I have seen people link to ebay many times to show where they bought certain products of to discuss the merrits or problems with those producs. Ebay is one place many people buy their RC products.

I read the RCU policy and it is a litttle unclear to me. It would apear that if you are selling then all ebay links are baned but if you are discussing ebay as a supplier of products that are only on ebay that would be the same as links to vendors sites. There are many ebay only venders and products.....

I was told by one moderator "ebay links are not allowed". I do see them alot. Since this part of the policy is mentioned under the heading of "Sellers" does it aply to people posting as reference?

Thanks,
Treven.

You can post a link to Ebay IF it answers a question, or helps in the discussion in the thread.

But the rules are also very clear on posting links to auction site ads:
It's a fine line as to what links to Ebay ads are allowed and what aren't allowed, so when it's questionable the moderators will error on the side of caution and remove the post. These rules about posting links to Ebay ads are in place for a reason, and that is because the RCU membership do not want to be bombarded with links to Ebay (and other auction sites as well) ads while they are viewing the RCU discussion forums. The owners of RCU have put these rules in place for a reason and they stand behind them 100%.

Ken

Etreemly high prices and dishonest ebay auctions are often of intrest and I have seen them posted with a link before for general comment or to warn buyers. Is this a grey area?

The grey area came from the way that you worded your posting. When a moderator looks at it they can easily think that you were simply posting a link to an Ebay sales ad. Your post was reviewed by not only the moderator that removed the post but also by Community Moderators and the Forum Managers for RCU, and we all agree that your post should have been removed.

Ken

Well I wasn't trying to discuss my post but the policy in general. But since you mentioned my post it was a warning to anyone who might buy that engine for over $100 more than it can be bought from the vendor. Obviously, by reading my post it was clear that I was not the seller. I will be more carefull on this site in the future knowing what I know now.....

I would like to expand on this point just a little because there is obviously confusion with some members about these links and I have been questioned about it.

I have seen a lot of posts in which the auction number of eBay auctions is given and members take this as being acceptable according to the community policies. The policy does not say that "live links" are not allowed but specifically uses the word "links". An auction number is a link of sorts because it is direct reference to the auction that is mentioned. With that in mind, auction numbers are also prohibited by the policies.

Remember the "spirit" of the rule is that rcu's discussion forums are not the place to spam ebay auction ads. Who wants 100's of posts here in our DISCUSSION forums with ebayers saying "go visit my auction here at this link!". Do we really need that cluttering up our fine discussion forums? Is rcu nothing more than a place for a few sellers to spam their ads for ebay auctions? I think most would agree not. This is what the spirit of the rule is about.

What we don't stifle is legitimate requests where a guys says "where do I get this xyz part?" and maybe one real solution is the rcu market or maybe there is an ebay auction for it. either one is fine in that case. We just don't want to be a repository for people to come in our discussions to pump their auction. This is not what our discussion forums were created for.

Very simple and I hope this further clarifies things.