Pettition to amend no ebay links rule in hot deals forum

[Sonikku]

No ebay links are allowed in the hot deals forum. I can imagine this is in part to stop people from posting a link to their own auction in an effort to use the anandtech forums as free advertising. However, some of us do encounter deals that are not so much a personal ad for one item as much as they are bulk sales in the thousands of brand new products from reputable vendors like Newegg and Nintendo that have their own Ebay accounts. Might these types of hot deals be considered an exception to the "no ebay links" rule?

 

[RossMAN]

I agree and fully support this, actually it's long overdue. Let's remember AT forum staff are all volunteers and are already stretched thin on (wo)manpower (IMHO).

I can see at least a few issues which have been brought up before:

1) What's considered an actual retailer and who is added to the list? How is the list confirmed, vetted, verified and maintained? Who handles these new tasks? There have been numerous times when a legit retailer (e.g. Newegg, BestBuy) has a hot deal on eBay but I can't post the link because of this forum rule. Sucks.
2) Enforcement of said rules.

In addition to hearing from the AT Admins/Mods, I'd like to hear from the new owners what their thoughts are.

 

[balloonshark]

I also support being able to link to deals from large ebay retailers. Sometimes deals run simultaneously at the main retailer's site and ebay. I prefer buying that deal from their ebay store because it adds a little more protection for me as a buyer.

As a regular visitor to the deals forum here I think we would do a good job of commenting on and reporting shady ebay links.

 

[Sonikku]

These are the kinds of things I'm talking about.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301442365826?rmvSB=true

 

[Rvenger]

I agree with you guys too... Not my decision but I can raise my hand.

 

[balloonshark]

Yesterday antonline on ebay had an intel i3-6100 for around $90 with a coupon. That was an insane deal.

 

[RossMAN]

Yesterday antonline on ebay had an intel i3-6100 for around $90 with a coupon. That was an insane deal.

Yeah it was a good deal, shame we couldn't post it on ATHD which could have:

Helped AT'ers save $$$ and possibly bring the forums out of decline.
Another revenue stream for Purch (the new owners) via eBay affiliate/referral links.
​

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, I agree with this thread, and in the mmeantime, I will continue to post deals as I see them. Including ebay - just with no links in that case.

We don't want ATHD to fall by the wayside, do we?

 

[MongGrel]

If it helps the forums, wouldn't bug me.

I haven't bought anything there in at least a decade I guess personally.

Just my "not meaning much" thoughts on the subject.

 

[RossMAN]

Well, I agree with this thread, and in the mmeantime, I will continue to post deals as I see them. Including ebay - just with no links in that case.

I see your point but that more or less circumvents the forum guidelines. If it were allowed, I think posting the auction # without posting a URL or at least providing the buyers name & auction title would be more useful.

We don't want ATHD to fall by the wayside, do we?

Not sure if serious, it fell by the wayside about 10+ years ago

 

[Icecold]

I definitely agree with this as well. I got a great deal on an SSD from Newegg on eBay that was posted in Hot Deals (despite the post being technically against the forum rules).

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Signed.

Speaking of outdated rules, can I sell my HP Touchpad in FS&T yet?

 

[Mike64]

Seriously speaking, I see no reason to forbid links to any buy-it-now item with multiple products available, perhaps with some sort of limitation either by length of Ebay membership and/or number of sales, along with a reasonable minimum satisfaction rating (which, with Ebay being what it is, should be pretty high afaic.)

[ETA: Indeed, on further thought, I don't think there's even a good reason to impose any specific requirements respecting sellers' history or ratings, except maybe (though not necessarily) to exclude "brand new" sellers with literally no feedback or sales history on Ebay at all. After all, we're all adults (more or less) who can read, and more to the point, there are no similar requirements for non-Ebay retailers - either those with free-standing websites or third-party sellers on sites like Amazon, Newegg or Best Buy - and there's no rational reason to treat Ebay sellers any differently. Judging from experience, it's not like any of the former retailers do much if anything in the way of "policing" their independent sellers or their listings... Indeed, the way things seem to be working these days, buyers probably have more reliable recourse against "bad" sellers on Ebay than on those other sites, let alone independent ones.

Having various requirements for sellers and/or buyers on AT's own FS&T subforum is one thing, since those transactions are being facilitated by this site, but I guess I just don't see any need - or frankly even a rational basis - for having "nanny-forum" type rules concerning one specific, and only that one, unaffiliated retailing website...]

Sure, there might be the occasional attempt to self-advertise, but given the rather, um, fierce? nature of many AT forumites, I suspect there would be more finger-pointing and ostracizing of mere potential violators than there would be actual violations. And it's not like there's any massive downside to even the occasional violation, which would almost inevitably end up coming to light sooner rather than later, bringing down the aforementioned unofficial censure as well as whatever official censure would be considered appropriate (etc, etc, etc...)

 

[Krazy4Real]

I'll add my name to this list. Long overdue.