What About???

Rules, Guidelines and Preferences:

First of all, there are no fees associated with posting your items for sale on Surplus Server Interactive. But, we do ask you to follow a few simple guidelines, so our ads will remain consistent and of good quality. The steps to posting a basic ad, with a photo are:

1. You must register and sign off on our terms and conditions in order to post an ad. These are pretty much boilerplate for any type of forum, and you are not signing your life away. But, legally, it is necessary for us to require you to view these basic terms and accept them before proceeding.

2. Right now, as we are just getting this addition to our site up an running, we only have one category. This is "General Surplus Items For Sale." When the category fills out, we will create additional categories and migrate existing ads into these categories, as appropriate. To begin your posting experience enter this category, by clicking on the text to the right of the "little folder" icons in the top left of the main window. Once in this category, you will see, possibly among other things, my example post:

http://www.surplusserver.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=1037939281

You may wish to have a look at this, as it demonstrates several of the many options and features available to you. Once you are ready to begin composing your ad, click once more reenter the "General Surplus Items For Sale" category, here:

http://www.surplusserver.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=general

Then, click on the "Start New Topic" icon on the far right. You'll be off and running.

3. Composing the ad: Select a good "Subject" line. It should begin with "FS: ", as in my example. FS, to the uninitiated, stands for "For Sale." This is the only category acceptable in this forum. "FA" - For Auction items are not acceptable here, and will be deleted. I ask that all subjects begin with "FS: " as it instills consistency in the ads appearance and also will help search engine users understand your item is offered for sale. Do not use all capital letters, exclamation marks, etc. Just a plain text subject. The text of this line should be well thought out, short, sweet and to the point, as it is what people and search engines will see first.

Example: FS: Zurn Flush Valves, 1 GPF

Save the description for the message body, which comes next.

4. Description: If you would like to enter a photo, this is where it should go. Clicking on the bottom row of icons, fourth image from the left inserts an image URL. The "mouse over" text will say "Insert Image." When you click on this you will see the following:

[img]URL[/img]

Replace the text "URL" with the link to your image path like this:

[img]http://www.surplusserver.com/Images/product/ZeissOPMIMD.JPG[/img]

Images must be stored on another site. We do not allow uploading of images on Surplus Server Interactive. This is similar to eBay's method of posting photos. There are a plethora of sites which will allow you to upload and store photo albums, and images. As to image sizes, I would ask that photos be kept to 250-300 pixels wide. Something like 300x300, or 250x200. There is no physical system restriction. But, larger images just will not look good and slow the system down. Do not include huge 2048x1800 images, 1280x764 or even 640x480 images in your post. Keep them small and include only one. If you want to show a larger image, or multiple images, simply include a link to it in your description text like this:

http://www.surplusserver.com/Images/ZeissMicroscope/ZeissOPMI-MD-NC-1B-FullView.jpg

Our system will generate an automatic link, and it will open in a separate window, so, you won't loose your customer to another site. If you want to show more images, include more links like this. If you follow our simple guidelines here, your image will open in the upper left hand of the message window when viewed, and if you're a good photographer, look quite nice! Follow your photo, if you use one, with your description. You can use all sorts of formatting tools here. For information on how to use them, select "Help" from our top menu, then select "Posting." You will find detailed information there as to what all of the fancy little icons mean. Your description should be detailed as possible. Provide the potential customer with information as to what this thing will do, what the options are and what the condition is. And, most importantly, give him the price and a contact number. You can edit your profile to allow or deny access to your email address to other users. But, as many browsers won't be as familiar with our system as you may be, I suggest just putting it directly in your ad, as well as a telephone number and business name - That's right, businesses can post items here too, as many as you want... Last, but not least, you can select whether, or not, you want to be notified automatically, via email, of someone post a follow-up to your advertisement. That way, you'll get a cue to have a look, and answer, if appropriate. When done, select "Preview." Have a look... If everything's ok, hit post and move on to the next ad you want to post! Have fun and hope you make a bunch!!!

Appropriate items suitable for listing on Surplus Server Interactive:

Almost any commercially viable item can be listed here. If you peruse our catalog, you will see we have products from A - Z. While a "hairbrush" may not really be suitable, a large lot of hairbrushes might fit quite well. Surplus implies excess equipment and supplies. Common sense rules. In general more unique, and expensive, items do well here, as well as larger lots of items, even if you will consider selling just a few at a time. You accept full responsibility for what you list for sale. For example, the legal sale of medical equipment often requires the buyer, and the seller, to jump through U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hoops. So, to avoid difficulties, know the products you are advertising and whether, or not, you can legally sell them here. Remember, this is a worldwide forum. The laws in your city, state or country, and those in the buyer's city, state and country may be different. eBay has a list of generally banned, or frowned upon, items which you can access here. They are "old hands" at the problems which can occur. So, in general, it's safe to assume our their list is ours. If you have any questions, please, just write and ask us.

Commercial use of the Surplus Server Interactive forums:

Commercial entities can advertise on Surplus Server Interactive without restriction, or fees. Our site is quite popular, and draws hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors daily. While we might offer competing products, we are so diverse that in practically any category imaginable the advertisers, and we, benefit from the expanded selection available to the buying public. This is an autonomous site. Your ads are your responsibility to post and maintain. We will only become involved if there is a degree of malfeasance unfolding. The more products available, the more attractive the site is with buyers. So, feel free to add as many products as you maintain.

Duration, or longevity of advertisements and post:

Post, of all types, will naturally expire in sixty (60) days. In order to keep your advertisement from expiring, you must log in and edit the post before it expires. While we keep archives of all post, we can not offer to resurrect them from the dead, due to the time involved. Since the post are all in a simple text format, I would strongly recommend making a back-up copy when you first enter the ad and before you hit post. This is very easy to do. Simply highlight the text you have typed in our editing box, then click right click and select copy, or hit ^C (Control C) to copy it. Then, just paste it into a Microsoft Window's Notepad page and save it on your system. I say notepad, as MS Word, and others, may insert nasty text formatting codes in your text causing formatting problems when you try and reverse the process. Of course, if you are studious, once you get the hang of things, you will write all of your ads offline and just log in, enter a subject, cut and paste your ad in and be done with it in a flash... One minute to millions!!!


The proper use of follow-ups:

Posting follow up messages is a great way to communicate! Questions posted to the sellers, who are optionally notified automatically of activity on their advertisement, and then answered in a like manner presents an excellent source of information to other potential customers, as well as the internet community, at large. So, please make full use of this facility.

Additional categories and discussion forums:

Product categories will be naturally spawned as demand rises in a particular area. For example, if you enter our general board and post twenty-five photographic items for sale, tomorrow, when you wake up and log in, you may find a "Photographic Equipment Category." This will be a natural progression. We also plan to add discussion forums, as appropriate. Please feel free to suggest one, if you think its presence will enhance our site. The name Surplus Server Interactive, says it all.