Spare yourself heartache -- read our caution statement at least once!
Beware fraudulent sellers, as well as fraudulent buyers trying to pay too much with a (counterfeit) check, then asking you to remit the difference. Don't email us; report fraudulent buyers here. |
Most AskedDoes it cost anything to use this site?How do I register? I don't plan to sell. Why should I register? How do I post a curriculum item, group, activity, or thought? Help! What is my username (or password)? How do I change my username/email/info/password? My emails to the seller/buyer bounce. My emails to the seller/buyer aren't answered -- are they getting them? Do you provide any help against fraud? How do I leave a rating for a transaction? I can't log in! Help -- I get a ''Server Error'' message when posting! Will I be reminded to renew or do I need to remember in time so I don't lose my listings? What does ''ppd'' mean? How do I edit or delete a curriculum item, group, activity, or thought? How do I renew my listings? The PayPal upgrade button is gray and I can't get it to change! Do my listings go away when my credits expire? Do you use affiliate marketing? I'm a new user. Why does my page have a ''Caution'' statement on it? Is this site secure? Where did my account (and ratings) go? What forms of payment can be used? BuyingIs there a way to check out a seller?How do I buy items? How do I check out a seller? How does the watch list work? Will the sellers ship to Canada (or overseas)? How do I pay with PayPal? The seller wants me to use PayPal's ''Send money to a friend'' option. Helpful tip: Copy and paste the listing into your email to the seller. I've sent money, but not received my material! The material I received wasn't as described! The seller deserves a negative rating, but I'm afraid of retaliatory feedback. I can't find what I need! How do I post a want ad? SellingIs there some way to check out a buyer?If paid by cashier's check or money order, should I wait before sending the material? Can I register several email addresses if I have a lot of items? How do I price my items? How do I post a picture of an item? How do I show or remove a PayPal button? Can I have the buyer pay the PayPal fee? I'm a reseller; can I post ''For Sale'' ads? I'm a distributor/manufacturer/author/creator; can I post ''For Sale'' ads? How do I keep track of a buyer, in order to leave a rating later? Can I temporarily hide items (pending sales, going on vacation)? I need longer listings! How long should I wait on a buyer before moving on to another? Is there a preferred way to ship items? Help! I can't renew or edit my listings, or post new listings! Can I list material with resale/transfer restrictions? You have listings for resale-restricted materials from ___! Materials that can't be resold, but the publisher allows ''gifting''. How soon should I delete a listing after the sale? How do I get my photo listing(s) on the front page? Can I put a link to my offsite store/eBay listings in my profile? What sort of games can I sell? How do I list multiple, identical items? Why do my listings keep disappearing? Do you provide a bulk import for listings? Where did my ratings go? When do the ''New member'' and ''No ratings received'' cautions disappear? Other DetailsI've lost my listings -- why don't you send out a renewal email?The shipment was insured -- is everybody protected? What do the condition ratings/abbreviations mean? How do I read the ratings others have left for me? Can you match up those who wish to donate a book or two with families in need? Can we reprint ''The Monthly Chat'' in our homeschool newsletter? Why don't you have a ''Games'' category? If I don't renew my paid registration, do I lose my username and ratings? How do I list something that is free, or that I want to give away? I can't see the images! When I try to get the seller's email, I can't see the characters to enter in the CAPTCHA. How do I delete my account? Groups and ActivitiesCan I post my homeschool service/music lessons/paid classes in the ''Activities'' section?How can we edit the information about our group or event? Our group's contact person is no longer active -- can you correct the listing? Most AskedDoes it cost anything to use this site? Buying is free and doesn't require registration. Selling requires registration, and is free for listing up to seven homeschool-related items at a time (we don't currently limit the number of wanted items, groups, activities, or homeschool thoughts). If some of your items sell, list others in their place. Feel free to list items for neighbors, friends, or fellow homeschoolers. You are welcome to list more than seven for sale items at a time (we have many users that list several hundred), if you buy a paid registration. We hope you will consider this, since it helps pay for the site. How do I register? I don't plan to sell. Why should I register? Registered users can leave feedback. Feedback is important, because it identifies trustworthy buyers and sellers. This makes everyone's experience more reliable and secure. How do I post a curriculum item, group, activity, or thought? After you've registered (see above):
Help! What is my username (or password)? To have your username and password emailed to you, go here. In the ''Help'' section near the bottom of the page, enter your email address, then press ''Go''. How do I change my username/email/info/password?
My emails to the seller/buyer bounce. Look at the error message returned by the bounced email:
My emails to the seller/buyer aren't answered -- are they getting them?
Do you provide any help against fraud? To keep this in perspective, we are aware of only a few disputes out of many thousands of transactions each year. While we cannot offer any guarantee, we do take a couple of simple steps to prevent fraud:
How do I leave a rating for a transaction? Only registered users can currently leave ratings. If you are registered, go to your page, log in in the box in the upper right, and go to the Ratings tab. If the interaction is shown, click on its ''Edit'' link to add your rating. Otherwise click on the ''I was a buyer'' or ''I was a seller'' link (at the bottom of the page) to leave a rating. I can't log in! We use ''cookies'' to log you in, which some browser security settings block. You might try specifically allowing cookies from our site. In Internet Explorer, to do this, select Tools >> Internet Options >> Privacy >> Sites, then select http://homeschoolclassifieds.com, and click ''Allow''. Other browsers may be similar. You might also try adding our site to the ''Trusted sites'' in your browser. In Internet Explorer, this is through Tools >> Internet options >> Security >> Trusted sites; steps may be similar in other browsers. Note that you may need to add both www.homeschoolclassifieds.com and homeschoolclassifieds.com for this to work consistently. If neither of these steps help, you may need to consider using a different browser or machine. Help -- I get a ''Server Error'' message when posting! This could be a general traffic problem (too many users or internet issues) or a problem with your specific listing (incorrect formatting, or a bug in our code). Try posting your item at least two more times, at different times of day. If you are still unable to post, send us the approximate times when you tried, and the EXACT text of each field you tried to enter, and we'll try to post the item to your account. Will I be reminded to renew or do I need to remember in time so I don't lose my listings? We don't send a renewal, but your registration expiration date is shown on your ''For Sale'' tab. Listings don't expire on that date -- you just can't edit or renew them if your listings exceed your registration level (listings become inactive 60 days after posting and are irretrievably deleted 120 days after posting, unless renewed, regardless of your registration level). When we receive a payment, we look at the date. If it's near the end of your registration, we automatically extend your registration. What does ''ppd'' mean? ''Ppd'' means postage paid -- that shipping (in the US) is included in the seller's price. If you are selling and you want the buyer to pay shipping, you can choose that option when you list your item, and ''ppd'' will not appear. How do I edit or delete a curriculum item, group, activity, or thought?
How do I renew my listings?
The PayPal upgrade button is gray and I can't get it to change! Normally, if you log in on your page and click the ''Increase or renew your registration level'' link on your ''For Sale'' tab, the PayPal buttons are enabled. However, we've had several reports of them still being disabled/gray. So far, we have been unable to duplicate this problem. Several things to try:
We are offering 60 credits for two years to the first user to help us fix this issue! Do my listings go away when my credits expire? When your credits expire, your listings don't immediately go away (the system still inactivates them after 60 days and removes them after 120 days); you just won't be able to edit or renew them, or add new ones. Do you use affiliate marketing? Where the supply of a used item is limited, or we feel it is otherwise merited, we will sometimes provide an affiliate marketing link. Currently, these are through Amazon, but we are open to partnering with other sources, or directly with publishers, as needed. I'm a new user. Why does my page have a ''Caution'' statement on it? We have had trouble in the past with fraudulent sellers that register an account, post expensive items, take buyers' money through PayPal's ''Friends and family'' option, then delete the account. So, to remind buyers to be cautious with new users, all new accounts have this caution posted. It will go away after you have some feedback and have been around for a while. In the meantime, you can over-communicate with buyers (perhaps encourage them to call you), offer them references (perhaps from another website or blog), or let them pay through more traceable, verifiable means (like a check sent to a physical address, or PayPal's normal ''Send money'' option). Is this site secure? Please see our privacy and security statement here. Where did my account (and ratings) go? Our server removes inactive users if no listings, ratings, or profile updates are detected in the past four years. This removes a user's ratings, as well. Feel free to re-register. What forms of payment can be used? Since we don't touch the transaction, we don't specify what form of payment should be used for transactions. Anything acceptable to buyer and seller is OK. While we do auto-generate a PayPal button if a PayPal ID is entered, feel free to enter other forms of payment in your description or the alternate payment field. Some alternatives are CashApp, Venmo, Zelle, well-concealed cash, personal check, cashier's check, money order, or even Bitcoin. Each, of course, varies in convenience, security, ubiquity, and transaction cost. BuyingIs there a way to check out a seller? At the top of their page, look at how long they have been registered, how many ratings they have, and if they are positive ratings. Watch out for banned users or common scams. Ask lots of questions. Your comfort with the seller should be proportional to the amount of money you are sending. Don't send more money than you are prepared to lose to a seller without good ratings (unless you can independently verify them). How do I buy items? Registration is not required to buy items. Items are offered by individual homeschoolers/sellers -- click on the username at the end of each listing to see the seller's page and any other items they have for sale. Contact them directly to purchase items (get their email by clicking ''Email this member'' below their name). If that doesn't work for some reason, tell us exactly what you did, and any error message that you received. How do I check out a seller? We have a reputation/rating system, with each user's score shown at the top of their page. Occasional or new sellers may not have entries, so you can also:
How does the watch list work? You can track a limited number of items (based on your registration level) on your own watch list:
Will the sellers ship to Canada (or overseas)? The curriculum items on the board are offered by individual sellers, who may or may not ship to Canada (or overseas) -- ask them. How do I pay with PayPal? If the seller's page displays a PayPal button, they accept payment by PayPal. After you have confirmed with the seller that the desired materials are still available and have agreed on the price, click the button to connect to the PayPal site, where you can make the payment. Note that Homeschool Classifieds doesn't track or monitor the payment in any way, so the transaction is between you, the seller, and PayPal. The seller wants me to use PayPal's ''Send money to a friend'' option. PayPal's instructions on this seem to have changed. PayPal says that it is OK to use the ''Friends'' option, if you trust the other party, and realize that you are giving up both buyer and seller protection with this option. It is only available if the buyer has a PayPal account -- i.e., they are not just entering a card number. Helpful tip: Copy and paste the listing into your email to the seller. Why? Most sellers mark the listing ''sales pending'' which will prevent you from going back and seeing the original post. This way, you both can refer to the listing if any questions come up about what was offered. I've sent money, but not received my material! After waiting several weeks, we suggest doing some of the following. You may want to email the seller that you are taking these steps, to give them a final opportunity to make things right:
The material I received wasn't as described! Contact the seller and try to work out a mutually agreeable resolution to the problem. If this is not possible, leave negative feedback for the seller. If you paid by PayPal, you may be able to file a claim with them. The seller deserves a negative rating, but I'm afraid of retaliatory feedback. We encourage everyone (but particularly buyers) to leave factual, honest ratings, despite the risk of retaliatory feedback. To limit this risk, when we calculate your average rating, we weight negative feedback from buyers much more heavily than that from sellers. Particularly if you have a number of positive ratings, the effect on your (the buyer's) average will be minimal, and you can explain it in your comments. I can't find what I need! While we can't fully endorse these sites, you might try eBay, Half, or VegSource. How do I post a want ad? After you've registered (see above):
SellingIs there some way to check out a buyer? You can search by a user's email address from the Go to user's page link. If they are registered, you can see (at the top of their page) how long they have been registered, how many ratings they have, and if they are positive ratings. Except for buyers with a number of good ratings and substantial history on the site, it is usually wise to hold shipment until payment clears, and you should always watch out for banned users or common scams. If paid by cashier's check or money order, should I wait before sending the material? It is very appropriate to wait to send material until you receive a payment in which you have confidence (i.e., money order, cashier's check, or cleared check). This may mean waiting several days for the buyer to get to the bank or post office; waiting several more days for the mail to arrive; and, in the case of a personal check, waiting a week or so for the check to clear. If you do much buying and selling, you may want to consider a PayPal or similar account, which allows an instant, secure payment with a substantial level of confidence. Can I register several email addresses if I have a lot of items? We allow only one account per user. Consider buying a paid registration if you need additional listings. How do I price my items? Pricing is completely up to you. You might look at what others are charging for similar materials, set a price, then lower it if you don't get interest within a couple of weeks (items usually sell most quickly before and just after the start of the school year). One of our users suggests that ''sellers keep in mind that they're competing with discount websites like Rainbow Resource Center and Christian Book Distributors. Their prices are low and they usually have a low dollar amount requirement for free shipping. I'd rather help a fellow homeschooler, but I'll always choose new over used if I'm not going to save at least 50% (not including the shipping cost).'' How do I post a picture of an item? If you have sufficient credits, you can add a picture. An ''Upload image'' link will appear after your listings if you have sufficient credits. If you do not see the ''Upload image'' link when editing your page, you will need to purchase a higher registration level to use this feature. Our current picture handling is fairly basic. Images can be any pixel dimensions (width, height), as long as they are less than 200KB in size. We create a thumbnail for normal display, then show the full image when the thumbnail is clicked on. How do I show or remove a PayPal button? If you have a PayPal account (you'll need to visit paypal.com to set that up), you can add a button on your page to take a buyer directly to PayPal to pay you.
Can I have the buyer pay the PayPal fee? No. PayPal's user agreement states: ''No Surcharges. You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method. You may charge a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge and is not higher than the handling fee you charge for non-PayPal transactions.'' PayPal provides a valuable service by enabling instant, reliable transactions. It is a cost of doing business, that you should consider just building into your price. At our discretion, sellers that do not comply with this may have their registrations revoked. I'm a reseller; can I post ''For Sale'' ads? You are welcome to resell materials, either from your own homeschooling, or that have been previously used or owned by others. So, for example, if you have a business (small or large) reselling homeschool items, from your own library, from friends, from yard sales, etc., you are welcome to list your items. We have a number of resellers that post hundreds of items each, and welcome those from eBay, Half.com, and other boards -- please invite your friends as well! I'm a distributor/manufacturer/author/creator; can I post ''For Sale'' ads? Yes, you may, though this policy is subject to review in the future. How do I keep track of a buyer, in order to leave a rating later? One possible method for tracking (that we haven't fully thought through) is as follows: When you sell an item, instead of deleting the listing, replace the ''Short summary'' field with the buyer's email, then hide the listing. Once payment is received, leave a rating and delete the listing. Let us know if this is a workable system, or if you have other suggestions. Can I temporarily hide items (pending sales, going on vacation)? You can temporarily hide a single sale item by clicking on the ''Pending sale'' checkbox on the item's form. Or, you can temporarily hide all of your sale items, by clicking on the [Hide all listings] link in the explanatory paragragh above your sale items (just remember to turn them back on later with the [Show all listings] link). I need longer listings! If you have sufficient credits, you can add longer descriptions to your listings -- a ''Long description'' field will appear in the listing form. This may help make your selling more efficient by reducing the number of questions a buyer may have. If you do not see the ''Long description'' field when creating/editing your listing, you will need to purchase a higher registration level to use this feature. How long should I wait on a buyer before moving on to another? If you didn't set a deadline and they've left you hanging, you may want to email them and give them one day to provide proof of payment. You may also want to put something in your initial email response -- to the effect that you need to be notified of payment within some time period or you will make the item available to others. Is there a preferred way to ship items? We suggest that you go to the postal service rate calculator, postcalc.usps.gov, and look at the various options, then compare to UPS, ups.com. Help! I can't renew or edit my listings, or post new listings! If you can't renew your listings, or edit or add new items, you have met or exceeded your listing limit. You will either need to delete enough listings (to get down to your limit), or increase your allowance. To increase your allowance, you can purchase additional credits. Can I list material with resale/transfer restrictions? The ''For Sale'' form will tell you what items can't be resold. Please read it carefully and do what is right. You have listings for resale-restricted materials from ___! We can't monitor the license compliance of thousands of listings a week from hundreds of publishers (all with different terms). This is additionally complicated by some users offering unopened items (which usually can be resold), or in various new/used combinations. However:
Materials that can't be resold, but the publisher allows ''gifting''. Where publishers prohibit resale, but allow gifting to someone, you may list the item, with only a minimal charge to cover anticipated mailing. Please include something along the lines of ''Free (resale prohibited) -- cost is mailing only.'' Items with mailing costs that appear to be excessive will be deleted. How soon should I delete a listing after the sale? You may want to temporarily hide the listing, in case there is a dispute with the buyer. Once the transaction is finished, you can delete the listing. How do I get my photo listing(s) on the front page? Image listings on the homepage are just whatever has been most recently posted -- so they change very frequently. Can I put a link to my offsite store/eBay listings in my profile? Currently you can put a link to an offsite store in your profile information. However, since we are getting hit with a fair amount of link spam, that may change in the future. What sort of games can I sell? Educational/classic/strategy games are fine (i.e., Monopoly, Scrabble, Oregon Quest, flight simulators, Jeopardy, sports games, etc., whether table or CD/DVD). Avoid anything related to current celebrities, and dark/occult or ''shooter'' games. How do I list multiple, identical items? We delete apparent duplicate items because some users post more than once. Deletion is done very quickly, without a great deal of examination, as there are many new items each day. If you actuallly have duplicate items, you have several options: Preferred -- A single listing, with the single book price, perhaps with wording like ''2 copies avail.'' or ''Two to sell'' at the end. This is less work for you, and won't be in danger of deletion. Alternate method -- Separate ads, with some distinguishing wording -- i.e., different condition descriptions, or ''copy 1'' vs. ''copy 2''. Make sure we don't think it is the same item! Why do my listings keep disappearing? Listings may be deleted if they violate our conditions of use, begin with a number, involve materials that cannot legally be resold, contain excessive CAPS, repeat the publisher or grade in the title field, don't contain normal spaces, use excessive decorative characters (/,+,~, etc.), or commit one of various other infractions described on the listing form. We don't mean to be restrictive about format, but we believe our listings are easy to scan precisely because we try hard to standardize them. It would be nice to notify users of offending listings, but there are simply too many listings to make that practical. Do you provide a bulk import for listings? We would love to provide a bulk spreadsheet import. However, after attempting it, it doesn't seem to be feasible at this time, because of the extent to which we check, manipulate, and recombine fields before inserting the listing, some of which requires user corrections. Where did my ratings go? We remove ratings that are more than five years old -- the desire is to highlight members' more recent behavior, as some users become more or less responsive over time. When do the ''New member'' and ''No ratings received'' cautions disappear? These cautions have been put in place to help protect against fraudulent sellers that might take your money and disappear. They disappear when you've been around for a number of months and you've received some feedback on transactions. Other DetailsI've lost my listings -- why don't you send out a renewal email? We don't manually remove listings when they expire; this is done automatically by our system. We've thought about sending out an automated renewal notice email. There are at least two problems with this:
The shipment was insured -- is everybody protected? A buyer has informed us that a claim can be denied due to insufficient packaging in the shipping container, for example, if something is shipped in a box much larger than needed with no additional packing material inside. It is a seller's responsibility to provide appropriate packing material to ensure safe arrival; just because insurance is purchased, it does not mean that the claim/costs can be recovered. What do the condition ratings/abbreviations mean? Our standard condition ratings (and some helpful abbreviations) are described here. There is also a link to this page in the explanatory paragraph at the top of each page of listings. How do I read the ratings others have left for me? Go to your page, but do not log in. Click on the Ratings tab. Click the ''[Details]'' link at the end of any transaction line. Can you match up those who wish to donate a book or two with families in need? We suggest you:
Can we reprint ''The Monthly Chat'' in our homeschool newsletter? For any month's edition of ''The Monthly Chat'', you are welcome to:
We require a one-time hardcopy of any newsletter or reprint (mail to Homeschool Classifieds, 516 Nobscot Road, Knoxville, TN 37919), or for online reprints, a one-time email (to info@homeschoolClassifieds.com) with the blog or website address. Why don't you have a ''Games'' category? We've considered a ''Games'' category, but since our focus is on education, we'd prefer to index games by their appropriate Subject/category. If you can't find a title you want in that index, look in the Publisher/Title index, or use the search link to look for the game title, or just the word ''game''. If I don't renew my paid registration, do I lose my username and ratings? Reverting to a free registration (letting the paid registration run out) doesn't remove your username or ratings. That only happens if you have no activity (posting, renewing, etc.) for a period of more than two years, in which case we delete the account. However, very old ratings (currently older than about 5 years) are automatically removed by our system. How do I list something that is free, or that I want to give away? We suggest you estimate the cost of mailing the item, then list that as the price, with ''Ppd''. You might mention that the item is free and that the price just covers shipping. I can't see the images! If you have an ad blocker installed in your browser, you may need to disable it for our pages. When I try to get the seller's email, I can't see the characters to enter in the CAPTCHA. A CAPTCHA is a test that websites use to tell the difference between a human and a spam bot. We occasionally get reports of ours not working, but have never been able to reproduce the behavior (in Chrome, Explorer, or FireFox). The problem may be an intermittent hiccup in the server creating the CAPTCHA, or if it continues, you could try rebooting your browser or computer (in case it is a resource issue), or, if you have an adblocker installed, try turning that off. How do I delete my account? To delete your account, log into your page, click ''Edit your member profile'', then click ''Delete.'' Groups and ActivitiesCan I post my homeschool service/music lessons/paid classes in the ''Activities'' section? Yes, currently, such free listings are allowed once you have registered (see above), but multiple listings from the same business are subject to deletion. How can we edit the information about our group or event? If you are the original poster or ''owner'' of the group/event, go to your page (use the ''Go to user's page'' link in the menu bar), login, and click on the ''Groups'' or ''Activities'' tab, then edit the listing there under ''Groups I've posted'' or ''Activities I've posted''. If you are not the owner of the listing, at the bottom of each group or event page, there is a ''Corrections? Updates?'' link that will take you to the page of the user who posted that item. You can contact them to make changes, or, if that fails, update the information yourself. Our group's contact person is no longer active -- can you correct the listing? We require that a group listing be linked to a current registered user (so that someone ''in-the-know'' can keep it up-to-date). You can register (free), using the instructions at the start of the FAQs. Once you have registered, email us the name of the group, the state, your Homeschool Classifieds username, and the reason for the change. We will transfer that listing over to you. If we've still not answered your question, feel free to contact us. |