Commercial User Policy (CUP)

As a commercial user utilizing the free public forums of TalkBass, please make every effort to follow these guidelines, in order to keep our forums unbiased and free of commercial motives, spam, and the appearance of such.

Definitions:

Commercial User:

Any registered TalkBass member who:

A) Owns or operates a music-related business.

B) Is an employee or on the payroll of a music-related business (including educational institutions)

C) Produces and sells music related merchandise or services (including lessons).

You are NOT considered a commercial user if you are not described by points A and B above, and ALL of the following are true:   
- You do not operate or advertise a commercial website   
- You do not operate or advertise a physical storefront   
- You do not individually produce or sell music-related products under a brand name or hold a business license

User-Title Disclosure:

You must fully disclose your affiliation via the "Disclosures" field located on your account's Personal Details page. This is a single line that will appear below your username on all of your posts.

Forum Participation Guildelines and Restrictions:

1) Commercial users must always post in a responsive manner with regards to any product or service they (or any business entity with which they have a current and direct relationship with) sell/manufacture/represent. (Hereafter referred to as "Product" and "Services"). Meaning, discussion contributed on the topic of Products & Services by the commercial user, must be limited to responses to specific, objective questions from TalkBass members, or to corrections of misinformation.

NON-Acceptable Posting Behavior:

Acceptable Posting Behavior:

2) Commercial Users who operate as dealers of used equipment, where buying/selling is purely for profit, cannot use the TalkBass Classifieds to advertise items for sale and must instead purchase a subscription to the TalkBass Bazaar. There are no exceptions to this.

Commercial Users who are owners / employees of musical equipment manufacturers / distributors / retailers may not use the TalkBass Classifieds to advertise items for sale, unless prior permission is granted when one of the following is true:
1. You are a manufacturer of musical equipment, and the item in question is not made by your company or a subsidiary. For example, you work for Fender and are selling a Lakland bass.
2. You are a distributor / retailer of goods, and the item in question is not one your company / division usually handles. For example, you work for Guitar Center and are selling an early 80s Aria bass.

An occasional exception to this may be made for individual users (as long as permission is sought before posting in the classifieds, as stated below). For example, you work for a store that sells Fenders, but wish to sell a used Fender instrument personally owned by yourself, on a one-off basis.

These are guideline rules, and not a blanket authorization. Any Commercial User, or any member with a commercial affiliation in their profile disclosure field, must request prior permission for any thread they may wish to start from time to time in the Classifieds section, before posting. These requests will be dealt with on a case by case basis, and any Classifieds thread started by members in the Commercial User category without such permission may be deleted without notice.

To request permission, please contact TalkBass.

3) Please be honest when representing yourself on TalkBass.com. Using two or more user accounts concurrently is prohibited. If you operate duplicate user accounts on TalkBass and post as a shill, or post in a manner that hides your commercial affiliation, the entire posting history of all your accounts will be wiped from TalkBass, and the action will be made public. TalkBass.com reserves the right to check/verify all incoming internet IP addresses for verification.
Signatures:

--Commercial users may include a single link to their business in their signature. If the business is a storefront, a Supporting Membership is required post the single link. This link must be non-formatted (not bold, colored, or enlarged). Sales information, product advertisments, pricing information, or other 'sales pitch' is not allowed in signatures.

Exceptions

--Threads may be created in order to solicit user input and opinions regarding a product in development. Any abuse of this exception will not be tolerated.

--Users may include information and links which promote the sale ofl sound recordings in their profile signature.
 
--Luthiers/builders may post "build tutorial" threads in the Luthier's Corner forums. The luthier must limit each thread to a single build, from start to finish, and provide a detailed, multi-step tutorial of the build progress (more than wood shots and complete basses). The TalkBass " Builder's Showcase" forum is available for luthiers who simply want to post latest build pics, progress pics, and pricing information (Commercial Sales License required).