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Gaia Exchange - Rules and Guidelines


Welcome to the Gaia Exchange! If you have already read the rules of the forum and are ready to get started then the Gaia Exchange F.A.Q. is your next stop. Please check it out to get some tips on how to begin buying and selling.

As a member, it is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the forum's rules before posting. Posting in this forum implies that you read and understand the rules and guidelines and that you accept responsibility for the appropriateness of your thread or post.


-----NAVIGATION
  1. Updates and Table of Contents
  2. General Rules & Guidelines
  3. Exchange Rules & Guidelines
    - Selling/Thread guidelines
    - Posting guidelines
    - Miscellaneous guidelines
  4. Thread Placement Guidelines
    - Subforums better suited for your threads.
  5. Offsite Trading
    - Exchanging Gaia property for non-Gaia goods? Think again!
  6. Reporting & General Concerns
    - When to use which reporting button.
    - Reporting Hackings, Scams and Harassment/Abuse.


Recent Changes/Additions

Just a quick run-down on the latest added/removed rules, policy tweaks or other recent changes to the Exchange.

Added November 5th, 2021
Quote:
Selling items that you do not own is NOT permitted.

  • Due to the high risk of abuse associated with these types of threads, any threads found to be selling items that users do not own themselves will be removed from the Exchange. This includes but is not limited to selling or taking offers on someone else's items. You must own the items when trading.
  • As of 5 November 2021, this no longer includes items in any of the cash shops or Loyal's Bazaar as long as it follows these guidelines.
  • Helping your friend find buyers is a great thing. However, if you wish to advertise their thread, please do so in the Chatterbox forum.


Added May 15th, 2020
Quote:
We previously had a policy defining what "Contractual Obligations" meant between users who are buying/selling items. This has been changed significantly from the most recent policy, please see our thread; Defining "Contractual Obligations" for additional details regarding these changes. For those familiar with how Gaia previously handled contractual obligations between users regarding the buying and selling of items prior to the 2016 policy change, it has changed back to that original policy. Please contact a Moderator if you have any questions regarding this policy.
General Guidelines


Please be sure to follow the Terms of Service and Rules and Guidelines here, as in all forums.

    Scamming is a bannable offense.
      While the Gaia Exchange encourages sales and profit, and although users are rewarded with Gold and hard to find rares, we have no tolerance for people who try to take other users' assets with get-rich-quick schemes or promises of rare items. Running any kind of scam - including but not limited to lottery scams or trade scams - will only result in a ban from the site.

    Trolling is a form of abuse.
      Posting to incite negative responses and provoking others is not allowed on Gaia. It is considered trolling, a form of abuse, and warnable offense. Using derogatory language to insult, offend or otherwise attack an individual or a group of people is also a form of trolling. The repercussions for these offenses may be severe.

    Harassment may result in punishment.
      Persistent harassment of an individual or group of individuals against their wishes is not permitted on Gaia Online. If someone asks you to stop, please leave them alone. If they ask you to leave their thread, please do so immediately.

    Spam is only allowed in the Chatterbox forum.
      Please do not spam in the Exchange. If a thread is misplaced, simply report it and move on. The Chatterbox has been created just for users who want to gain gold from posting, or chat about things that may not be suitable for other forums.

      Random chatter in topics that belong in the Exchange is acceptable as long as it remains reasonable and is not the main focus of the topic.

If you find Terms of Service violations, or threads that may need moved to a different forum, please use the appropriate report. The procedures for doing so can be found here.

You can find online moderators by following the "View Forum Moderators" link at the top of the forum.

Gaia Staff will NEVER ask for your password! If anyone asks you for your password, please report it immediately.
Selling/Thread Guidelines!


The Exchange is for selling wearable or housing/car/aquarium items only.

  • Threads selling gaming items belong in the Game Item Exchange.
      Such items include:
      • Trash
      • Bugs
      • Fish
      • Tokens
      • Tickets
      • Non-equippable zOMG items (recipes, rings, etc)
      • Alchemy formulae
      • Non-equippable, and non-housing, alchemy components or ingredients
      • Caches
      • GoFusion Charms


Selling must be the main point of your topic, otherwise it belongs elsewhere.

  • Threads where your main focus is to sell, but is also buying a few items, having contests or a small quest are also fine in the exchange.
  • Adding a sale onto a thread where the main point is something else does not make your thread legit and it will be moved.
  • Rants, Discussions, and other Exchange related topics, while about the Exchange are not suitable here. Please take such topics to Gaia Community Discussion, Site Feedback, Questions and Assistance or elsewhere that is appropriate.
  • Price Guides or any other Exchange related guides belong in the Gaia Guides and Resources forum.
  • Selling a guild belongs in the Guilds Charters and Barter forum.
  • Selling artwork belongs in the Mini Shops and its subforums.
  • Threads that are related to advertising your marketplace store belong in the Chatterbox.


Users cannot have more than 1 active thread going.

  • This is to ensure that the forum does not get cluttered with repeat threads and threads with the very same intent, created by the very same user.

    This includes selling different items in separate topics. If you have recently finished selling an item and choose to sell another item, you should re-use your existing topic rather than creating a new one, if you are doing so within the same day.

    To clear up confusion, 'more than 1 active thread' refers to creating more than 1 topic within a 24 hour period.

    Any such threads that are found to be repeat threads will be recycled immediately. Please bear in mind that intentionally creating multiple repeat threads is considered spam and will be treated as such with a warning.


The title of your thread should relate to what you are selling.

  • "Selling Halo", "Free gold", etc when you are not selling or giving away that particular item is not allowed and will result in a warning.
  • "Ambu's Novelty Store" is allowed since it does not specify or imply that she is selling anything specific.
  • Other examples are suitable as long as they are not misleading.
  • Using white/small or un-readable text in a misleading way is also not permitted.

    Additionally, use of titles that are in direct violation of the Terms of Service are not appropriate, and will result in a warning being issued. Thread titles which violate the Terms of Service, as well as threads that imply a violation of the Terms of Service whether or not they actually contain such violations, are not appropriate.

    This includes, but is not limited to titles such as:
    - "Buying/selling n***s/cyber here"
    - "Selling Gaia gold/items for IRL currency!"
    - "Buying/selling accounts!"


Selling / Buying / Trading Gaia accounts or items for other game accounts, items or real money is NOT permitted.

  • You may NOT buy or sell any game accounts on Gaia for any reason period. This will result in the ban of your account(s).
  • You may NOT buy/sell any gaming items or currency for another games items or currency. This includes Gaia items for WoW currency, WoW items for Runescape currency, etc.
  • For additional information please see this post.



Posting Guidelines!


Advertising or begging in another user's thread is not permitted.

  • This includes any post where a user is posting in an attempt to get users to go elsewhere unless given permission by the thread owner.
  • Links to profiles, avatar arena entries, journals, personal threads, other exchange threads, market, etc are not allowed.
  • This also includes "bump for a bump", begging in other users' threads, and "bump for X item".


If a thread becomes a hangout and is no longer relevant to selling, it may be removed.

  • This includes threads that become mostly chatting or spam later on. If the content surrounding the sale is so far greater than the sale itself, it does not belong in the Exchange. This includes Hangout Threads, and these will be moved to the Friends Chat forum accordingly.

    Please keep in mind that we encourage users to feel comfortable chatting with friends in their shops and are aware this is an important necessity of shops in the Exchange. However, If it becomes apparent that this is the only thing going on for an extended period of time we may ask owners to focus more attention on the selling aspect. If the chatter has become the main point of the topic for awhile the topic will be moved to a more appropriate forum.


Posting in an attempt to disrupt the sale or purchase of an item is not permitted.

  • Going into a thread to post the "correct" prices of an item is not permitted. This includes posting the store prices of items and claiming the seller is scamming, and posting as an attempt to persuade potential buyers not to buy.

    - Reporters: Please do not report users just because they mention vending prices. Often users will use prices in the vend to help their bartering, or as an explanation as to why they will not buy a users item. Only report users who are maliciously posting prices to DISRUPT the sale.


When selling an item of value** and proof is requested, a seller must provide proof of the item via Gaia's 'Display Inventory' feature.

    **Note: Items of value in terms of these rules include all items that are not store items or sold in the Game Item Exchange items (bugs, fish, trash, tickets, etc).

  • In lieu of this change, any user who repeatedly or maliciously refuses to offer proof of an item being sold may receive a warning for scamming.
  • Users found to be maliciously asking for proof will also receive a warning. This includes users who repeatedly ask users for proof on items they have no intention of purchasing, etc.


If a thread owner asks for you to leave a thread, please do so immediately.

  • Often times when a user is disruptive and asked to leave a thread they will continue to post in a trolling or harassing manner. This is not permitted on Gaia per the ToS and so is dealt with accordingly.
    - Reporters; Please only report users who are continuing to maliciously post, or are posting negatively and not a single "okay, I'll leave" type posts.



Miscellaneous Guidelines!


Telling users to label trades a certain way otherwise you will take it as a donation is NOT permitted.

  • It is okay to ask users to label their trades before sending. However, accepting the trade without completing the agreement is scamming.


Selling items that you do not own is NOT permitted.

  • Due to the high risk of abuse associated with these types of threads, any threads found to be selling items that users do not own themselves will be removed from the Exchange. This includes but is not limited to selling or taking offers on someone else's items. You must own the items when trading.
  • As of 5 November 2021, this no longer includes items in any of the cash shops or Loyal's Bazaar as long as it follows these guidelines.
  • Helping your friend find buyers is a great thing. However, if you wish to advertise their thread, please do so in the Chatterbox forum.


Selling soul bound items is not permitted.
  • You cannot sell soul bound items or sell the "rights" to a soul bound item.
  • Further, not being able to move the item from your account or reimburse the potential buyer in the event something happened to the item on your account, allows for a large potential for scamming and illegitimate trades between accounts. As such, we're disallowing the practice completely


Custom Ticket Trading.
  • You are not allowed to make trade agreements for Custom Tickets with the implication that you will give the items to the user when it is complete. This falls under the "selling items you do not own" rule.
  • Gaia Online will, unfortunately, be unable to assist users who enter into these agreements and do not receive the future items they agreed upon.


LastPass and automated submission programs.
  • We do not encourage the use of programs that automatically fill out your password and allow you to submit that password.
  • Such programs can make it appear that you are botting and if we believe that you are botting, your account will be banned.


Highest Donator Contests, and all variations of it are not permitted.

  • These contests involve the promise of an item to the person giving the highest amount of donations. They are essentially like auctions, except bids for the item are not returned.

    Also, giveaway threads that claim that donating more will increase the chances of getting the item(s) being given away are considered variants of this type of contest, and are not allowed as well.

  • Announcement from the Admin regarding Highest Donator Contests.


Pricejacking in auctions is NOT allowed

  • Pricejacking is when a seller uses a secondary account (aka mule account) to place bids in his/her own auction to artificially raise the price of bids being offered for an item. This is a tactic used by shady sellers to get extra profit from an auction.

    Here is an example of how pricejacking works:
    a) A seller makes an auction thread to sell an item worth 1 million gold. The seller starts the bidding at 1 million gold.
    b) Another user, not related to the seller, really wants to have the item, so he/she bids 1.1 million gold for the item.
    c) The seller then, on a secondary (or mule) account, "outbids" the user who offered 1.1 million gold by placing a bid of 1.2 million gold.
    d) The user who legitimately bid 1.1 million gold is now required to outbid the 1.2 million gold offered by the mule account in order to be the highest bidder and win the right to purchase the item.

    As you can see from this example, pricejacking is a form of artificially inflating the price of the bids so the seller can make a profit he/she might not otherwise have received had the mule account not made that bid. It is possible nobody would have outbid the user who offered 1.1 million gold.

    Pricejacking is considered to be a form of scamming, and should be reported.


Misrepresenting store bought items as being worth more than they actually are is considered Scamming and is NOT permitted.

  • Claiming or Implying that a store bought item is worth more than it really is. Especially when used together with over-inflated marketplace values of said store item.
  • You can sell for however much you feel, as long as you arent trying to scam people by telling them that the store item is actually worth more or equal to the item that you're trying to trade them for (when it isn't). Nothing with normal market/trading has changed.
    - Example of what is NOT allowed. "I'll trade my tiki totem for your katana! The tiki is worth more than the katana, see! (link to inflated marketprice)"
    - Example of what IS allowed. "I'll trade my tiki totem for your katana! If you want to, send trade!"


Bumping Contests:

  • All bumping contests must from now on be finite, and the contest will not be allowed to be conditional on the outcome of the item sale in the exchange. Meaning, if or when a user holds a bumping contest, there will be a winner regardless of item sold.
  • If you are having a bumping contest in an exchange thread, the moment the item is sold or you close/abandon the thread, whoever has made the most bumps is the default winner of said contest.
    - Failure to reward prizes at the end of a contest will be treated as scamming.
    - As a reminder; any user who is found making multiple threads to sell the same thing without ending previous ones will have their thread removed with a warning for spamming.


Bank Services:

    Due to the high risk of abuse associated with bank services and the resulting difficulties stemming from that abuse, we are posting a reminder about the recent increase in "loan" threads being posted in the Exchange.

    It is stated in the Gaia Rules & Guidelines that bank services are not permitted. These rules are also referenced in the Services subforum of the Mini Shops, but still apply to this forum.

    User Run "Banks" Disallowed

    We realize that sometimes you want an item and just don't have the gold for it. Asking for a loan then is fine when done in the Charity/Quests subforum. This, however, is not the same as asking for a loan, or offering loans, for the purpose of giving or receiving interest as a service. That is not allowed, nor is it allowed for one to create a loan service as a business plan.

    Please also note that should you wish to help somebody looking for a little extra gold in Charity and wish to loan them gold rather then outright donate it to their cause, enforcement of repayment and any potential agreed upon collateral is your responsibility.

    As with all transactions, unless you trust the other party to live up to their end of the deal, it would probably be wise to not trade with them.


    What is considered a bank service?

    Bank services typically consist of, but are not limited to, services that take gold or items from users and promise a return on their deposit (called interest), offer loan services to users, or offer pawn shop services.


Contractual Obligations
We previously had a policy defining what "Contractual Obligations" meant between users who are buying/selling items. This has been changed significantly from the most recent policy, please see our thread; Defining "Contractual Obligations" for additional details regarding these changes. For those familiar with how Gaia previously handled contractual obligations between users regarding the buying and selling of items prior to the 2016 policy change, it has changed back to that original policy. Please contact a Moderator if you have any questions regarding this policy.

Auction Policies
Auctions have their own policies that you must follow when you run them, please see our auction policy here: Official Auction Policy.

With regards to selling Gaia items, it's only an auction if it's explicitly set up as one, meaning that this policy does not apply to threads created simply to sell or take offers on items as these are not auctions.
Thread Placement Guidelines!


  • The following belong in the Wanted subforum of the Exchange:

      - Downgrade/upgrade requests.
      - Seeking to purchase a certain item from a seller.
      - Offering X amount of gold for whatever sellers may offer you.
      - Seeking a certain item through a trade - "Item X for Item Y".


  • The following belong in the Charity/Quests subforum of the Exchange:

      - Asking for donations.
      - Asking for a gold or item loan.
      - Questing (shops with quest posts are exempt from this because their main focus is the sale of their items).
      - Giveaways of any kind belong in the Charity/Quests forum or the Chatterbox.
      - "Trade-up"/"trade down" - Offering a lower priced item in the hopes someone will trade one of greater value.
      - 1k shops (selling items for 1k regardless of market prices).


  • The following belong in the Game Item Exchange subforum of the Exchange:

      - Seeking to sell, buy, or trade fish obtained from the Gaia Fishing game. (Fish, Trash, Fishing Rods, and/or Bait)
      - Sell, buy, or trade GAIA Casino items (Tickets and Tokens).
      - Sell, buy, or trade GAIA Towns items (Bugs, Trash, Ink, and Flowers).
      - Sell, buy, or trade non-equippable ZOMG items (recipes, rings, etc).
      - Sell, buy, or trade Water Ballons for Gaia's Summer Festival.
      - Seeking to sell, buy, or trade alchemy formulae
      - Sell, buy, or trade alchemy components
      - Sell, buy, or trade alchemy caches
  • Exchanging Gaia property for non-Gaia goods? Think again!


    Buying or otherwise selling Gaian items/gold/property with real money is not allowed and is a bannable offense for all parties involved.

    Basically, Gaian gold and donations to Gaia are the only ways to get Gaian items. All Gaian items are copyrighted to Gaia Interactive, and thus, you are not allowed to make profit out of them. To put it simply, they don't actually belong to you.

    This includes Gaia -> Runescape; Neopets -> WoW; Runescape -> Gaia; etc type trades for accounts, currency or items is NOT permitted. - Any sort of buying or selling of one online Gaming items/accounts/currency for another is not permitted on Gaia.


    FAQ:

    Q.What about Gaian gift certificates? Can I buy a Devil Tail with them if I give the other user the certificate number?
    A. You cannot trade gift certificates to others in exchange for Gaia items. This follows the same line of reasoning as to why you cannot buy or sell Gaian items through such places as eBay. You are still attempting to purchase Gaian items for real money. This is a bannable offense.

    Q. I don't see why you can't trade $200 for a halo though, if you look on ebay, you see digital magic cards, and Ragnarok Online items for sale, you pay the people on paypal, then you go into the game and they trade it to you.
    A. You are not allowed trade $200 for a Halo for the same reason you not allowed to trade digital magic cards and Ragnarok Online items; they are copyrighted and they have a Terms of Service or Terms of Use that specifies that users cannot sell their items.

    Q. So you mean even though I paid gold for my items, they are not really mine?
    A. They are yours to play with on Gaia, but not to sell them for money and make a profit. The items and everything else on gaia is copyrighted AniHQ.

    Q. If someone in the Mini Shops wanted to sell, for instance, a framed print of a PuriPet on eBay (assuming that it was the creator of puripets who wanted to sell them, that is) would there be any problem with that?
    A. If he's the creator, he can sell them anywhere for anything he wanted. But he cannot sell them on Gaia for real money because he would be profiting and using space and bandwith here.

    On the same note, buying and selling Neopets and other game items on Gaia is not allowed as well. It is illegal. Please continue reading to see their Terms of Service paragraph about selling items.

    We leave you with our favorite quote on the matter:
    koutoni
    Why on earth would someone offer $200 for something that's not even real?

    If you see a thread or receive an offer through PM about selling or buying items for money, please contact a Moderator with the link and name of the user.

    As for selling other sites items on Gaia, if you read our Terms of Service, AND theirs, you'll find that it is against the rules:

    Neopets User Agreement
    1. The activities and games here are just for you to play with while on the site. You can't sell them, give them to anyone, trade them for anything (including Neopoints), or pretend you made them. If you wish to do anything EXCEPT play with them, you can't unless you have our express written permission first. (By the way, this means you can't trade or sell your Neopets account, either!) You can display our pictures on your own personal web pages for your noncommercial and personal use ONLY, as long as you write either "Copyright 2003 Neopets, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission" or "(c) 2003 Neopets, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission"on EVERY page with our pictures and/or text and you link directly to us, but you can't pretend they are your own work. (By the way, this means that you can't sell ads, barter for stuff, offer your services, or otherwise earn money, Neopets' Items, or Neopoints either on web pages that contain our pictures and other Materials, or by using our pictures or other Materials, such as by offering to make Neopets banners or backgrounds for others.)


    Runescape User Agreement
    RuneScape Account
    You agree that your RuneScape character and account and items are and remain the property of Jagex. You may not sell, transfer or lend your account to anyone else, or permit anyone else to use your account, and you may not accept an account which anybody else offers you.


    Ragnarok User Agreement
    10. Intellectual Property
    Gravity, including, without limitation, all communication features of Gravity contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information including, without limitation, text, software, photographs, video, graphics music and sound, and the entire contents of Gravity and each area contained therein are copyrighted as a collective work
    under the Republic of Korea copyright laws. Gravity owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement, and enhancement of such content.
    User may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content contained on Gravity (including, without limitation, content that the Website enables you to download) without the express written permission of the Gravity and the copyright owner. In the even of any permitted copying, redistribution or publication of copyrighted material, no changes in or deletion of author, attribution,
    trademark, legend, or copyright notice shall be made.


    Gunbound User Agreement
    9. Intellectual Property
    SOFTNYX, including, without limitation, all communication features of SOFTNYX contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information including, without limitation, text, software, photographs, video, graphics, music and sound, and the entire contents of SOFTNYX and each area contained therein are copyrighted as a collective work under the Republic of Korea copyright laws. SOFTNYX owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such content. User may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit, any of the content contained on SOFTNYX (including, without limitation, content that the Website enables you to download) without the express written permission of SOFTNYX and the copyright owner. In the event of any permitted copying, redistribution or publication of copyrighted material, no changes in or deletion of author attribution, trademark, legend or copyright notice shall be made. The downloading of copyrighted material from SOFTNYX is allowed by the user expressly for the user's own use. User acknowledges that SOFTNYX and/or third-party content providers remain the owners of all materials posted on SOFTNYX, and that the user does not acquire any of those ownership rights by downloading copyrighted materials.
    How to Report

    Abuse of the report system will result in a warning or ban of your account.

    Report a Post

    Use the User Image button when an individual post in a topic contains inappropriate content.

      Reasons to Report a Post:

      • The content of the post violates the Terms of Service or forum rules.

      • The content of the post is off-topic.

      • The member who made the post has a signature which violates the rules.


    Report a Topic

    Use the Report this Topic button at the bottom of the page when a topic is not appropriate for the forum.

      Reasons to Report a Topic:

      • The topic violates the Terms of Service or forum rules.

      • The topic is in the wrong forum and should be moved to a more appropriate forum.


    If you need to contact a moderator via Private Message, please use the "View Forum Moderator" link at the top of this forum to find a moderator.



    Report Hacking, Scamming or Abuse & Harassment?

    The Hacking, Scamming and Abuse or Harassment report forms can be found at the bottom of the forum index. When submitting a report, ensure that you fill out all fields and include as much relevant information as possible.

      Report A Hacking
      Use this form to report a Hacking. Hacking, on Gaia Online, refers to the unauthorized access of an account by someone other than the account owner. In most typical hacking cases, an unauthorized person enters an account which does not belong to him or her and takes items or gold from the account, often changing the account information so that the original owner can no longer access his or her account.

      Report A Scamming
      Use this form to report a Scamming. Scamming is when another member of Gaia takes your gold or items, or tries to take your gold or items, by making false promises of giving you rare items, get-rich-quick schemes, or by any other deceptive means. Scamming generally involves a situation in which two members of Gaia make an arrangement to trade gold, items, or a Gaia approved service (e.g. avatar art commission) with each other and then one of the parties involved in the arrangement fails to live up to his or her promise of an exchange.

      Report Abuse or Harassment
      Use this form to report ongoing Abuse or Harassment. If you are reporting harassment or abuse that is occurring directly in a thread, please use the "Report This Post" button instead.

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