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Hello Gaians!

We have a long-standing rule that any item you're selling, or taking offers on, must be your item and in your inventory. Similarly, this also means that any offers or bids you make for another user's item or services must be with Gold/Platinum that's on your account, and/or items that are in your inventory. Previously, this has included threads or posts which offer to purchase items out of any of the Cash Shops or Loyal's Bazaar for another user in exchange for Gold/Platinum or items.

This thread is to announce a change to our current policy for items specific to these shops:

• La Victoire
  
• Cloud 9
  
• Rococo
  
• Mecha Neko
  
• Loyal's Bazaar
  
• Gaia Rewards
  
• GoFusion
  
• Prize & Joy
  
• The Treehouse
  
• Other items that can be obtained through exchanging game items with NPCs in the gold shops.

You are now allowed to take and accept offers to buy items from these shops for others (and make requests for others to buy these items for you) as long as:

1. the item is currently available in one of these shops
   
2. you (as the person buying the item from the shop) presently have the Gaia Cash (or other appropriate currency for the shop) on your account to make that purchase
   
3. you (as the person asking the person to buy the item from the shop) presently have the Gold/Platinum or items you've offered in exchange for the requested item

These changes currently do not extend to items available for direct sale, such as Project Tickets on the Seasonal Styles page, or pledges/flairs. This also does not extend to other forms of selling items you do not currently own, such as taking offers on an item that is currently on a friend's account, or selling copies of a Project Custom/Recolor item that is still in production.


This means that threads such as the following are now permitted in the Gaia Exchange:



Threads such as the following are now permitted in the Wanted Forum


Threads such as the following are still not allowed in The Gaia Exchange and will be removed or relocated as appropriate:




If you wish to conduct these types of transactions, please consider the following points:

• If you request a user purchase an item from one of our cash shops and the other user agrees, you are then contractually obligated to follow through with this purchase and may not change your mind unless both parties mutually agree to cancel.
  
• We recommend that any agreements of this nature are conducted on site via a traceable method such as posts or PMs. The moderation team is unable to assist in situations where there is no proof of agreement and so without on site evidence, you would not be able to receive assistance if an agreement is broken. Agreements conducted off the site or in game or chat spaces like ZOMG or Rally would not have evidence should there be concerns with the transaction. The moderation team does not accept screenshots as evidence as these can be easily changed by either party.
  
• In some situations an item may sell out or expire prior to a transaction being completed. In these situations this is not considered a breach of contractual obligations as neither user has lost anything. Be mindful of remaining item limits or time available for purchase when making agreements of this nature to avoid potential disappointment.

Why are these changes coming now?
This topic has been under discussion for quite some time, where we've weighed a lot of points and options before finalizing and announcing this decision. There is an inevitable risk of scamming or disappointment for those who offer on any item that the other person doesn't currently own. Most of our rules regarding transactions for both items and services are in place to minimize these risks.

However, we do know that there are people who are unable to, or simply prefer not to, purchase Gaia Cash that may want items from the Cash Shops, and those who log in irregularly that may want items limited to Loyal's Bazaar. We also appreciate that there are people willing to supply those items if there's someone to buy them at an agreed upon amount. We hope that these changes also help with item availability in the long run, as these may be items that the person spending their Gaia Cash may not otherwise purchase and provide.

We're also hoping to address the long-standing issue of Off-Site Trading. We've noticed that most of those who are engaging in this violation also actively support and subscribe to Gaia Online. Due to the damage that Off-Site Trading causes to the economy (by adding large amounts of Gold/Platinum into circulation), to the site (such as strain from heavy botting), and to other users' accounts (such as from hacking), those found to be participating in these transactions are permanently banned. Accounts that people truly cared for are lost over what often amounts to a bad, and impulsive, decision.

We believe some people are Off-Site Trading out of convenience because it's the fastest way for the individual to turn money into Gold/Platinum. Our hope from this change is that the process of turning GCash into Gold/Platinum via this new permitted method will be faster for these people going forward, and that we'll see a reduction of people trading the status and integrity of accounts they cherish for the convenience they feel Off-Site Trading provides.


Thanks for reading! We hope that these changes make a positive impact for everyone's experience going forward!

Last updated: 26 February 2022