Why don't people check the wanted board before posting on the for sale board?

[st_claire]

Isn't that the point of the wanted board???

[St. Theophan Academy]

I am sure many do _ I do, but I am not going to look past the first few pages, so if it was not posted recently, I don't see it.

[st_claire]

You should try running a search on that board for the item. Otherwise it means that people have to keep making new posts about items they want. It seems like its easier to just edit a post when you finally find the item you are after.

Just like before I post on the wanted board, I run a search on the for sale board :)

[mom2abcd]

It's a great idea, but this format is horrible. A person can't search.

I think its people who really need the money that sometimes check the wanted board first. But it's frustrating to use.

[st_claire]

I use the search button at the top of the page. What about it do you find frustrating? Maybe we can figure out a way to make it work better. :)

[jkwynn]

I find it frustrating b/c I haven't figured out how to search for a string of specific words...for example: I want to search "story of the world" - it brings up EVERY instance of "story" and "world" instead of the specific search. That's a lot to wade through.

[readwithem]

Yep and more often than not the person called it "SOTW" :) I totally agree - it's very frustrating trying to search. St. Claire, I'm sorry you are frustrated with sellers - I can just say by the time I get my things ready to sell, I go ahead and list them and see what happens. If I responded to every WTB ad and then waited for each individual to respond, I could lose a week waiting. When I decide to sell something, I want it out of my house yesterday:)

[st_claire]

When I decide to sell something, I want it out of my house yesterday:)


Yeah, I can understand that. It just seems like there isn't much use to the wanted board. Oh well.

[Faline]

In the past I have responded to WTB ads, and 9 times out of 10, I never got a response of any kind. So I figured I was just wasting my time. :bigear: And that is why I hardly ever check the Wanted board.

[Night Elf]

The two boards used to be just one. Then they polled people to find out if they should split it. The people who wanted it split up won. But that doesn't mean everyone is going to use it that way. I voted for keeping it the same. But to be honest, I quit looking at the WTB board because I hated waiting for responses. We have different expectations. I expect to get a response the same day I email and there are people who might not even log in to their accounts on a daily basis. Do I wait one day? Two days? A week? I did get a response a week later from someone and had to admit the item was no longer available because I sold it. I'm thinking if someone wants something, they should be checking their emails more frequently than once a week. :) And then there are the times when I'm told they found the item already and they didn't know how to delete their post.

Way too much hassle. If I have something for sale, I'll list it on the Sale board and let them come to me.

[singerandsigner]

and yes, people who post on WTB should have the courtesy to respond, or remove their post.

[GailV]

Any thoughts on what a courteous-yet-sane waiting period is?

I responded to a WTB post recently, and I'm wondering if I should wait 1 day, 3 days, a week? I hate to say "Oh, I'll sell this to you" then turn around and say "Whoops, you were too slow" (after all, we all have weird stuff crop up at home where we can't get back to the computer). But I hate to be in limbo when I have a stack of books here to get rid of.

[CookieMonster]

When you respond to a WTB post, tell them how long you will keep the item available to them. Perhaps like this:

If you contact me within the next week, by (Month) (Day), I will gladly sell it to you. If I don't hear from you by then, I'm going to post the item for sale and therefore it may or may not be available to you.

Of course, you could give just three days, or you could give them a month. The time period is up to you. But if you couch your offer in these terms you know that you've tried, they've had a chance, but no one is hanging around in limbo-land wondering what to do.

Just a thought...

[readwithem]

This is what I *usually* say - but I don't always remember
"to confirm, please send me your mailing address and form of payment within 48 hours"

I want to know how they're paying so I know whether to send them my paypal account or my mailing address.

Even so, it could take a week to hear back from 3 different people - who in the meantime may have bought from somebody else! It is a frustrating endeavor all the way around.

[tinkgumby]

I agree that it would be frustrating to offer something to someone and then have to wait. I think putting a set time period is fair.

As someone who has just posted to the WTB board, I certainly hope SOME people look at it! :D

[claussenpc]

I have sold a couple of items on the "wanted" board. It does work- just maybe not so quickly.
If those that posted remembered to updated their posts to "found" and "sold" it would be very helpful.

[CynthiaOK]

I frequently check the WTB board and have made a few sales. However, most of the time I do not get a response back. It makes one not want to take the time to check the WTB's.

[Kris in Wis]

I find it frustrating b/c I haven't figured out how to search for a string of specific words...for example: I want to search "story of the world" - it brings up EVERY instance of "story" and "world" instead of the specific search. That's a lot to wade through.
When searching, can you enclose the exact words in quotes to get exactly what you want? Or try using plus signs between words instead of spaces.

HTH!

Kris

[Cindy in AR]

It's nice for those of us that don't like to post WTB. Who knows who will contact you with something "too good to be true".

[Lori]

I do.

[Jill in Maine]

I have been posting for about a week now on the WTB board with mixed results. I was able to get a hold of Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1. :hurray:
However, two times I have come online within an hour of something I am looking for coming on the FS board...and both times it was already sold!:sad: It can be frustrating. For what it is worth, I had very good luck getting what I needed on the WTB board at Vegsource.....some of you may want to give that a try.

Jill

[probablytracy]

:)

[lv4him7]

Everytime I respond to a wanted ad, the other party never likes my price.(which are good prices for things, I am not greedy) I think on the wanted board, people should say the most they are willing to pay so as not to waste my time or theirs.
Just my two-cents!:)

Julie

[jjmw1]

I find it frustrating to search too! I do try and search, but it just isn't user-friendly!

[classymomma]

I have a lot of luck on the WTB board. So I know people looking. Sometimes it might take a while.

[Jumping In Puddles]

I find it frustrating b/c I haven't figured out how to search for a string of specific words...for example: I want to search "story of the world" - it brings up EVERY instance of "story" and "world" instead of the specific search. That's a lot to wade through.

Here ya go: :)


1.go to the red search box at the top of the page. Click on the blue link Advanced Search. That will open up a new page.

2. In the first box, enter your search words. For example "sotw"

3. In the bottom right box labeled Search In Forum(s):

Scroll down to Sale and Swap board and you can select: For Sale or Wanted to Buy or both.

4. Click Search Now at the bottom.

It should bring up results such as this. (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/search.php?searchid=587551)

does that help?

[jkwynn]

not really, hehe.

I was trying to say I have trouble searching for a string of words, not just one word, like 'SOTW' would be considered.

You know on ebay how they have different ways to search for things...like if you wanted to search for rompers in size 3, 4, or 5 but you didn't want any that were pink, you could do a search like this:

romper (3, 4, 5) -pink

...and it would give you what you're looking for, mostly.

If I did that here, I'd get every post with romper, every post with any of the numbers AND every post with pink in it.

If I searched "story of the world" - it would also bring up all the "world geography" listings and all the "The Story of Me" listings, etc etc etc... Does that make sense? (doubtful, lol)

[Jumping In Puddles]

not really, hehe.

I was trying to say I have trouble searching for a string of words, not just one word, like 'SOTW' would be considered.

You know on ebay how they have different ways to search for things...like if you wanted to search for rompers in size 3, 4, or 5 but you didn't want any that were pink, you could do a search like this:

romper (3, 4, 5) -pink

...and it would give you what you're looking for, mostly.

If I did that here, I'd get every post with romper, every post with any of the numbers AND every post with pink in it.

If I searched "story of the world" - it would also bring up all the "world geography" listings and all the "The Story of Me" listings, etc etc etc... Does that make sense? (doubtful, lol)

ahhh, I got you now! :) You're right that would be much better :iagree:

[JenParrish]

I find it frustrating b/c I haven't figured out how to search for a string of specific words...for example: I want to search "story of the world" - it brings up EVERY instance of "story" and "world" instead of the specific search. That's a lot to wade through.


I tried the "advanced search" option and searched titles only and that helped pull up the information I was looking for but only the ones where the books I wanted to purchase were listed in the title. It did eliminate most of the instances where "draw", "write" and "now" were listed separately in the body of the messages. Hope this helps you. I was trying to figure it out too being new here myself.