CHARTER: rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace
Abstract:
Rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace is intended to be an international marketplace for the entire philatelic community. Whether you're a commercial dealer, private party, a store-front operation, a mail bid operator, a web-based auction site, this is the place to advertise your philatelic wares.
Note: This charter refers to rec.collecting.stamps (rcs). If that newsgroup is replaced by rec.collecting.stamps.discuss (rcsd), as also presented in the same RFD with rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace, all references to rcs in this charter are replaced by references to rcsd (except where rcsd is already cited).
Advertising:While this list is not meant to be exhaustive, in the future, when someone finds something that's not in this list, the spirit of this charter and this list should be used as a guideline to decide whether the new topic is appropriate.
Types of ads that can be placed:
- Private party and commercial ads to buy, sell, auction, or trade philatelic merchandise as defined below.
Types of ads that may be placed subject to the temperament of the readers of the group:
- Private party and commercial ads to trade non-philatelic merchandise for philatelic merchandise. (E.g. phone cards for stamps.)
Types of ads that should not be placed:
- Private party and commercial ads to buy, sell, trade, or auction merchandise that is not philatelic. (E.g. coins, phone cards, dolls, beanie babies, other collectibles. See definition of philatelic merchandise below.)
Other types of articles that can be posted:
- questions about what's appropriate to post in the group - answers about what's appropriate to post in the group - warnings of potential fraud for the unaware - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or a pointer to it. - advisories about bad dealers and bad customers
Other types of articles that should not be posted:
- general questions and answers -- use rec.collecting.stamps(.discuss) (rcs) or rec.collecting.postal-history (rcph) as appropriate - questions about advertised merchandise -- send email to the advertiser - unsolicited appraisals -- your face-on-mars, Hitler-head, Lady Diana, and 22kt gold replica stamps aren't worth very much -- really! - informational messages -- use rcs or rcph as appropriate - general commentary -- use rcs or rcph as appropriate - responses to or follow-ups to previous posts -- just don't. - other general conversational type posts -- use rcs or rcph as appropriate
Definition of philatelic merchandise:
This list is not meant to be exhaustive. In the future people should look to the intent and spirit of this charter to decide if anything else is appropriate. At a minimum, for the purpose of this charter, philatelic merchandise is defined as:
- postage stamps - covers, stamped and stampless - souvenir pages, commemorative panels, souvenir cards, etc. - other postal history - other stamps and stamp-like items such as revenues, ration book stamps, dunes, Cinderellas, labels, registration and airmail labels, local carriage, media releases, etc. - dealer lots and accumulations of the above items - philatelic auction catalogs - stamp catalogs, e.g. Scott, Gibbons, Yvert & Tellier, Michel, Brookman, Unitrade, Durland, etc. - other philatelic literature such as postal histories, studies, thematic checklists, etc. - albums and album pages. - supplies (new albums, album supplements, stockbooks, mounts, tongs, U.V. lamps, watermark detectors, etc.) - philatelic memorabilia such as postmarkers, badges, patches, vending machines, posters and other marketing collateral, etc.
Format of ads:
The subject lines of ads should be prefixed using one or more of the following:
- "FS:" - for sale - "FA:" - for auction - "FT:" - for trade - "WTB:" - want to buy - "BD:" - bad dealer notice - "BC:" - bad customer notice - other prefixes as necessary and agreed upon by the readers.
The subject should contain a terse description of the merchandise, e.g. "New Zealand Postal History pre 1930." The body of the message is freeform, but subject to the restrictions listed below.
Be careful with bad dealer and bad customer notices. Defamation of character (often referred to as libel and/or slander) is serious, and while "the truth" is usually a bulletproof defense/defence, make certain you know what the truth really is before you post.
Length of ads:
Ads should be short. Two screens full, or about 50 lines of text, is about the right maximum length -- any longer is too long. If you have more information to convey, put it on a web site or ftp site and post the URL, or invite interested parties to send you email for more information.
Frequency of ads:
Ads that are materially the same should be posted at a frequency of no more than once per week. One survey found most news sites keep articles for seven to ten days. If you post the same ad ten days in a row, then when someone who only reads the group every few days will be faced with several copies of your ad. Usenet news isn't TV. The ads aren't gone the instant the next ad starts, i.e. they don't disappear. The ad you post today will be there tomorrow for your potential customers to see.
If you find that you're posting many ads for different types of merchandise, consider putting lists on your web page and post one message with the URL of your page(s).
Don't spam the group. Spamming makes the readers unhappy and they may chose not to patronize you if they're unhappy with you. This may seem like common sense, but experience shows that not everyone understands this.
No one may post the same ad more than once per week. Minor changes to evade this stipulation are not allowed.
No one may post more than ten different ads per day or 50 different ads per month. (You may not ask an employee or anyone else to post ads for you in order to circumvent this limit.) Create a web age, ftp site, or invite interested parties to send you email asking for more information.
Binaries in ads:
Binaries are not permitted. Binaries include:
- GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, PICT, or other image files.
- Computer program files, .dlls, etc.
- any large non-human-readable file, e.g. word processing files like MS-Word or WordPerfect .doc files.
Two pages of ASCII (or ISO8859-1) text on an 80x24 terminal is about 4000 bytes. No file bigger than 5000 bytes may be posted in an article rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace.
How does someone know if something is in the spirit of the charter:
Ask on the newsgroup first. Be prepared to listen to and accept the consensus of the newsgroup.
Commercial versus Private-party:
You are a commercial dealer if:
- you own and/or operate a storefront operation where you sell philatelic merchandise
- you derive a substantial percentage of your income from dealing in philatelic merchandise (decline to define what a substantial percentage is, use your own judgment)
- you operate a web-based or mail-based bidding or auction service, whether you charge a fee for using it or not.
- You own your own top-level Domain Name, e.g. linns.com, stangib.co.uk.
- you have a business checking/chequing account that you use for your philatelic merchandise transactions
- You have a separate taxpayer identification issued by your I.R.S., Inland Revenue, etc., for your philatelic transactions.
- You have a separate corporation, i.e.: Inc, Gmbh, SA, Ltd., etc., or own a sole proprietorship, for your philatelic merchandise transactions.
- Even if none of the above describes you, you may still be considered "commercial." Use your common sense to decide if you're a commercial dealer or a private party.
Q. Does it matter whether I'm a commercial dealer or a private party?
A. Not for rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace.
Language:
Rec.collecting.stamps is an international forum and articles may be posted in any language.
Profanity is, as you might expect, discouraged.
Moderation:
Rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace is an unmoderated group.
Relationship to Other Usenet Newsgroups:
The charter for rec.collecting.stamps allows advertising by private parties, i.e. not commercial dealers. With the creation of rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace, ads should no longer be posted in rec.collecting.stamps.
The proposed charter for rec.collecting.stamps.discuss explicitly prohibits the posting of commercial messages.
Posts in rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace should not be cross-posted to rec.collecting.stamps, and probably ought not to be cross-posted to rec.collecting.postal-history. If rec.collecting.stamps.discuss is created as a newsgroup, see its charter regarding cross-posting to that newsgroup.
You should not cross-post ads to any other group unless its charter specifically allows ads.
END CHARTER.
Original Charted of rec.collecting.stamps
(to be deleted if Yes on .discuss vote wins)
proposed charter for rcs.discuss (will replace rcs if Yes vote successful)
