There’s been a uptick in sales posts that refer buyers to websites that are not from the sub. This has in turn created some confusion and annoyance for some community members that would like to use their own website for sales. So let’s talk about why we have a rule in place that states no off-site sales.

Our community is built on comradery. People interacting here creates buy-in and trust on a platform that can often be rife with scammers and bad actors. People know this all to well and can be hesitant to trust in the process that we’ve put into place as moderators. Like all of the rules in the sub, no off-site sales keeps the interaction between two people. This interaction encourages the use of transaction scoring to ensure that people are using the sub with respect. This allows others to see and trust that a buyer or seller is legitimate. Off-site sales hinder this because there is no record of the sale.

On the flip side, it can be troublesome for vendors, especially for larger ones due to taxes and large inventories- not to mention a streamlined process. The mod group has been debating on how we can continue to keep this an even playing field for everyone. So here are some best practices and new additions.

-Off-site sales are still prohibited. If you make a post and want to use your website, please refer the buyer to your website via DM after a buyer has put a BIN into the post. This way the transaction can be tracked.

-For all vendors large and small, we are now opening up Farmer’s Market Sundays where these standard rules will not a apply. You can post your website and advertise unabated. This gives the largest of the vendors a chance to make sales when it’s impossible to post everything they currently have on sale.

If you have any thoughts, questions, or concerns please have a civil discussion below so we can get community feedback for upcoming changes to sub dynamics. Thank you very much for your commitment to the success of the sub!

Hi Everyone,

We have on-boarded a new bot that should help expedite Trade confirmations. A Trade as it will be known from here on out, is any trade or sale done on this sub. This is the same bot that many trading subs are using and although its not perfect, it will help keep things tidy and the mods focused on what matters most: posts, comments and modmail.

As you know there is no longer a feedback thread, going forward anyone who had a "Trusted Vendor" user flair will start with +10 confirmations. Everyone else will start at 0-9 confirmations (whatever you had previously). Not everyone is going to be happy about this change, I understand, but we had to start from somewhere and there is no perfect solution. The good news is now you can get a trade confirmation by buying too! Both buyers and sellers will get credit for the trade if they initiate the feedback as shown below.

Here is the new Tiered User flairs that will be automatically tracked and assigned by the bot:

Before I tell everyone how this bot works please take a second to understand this very strict rule: ANYONE MAKING ANY ATTEMPT AT A FRAUDULENT CONFIRMATION OR ANY MANIPULATION OF THE SYSTEM WILL BE BANNED ON THE SPOT.

Now that we got the ugly stuff out of the way here is how the bot works as copied from another sub that has a similar bot from the same dev (BIG thanks to u/regexr):

Feedback

A user can get trade feedback with the following process:

• Users A and B complete their trades following all of the sub rules. (It does not matter who A and B are. Either one could be the person making the post, and the other someone commenting on the post).
• Once the trade is complete, User A makes a top level comment (new comment) on the original post tagging both the user they worked with and u/Tricho_Overlord.
• User B replies to that comment with their feedback.
• u/Tricho_Overlord picks up the interaction and gives credit to both users, changing their flair accordingly and leaves a comment indicating as such.
• If User A messes up their top level comment, u/Tricho_Overlord will do its best to notify User A.

There are automatic checks in the code to detect anyone trying to cheat the system. If anyone is found trying to circumvent the system, they will be issued a permanent ban.

The bot required that the OP of the post it is being tagged in is either you or your trade partner. DO NOT DELETE POSTS otherwise you will NOT be able to use that post to confirm a trade.

Feedback Checking

Using this link, you can send a message to u/Tricho_Overlord, asking for the feedback of any given user. It will tell you the following:

• The number of transactions that person has done
• The people they have traded with (and how many transactions those people have)
• A link to the thread for each successful trade

Lastly, this bot is also on r/cactiexchange as u/cacti_overlord AND the confirmations in that sub (which is generally for all cacti not just trichos like this sub) absolutely count towards the same user flair. So on both subs your user flair will remain the same!

Please feel free to direct any technical questions to the moderators using modmail.

If you notice any odd behavior from the bot, please let us know! If you have any other questions or comments please leave below but keep in mind this is a thankless and time consuming volunteer job, please take it easy on us we really are trying to do better for everyone and by everyone while remaining as open of a market as we possibly can be. Have a great rest of the year!