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SPORTSCOLLECTORS.NET MEMBER RULES



Welcome to SportsCollectors.net (SCN), the leading sports collectibles resource and community. It is expected that all members take the time to read through the rules and restrictions, as they will be expected to adhere these rules.

SCN is privately owned and we reserve the right to revoke anyone’s membership or suspend privileges if our policies cannot be followed (without refund). Any content posted that violates our Rules or Terms of use is routinely removed.

We ask that you please follow these Rules and Terms of Use when using this site. These guidelines are global and take effect on every area on this site - meaning they apply to (but not limited to) content on the Message Board, Chat, Private Signings, Private Messages, and Groups sections of the site.

I. Account Information
II. Posting Guidelines
III. No Promotion of outside commercial sites or other communities
IV. Thread Hijacking and Trolling
V. Bumping Threads
VI. Trading/Selling
VII. Listing Trade Items
VIII. Must Send First
IX. Minimum Rating to sell, offer consignment, offer 50-50, or offer private signing
X. Private Signings, Consignments, 50-50s
XI. Trade Manager Rules and
XII. Language
XIII. Private Message System
XIV. Spam
XV Copyright Infringement
XVI. Avatars/Pictures
XVII. Infraction System
XVIII. Contact Us/Report Issues

I. Account Information:

As part of your membership on SCN, you are expected to fill out your profile to reflect your actual name, full mailing address and phone number. This information is only viewable by yourself and the staff, unless you make a trade with someone and that person will be able to view your information. Failures to do so could/will affect your trading privileges as a premium member on SCN.

Multiple Accounts and Sharing Accounts
Multiple accounts for one perso are not permitted without the permission of the SCN staff. Any duplicate accounts without staff permission can or will be banned. If creation of multiple accounts persists, all accounts will be banned including the original account.

If one of the members sharing an IP, living in the same or are related happens to break our rules and gets suspended or banned, the other IP sharers face the risk of having their accounts suspended, banned, or tagged for MSF (Must Send First).

Members are not permitted to share an account with anyone else, unless it is a COPPA compliant member and that member's parents/guardians. We will revoke all privileges when we see this happen.

II. Posting Guidelines:

SCN offers a wide range of interactive user resources specially tailored to sports collectors.

We encourage members to explore all of the resources the site offers. The greater the member contribution, the greater the benefit to its members - so we certainly want everyone to feel free to participate in all areas. With that said, there are some limitations in place that you will need to observe when posting to the various areas.

Duplicate or Repeated topics
Please be sure to use the message board search before posting. Many of your questions have answers available for you. Questions that have already been answered may be deleted.

You should only make posts related to sell/trade in the correct sport's Trading/Selling sections.

III. No Promotion of outside commercial sites or other communities

We do not allow the following types of sites to be promoted on SportsCollectors.Net (without prior approval):
- Online stores or sites that offer items for sale
- Online communities or message boards
- Third party affiliate referrals
- Adult content, gambling, or content inappropriate for minors

Our very affordable yearly subscription fee does not entitle members to advertise their businesses/online stores to our community. Promotion of these items may not be done on the message board, via Private Message, or in a private signing.

It is acceptable to make posts related to collecting sites, collector resources, and blogs that do not contain commercial interests.

IV. Thread hijacking and trolling

Thread hijacking is not permitted. Hijacking a thread is considered taking over a thread that you did not originally create and posting something that has nothing to do with its actual subject matter.

Examples are trying to sell or trade cards in a thread where the original thread starter is doing the same or jumping in a thread to elicit information about an item that was not mentioned by the thread starter. To remedy this, simply create a new thread.

Here are 3 examples that are not acceptable:
1) Member A posts offering an item for sale. Member B replies with a comment about the item or price obstructing the sale of the item. Examples of an unacceptable comments would be "I don't like that item" or "that is a really high price".
2) Member A posts offering either a private signing, offering items for sale, or asking for a player's address. Member B replies that he has a similar/related item for sale or a link to another site.
3) Member A posts offering either a private signing or items for sale. Member B replies with complaints/negative comments related to issues from a previous dealing. Unacceptable examples could be - "Don't deal with this person", "Where are my items you owe me", "This person lied to me", etc.

Thread hijacking will no longer be tolerated. If you post one of the scenarios above, it will likely result in a month long suspension of your message board posting privileges.

Trolling is considered making comments in someone's thread in provocation to create emotional distress towards other people or picking a fight. No personal attacks, abusive language, abusive behavior, or flame wars are allowed. The posts will be removed and your posting privileges will be prohibited.

If you have a problem, please contact the Administrators and we will try to help when we can.

V. Bumping Threads

Bumping a thread is only allowed after 8 hours have passed since you last posted if you are the last poster. Also, you may not bump more than once a day. Bumping is considered any post that is not in response to a previous post. This includes items such as “ttt”, “bump”, “list updated”, etc. Please note that this rule applies to all forums and groups.

Posting on a thread in the effort to help another members thread stay at or near the top of a forum, otherwise known as "friendly bumping" is not allowed. Friendly bumps constitutes a post that has nothing to do with the thread topic or just a blatant post, staff will use their discretion when determining "friendly bumping".

VI. Trading/Selling:

SportsCollectors.Net can not get involved in trade disputes.
If you don’t get your part of a trade, SportsCollectors.Net will not get involved to limit potential liability. If you decide to make any transaction (on or outside of this site), you do so at your own risk. By using this site, you agree not to hold SportsCollectors.Net liable for any losses/damages occurred as a result of a transaction or use of this site.

Trading functionality is only available to active Premium Members.
This is an interactive feature that is offered as part of the premium subscription. The only trade item listings you can see available are entered by members that are active premium subscribers. All Trades need to be tracked in our Trade Manager A trade is defined as any time members agree to:
- Exchange or trade items
- Purchase or Sell items
- Conduct a Private Signing
- Get an autograph in person for another member (including 50/50's)

Members cannot trade/sell any of the following:
- Incoming Cards
- All items must be in your possession before you can post them in the Trade Manager. This includes any pending trades as well as all auction wins.
- Weapons / Alcohol
- No weapon or alcohol of any kind are permitted to be traded or sold on the site.
- Grab Bags – These are the lots that will contain a possible chance of certain cards. The exception to this is team lots (lots that only contain usually commons of a particular team) and they can only be sold to cover the cost of shipping.
- Auctions – No cards can be traded or sold in an auction style or format. This includes time-restricted trades/sales, guaranteed or not.
- Packs/Boxes – No selling of packs or wax boxes of cards is permitted on SCN unless you are a staff member or sponsor. Factory sealed boxes of cards can be traded, but not packs.
- Custom Cards/Unlicensed Reprints - Anything using a company's design work, logo, etc. that is use by another person cannot be traded or sold. Likewise, any sort of facsimile of a person's autograph without their consent cannot be traded or sold.
- Explicit or Adult material
- Raffles or Paid entry contests - you may offer to sell tickets/entries for a chance to win a prize.
- Countrfeit or non-authentic autographs/memoribilia

Buy/Sell/Trade posts on the message board can only be made to the Buy/Sell/Trade topics. This is important to keep our message board organized, to keep threads on track, and to keep sales Spam posts to a minimum.

How does autograph trading on SportsCollectors.Net work?

There are 4 easy steps:
  1. Create your Trade Inventory.
    Members can create an invetory of their autographed items they have available for trade.
    Fill out this form to add trade items.
  2. Search for Items to Trade.
    Members can search other members inventories to find autographed items they are interested in obtaining:
  3. Make a Trade Proposal.
    Once you find an item you are interested in, use the trade offer from to propose a trade.
  4. Leave Feedback on Completed Trade Agreements.
    Leave Feedback for other members on your completed trades.

VII. Listing Trade Items:

SCN provides members a structured area to list autographed items available for trade. Please follow these rules related to listing trade items in the Trade Section:

  1. Only list autographed items.
    Since this is a sports autograph community, we ask that you only list autographed sports items. Depending on the popularity of the trading feature, we may decide to add support for non autographed items in the future.
  2. You can not list sale prices with your trade items.
    We ask that you do not put sell prices in the item’s description. If you and another member come to an agreement to sell an item rather trade privately (and you have a feedback of 5 or greater), then we are OK with this.
  3. Posting scans of your items is encouraged.
    We highly suggest that you add an image with your trade item to make your item more attractive and to help avoid future disagreements. If you do not have your own web site, you can upload your scans to our Photos section or there are free image hosting services you can use. Here are four we suggest:
  4. Keep the listing comments about the item.
    You can add additional information about your item in the commnets field. If it is a card, we’d suggest you list the year, set, and the player’s team. If it is a photo, you may want to list the size and if it is color. If you biught an item, you may want to denote where you bought it from.

    You may not list your web site, your user name, your eBay ID, or anything else not specifically related to the trade item.
VIII. Must Send First:

Every day new members join our community. As a new member, it is imperative that you establish yourself on SCN. Therefore, all members with a trader rating fewer than 5 must send first on a transaction - meaning the veteran member should not send his end of the until receiving items from new member. It does not matter if you are buying, selling or trading.

When a member with a feedback rating less than 5 agrees to a deal with a member with more than 5, the member with more than 5 should not send out his end of the deal until he receives his items. This rule is in place to safely allow new members to be introduced to the community and to protect established traders.

If both members are below 5, the one with the lower feedback sends first.

Once both parties have 5 or more feedback, then both parties are expected to send at the same time when trading (unless agreed upon otherwise). As for buying/selling, the buyer is expected to send first and the seller sends upon receipt of payment (unless agreed upon otherwise). Any agreements outside of this protocol should be documented in the Trade Manager.

IX. Minimum Rating to sell, offer consignment, offer 50-50, or offer private signing

You can only sell items or offer private signings once you have reached a feedback score of 5.

Members with feedback scores less than 5 are prohibited from offering items for sale, offering 50-50's/consignments, or to conduct private signings anywhere on SportsCollectors.Net (Message Board, Groups, Private Messages, Chat, etc.). Members with scores lower than 5 can buy or trade with other members until their score reaches 5.

Much like the Must Send First rule, this is done to protect our members and allow new members to earn a positive reputation before being allowed to accept money from others. The rule is applies to all members (doesn't matter who you are and how long you have been on here) and is non-negotiable.

We do not consider feedback earned on other sites, as there no way for SCN to validate that activity.

X. Private Signings, Consignments, 50-50s

A Private Signing is where the promoter has an agreement in place with the player or player's representatives with the terms of the signing. The prices and date of the signing must be agreed to. There must be an agreement with the player or representative.

In the event that the promoter is unable to conduct the signing, the promoter is responsible for full reimbursement of the fees and items, including any shipping fees (unless otherwise stated in the signing's description).

All Private Signings must be approved by a SportsCollectors.Net administrator before they will appear available to members. The approval process can take 12-72 hours. SportsCollectors.Net reserves the right to reject any signing at the discretion of its administrators.

50-50's/consignments are in person meetings scenarios where a member offers to try to get items signed in exchange for money or other items. Since there is no contract in place, there is no guarantee that the member will be able to get the items signed.

For 50-50's/consignments agreements in the trade, we strongly suggest that it is clear:
- What the return shipping fees are
- Who pays those fees?
- If the member can not get the item signed, a date when the item should be sent back

If you are offering a private signing, 50-50, or consignment, it is assumed that you will witness (watch in person) each of the items being signed. In the event that you are not planning to be present during the signing, you must clearly disclose that a 3rd party will be conducting the signing on your behalf with details about the 3rd party.

XI. Trade Manager Rules and Trade Feedback

You are responsible for your item until it is received by your partner and in their hands. This is why SCN recommends insurance and/or delivery confirmation. Any prior damage must be reported to your potential partner.

Sending out free items (gifts) or in person trades are not eligible for feedback and cannot be placed in the Trade Manager. That includes SASEs.

Deals involving trades where neither party sends anything through the mail (other than a form of monetary payment) cannot be posted in the Trade Manager. If you try to agree to these types to boost your feedback, it will result in removal of the trade and potential suspension of trading privileges.

Feedback fraud is taken seriously here on SCN. Retaliatory feedback or improper feedback will be removed and actions will be taken against your account if you are caught.

Anything that is received from a trade or buy/sell that is posted in the trade manager whether it is cards, money sent through the mail, Pay-Pal , or any other type of item cannot be dealt to another member or traded, sold or spent on any site such as Ebay or any other site until the transaction is completed by both members. If anything that is involved in a transaction would be dealt to another member, traded , or spent on another site before the transaction is completed by both members if a dispute would be filed the member who dealt something involved in the transaction would be subject to either warnings, infractions, or any type of actions that would be deemed necessary.

XII. Language:

Any foul or hostile language used in SCN will not be tolerated. This includes any derogatory statements and profanity. In accordance, using symbols to represent letters or to cover letters/words is not permitted either as the words are easy to decipher. This includes any attempt to work around our foul word filter or using abbreviations for foul words. Words caught by the foul word filter will appear on the boards blanked out by * and an infraction will still be handed out for their use.

Threads containing links to videos (such as on YouTube) or outside websites (i.e. articles, blogs, etc.) containing inappropriate language in the link's primary content will be archived and an infraction will be handed out for their use.

Direct or indirect personal attacks are strictly not permitted. Insults and negative attitudes are not allowed. It is better to walk away from a possible confrontation and come back with constructive arguments after you have cooled off.

All members have the right to their own ideas, beliefs and faiths. Members have the right to express these on SCN with equal respect and consideration if they are not disruptive.

XIII. Private Message System:

Our PM system is to be used for one-on-one contact. We do not allow posts on the message board, "Member’s Name, Come Here!". That’s why we have a PM system.

However, you are expected to conduct yourself in the same manner in a PM as you are on the message boards.

If you are having issues reaching a member by PM and it is of an urgent matter such as a trade issue, contact a staff member to assist you.

PM Abuse is taken seriously. If you are caught spamming, insulting, or otherwise negative behavior through our Private Message system actions against your account will be taken.

XIV. Spam:

We do not allow spamming of other sites on SCN, unless they are in our network of sites. As discussed earlier in the Rules, you may not promote commercial web sites, sites with items for sale, or community/message board sites. This includes all non-sports card related sites as well as sites where you receive compensation for referrals or affiliate programs.

XV. Copyright Infringement:

Copyright infringement is illegal. SCN will enforce the law. Never post an article in its entirety. When posting copyrighted material, please use small sections or link to the article. When posting copyrighted material please give credit to the author in your post.

Solicitations for copyrighted materials of any form will not be permitted. Advertisement of locations where copyrighted materials may be obtained will not be permitted.

Members are not allowed to ask or offer to buy, sell or trade any illegal copies of anything. (Photos, images, movies, music, games, etc.) If you are caught or reported you face being banned here. We do not condone ripping off people. Do not risk your account here for something as stupid as this. Remember, IT IS CONSIDERED STEALING!

Also, if you are caught modifying or selling modified cards, including modified patch cards, and claiming they were distributed in that way, then that will result in an immediate ban from the site.

XVI. Avatars/Pictures:

Images, material or links to images and or material whether real, satirical or implied depicting obscene, indecent, lewd, pornographic, violent, abusive, insulting, or threatening in nature are not permitted anywhere on SCN. This includes Gifs or cartoons. The SCN staff has discretion in judging which avatars/pictures do not comply with these rules.

XVII. Infraction System:

Members can have all posting and PM privileges suspended. Your privileges will automatically be permanently revoked if:
- You have a feedback rating of -2
- You get 5 negative feedback ratings in a single month
- You violate the rules above

XVIII. Contact Us/Report Issues:

We have an open door policy at SCN. You can come to us at anytime with questions, suggestions, complaints, etc. We can be reached via the PM system or the Contact Us link at the bottom of any page. Please avoid making a post on the boards to trying contact a staff member.

If you notice an issue on the board, you can report it to the staff by clicking on the "Report Issue" button located beneath each thread. Fill out the information and then the staff will handle it accordingly. Keep it mind it may not get handled immediately as it depends on what staff members are online at the particular time.

At no time should you air your grievances on the open boards, if you feel you have been wronged, please contact a senior moderator (red usernames).
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