The Trading Post Is Now Open!

[Zwielicht]

The Trading Post is now open to submissions.

As I went over in the coming soon thread, we went with the pre-approval process that only requires you to be Sapphire Eligible to submit a thread for review.

If you're interested in having a sales listing on OO, you can submit a thread via the Pre-Approval Listing Submissions section.

Have a portfolio of your work ready to go. This is something many of us in the internet marketing industry already have for our clients, so you shouldn't have to build something from scratch just for OO.

How you present a portfolio for the review is entirely up to you, but I'll list a few examples below:

• For graphic designers, a portfolio showcasing graphic design work you've done in the past is sufficient.
• For web designers, it would be pretty much the same expectation we'd have for graphic designers.
• For link builders, that one is a little tricky. Generally, anonymised case studies based on links you built are a minimum expectation.
• For proxy services, I've come across some proxy sellers who have ready-made videos showing their proxies working, so we'd accept this here as well.
• For software services, we'd accept similar video examples as we would for proxy services. However, we do also expect a virus scan of your software.
• For content services, we'd expect a portfolio of written work. Note that we will check these for plagiarism and AI content alongside any claims or proficiency made in your sales listing.

The portfolio can be on your own personal website, on a social media page you own, a download ZIP file; you get the point.

If you're not sure how to showcase your work, you can ask what's expected in the review thread.

As time goes on, we'll build up a longer list of examples in Section 8 of Chapter 1 of the Trading Post rules thread.

If there are any issues with the Trading Post, please post a forum feedback thread about them so that we can fix them.

If you have any questions, please submit them to the Support Desk as staff DMs are closed to new conversations.

 

[Berry Scary]

This is great news, I'm looking forward to seeing more services on here. I might think about submitting a writing service if I have the time.

 

[INCC]

For link builders, that one is a little tricky. Generally, anonymised case studies based on links you built are a minimum expectation.

I sold niche edits and guest posts for years, and I don't have a single case study.

Then what?

The links were decent because I outreached them, but I can't imagine running a case study for a couple of placed links

 

[Zwielicht]

I sold niche edits and guest posts for years, and I don't have a single case study.

Then what?

The links were decent because I outreached them, but I can't imagine running a case study for a couple of placed links

Yeah, I mentioned that one was tricky. It's why this is the Trading Post 1.5 instead of 2.0.

If anyone submitted a service like that, we'd work with them to find a way to review the service.

In the case of a guest posting service, any examples of work done that the trader is comfortable with sharing could be sufficient.

With niche edits, I suppose all we really need to see is that the trader had an article edited with a niche-relevant link added to it for a customer. We can just confirm that was what was done by looking for an archived version of the article from before the edit took place.

 

[Preying Mantis]

Bro good to see this open.

What about if I want to sell a single domain at some point where I made a couple $$$$ from?

 

[Zwielicht]

Bro good to see this open.

What about if I want to sell a single domain at some point where I made a couple $$$$ from?

In that case, we'd just need to verify that you own the domain as well as a monetary claims you made in the sales listing.

As for how you verify ownership over the domain, something like adding a DNS TXT record should be sufficient.

 

[29dogs]

Hey cool!

I take it only IM stuff is allowed in it right?

 

[Berry Scary]

Hey cool!

I take it only IM stuff is allowed in it right?

Huh, I just looked through the rules and it doesn't seem to specify that.

@Zwielicht this may need to be added.

 

[Zwielicht]

Hey cool!

I take it only IM stuff is allowed in it right?

Huh, I just looked through the rules and it doesn't seem to specify that.

@Zwielicht this may need to be added.

Yeah, it's meant to only be for IM products and services unless we decide to expand it later on.

@Impulse will add that to the Trading Post rules.

 

[Impulse]

Yeah, it's meant to only be for IM products and services unless we decide to expand it later on.

@Impulse will add that to the Trading Post rules.

Yeah, it’s been edited. It was only a quick change.

Thank you for the heads up @29dogs & @Berry Scary

 

[GoldenGlovez]

In that case, we'd just need to verify that you own the domain as well as a monetary claims you made in the sales listing.

As for how you verify ownership over the domain, something like adding a DNS TXT record should be sufficient.

Bit dangerous this. I manage the DNS for a number of clients and could easily add a TXT record claiming ownership. I'd add in some additional checks such as confirmation from an admin@domain email and a signed PGP message being posted somewhere publicly on the website (all a bit moot if someone has full control over email and hosting services). Any transfer of funds should really be done through an escrow service, I would not allow person-to-person transactions for these.

 

[Zwielicht]

Bit dangerous this. I manage the DNS for a number of clients and could easily add a TXT record claiming ownership. I'd add in some additional checks such as confirmation from an admin@domain email and a signed PGP message being posted somewhere publicly on the website (all a bit moot if someone has full control over email and hosting services). Any transfer of funds should really be done through an escrow service, I would not allow person-to-person transactions for these.

You're absolutely right about this. I'll update our internal review manuals to add in additional checks for domain sales.

Escrow already is required for specific services. The Trading Post rules mentions whole websites, but any high-priced or high-risk items would require escrow. We can't offer escrow ourselves, but we'd expect the trader to have an arrangement.

ection 6: Escrow Required For Specific Services
For services we've identified as being high-risk or one-off expensive transactions (i.e., whole websites), we'll require the trader to use an escrow service to complete the transaction.

Unfortunately, we can't do escrows ourselves at this time, so you'll need to find one on your own.

Anyway, I appreciate your advice on this!

 

[Champagne]

Amazing update. I’m curious to see what kind of services will be offered here, but judging by the members, we’ll surely have some cool services that we can all benefit from. Good luck to everyone selling services here, and thanks for supporting us.

 

[INCC]

The Trading Post needs some changes, I think:

Not all services can have a portfolio. What if I sell a software I created, a subscription, or a SaaS?

I was forced to pick Yes, there was no other option.

Maybe add something like: Does Not Apply

 

[payal23j]

Awaited moment for me.. thanks for opening a new submissions now.

 

[Zwielicht]

The Trading Post needs some changes, I think:

View attachment 4654

Not all services can have a portfolio. What if I sell a software I created, a subscription, or a SaaS?

I was forced to pick Yes, there was no other option.

Maybe add something like: Does Not Apply

You're right. This needs to be broader so that it covers those situations.

It's been changed to the following:

• "Do you have proof that your service works?"
• "This field is only for the review and will not show up in an approved sales listing. We simply need to be able to verify that your service works as advertised. If you have a portfolio, please upload it either via the attachments feature, a media sharing website, or a link to your own website showcasing your work."

We'll update the changelog later with this.

 

[Zwielicht]

Some changes have been made to the Trading Post. I posted these in the changelog already, but I'll share the relevant ones here as well.

• Messages in the pre-approval section do not count toward the user's post count.
• Threads in submitted to the pre-approval section no longer go to the approval queue. This is redundant now since we set it up so that only the thread starter and the admins can see threads in that section.
• Instead of asking for a portfolio, a question in the Trading Post's Pre-Approval section now simply asks for proof that the service works. This was changed because of an issue @INCC pointed out where there are many services where a portfolio is not possible. This also gives traders a lot more leeway in how they verify that their service works. https://officeoutlaw.com/threads/the-trading-post-is-now-open.3365/post-39839
• A new Software prefix has been added into the Service Listings section.
• The way prefixes work in the Pre-Approval section has now been changed. Traders now just have a default "In-Review" prefix when they submit a sales listing to that section. Once it's approved, the listing will be moved to the service listings section and have the correct prefix for the listings service type added by staff. We had to make this change because the service listing prefixes actually contain the approval message in them, which would be confusing to someone who just submitted their listing for review.

 

[vicky71083]

I am planning to submit my website design service thread , so for the review I need to submit the websites done for other clients .

How to send those Url's and how many Url's I need to send for approval ?

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 9:10 PM

I am trying to send you a DM @Zwielicht but it seems I am not allowed to do so.

 

[Zwielicht]

I am planning to submit my website design service thread , so for the review I need to submit the websites done for other clients .

How to send those Url's and how many Url's I need to send for approval ?

Yes, exactly! After you submit the review thread, just post the URLs in the next post of the thread. Only you and the administrators can see your thread, for reference.

If there is any additional information required, you get a request for it from the @Official Office Outlaw account.

As for how many URLs, 3-5 should be enough to get a clear picture of your work, although if more are needed, you'll get a request about it in the review thread.

I am trying to send you a DM @Zwielicht but it seems I am not allowed to do so.

That's from a recent change I posted about in the changelog the other day.

Members can no longer send DMs to or make profile posts on staff member profiles. Too many have used this as an alternative to the support desk. The reason we tell members to use the support desk is so that the entire team can have the option to view and assist with the issue.

I was getting overloaded as most members tend to message me, but I have others on the team who can answer the questions I was getting sent via the support desk.

At some point, I'll look into reopening DMs for staff members, I'm just looking into a way to convert DMs into support tickets.

 

[vicky71083]

Can I make payment via crypto please , that will be great for me .