Classifieds FAQ

Does it cost to use this site?

Does it cost anything to use this site?

No. It is free to use this website to buy and/or sell.

However, if you are a small business or cottage business or vendor (making profit from buying/selling) it is fair to ask you to consider making a donation toward the running costs of this site.

Responsibilities of Sellers

As a seller, you are expected to:

  • Include accurate information regarding postage costs, handling time and return policy.
  • Charge reasonable postage and handling costs.
  • Specify postage costs and handling time in the listing.
  • Follow through on your return policy.
  • Respond to buyers’ questions promptly. Respond promptly to any questions during the buying process, as well as after the item has been purchased.
  • Communicate professionally, including in your emails and PM’s.
  • Be responsive to any buyer concerns or problems.
  • Be helpful, friendly, and professional throughout a transaction.
  • Make sure the item is delivered to the buyer as described in the listing. Keep in mind that you are responsible for your item until it arrives safely in the buyer’s hands. Do not imply in any way that once the item is shipped you are not responsible for timely delivery or condition on arrival.

Item Descriptions

  • Describe only the item you’re selling in the listing and the terms of the sale.
  • Provide complete and accurate details.
  • Specify the condition of the item.
  • Describe any defects or flaws—this helps avoid problems or buyer dissatisfaction.
  • When selling an item, we recommend including pictures of the actual item for sale instead of a stock photo taken from other websites.

Feedback

  • We do have a feedback system. Members are entitled to leave positive or negative feedback on another members profile. (Click on their display name to visit their profile). Naturally, we expect that feedback will adhere to the guidelines and policies of AussieHomeschool. Members may be assertive but profane or offensive language will not be tolerated.
  • If you do not want to receive negative feedback, work hard to avoid soliciting it.
  • If you have received feedback that you believe is unfair, contact the administration team. However, be aware that traders are allowed to exercise their right to giving honest feedback.

What Happens If It Still Goes Pear Shaped?

  • We recommend that you conduct yourself in a respectful, cordial, professional manner at all times.
  • It is hoped that members would treat each other as they themselves would prefer to be treated.
  • If you need to, you may use the Classified Trading Forum to ask questions.
  • Take your complaint to the offending party. If there is still no resolution, then write once more to the party and inform them that you will be contacting the administration team.
  • Then contact the administration team, providing the URL of the advertisement, a copy of all correspondence to the member, the member’s username (display name) and any other relevant details.
  • the administration team will then set up a group PM between all parties involved in the hope of resolving the issue.
  • If you are unsuccessful in contacting the member via the means they provide, you will have to contact the administration team sooner, rather than later.

Whilst this service is free to use, the administration team is not responsible for any failed or unsuccessful transactions. We are not responsible to mediate or be involved in any way. However, sometimes a simple dispute can be easily resolved with the assistance of the admin team. Please contact us sooner rather than later.

 


Leaving Feedback

Feedback

  • We do have a feedback system. Members are entitled to leave positive or negative feedback on another members profile. (Click on their display name to visit their profile). Naturally, we expect that feedback will adhere to the guidelines and policies of AussieHomeschool. Members may be assertive but profane or offensive language will not be tolerated.
  • If you do not want to receive negative feedback, work hard to avoid soliciting it.
  • If you have received feedback that you believe is unfair, contact the administration team. However, be aware that traders are allowed to exercise their right to giving honest feedback.

What To Do When a Transaction Goes Wrong

What Happens If A Transaction Goes Pear Shaped?

  • We recommend that you conduct yourself in a respectful, cordial, professional manner at all times.
  • It is hoped that members would treat each other as they themselves would prefer to be treated.
  • If you need to, you may use the Classified Trading Forum to ask questions.
  • Take your complaint to the offending party. If there is still no resolution, then write once more to the party and inform them that you will be contacting the administration team.
  • Then contact the administration team, providing the URL of the advertisement, a copy of all correspondence to the member, the member’s username (display name) and any other relevant details.
  • the administration team will then set up a group PM between all parties involved in the hope of resolving the issue.
  • If you are unsuccessful in contacting the member via the means they provide, you will have to contact the administration team sooner, rather than later.

Whilst this service is free to use, the administration team is not responsible for any failed or unsuccessful transactions. We are not responsible to mediate or be involved in any way. However, sometimes a simple dispute can be easily resolved with the assistance of the admin team. Please contact us sooner rather than later.

How to Post a Classified Ad

After the recent AHS upgrade I thought it might be good to create a video tutorial, outlining how to create a classified ad.

Getting Started with Selling

How do I post a For Sale ad?

  • Click to go to the Classifieds section.
  • Navigate to the General Trading Area and select the appropriate section to post your ad.
  • Find the button/link that says “new” or “new Topic”.
  • Fill in as much details as possible. enter a descriptive title. This cannot be edited so lease choose words carefully.
  • Enter a sub heading to further complete your description.
  • Enter text. Be sure to include as much detail as possible: Title, Author, Publisher, Year, Condition, etc.
  • After your listing, please include your preferred method of payment and contact means.
  • In the menu appearing at the top of most pages, click “Go to user’s page”.

I’ve never sold anything over the internet…

It is appropriate to wait to send material until you receive a payment in which you have confidence (i.e., money order, cheque, DD or PayPal). This may mean waiting several days for the buyer to get to the bank or post office; waiting several more days for the mail to arrive; and, in the case of a personal check, waiting a week or so for the check to clear. If you do much buying and selling, you may want to consider a PayPal or similar account, which allows an instant, secure payment with a substantial level of confidence.

How do I let the moderators know that my transaction is finished and my post can be deleted?

Simply reply to your original post, letting a mod know that the thread can be deleted.

We actually MOVE it to another location where it is stored for a few extra months…just in case it should need to be accessed. We don’t leave it out in the general trading forums because it is too messy for everyone…but it is actually held in a safe place. So, there you go! The process. Pretty easy uh?

I’m a distributor/curriculum creator; can I post “For Sale” ads?

If you are a distributor for new items, or are posting items that you created to sell, you may use the Supplier St section rather than our “For Sale” listings. You may also promote your business and/or product in our Curriculum/Business Directory.

Can I put a link to my offsite store/eBay listings in my profile?

Currently you can put a link to an offsite store in your profile information.However, if you check your website statistics and find that you are receiving many visitors from referrals from this site, you might like to consider making a voluntary donation toward running costs of the site.

Payment Details on your listings

Provide as many payment options as possible to ensure you appeal to more buyers. Include:

Payment methods you accept

  • Number of days the buyer has to make payment
  • Instructions for the payment of expensive items
  • Do NOT put personal information in your post (i.e: bank details / address) – give out these details only in a PM to the buyer

Postage Details

  • Include any postage details that you are aware of. Include:
  • Your own postcode in post, so that prospective buyers will have an idea of postage cost.
  • Postage costs (with/ without insurance)
  • Precautions you take for expensive items.

Note: Remember, the more detail you include in your initial listing, the less time you will have to run around during a transaction. The more professional your listing, the more likely you are to have successful sales.

 

Seller’s Checklist

Suggestions for sellers:

1. Please check the WTB board first before you post your list of items to sell.

2. Make sure you describe the condition of the items well – perhaps even use a rating system of excellent, very good, good, fair, poor. See tips for sellers for more.
If you are selling CDs, video tapes, audio tapes etc, please check that they are in good working order prior to listing items for sale. Likewise, please check that all items which would make up a set are actually there if you wish to sell off whole sets or packages.

3. Please put the date in the subject line to help people keep track of all the topics.

4. If you have more than one item, please put them in the same list/thread unless you find that the list is getting to over 20 items. It makes it easier for people to leave a post about several items you are selling and means there’s less threads to delete later

5. Sale order and time limits
We encourage sellers to offer goods to only one person at a time. If negotiations are on-going with one person, please allow a reasonable time before then offering your goods for sale to the next person inquiring. You might want to put a time limit on the completion of sales (one or two weeks) after which time items may be re-listed. If you do this, please state clearly in your list that sales must be completed in the given time frame.
See the post on trading etiquette etiquette for more.

6. Please price your items and postage amounts in Australian dollars and list your preferred payment methods.
Please remember to check postage prices yourself (they change periodically) and ensure you are providing an accurate quote. The postage guidelines thread can help.

7. How do you want people to contact you?
We encourage people to list the items they are interested in on your thread. This makes it easier for people to see what items may already be sold. If you would like them to PM or email you as well, please list this in your post.

8. Keep track of sales from the site or by making lists for yourself.

9. When done, please put reply to your original thread, placing “please delete” or “ALL SOLD”in the message body  so that old threads can go and more room is available for the newer items. Only moderators can delete a whole thread so we ask you to let us know when it’s finished, thanks. Alternatively, you can PM one of the moderators, point them to your thread and ask that it be deleted.

10. Any problems with sales or further questions, please contact Linda or Jocelyn rather than Admin we are here to make this easier for you.

Thank you and happy trading!

Sellers: Tips to describing your items

Describing Your Items

  • Describe your items accurately! Please include full title and sub-title
  • Author and Illustrator (if applicable)
  • Publisher, Year of publication, Editor
  • Condition – Be sure to mention any flaws or repairs. Also mention if the book has a dustjacket or has been covered in contact. Include brown and/or loose pages, dog ears, scuff marks, etc.
  • Jacket/Cover condition
  • Binding – There are two basic types of books – hardbacks and paperbacks.
  • Size & Weight


You find find it beneficial to adhere to the scale of rating recognised by most sellers of used books. As a general rule, it is good to err on the conservative side, rather than optimistic. The five basic categories are described thus:

  • As New – To be used only when the book is in the same immaculate condition to which it was published. There can be no defects, no missing pages, no library stamps, etc., and the dustjacket (if it was issued with one) must be perfect, without any tears. (Very unlikely unless you are a vendor)
  • Fine – Approaches the condition of As New, but without being crisp. For the use of the term Fine, there must also be no defects, etc., and if the jacket has a small tear, or other defect, or looks worn, this should be noted.
  • Very Good (VG) – Describes a book that does show some small signs of wear – but no tears – on either binding or paper. Any defects must be noted.
  • Good (G) – Describes the average used worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects must be noted.
  • Fair – Worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc. (which must be noted). Binding, jacket (if any), etc., may also be worn. All defects must be noted.
  • Poor – Describes a book that is sufficiently worn, to the point that its only merit is as a Reading Copy because it does have the complete text, which must be legible. Any missing maps or plates should still be noted. This copy may be soiled, scuffed, stained or spotted and may have loose joints, hinges, pages, etc.

Going to these lengths to describe a book or resource may seem exaggerated to some, however the success of you, as a seller, will only be as good as your present sales and conduct. Buyers are purchasing goods, sight unseen so it is the responsibility of the seller to provide as much accurate information as possible.

Including a photo or digital image can also be a tremendous help to the buyer…and save a lot of time answering unnecessary questions.

For more information on learning to describe your books, visit HERE.

Remember, the more detail you include in your initial listing, the less time you will have to run around during a transaction. The more professional your listing, the more likely you are to have successful sales.

 

How to Get my Ad Noticed?

Writing your advertisement

All sellers want people to view their ads. Views tend to lead to sales. Right? Not always. You can turn people right off by having a visually unattractive or difficult-to-read advertisement. Our website tends to have standard fonts and standard font sizes. This is designed to be user friendly for all members – regardless of computer, browser or user preferences. If you style your ad using a large font size it may very well play havoc with another computer, causing the page to need horizontal scrolling. You’re likely to lose potential customers! If you use non standard colours that you find appealing, it may not look the same on another computer and you may in fact lose potential customers! What looks great on one computer may look hideous on another computer. The right styling will get your posts read and your message heard whereas incorrect styling will have readers hitting the back button very quickly. Remember, what you are selling: the font or the item.

Help the reader find things quickly

People know to look in border areas for navigation. They know that short, bold paragraphs on the side may be of interest, perhaps as summaries. Their eyes stop on bold words intermixed with normal.
Decide which things the reader must find, and use these techniques to help them find those things.

Subheads help skim readers or those who read quickly

  • Using short, bold subheads every few paragraphs helps the reader who is skimming through ads find the areas that are of interest, or to just get the main concepts.
  • The subheads act as “mileposts” along the way as the reader reads or skims. If you don’t put the subheads in when you first write (like an outline), it is worth adding them after you write the text. Sometimes adding them afterwards is actually better, since you can summarize what you actually wrote.

Reasonable font size

  • Body text should be between 10 and 12 point
  • Short paragraphs help skimming
  • By having only one main thought in each paragraph the reader can use a glance at the first line to skim. For those that want to get more information, you can back up the ideas in the rest of the paragraph, giving more detail.

Don’t overdo bold words

Use the bold words sparingly. Otherwise they get distracting and make reading hard. This is similar to many bright blue underlined links in the middle of lots of prose — it makes reading harder.
See how hard it is to read this sentence with all the bold words and other emphasis in it. Not only is the bold “crying wolf” (pretending that something is important when it really isn’t) but the hard change from bold to normal slows down the eye when reading or speeds it up by attracting it forward to the next bold word skipping the almost as important middle text. Also, the bold detracts from the value of bold on the sub-headings within this page.

Remember, what you are selling: the style or the item.

Postal Charging Guidelines

Dear Buyers/Sellers
Here is a short guide to current postage costs around Australia as of the 5 March increases.

PREPAID ENVELOPE
(up to 500g, no thicker than 20mm)
162×229 $1.20 (good for a small novel)
324×229 $2.35 (good for a couple of small novels)

LARGE LETTER
(rectangular, no larger than 260mm x 360mm, no thicker than 20mm)
up to 125g $1.00
up to 250g $1.45
up to 500g $2.45
SMALL PARCEL
up to 250g $3.85
up to 500g $5.00

PREPAID PARCEL POST SATCHEL
up to 500g $5.30 (355mm x 220mm)
up to 3kg $9.30 (405mm x 310mm)

Cheaper rates are available for small books and CDs or if posting within your own state.
Use the Postage Assessment Calculator to ensure you have the correct rates:
http://www1.auspost.com.au/pac/

Please also consider the cost of packaging when quoting the postage cost. This can impact on your outlay. It’s also a good idea to keep packages, tough envelopes and materials when you receive your goods and reuse them when you sell items to other people.

It is your responsibility to provide an accurate quote for postage and be aware that rates change periodically. We need to be understanding with each other when this happens in between sales.

Getting Started with Buying

How do I post a wanted ad?

  • Navigate to the WTB Area and select the appropriate section to post your ad.
  • Find the button/link that says “new” or “New Topic”.
  • Fill in as much details as possible. enter a descriptive title. This cannot be edited so lease choose words carefully.
  • Enter a sub heading to further complete your description.
  • Enter text. Be sure to include as much detail as possible: Title, Author, Publisher, Year, Condition, etc.
  • After your listing, please include your preferred mode of contact.

How do I buy items?

  • Search through the advertisements. When you find an item that you are interested in, read the ad carefully, taking note of title, author and other details so that you can research the item thoroughly.
  • You may leave a response to the original thread of your intention to purchase or your interest. However, please take note of any special considerations that the seller may have made. eg: preferred method of contact.
  • It is good to then send a PM to the seller, informing them of your interest or to ask questions.
  • Once you have posted to the thread, informing the seller (and other potential buyers) of your intention to purchase, it is courteous to complete the sale.
  • After completing the transaction, consider leaving appropriate feedback.

How do I check out a seller?

  • You can visit the profile page of a seller to learn a little more about them. We also have a reputation/feedback system where you can see comments made by others, regarding transactions.
  • Things to consider: Look at how long the user has been registered (shown below their user name and email as “Active since…” on their page).
  • Develop some level of comfort through email interactions.
  • See the “help against fraud” entry below.
  • At the end of the day, transactions are always “buyer beware”, but our experience has been that the overwhelming majority of transactions are honest and uneventful.

I’ve sent money, but not received my material!

  • Sometimes life does become overwhelming and things happen that make communication difficult. Please send the buyer/seller a PM and an email. if you have no response you may leave them a message on the original thread, stating that you have attempted to contact them to no avail.
  • If you still have no contact from them, please contact the Administration staff. Whilst we have no responsibility in this area, we are sometimes privvy to a person’s circumstance and may be able to shed some light on a situation. Please note though, that this is a courtesy service only.
  • Lastly, you can leave feedback on the buyer/sellers profile. Remember to state your reasons for a positive or negative rating.

My Emails aren’t Getting to the Seller/Buyer

My emails to the seller/buyer bounce.

Look at the error message returned by the bounced email:

  • Their server may be having difficulty — try emailing them at least three times over a period of at least a week.

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Have a question? Visit the forums and read through our Trading Talk section. Useful for buyers and sellers.