Location, Location, Location!!!!!

[JohnHwangBT]

@getupandgo: I don't see what the problem is with providing Country, at a minimum, so potential traders can see if Customs & Duties might be involved, creating additional delay, cost, and risk. A lot of troubles tie to International trades, so I don't know why that is a problem.

Phone, etc. isn't being required, so I think you're reading more in here than need be.

[Ironhide]

With the new sign-up process it is a mandatory field. If new users are going to have it displayed, then all users must have it displayed. Sig lines can be changed, and user preferences can be set not to see signatures. So having it in you sig line isn't the best idea.

Okay, I made a mistake. It's not mandatory, YET.

[Imaginos]

I would have to be the voice of dissent on this one. If it's that important to you to only trade locally or in your own country, indicate that in your sig line or in your preliminary PMs. There are a multitude of reasons for why not to include your home state, address, email, or phone number in your profile. My reason amounts to; "I don't want to", and there should be a respect for individuals who want their (relative) privacy maintained.

Putting a country in your location shouldn't really hurt you. This really won't violate your (relative) privacy.

[getupandgo]

I would have to be the voice of dissent on this one. If it's that important to you to only trade locally or in your own country, indicate that in your sig line or in your preliminary PMs. There are a multitude of reasons for why not to include your home state, address, email, or phone number in your profile. My reason amounts to; "I don't want to", and there should be a respect for individuals who want their (relative) privacy maintained.

LOL. Who said phone # or address?? If you are trading with someone arent you going to give them a mailing address?? There is no significnt reason not to give Country. It prevents someone offering free shipping- then someone else wanting that offer to another Country. It helps prevent any misunderstandings.But if you dont want to give specifics for "personal reasons" thats fine.

"slippery slope" argument. I was over-emphasizing purposefully.

I don't see why it's a big deal to list the country you live in at the start of working out a deal if it's that important to you. For me, it's not. The only time it effects me is when shipping is part of the deal. When selling, I post "free shipping in the US" if I offer it, and I tell people where I am located in the first PM I send them if they are offering "free shipping" in their posts. If it's a problem, we discuss it and figure it out like adults. This rule seems like bureaucracy for the sake of it. if it's a big deal to you, then put your info in your profile. I don't want to, so I shouldn't have to. I'm an adult, but this arbitrary rule treats me like a child.

"put the country and state you live in little boys and girls, so that people will know where you live"

Just because 2 (new I might add) traders had an issue with this recently is no reason to add more regulations to the site.

[MEDEVL]

Look at it like this, you're not being treated like a child you're just making the site more user-friendly for everybody involved. I for one HATE doing deals outside the US and refuse to do them with very few exceptions. It's nothing personal against Bartertown's international users but I've found that many mail and customs systems don't play well wih others. Plus I have a rough understanding of the laws of the US and my rights as a consumer. To be honest it's just not worth the risk to me or the time to educate myself on other laws to trade toy soldiers across borders. So when I see other countries listed (usually after I read the ad and get excited about the great stuff in it!) I skip on to the next one. When people don't list location I generally skip those too as I figure only non-US based people would have any reason not to list their location (an assumption which you have proved me wrong on). However it comes down to time again. I don't even want to bother contacting anybody about a possible deal that is never going to happen, it wastes my time and thiers. So when the location is outside the US or blank I just don't bother with it. So by having locations listed everybody knows what their in for from the very beginning and I hope I've illustrated that the first PM isn't actually the very beginning, it's the reading of the ad so that's where all relevant info needs to be listed.

[Ironhide]

Just because 2 (new I might add) traders had an issue with this recently is no reason to add more regulations to the site.

That is not the reason. As you can plainly see, this thread was started back in June.

[JohnHwangBT]

I don't see why it's a big deal to list the country you live in at the start of working out a deal if it's that important to you.

When selling, I post "free shipping in the US" if I offer it

I'm an adult, but this arbitrary rule treats me like a child.

Just because 2 (new I might add) traders had an issue with this recently is no reason to add more regulations to the site.

Not all traders remember to list country in every post or reply, so this saves time.

I will generally offer "Free" US shipping, but I wouldn't ever offer this internationally.

It's a good rule. If you can't deal with that, don't let the door hit you on the way out...

It's more than just those 2 traders, it's been around for a while. Again, if you don't like it, you know where the door is...

[MagickalMemories]

True.

This had been in discussion by staff a LONG time ago.

Also, it is a potential security related issue. If you see a location of "XYZ, Maryland" on the users profile, and know that there has been a string of scammers in XYZ Maryland, you'll know to be more careful.

"But, MM," you might be thinking, "what keeps them from just lying in their profile?"

Nothing.

First off, though, there WILL be consequences for lying about your location and, secondly, you -the trade partner- will notice the discrepancy between the listed and given locations (if you're practicing your due diligence) and address and/or report it accordingly.


Eric

P.S. Let's stop inviting people to leave if they don't like policy, please.

[JohnHwangBT]

The Wisconsin thing isn't the real issue, as it's not hard for a scammer to use a friend's / office address to receive things.

The real issue is international trades, due to higher shipping cost, longer delays, limited / expensive tracking, possible Customs holds, possible import duties, etc. These have a material impact on trading for both parties, and easily lead to trade problems outside either party's control or awareness.

I think it's excellent policy that Btown mandates location to at least the country level. City / State within country is far less important as far as I'm concerned, as scammer issues are an unknown. But international trades should be easily known from the outset.

Finally, as far as anonymity goes, name and address will be unmasked in your first trade, so why bother trying to hide?

[s_o_r_r_o_w]

Finally, as far as anonymity goes, name and address will be unmasked in your first trade, so why bother trying to hide?

Exactly. This isn't primarily a discussion forum. It's a trading forum, and the location of the various parties is of vital interest. Knowing up front where someone is from, roughly, eliminates so many potential problems that the loss of privacy is a negligible consequence of membership on this site.

There are a multitude of reasons for why not to include your home state, address, email, or phone number in your profile.

I can't frankly imagine a "multitude" of reasons. Aside from the one you give, "I don't want to", I can't really imagine a single legitimate reason to not disclose national location. And I'm not sure I credit "I don't want to" as legit either.

I will say, however, that anytime I read "free shipping", my baseline assumption is that is in-country only. Partly that's because I have found some (many) Yanks to be a little...national -centric , and partly because I'm just laid back about that sort of thing. Under the current regime, I also 'fess up about being Canadian in my first few PMs (once we're in the deal phase, as opposed to the general question phase), even though it says so clearly in my ID.

[Elayne]

While I'm new here, and while I live in a country (Italy) who is ashaming in terms of post/mail systems (and thus, stating my country surely prevents me from at least half the deals out there), I agree with what has been said.
Posting the country (even the city, I might add) is a good thing and should be mandatory.

It helps traders going through the various adds/posts, and it is better overall for everyone.

As for me, there is a reason why I always ask, when buying things (I don't sell usually), a mail system tracked from the seller to the buyer (like FedEx, DHL, etc.). You get your stuff quickly, without "italian" mail system, and it is tracked and handled well (usually).
Never had any problem, even for abroad (US) deals, when I did use (and pay of course) for such delivery systems.

All in all, if I can say, well, there are ways to handle deals outside your own countries, as long as the buyer isn't afraid of the delivery costs.

[MagickalMemories]

I think you hit on the imperative thought there, too...

...as long as the buyer isn't afraid of the delivery costs.


Eric

P.S. Welcome to Bartertown!