towards buying the equipment. I am sure that the information & help given out to people who are non-arts&crafts has been invaluable.

The swaps are that, just swaps. No money exchanged etc.

Are Mumsnet trying to get us all to go away (Yet again Cod, Say nothing).

I think that the regulars on Arts & Crafts provide a fantastic input on Mumsnet and long shall this live....

[PeachyClair]

Do you remember on Docrafts, the swaps charged £2.50 a shot and docrafts removed them from the site? Because was making a profit or something.

Don't think that's what MN up to tho, just seems a little odd to be now. there's been loads of 'who can make me' or 'anyone want this before I ebay it' threads over the years

[Carolinett]

Thanks girls you've made me feel a bit better.

[jessicaandrebeccasmummy]

I saw this last night and was rather confused by it tbh.... i dont really "get" what it is reffering to.

Maybe im just dim

[JayzMummy]

Ummmm and Im a bit worried the initial post is aimed at me!

Just to let you all know that even though I am about to embark on my business venture, there is no way I would use any of the email addresses I have gained from my contacts on MN for unsolicited marketing purposes....that would be very bad business practice IMO and would of course contravene MN policy.I have emailed MN Towers to assure them of this.

Maybe if we have unwanted items to sell then we should stick to the For Sale board or if someone wants to comission a card then they use the "Wanted" section.....makes it all the more fun with crafters having to venture out of A&C's to check other threads!!

If during the flow of converstaion someone is asking for something that they cant find and you have an unwanted one you want to sell on, then maybe post it on For sale and then link to the thread??? Dunno...would that work????

[JayzMummy]

TBH JARM I think we are all a bit confuzzled by it and after chatting with another netter have asked Rachel if she can clarify some of the issues that have been raised from her initial post.

[zippitippitoes]

UCM

small business board is actually £50.00 not £25.00

it sounds to me like someone has complained maybe felt they were being subjected to a hard sell? Surely not

[bubblerock]

It's really hard to keep things separate though, I have an ad on small businesses but also chat on the forums and ask for advice etc.. If someone asks about my business then I point them to my ad but we still end up chatting about it on the other thread. I don't think it's always possible to keep things completely separate.

I like MN but find it could be better moderated (not policed, but mods should have more powers) If you look at sites such as moneysavingexpert the Mods their can move posts to the appropriate section, delete posts & merge threads together. They also have mods for each topic which seems to work as they 'look after' their sections. They always explain their actions and they are also easily identifiable with a description of their duties.

[Carolinett]

JM
If you've got a bargin going I give you permmision to email me anytime

[Rachel (mumsnet)]

Hi there

Sorry for the delay - just wanted to have a little confab with the others at Mumsnet HQ before coming back to you.

Firstly, in answer to your query, Auntyquated, We're happy for you to produce the odd card for someone who asks directly for one. What we don't want is for anyone to use these boards to actively tout for work or promote a business in lieu of advertising.

Jayzmummy, anyone is welcomed and encouraged to organise swaps and we feel that as long as the email addresses/signature lines are not used for anything other than the purpose of the swaps, then it is fine to leave them on the mails.

We really value the Arts and Crafts boards on Mumsnet and our post wasn't aimed at anyone in particular and certainly wasn't trying to get you all to go away, UCM , we were just trying to clarify something that has caused some confusion.

Bubblerock I've noted your points about our moderating techniques and will raise this at our next meeting. Although there's no plans to change the way the boards are run at the moment, we regularly review the set-up and are always open to suggestions.

Hope this clears things up,

R,J,JJ and C

[Carolinett]

I'm more confused than ever now

[PeachyClair]

I reckon they thought we were just all so fab that we would take over with our hoards of customers and million pound wholesale orders

I'll stick with that idea

[Carolinett]

Do you mean
A BUY OUT
I reckon with our millions we could do that, but you'll have to wait untill I get the £10.00 of Radley Cuz Iz a bit short

[PeachyClair]

Yeah, when I get my student loan through eh?

[jessicaandrebeccasmummy]

lol.... yep, im still confuddled!

Ah well, i just wont do a swap or give out email or offer to do a card for anyone, then i should be safe! Oh and not forgetting commenting on companies that provide crap service!!!

[soapbox]

Well having read and digested this thread - I still haven't a clue what it is all about!

Maybe I am being a bit dense, but I cannot recall anyone using these boards to actively tout for work or promote a business in lieu of advertising.

I have also never felt that the flow of a conversation was adversely affected by the 'I need a card can anyone help me' type question!

Still, I am a simple soul - perhaps I'm living in a parallel universe

[Whizzz]

Yes I'm confused too. I've pointed out to others about blatent ads for businesses on other thread topics (eg the career swap one today) about paying for an ad. But I don't recall seeing anything like that on here

Oh well..

[Pixiefish]

JARM- don't think you need worry about that.
The commenting on companies that are crap- I think we SHOULD be careful what we say. Did anyone see the article in the Guardian the other day where someone sued for something that was said on the net.
Barmy as we think it is, having calmed down after the weekend I DO think that we should be careful, not just on arts and crafts but on the www generally when we name and shame. It'd be a real shame, after crap service if we ended up being sued as well!!!!

[Yorkiegirl]

I have my website in my signature for email. Not aware that I have used it to advertise my cards overtly. Its not as if I have sold loads of cards through MN anyhow. Big wedding order is for a friend at work

[UCM]

I am relieved that you don't want rid of us MN as every club has to have somewhere for the weirdos to hang out, otherwise they annoy the others

I am not terribly sure why this thread was actually started and would like you to tell me & my A&C pals why it was posted in the first place. Just to clarify of course....

I never thought Arts & Crafts could attract so much controversy.