This group ( and similar named ones) are on Facebook either being “invite only” or open groups. I have major issues with the rules set-up by one of the groups in which " Magda Taipei " seems to be the supermod.
Getting no replies at all from 3 mods written too is not professional.
Hoping to find some other FB group moderators here on the Flob whom can enlighten me correctly on the closed group rules and obligations.
So, if anyone knows one of the FB group mods, do please provide their Flob nickname when possible - thanks !
When there’s only a handful of admins that have to moderate that many group members, there’s bound to be some delay time between messages. Magda Taipei, about 2-3 months ago made the open group into closed because she was getting too many notifications regarding the group (or something along those lines).
Also, can’t expect too much professionalism when it’s an FB group created by, what I assume, is a regular FB user. I often see some people post comments about how the group isn’t well moderated and how some buyers end up buying bad items, but how is that the moderator’s fault? There’s no way he/she can go and authorize every single item that people post. If people are concerned about buying faulty items, they definitely should not be searching on FB. There are dedicated auction sites that take the seller’s personal info like Ruten. So, if the buyer gets cheated on the item or something in that nature, the seller is held accountable.
To answer your question, depends on what you’re looking for. If it’s electronics, there’s a pretty well moderated group here
https://www.facebook.com/groups/548703211876107/
Most things have to be approved by admin to sell and the admin himself posts a lot as well.
Aside from that, try requesting to join the similar groups that are listed on the right panel while in Taipei, buy sell trade. There’s always the ol trial and error.
Thanks ranlee for your reply. All what you say makes perfect sense, hence why some people lately posted their concerns on the FB page which Magda and others run.
Being a closed group however, should it not come with more control - which is seemengly not possible due to lack of resources (mmhhh sounds familar)
And yes, there are plenty of surrogate groups offering simialr options. I throw a message to the Core group (close to 20K members) to volunteer as to create a Taiwan Charter that the right post gets on the right page. Today, some offers appear 4 times on different pages - creating clutter and non-neccesary resource allocation.
The Charter would be aligned between all key Moderators of each FB page in Taiwan and rules enforced. Simple things, like Clothing goes into the “clothing page” and Smartphones in others…
Now, for the page ran by Magda & other mods, the frustration comes out of some people trying to get things posted but never appearing and others using the page as a real sales platform as yahoo bid…
[quote=“ceevee369”]Thanks ranlee for your reply. All what you say makes perfect sense, hence why some people lately posted their concerns on the FB page which Magda and others run.
Being a closed group however, should it not come with more control - which is seemengly not possible due to lack of resources (mmhhh sounds familar)
And yes, there are plenty of surrogate groups offering simialr options. I throw a message to the Core group (close to 20K members) to volunteer as to create a Taiwan Charter that the right post gets on the right page. Today, some offers appear 4 times on different pages - creating clutter and non-neccesary resource allocation.
The Charter would be aligned between all key Moderators of each FB page in Taiwan and rules enforced. Simple things, like Clothing goes into the “clothing page” and Smartphones in others…
Now, for the page ran by Magda & other mods, the frustration comes out of some people trying to get things posted but never appearing and others using the page as a real sales platform as yahoo bid…[/quote]
Hats off to you for trying to sort out things. There’s a few ways to actually do this without making a Taiwan Charter, but it would require members to actually read the pinned post, which usually doesn’t happen. You can actually make the events page on the group into subcategories. Just make the events last a year long, label the even the category name, and invite all members to attend.
I think the reason for these FB “buy and sell” groups is because buying on auction sites such as Yahoo or Ruten is down right impossible for foreigners, even if we have ARC, it’s not easy. I know Icon has a thread somewhere on here somewhere explaining her frustration with the local auction sites (and her love for ebay)
Tomas from Electronic Market rocks indeed. No bullshit, just wait a day or 2 and things are posted.
As for the major FB one I refer too, if mods complain not having time to run their own page, nor support their closed group, they either resign or expand their team or make it an open group. Complaining ain’t a solution.
And to your remark, people don’t read pinned post indeed. No solution there 
You can sell things on there, great. If you are selling a phone you need to get ‘permission’ which I understand since there is a lot of scammers out there (most not even on the island, but post on the group). So she is protecting her ‘clients’ from getting scammed.
However, when any mention of current market price (cut and paste from a website in Taiwan selling the exact same thing) she freaks out. Hey she is protecting everyone from cell phone scams (unless you send her a pic of your id) why can’t I drop a url to a website in Taiwan that sells the exact item for less than the guy selling it is.
I had one guy a year ago or more selling a “Denny’s” stereo, for four times what it could be bought at the store, was he trying to scam? Or was he just clueless what the price of his item was? So why can’t I post a url of the price of an item to enlighten the potential buyers of its actual value…
Under Magna’s advice/rules, buyer beware, you get what you pay for. So the whole idea of valuation of an item is lost, since it pans out in her ‘rules’ that if a sucker wants to pay more than it is worth new, let them. Buyer beware? or just lack of common sense? Both maybe true, but why can’t I comment on it with a true value from yahoo?
Major props to Tomas and his electronics page, he is a rock star from what I see. He always has some of the newest gear, for good prices and he doesn’t complain when someone questions a price or GOSH forbid comments without it being a PM.
Don’t everyone freak out on me, just stating some points that I find odd with Magna’s page, yea yea yea, don’t use it, I know this, so simmer down. Just questioning the rational of people who go to such efforts to provide a site as she has, and then limit it so much. So much that the price of an item new is sometimes less than her subscribers are asking and then she balks at that.
If you read this all the way, thanks, I’m sure many will complain but we are talking common sense here people. Ooops, we are in Taiwan, common sense is the same as driving laws here…
Spot on tcarnagan , spot on. I ever wondered if Magda asking a copy of an ID - even a picture- is by law ok. Thought only cops could ask for that ?
I was hesitant to even provide my ARC# to Ruten, but when my girlfriend said that it was very well protected and there hasn’t been any problems, I went along with providing it since the item I was going to buy was ONLY available on Ruten for some reason.
There’s no way I would provide a picture or scanned copy of my ID to someone I did not know. I’m pretty sure there are other people other than the police that have the authority to see your ID, but FB admins are not on that list.
I don’t really have a gripe with Magda’s group, there are flaws, but tbh, no one is perfect. I still find it to be a very good platform to buy IKEA everything that’s used for less than 2 years.
Another point I’d like to bring up is not about the admins, but many of the sellers. It surprises me how many times I’ve seen sellers fail at providing adequate pictures/descriptions for items they are selling. For example, having more multiple items a picture when they’re actually only selling one item (but everything is in focus). The best I’ve seen is providing only a picture and zero responses from the seller after people have asked about the item.