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New Rules for Ad Images

News, Prefired.com February 6, 2018

In order to verify that ads are genuine, we are changing the rules regarding the images you upload to your ads.

Introducing Guntags and Ad moderation

Example Item for sale with Guntag in photo

A Guntag is Prefired lingo for a little bit of paper with some writing on it.  Going forward, you will need to display a Guntag card showing your Prefired user name and the current date alongside your item/s when photographing them for your listings  (see above image).  This will apply to all for sale ads, including accessories and parts.

Buyers will be able to see at-a-glance that the item you are selling is really yours to sell, rather than worrying you may have nicked the picture from somewhere on the Internet!

In order to enforce this change,  new ad listings will be subject to moderation before they go live for all users initially, with a new internal user reputation system dynamically managing publication after that.  In essence this is similar to our public user feedback scores, but based on an internal “trust” rating, meaning trusted users can post instantly unhindered by moderation- but new or non-compliant users can’t.

You can download and print a Guntag card from here, or use plain paper (a post-it note is ideal).

DO:

  • Place this card at the bottom right of each photo

  • Print your Prefired USERNAME clearly in block capitals (a black marker pen is best)

  • Write the date clearly (should be the date you post your ad)

DON’T:

  • Submit a sale ad without a Guntag card in it

  • Edit the picture on a computer to put your username over it, your username must be on a physical piece of paper

  • Write your real name on the card, it must be your USERNAME

  • Write your email address on the card

  • Write a username from elsewhere that doesn’t match your account

If your username doesn’t match your account name, or is difficult to read your ad will not be approved- we recommend the use of our downloadable Guntag card for fastest ad approval as it will help you to get the sizing right.  It also acts as a kind of watermark to help prevent theft of your images, as well as proving the picture was taken for your Prefired ad and not “borrowed” from elsewhere.

We ask that you be patient when posting ads over the next week or so, as initially all new ads will need to be moderated until everyone has built up their “trust” rating, this will inevitably cause quite a delay at first.

We appreciate these changes may be frustrating, but it will help keep Prefired a safe place to buy and sell your Airsoft guns and gear.

The new rules go live from today (6th Feb 2018), and only apply to ALL new ads posted to the site from now on.  If you have any questions or concerns please Contact us

7419 total views, 3 today

2

Overcoming the Dangers of Buying Airsoft Gear Online

News March 27, 2017

overcomeWe’ve been listening to your feedback since we launched, and one of the biggest problems mentioned when talking about buying or selling Airsoft stuff online is that you don’t really know who you’re dealing with. We’ve tried to address this with our Social login, which links your Prefired account page with your Facebook account; and whilst many of you thought it was a useful feature to help you get a feel for who you’re trading with, some didn’t think we’d gone far enough.

With this in mind we’ve tried to improve the safety of the site still further, and have developed a couple of features to help make Prefired the safest place to sell your Airsoft gear!

User Feedback & Review System

When buying or selling used Airsoft gear through forums and Facebook groups, there isn’t really an easy or reliable way to check out someone’s past trading history.  Yeah ok, you can search Facebook groups to see if there’s anything about them there, or ask around on forums, but it’s a pain and not very likely to yield results either.

It’s a problem we’ve looked to address with our Feedback and review system. You can now leave feedback whether you were buying or selling for any Prefired member, simply go to a members profile page and click the “Leave feedback” button.

User Feedback
An Example user profile showing feedback

With this feature you can build up your own feedback rating to give other users more confidence that you’re a trustworthy person to deal with.

If somebody wants to check you out beforehand, you can simply direct them to your Prefired profile page to view all your great feedback!

User verification

Another concern many of you have expressed is being conned or ripped-off online, with no way to contact the other party if things go wrong. Forum users can simply disappear, never to log in again, and Facebook accounts that seem legit can turn out to be either dummy or people can just block you.

verified-user
Example of a verified users profile.

In an attempt to smooth out these potential pitfalls we’re introducing user ID verification.

You can find out more and verify your profile here.

Age and VCR Defence Status

In addition to confirming users identities, it has been requested that we verify that they are over 18 and have a defence under the VCR act. With that in mind we will confirm a user’s age during verification, and have added the option to upload proof of Airsoft skirmishing defence at the same time. The user’s defence status and age status will then be displayed in their profiles, and elsewhere on the site to quickly give you an indication of the eligibility of the user you’re trading with.

By verifying your profile, you give buyers reassurance that you are real, your name and address have been recorded, and a preliminary check of your Airsoft defence has been made.

You can find out more and verify your profile here.

Thanks for your Support

As you can see we’re trying to build a site to cater to the needs of the UK Airsoft community. We want to make Airsoft trading as safe and effective as we can make it, but we need your help and support to do it.

All of the changes since launch have been driven by your suggestions and comments so thank you. We’ve built the site as best we can to make selling easy and safe, and now we need your help to spread the word. The more of us that sign up, use it and like the Facebook page the faster it will grow and the quicker we will all sell our gear!

As always if you have any questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

2426 total views, 2 today

2

Welcome to Prefired- The new way to sell used airsoft gear

Prefired.com August 10, 2016

Buy and sell your airsoft guns in the UK

Up until recently, selling airsoft guns in the UK was a simple matter of posting in a group on social media. That is until the site in question put a stop to the sale of anything remotely gun-shaped.

This left a bit of a vacuum, with most Airsofters, us included having nowhere to sell unwanted RIF’s.  This very real problem has prevented many of us buying more new and shiny kit!  We decided to do something about it, and started work on a solution several months ago.  What we came up with became Prefired.com

Here’s a quick rundown of some of our best features:

Security

  • Industry-standard SSL Encryption
  • Hassle free, secure signup and login using your existing Facebook account

Selling

  • Easily list your items for sale from desktop or mobile devices
  • Add up to five images
  • Our easy to use listing form makes adding item specific information, such as Make, Weapon type etc simple.
  • List by area to appeal to buyers near you
  • Bump your ad every 48hrs

Buying

  • Browse the site by category or…
  • Find what you’re looking for in your local area with our powerful search function
  • Refine search results, by price, make, delivery/collection preferences and more
  • Seller Info box in each ad shows you a map of their general location, any other listings they have, as well as an easy contact form

It’s brand new (so there may be teething trouble!), and it’s a bit empty at the moment, but we hope you’ll give it a try!

If you like Prefired, then please share it with your Airsoft mates, if you don’t, then please tell us.  We have a community forum here on site so please drop by and let us know what we got wrong -or even what we got right!

 

Next Steps:  Learn how to Sell on Prefired



17443 total views, 5 today

  • Buy and sell your airsoft guns in the UK

    Welcome to Prefired- The new way to sell used airsoft gear

    by on August 10, 2016 - 2 Comments

    Up until recently, selling airsoft guns in the UK was a simple matter of posting in a group on social media. That is until the site in question put a stop to the sale of anything remotely gun-shaped. This left a bit of a vacuum, with most Airsofters, us included having nowhere to sell unwanted RIF’s.  This […]

  • New Rules for Ad Images

    by on February 6, 2018 - 9 Comments

    In order to verify that ads are genuine, we are changing the rules regarding the images you upload to your ads. Introducing Guntags and Ad moderation A Guntag is Prefired lingo for a little bit of paper with some writing on it.  Going forward, you will need to display a Guntag card showing your Prefired user […]

  • How to beat the Airsoft Scammers

    by on March 23, 2017 - 8 Comments

    The Scammers of the Internet seem to have become aware of the Airsoft community lately, with a noticeable increase in reports of people being conned on social media, forums etc. They’ve obviously worked out that the value of  used Airsoft guns is fairly high, and they could stand to make a fair bit of money from […]

  • Overcoming the Dangers of Buying Airsoft Gear Online

    by on March 27, 2017 - 2 Comments

    We’ve been listening to your feedback since we launched, and one of the biggest problems mentioned when talking about buying or selling Airsoft stuff online is that you don’t really know who you’re dealing with. We’ve tried to address this with our Social login, which links your Prefired account page with your Facebook account; and […]

  • Upload your Mugshot!

    by on November 30, 2017 - 0 Comments

      Due to popular demand we have finally added the ability for you to upload your own profile images in place of the standard Gravatar pictures Prefired has used up until now.  You asked for it, now you’ve got it!  But please… Keep it clean. To change your profile image go to  prefired.com/edit-profile/ Click on […]