Do I have to pay money to use this site?
The short answer is NO! For gamers who simply want to buy, sell or trade stuff there in no charge to use the site. Post as many ads as you want, as often as you want. If you are in business; such as a figure painter for hire, terrain producer, online or local retail store then there is a very reasonable fee to use the site.
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(See the Advertising page for complete details.)
How do I use the site?
The simple answer is to just start poking around; you'll figure it out! But lets get into some more details for those that want to full nickle-tour of the site. Lets start with people who wish to post stuff to the site that you have to sell or trade.
Post Stuff: Click on the "Post Ads" text in the upper-right hand side of the main page. This will take you to the main form for posting ads to the site. You will see a form that allows you to post many items, while keeping each in its own category for easy searching by customers later. Fill out the top section of the form with your email address and a password so you can go edit or delete your ad later.
Then choose your Country or State from the drop-down box. Once you have done that the database will populate the Local Game Store field with stores from that state or country. Choose the store you shop at most often. (I know most of us shop at several stores, but choose the one you use most often, as people will easily be able to search other stores close to them and locate your ads. You can also choose a different store each time you fill out the form.)
From there move down to the second section of the form. Here is where you will fill out a line for each of the items you have to offer. The default setting is "Have" so you need not do anything for that column. Choose a category for your item; and fill out a single line for the Ad Title/Description. If you need to fill out a longer description a second text area is included as well. And finally, on the far right is the button that allows you to upload images. Then click the "Save Ads" button on the bottom and your ads will be posted!
Find Stuff: To find items on BitzBox.com is easy. From the front page you have several options. You can look at the category list and click on any category you want to see all the ads site-wide. If you wish to narrow your search to a specific store then you can use the drop-down bar on the right-hand side of the site. Choose your State or Country and then you will see a list of all the stores within that State/Country where you can easily check all the ads posted by people that frequent the same stores you do! And finally you can utilize the advanced search functions built into the "Search Ads" link at the top of the site. Clicking this will bring out a search form that lets you search for Keywords, recent ads, all ads by category and all ads from the same person by inputing their email address! Also, when looking at the details of a specific ad, you will find a link that will show you all the ads posted by that same person.
Once you find the items you want, send the person an email and arrange to meet with them if they are local, or to have the goods mailed to you if they are not.
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Isn't it dangerous to meet with strangers off the internet?
Most of the time it isn't. However, there are some people "out there" that are up to no good. Since we can't be sure who-is-who, always excercise caution when dealing with strangers. I would not reccomend meeting a stranger at their house under any circumstances. (Or inviting a stranger to yours!) So arrange a meet-up at a public place; like your local game store! (Or a Starbucks, the mall or a bookstore cafe etc.) I've done this with several people who purchased things from me on ebay; I met one guy at a subway station, another at the mall food court and a nice lady at a local Starbucks!
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What is your privacy policy?
We will imediatley sell all of your personal information to Aluminum Siding Contractors, Email Pyramid Schemes, Nigerian Royalty desiring your assistance with delicate financial transactions, and anyone else willing to pay us for such valuable information!
OK, just kidding. The good news is that BitzBox.com doesn't collect much in the way of personal information from you in the first place. Any information collected will only be used by BitzBox.com for site-related purposes. We will not sell, rent or disclose your eamil address or any other information to any third party, ever. (Well, maybe if the FBI rolled in with a court order we would, but you get the idea.)
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Aren't you hurting my local game store with this site?
We honestly don't think so. In fact, we aim to help your local game store! I know, by facilitating a trade we might have "lost" a sale for the local store, right? Not really. With ebay, online discount stores and other trading sites there are lots of ways to arrange a trade or sale without setting foot in your local game store. But we are firm believers in the "Pay Where You Play" school of thought. I could have gotten my 4E D&D books off Buy.com or Amazon at a steep discount; but instead I got them at my local game store. Now, I can't get everything from the local game shop; like some beak marine heads or a painted unit of Necron Warriors for example. So if I make a trade for these items (weather using BitzBox.com or some other means) have I hurt sales at my local game store? No I have not. But what if I arrange to buy that unit of Necron Warriors and meet the seller at my local game store? I hand him cash, he hands me the figures and we are both happy. And, he now has twenty or thirty bucks in his hand while standing at the local game store! (Or even if we simply traded figures for figures, I still got him to the local game store on a Saturday morning.) So by driving this traffic to the local game stores, we are giving them an opportunity to sell product to customers that might otherwise be conducting transactions solely online. Additionally, we are providing a way for local stores to effectively advertiese to their local customer base. Say they break open a case of D&D Miniatures; strip out the rare figures, group all the Orcs and Undead into lots and post these figures individually. Possibly a new income stream for a savvy store-owner? We think so. In short, we aim to bring the local game store into these transactions as often as possible; whereas currently they have no effective way to tap into them.
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OK, so what if my store is not listed?
We try to keep the store list upated, but there are always stores opening or going out of business. If your store is not listed, please use the Feedback form to send us information on the store and it can easily be added.
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Do you allow knives and weapons to be posted on the site?
Lots of sites try to tell you what you can't sell or trade. We believe people ought to be free to buy or sell anything they want as long as its legal. So I am not forbidding things like knives or swords. On the other hand; I'm not going to jail for any of you either. It is up to YOU to make sure you are complying with the law. If you try to sell a knife or sword to someone who isn't old enough (legally) to own it; then don't do it. But if you do, you will be responsible for the consequences. We are simply providing the marketplace. I love paintball, airsoft, fencing and blades in general. I am not the only gamer that does either. Buy or sell these things at you own risk. Obey the law. Have fun. Don't poke your eye out.
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How can I advertise my business on your site?
We have a whole page describing exactly how to do just that. See our Advertising page for details.
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I don't see an appropriate category for my item.
That isn't a question; you thought you could slip a statement into our F.A.Q. didn't you? Well, it worked. In answer to your um..statement..I would say that if you don't see an appropriate category then maybe you shouldn't be advertising it here. I think we have done a fairly good job of covering the various categories of interest to gamers. Or, perhapse Games Workshop came out with a new army and we have not added it to the list (Adeptus Mechanicus anyone? Hint, hint.) If that is the case then please contact us and we will add or expand the appropriate category. The site is set up to allow us to easily do this, so by all means send along any requests for categories or other feedback. Also, if you have a question not covered by the F.A.Q. feel free to send that along as well.
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-BitzBox.com
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