The Law of the Land part 2

Thank you for the help JWR. :)

In addition, we're putting serious consideration into opening the shop section up for everyone. The only reason it's restricted is to prevent fly-by-night type operations from operating from the shop since it's very lightly moderated. Forcing sponsors wasn't really because the sponsorship money was making any significant amount of money. It's so that we get a confirmed mailing address and identity for anyone who is selling something and retain some control over who is selling.

I'm working on other things right now (directly connected to the site) so I don't have time to change all the code that forces sponsors only. We're not restricting sales because we want to make your lives as inconvenient as possible, but we would like to restrict them to keep the gallery updates on-topic and not drive hits to the people who come here just to unload boxes and boxes of cels.

Sorry for any associated delays and/or inconveniences.

I think the restrictions are reasonable and sensible. It seems like you're looking out for our safety and benefit, I wouldn't want people joining RS just to sell their stuff in the RS store. Or even in their personal galleries.

If there were no restrictions whatsoever, there would be a lot of damage done to the community and backlash from members. I'd rather have some kind of failsafe than none at all.

If we were to sell our items on eBay, we'd have to pay fees. No service like that is ever free. At least with RS, we can list the item infinitely with no additional costs.

Donating to RS is not an unreasonable request to users who wish to sell their stuff. This hobby revolves around money and collectors can easily spare the money to donate if they really [u]want[/u] to.

I agree with WelcomeConsumer, especially that these restrictions help protect all RS users and keep this service so wonderful.

A suggestion: I really think that it is important to keep an eye on the sales pages and keeping track of sellers info is key. So if the sales pages are opened up to all RS members (including those who have not donated), maybe you can have all sellers register all of the same info with RS without making a donation. I would definitely feel more comfortable that action could be taken against dead-beat sellers (because you know they would love to make use of our wonderfully free service to scam people!).

Thank you as always for providing us with RS!

~ Bri ~

Ok, I have personally visited every gallery on Rubberslug and sent off 151 emails to those I found still having for offer/trade mentions in their galleries.

Many I have emailed where unaware of the policy change and agreeded to comply. Only two took offence and are contemplating leaving ruberslug over it.

There was at little over 30 that did not have a current contact email that most likely will end up being closed for I can't contact them which is a shame for I have enjoyed seeing the cels thay have on display.

If you have changed your email since you opened your gallery, please make sure that your contact email is correct so any feedback sent to you arrives.

Iy took me over a week to view all the 900+ galleries here on Rubberslug. In doing so I found a lot of great galleries I had never know were here. I would highly recomend that everyone take the time to each day visit all the galleries one letter at a time. You will be surprised like I was to see all the great cels everyone has. We all get locked into visiting our friends galleries and may have missed a lot of great cels.