[pippa2301]

I think you should only let small one or two man companies advertise free in the trades section. There are too many large companies like for instance SKYSTAR REMOVALS who are using Gumtree as a source of free advertising.

Not satisfied with that they are advertising in everysingle area saying they will beat the best quote by 10% which is contrary to the Fair Trade Laws. If thats not enough they are creating aliases and new email addresses and phone numbers and doing the same thing over again. Every time you remove them they are back 2 days later with a new alias.

It must really Pi** people off when they phone round for quotes to find three in a row are the same company!

You should ban ads offering to undercut everyone else no matter what the price is. You should ban Companies as opposed to traders. You should have some auto software which recognises mobile numbers and email addresses and know when more than three ads have been placed using the same details in different areas and automatically remove them all.

Please don't tell me to use the report this ad feature, I must have repoted them over 100 times in the past week and in quite a few areas they are still there.

My husband is trying his best to support a family of 6 and this company are actively trying to put him and all other gumtree van man traders out of business. If its just us one man and a van traders then there is enough work for all of us. This company want it all and are trying to make sure they get it.

Come on all you van man guys report every ad that is not based in your area or offers to undercut you. Maybe if we all send reports and Gumtree get thousands of them they may finally cut these B**tards off.

[foxy1]

I also think that large companies shouldn't be allowed to advertise on here either. I also agree that you should only be allowed to place one advert and not hundreds. For instance the girl that advertises 'Girl and Van'. She puts on around 4 or 5 ads all with the same telephone number but different names. Myself and my boyfriend only put the one advert on and we have be doing really well and don't find the need to put loads of different adverts on.

I think that there should be some sort of system where you are only allowed to put one advert on in the category that you are advertising in.

Obviously the people that feel the need to put more than one advert on can't be doing very well as if they were then they wouldn't have to do that.

[Top Gum]

So what about one man bands that operate nationwide?

Why can they not advertise on other Gums if their work takes them to these places?

Anyone with "a van" will tell you that dead milage is dead money?

T G

[therealcleo]

[Top Gum]

"Fair Trade" ?

Somthing to do with coffee growers and Co - Op chocolate I think...

T G

[Top Gum]

....or was it "99" tea.....

T G

[pippa2301]

[quote="therealcleo"][quote="pippa2301"]which is contrary to the Fair Trade Laws.[/quote]

which Fair Trade Laws are these, Pippa?

cleox[/quote]

Dear Cleo

The UK office of Fair trading are responsible for the enforcement of the the "Competition Act" check out the following website.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/Business/Legal/Competition/ca98+complaint.htm#potential

pip

[therealcleo]

Oh, the competition act! I know it well - use it a lot at work, although in a totally different context.

It's my understanding, though, that advertising in lotsa of places isn't anti-competitive - it's a true bummer for your undoubtly very hard working husband, but not against the competition act...

I hope you manage to find a way to advertise that is successful for your husband's business, Pippa good luck!

cleox

[pippa2301]

[quote]It's my understanding, though, that advertising in lotsa of places isn't anti-competitive - it's a true bummer for your undoubtly very hard working husband, but not against the competition act...

cleox[/quote]

The last bulleted paragraph on the page I highlighted says:-

<b>"You have recently entered a particular market and a major competitor has responded by charging extremely low prices that you suspect would not cover its costs"</b>

The other company who were advertising on here were offering to beat ANY quote by 10%. Which means they are prepared to take a loss to get the work, knowing they will put the smaller guys out of business. Its only large companies that can afford to do that for long enough to eliminate the competition and still survive.

Its OK for the likes of Commet or Currys to say if you buy from us and then find it cheaper elsewhere we will refund twice the difference. But they cant say we will sell you anything 10% cheaper than you can see it for elsewhere.

This kind of thing starts a price war and in the long run nobody benefits, not even the customers, because as more cuts are made then service levels suffer.

That is what the office of fair trading are trying to prevent with this act.

So yes I do feel this other company were using a practice that was contrary to this act and therefore should be barred from placing ads of this nature.

The particular company concerned were also flouting other Gumtree rules too, like advertising under several different names so that 3 ads in one day were the same company. They were also advertising in every area available in the UK.

Its just not "Cricket"

To give us "TRADERS" a fair chance and a level playing field, large companies should not be allowed free advertising on here.

[pippa2301]

[quote="Top Gum"]So what about one man bands that operate nationwide?

Why can they not advertise on other Gums if their work takes them to these places?

Anyone with "a van" will tell you that dead milage is dead money?

T G[/quote]

<b>Coz them there's the rules!</b>

Its ok to advertise if you have an empty van returning on a certain day from another area. No one could mind that. Its area specific and it benefits the users.

What Im talking about is those people who want all the work in all the areas bacause thay are NATIONAL companies.. i.e. LARGE companies. So they place blanket ads throughout the whole of Gumtree.

They can afford to pay for advertising and should leave Gumtree for the likes of us small TRADERS.

pip

[angry_of_london]

If you find someone who advertises in every area, its unlikely they will be able to do the job given to them in Newcastle when they are based in London. The customer is the one who loses out when they have to deal with these timewasters.

There is no problem with big companies being on here as well as the one man bands. Its called competition, its healthy. The real problem is the people clogging up the board with 5-10 ads which knock every one else down the board who then repond by doing the same thing.

[therealcleo]

I would have thought that a greater threat to your smaller operations in the area of removals/man-and-van are the companies that spam everyone who's posted a 'flat wanted' ad - two nights in the past week this has happened to me, they email everyone with an ad... needless to say I forwarded them to gumtree people to have the companies dealt with accordingly.

obviously that's not something gumtree can monitor because they can't see the emails that are sent unless they start posting dummy ads - which isn't fair to the people looking to respond to such ads - but they jumped on it very quickly and I haven't had one of those emails since.

it's not like gumtree aren't doing anything to help you out!

[pippa2301]

[quote="therealcleo"]

it's not like gumtree aren't doing anything to help you out![/quote]

I don't remember saying they were not helping. I simply made a suggestion that it is unfair of large companies who can afford to pay for advertising to use gumtree

I am not afraid of FAIR competition. The large company I am talking about are not trading fairly or by the rules and after weeks of coming back pretending to be several different companies they have been caught out and for the moment at least removed.

I wouldn't put it past them to be the ones who are spamming the flats section and probably anyone selling heavy furniture as well.

Its not gumtree I am angry at its the greedy sods who want it all at everyone elses expense.

pip

[therealcleo]

sorry pip, that's another party who has made lots of different posts about gumtree not doing anything - apologies for tarring you with the same brush!

whenever i come across an ad that's unfair, I report it - that's a start, if everyone does that, surely?