Registration Terms
The Silver Forum: Terms of Service
Last update January 2021. Please note section 7.6. Commercial / Precious Metals business related members. Which has been amended.
1. General Terms of Service
1.1. Your use of The Silver Forum (“TSF”) and any service contained within constitutes acceptance by you of these Terms and Conditions.
1.2. The Administrator (@ChrisSilver) and service providers ("we", "us", "our") of TSF, are not responsible for any user-generated content and accounts ("Content"). Content submitted express the views of their author only.
1.3. The service user (“you”) agree to not use TSF to submit Content which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law including or risk copyright infringement. You must also not generate any link to any Content which is, or could be considered to be including but not limited to: defamatory; abusive; hateful; threatening; spam; or spam-like.
1.4. All Content you submit or upload may be reviewed by us. All Content you submit or upload may be sent to third-party verification services (including, but not limited to, spam prevention services). You must not submit Content that you consider, or which it should be reasonable to understand we would consider, to be private or confidential.
1.5. We reserve the rights to remove or modify any Content submitted for any reason without explanation. Requests for Content to be removed or modified will be undertaken only at our discretion.
1.6. We reserve the right to take action against any account with TSF at any time.
1.7. You are granting us with a non-exclusive, permanent, irrevocable, unlimited license to use, publish, or re-publish your Content in connection with TSF. All content you submit may be used by us to promote TSF via social media sites including but not limited to; Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter & YouTube. You retain copyright over the Content.
1.8. You agree not to generate or link to any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this forum.
1.9. These terms may be changed at any time without notice. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not register or use TSF. If you wish to close your account, please contact us. Additional information can be found in the following rules and information below.
1.10. By becoming a member of TSF you have and continue to agree to the full Terms and Conditions of membership. Your agreement to abide by the Terms and Conditions is explicitly given at the point you join TSF.
1.11. TSF uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a personalised experience when you browse this site. For detailed information on the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them refer to our cookie policy.
2. Licence to access and use TSF
2.1. Both non-members and members are permitted to:
2.1.1. View pages from TSF in a web browser.
2.1.2. Download pages TSF for caching in a web browser.
2.1.3. Print pages from TSF.
2.1.4. Stream audio and video files from TSF.
2.2. Subject to the other provisions of these terms and conditions.
2.2.1. Except as expressly permitted by this section or the other provisions of these terms and conditions, you must not download any material from TSF or save any such material to your computer.
2.2.2. You may only use TSF for your own personal and business purposes, and you must not use TSF for any other purposes.
2.2.3. Except as expressly permitted by these terms and conditions, you must not edit or otherwise modify any material on TSF.
2.3. Unless you own or control the relevant rights in the material, you must not:
2.3.1. Republish material from TSF (including republication on another website).
2.3.2. Sell, rent or sub-license material from TSF.
2.3.3. Show any material from TSF in public.
2.3.4. Exploit material from TSF for a commercial purpose.
2.3.5. Redistribute material from TSF.
2.4. All information available on TSF is for reference purposes only and must not be considered as financial advice.
3. Forum Registration
3.1. You must be a minimum age of 18 to register on and use TSF. By registering and using TSF you warrant that you are 18 or older and understand your obligations under these Terms and Conditions.
3.2. As part of the registration process you will need to create an account, including a username & password. It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you provide is accurate, not misleading and relates to you. You cannot create an account or username and password using the names and information of another person or using words that are the trademarks or the property of another party (including ours), or vulgar, obscene or in any other way inappropriate. We reserve the right, with or without notice, to suspend or close any account in breach.
3.3. If for any reason you suspect that your username and password has been disclosed to or obtained by another party you should contact us immediately. Please note that we never contact users requesting them to confirm their username and password or other details.
4. General Forum Rules
4.1. TSF is for civilised discussion. When posting, always try to ensure you are adding value to the conversation. Debate is encouraged, and disagreements will be common, but members must remain respectful to all other members at all times.
4.2. If you do not agree with something that has been posted, you should respond in a logical way, without attacking the intelligence of the poster, or not respond at all. Unfriendly, snide or cynical remarks are not welcome. You are expected to be polite and courteous at all times.
4.3. TSF is large with a diverse membership with differing opinions that on occasion may appear to be extreme at all ends of the spectrum. We require all members to debate in a respectful manner with each other.
4.4. We do not permit personal attacks of any kind against anyone. Offensive, insulting, profane or vulgar remarks are prohibited.
4.5. Ad hominem attacks are not permitted. Nor is intolerance or hate speech of any kind.
5. Membership
5.1. General Non-Premium and Premium Membership
5.1.1. You may join TSF as a standard member unless you are a business or a business in the eyes of the forum, in which case you will need a Business Account which can be purchased from the forum store. Please refer to rule 7.6. Commercial / Precious Metals business related members.
5.1.2. Due to the various costs of running TSF, including but not limited to: administration costs; hosting costs; domain costs; legal costs; accounting costs; marketing costs; software license costs; as well as development costs for improvements; and developer maintenance costs, TSF does offer a Premium Membership service which is available in one of four tiers: Silver Premium Membership, Gold Premium Membership and Platinum Premium Membership, there is also a Platinum PLUS Premium Membership.
5.1.3. All premium membership packages come with different benefits. These are set out on TSF here: https://www.thesilverforum.com/store/category/2-premium-membership/
5.1.4.Self-promotion posts/topics on TSF are against these terms and conditions of membership, but you may, if you have either Business Gold Membership or Business Platinum Membership, use links in posts/topics to your own website for reference purpose only.
5.1.5. If you wish to post any links to your website in your forum signature you will need to have one of the upper two tiers of premium membership: Gold; or Platinum. Any commercial links, e.g. links to a website with items or services for sale can only be inserted into your signature if you hold the appropriate Business Account.
5.1.6. Premium membership ensures that TSF can continue to run the forum as well as grow TSF and the wider TSF community. The larger the community is, the more great and helpful knowledge is shared and the more trade deals are available.
5.2. Required Premium Membership
5.2.1. TSF may request a member to upgrade their Standard Membership to a paid Premium Membership account.
5.2.2. These situations include but are not limited to; any suspicion or reason that TSF may have, no matter how small, that may lead us to believe that a Standard Member could possibly be a previously banned Member.
5.2.3. Any suspicion or reason that TSF may have, no matter how small, that a Standard Member's account is not a legitimate account from someone with a genuine and active interest in precious metals collecting or investing and/or who we believe may be here to cause issues for TSF and its membership.
5.2.4. Agreeing to the request that you upgrade your account to a paid Premium Membership account will show that you most likely have a serious and active interest in precious metals and that you wish to see TSF grow and that you are likely not here to try to cause issues for the forum or disrupt the community. Note that these rules equally apply to Premium Members in regard to banning members who cause issues for TSF and its membership.
5.2.5. Refusal to upgrade upon request will result in immediate account closure. Those who upgrade and are found to be previously banned members will also be banned, with any paid membership fee retained and used towards the administrative costs as per these terms and conditions.
5.2.6. Members who have been asked to upgrade their account must maintain an active Premium Membership account whilst being active on the forum. Members may choose to deactivate their account (by contacting @ChrisSilver) if they wish to take a break from precious metals and do not wish to access the forum during this time. Whilst an account is deactivated there is no need to maintain an active Premium Membership and you may return by emailing the forum and then repurchasing Premium Membership at the current rate at the time of reactivating. Upon request of an account to be deactivated Premium Membership renewals will be cancelled and therefore will not renew, there will be no adjustments or refunds for remaining time on the current invoice and chargebacks will not be allowed as per these terms and conditions.
5.3. Premium Membership Price Increase/Decrease
5.3.1. We reserve the right to change the membership pricing for all Premium memberships purchased after 31st December 2019 and to include all, or any packages bought after this date in any future increase or decrease in premium membership prices. If and when premium membership prices increase, any increase will be notified with at least 30 days’ notice by form of a post on the forum. Any increase will not take effect until your next renewal date (e.g. if you have purchased a yearly membership, any change of price will be affected at your next renewal date).
5.3.2. Members will have the right to cancel their membership before any price change, providing they give notice before their next renewal payment. Please message @ChrisSilver or cancel your membership within your account before your next renewal invoice. Note that after payment has been collected no refunds can be issued as per forum terms and conditions, but you can cancel to avoid any future renewal payment being taken.
5.3.3. Premium Membership purchased before 1st January 2020 will see no increase or change to the pre tax (VAT) price of their Premium Membership pricing, providing renewals are paid on time, any break of paid membership will mean needing to re-join at the current premium membership rate.
5.3.4. Premium Memberships, both those purchased before 1st January 2020 and those after 31st December 2019 will increase to include the applicable tax at such a time when The Silver Forum is obligated by VAT registration to start charging VAT on Premium Memberships. At time of writing the VAT rate in the U.K. is 20%, and no Premium Membership packages currently have VAT added.
5.4. Discussing Premium Membership Prices
5.4.1. Topics/posts created to discuss premium membership pricing will be removed. Creating topics/posts to try to persuade other members not to join or to cancel their Premium Membership will not be accepted and will be deleted.
5.4.2. Should any member have genuine concerns, comments, or suggestions they should send a private message to @ChrisSilver.
5.4.3. Any behaviour, or actions against TSF including both on and off TSF (for example slanderous videos or comments posted about TSF on YouTube or elsewhere online or offline) may result in a permanent ban.
5.4.4. Any members with genuine concerns or comments about how to improve TSF should send a private message to @ChrisSilver
5.5. Cancelling Premium Membership
5.5.1. Should a member wish to cancel their premium membership they can do this within their account, or via private message to @ChrisSilver.
5.5.2. A membership renewal will then be cancelled and it will not automatically renew at the next renewal. Note that it is not possible to obtain a refund and chargebacks will be defended. Members are advised that past payments cannot and will not be refunded as TSF is considered to have been used, irrespective of whether or not a member has been online or not; this arises as a result of acceptance of these Terms and Conditions at the point that membership fees are paid.
5.5.3. Simply requesting membership to be deleted or removed does not entitle any member, past or present, to a refund.
5.5.4. If a member wishes to cancel their membership for a specific reason, they are encouraged to let us know, as we are always looking to improve TSF.
5.6. Premium Members accounts and spam
5.6.1. Members who are deemed to be posting spam will be banned. This is irrespective of whether they have purchased premium membership or not.
5.6.2. Premium Membership fees will not be refunded to those who are deemed to be spamming or for those who are banned for any other reason. Premium Membership fees collected will go part way to the associated costs and time needed to deal with administration on TSF and as such no refunds will be made for any reason and chargebacks will be defended. Similarly, if a member is banned for any other reason, their membership fees will not be refunded.
5.6.3. These terms and conditions can be updated at any time. Members will receive notification as and when new terms and conditions are published, and will be required to read and confirm their acceptance of the updated terms and conditions.
5.7. Duplicate accounts
5.7.1 TSF has a strict policy in regard to duplicate accounts. Members creating duplicate accounts may have their account(s) banned without warning. Dealers and Commercial members who have both a Premium Membership and an Advertising Membership on TSF may have an account for their business as well as a private account; this will be for each person who works at their business and wishes to have a personal account as the business is counted as a separate entity and therefore can have its own account.
5.8. Banned accounts
5.8.1. Members who we believe are causing issues on TSF and who we believe are putting TSF’s survival at risk, may be banned without warning. Administration does not have to provide the banned member with any reason as to why their account was banned.
5.8.2. If an account is banned that member will be automatically disqualified from all prize draws and competitions that they have entered on TSF, even if those draws/competitions have already been drawn. Prizes will not be sent to banned member(s). Any prizes that were meant for a member who is subsequently banned will be redrawn and allocated to a different member.
6. Guidelines on Forum Discussions
6.1. Languages
6.1.1. Please post in English. TSF operates on a worldwide platform and has members from all over the world.
6.1.2. Whilst we welcome members from any country, we ask members to only publish their topics and posts in English. This is because TSF is in English and moderated in English.
6.2. Etiquette
6.2.1. Members should use the search feature before they commence a new thread post. This will ensure that discussion points continue in a single thread, rather than in multiple threads.
6.2.2. The edit post feature is there to allow members to edit mistakes, and for users to update their trade topics; for example when their item(s) has sold, or their price has changed. Currently the system allows members to edit their posts up to 30 days from posting. Members may edit a completed trade listing to remove the sale price should they wish, though we prefer if this wasn't done in order to protect historical data so that members can see what prices similar items sold for. This is very helpful when a member is looking to price their item for sale. Please do not edit out what was sold.
6.2.3. Drastically editing out a topic to completely change the meaning or content, or to delete the content in its entirety is considered an abuse of the edit feature. If the ability exists TSF reserve the right to restore content and to warn a member for abusing the edit feature.
6.2.4. Please think before you post, if you edit/delete all of your posts it could leave other members confused. Topics less than 30 days old with posts/replies in will not be removed, apart from if deemed to be a security risk for member(s) or if the Administrator in his sole opinion deems the removal of the topic to be beneficial to the community.
6.2.5. Please note that after 30 days posts will only be removed or edited in very limited situations. To avoid security concerns about something you have posted please do not post any information about your real identity or the location of your precious metals. Photos or information containing information that can be deemed dangerous to your security will be removed (either at the request of the member or by us) e.g. photos containing photos of the member or of their car registration or property etc, but photos of coins etc will not be removed.
6.2.6. Members must not post on TSF or otherwise share private messages that they have received from other forum members.
6.3. Topics allowed
6.3.1. TSF’s main purpose is for discussing all things precious metals related. However, there is also a non-precious metals forum where members are invited to respectfully discuss and debate a wide range of topics, please respect your fellow members and understand that other members may have different opinions to yours.
6.3.2. TSF is not a place to discuss TSF itself. Any issues or problems that members have about TSF, or improvements or suggestions they wish to submit, can be sent in a private message directly to @ChrisSilver.
6.3.3. Topics created on TSF to discuss issues on TSF will be removed.
6.3.4. We will remove or edit posts we consider contain personal attacks, break the law and/or are obscene, racist, sexist, ableist, ageist, homophobic, or which include or incite religious hatred or intolerance. Any topics/posts that we deem to be detrimental to the forum and community’s long term survival and growth, will be removed.
6.3.5. All decisions of administration or of moderators on all rules is final and binding. TSF itself does not have to operate within the rules above and can change or amend any of the rules without any notice or announcement.
6.3.6. We want TSF to be a nice and enjoyable environment and so members who we believe make targeted comments at other member(s) will risk having their membership closed.
6.4. Political discussions and non-precious metals related topics
6.4.1. Members who engage in political and other non-precious metal discussions do so at their own risk. Members will be aware that members may or may not have strongly opposing views.
6.4.2. If a member chooses to engage in any political or other non-precious metal debates, they must at all times be respectful to other members.
6.5. Formatting of text
6.5.1. Members must not excessively use capitals, especially but not explicitly to topic titles. It looks like shouting and detracts from the clean image of the forum. Topic titles with excessive capitals in will be converted to standard sentence case.
6.2.2. Members must not excessively use large fonts, or different coloured fonts. Members should at all time keep TSF clean looking for other members to view more easily. Members should try to use titles which will help other members understand the nature of their post. Generic titles like “Help” or “A Quick Question” are to be avoided wherever possible.
6.5.4. Members must not post entirely in capital letters. This gives the impression of shouting.
6.5.5. Members must not use excessive capitals or excessive emojis in topic titles in order to gain unfair attention to their topic, this especially but not exclusively applies to trade topics.
6.6. Deleting or editing of TSF posts by moderators
6.6.1. It is important to note that it will only be on rare occasions that posts will be deleted or edited.
6.6.2. TSF supports an open forum to discuss and debate different points of views amongst a wide range of subjects where freedom of speech is welcomed. For example, we take no bias towards any precious metal dealers.
6.6.3. However, any posts that seem to be abusive, may be seen as bullying in nature, contain swear words or inappropriate words, racism or simply those that the deemed not in the spirit of the forum community may be edited or deleted.
6.6.4. If a member has a genuine issue or concern about TSF, or a TSF member/moderator they must send a private message to @ChrisSilver.
6.6.5. Members must note that formatting of posts texts may be edited to keep TSF within a clean design and easy to read for members browsing. e.g. the use of large font sizes and bold text, or bright colours may be changed to common sized, non-bolded, black font.
6.6.6. Any topics that are deemed by us to be detrimental to TSF’s long term survival and growth, will be removed.
6.7. Warning point system
6.7.1. Members in breach of any of these terms and conditions, or simply any behaviour on TSF that is deemed not to be acceptable or in the spirit of TSF by the discretion of a Moderator may result in warning points been issued against a member.
6.7.2. Warning points are official warnings that last on a members account for 365 days after which they are deleted from the members permanent record. If a member collects enough points within a year then consequences are put onto the Members account.
6.7.3. If a multitude of reports from other users indicate that there may be a problem member, we may temporarily suspend this account whilst the administration can look into it and decide if any warning points need to be issued or if a permeant ban is needed.
6.7.4. Administration reserve the right to ban any member for any reason without prior warning.
6.8. Private Messages
6.8.1. Private messages are private between members. In general, Moderators have no access to read or view members messages and the Administrator (@ChrisSilver) does not access member’s accounts to read their messages. However, if a message in a message thread is reported the Moderation team and Administrator then have access to read the private message thread in its entirety. The Moderation team and Administrator can then read the message thread and the contents.
6.8.2. In some limited situations @ChrisSilver may access a members account to provide support to the user, in such situations @ChrisSilver will ask the member for permission to login to their account. This is for the purpose of fixing the issue and private messages will not be read. Note that the software company’s support agents may need to access a members account to diagnose any technical issues that member has reported on the forum / with their account in order to fix such issues.
6.8.3. The Administration (and Moderation acting on behalf of the forum) reserve the right to share the contents of any of their private messages, or any other private message that have been reported to the Moderation team, or any content on the forum with; any advisor, professional or confidante in order to ascertain advise, help or opinions relating to such messages and content in order to improve the running and long term survival and growth of the forum.
7. Guidelines on Trading (Buying and Selling)
7.1. Languages
7.1.1. Members must post all trade topics and posts in English only. TSF operates on a worldwide platform and has members from all over the world.
7.1.2. Whilst we welcome members from any country, because TSF is in English and moderated in English, we ask members to only publish their trade topics and posts in English.
7.2. Etiquette
7.2.1. Members must not respond to nor comment on another member’s sale or auction thread unless they are either buying or bidding. It is unacceptable to post unsolicited comments in someone’s trade topic. If you have no intention of buying or bidding on an item, you must not comment.
7.2.2. If a member believes that a trade item is priced too high and does not sell, the seller will understand that the item was priced too high. There is no need for a member to comment on a trade topic. It is up to a buyer to decide if the item is being sold at a fair price. Both buyers and sellers can post a separate question in other sections of TSF to ask what a fair price of any item would be if they have concerns.
7.2.3. If a member notices mistakes in another member’s trade topic, or genuinely wish to help the seller, there is no immediate harm in that members exchanging private messages.
7.2.4. Members must not use excessive capital letters in trade topic titles. They will be removed. This is in order to keep the trade section pleasing to view and without any topics unfairly attracting more attention than others.
7.2.5. Members may use a maximum of one (1) relevant emoji in their trade topic titles. Such relevant emojis include animals when selling a coin with an animal on. Such as Panda 🐼, Elephant 🐘, Monkey, 🐒.
7.2.6. It is also against the rules to send unsolicited private messages to members to try to market or advertise any product or service. Similarly to send affiliate links or any other link were there is a tangible or intangible benefit received in an unsolicited private message is against the forum rules. Members can also not send unsolicited messages on behalf of companies or acquaintances etc, to advertise 3rd party products or services. We wish to keep the forum free for spammers. Please report any unsolicited message, or spam that you have been sent. Members sending such messages may have their accounts permanently banned without warning.
7.3. Trading
7.3.1. Members are not allowed to sell or auction fake, counterfeit or replica coins, bars or other objects.
7.3.2. In some situations, historical replica coins that are made from precious metals may be sold providing they do not infringe on any copyrights or are classed as counterfeit coins, these listings must contain accurate information about the content and the purity of the precious metal.
7.3.3. Members listing counterfeit or fake items may get a warning or be banned and those who we believe are trying to defraud people will be banned.
7.3.4. Members must note that the trade section is for items for sale or auction directly via TSF. Accordingly, external websites cannot be linked to in trade topics. If a member wishes to link to an external website, they must sign up for an Official Sponsor Sub Forum / Dealer Sub Forum, any links to external sales must then solely be in the members Dealer Sub Forum or Official Sponsor section and using the appropriate prefix.
7.3.5. Members should read the Quickstart guide to trading before listing or posting in a trade topic. The link to the relevant Quickstart guide will be found in each trade section.
7.3.6. All topics listing items for sale must contain an asking price(s) in monetary terms for each item(s). items being sold as a group may have a price for the whole group of items and/or individual prices for the items. When a member is solely looking to exchange an item, they may list their asking trade offer / price in an alternative form other than a monetary form. Asking prices must be set reasonably, and not deliberately set at unrealistic levels in order to entertain offers without stating a genuine asking price.
7.3.7. Trade topics must be listed in the relevant section to where the item is located. e.g. an Item listed in the USA will be listed in the USA & Canada trade section. Members may sell items internationally but must list in the relevant section to where their item is located. Please state in your listing if willing to ship internationally.
7.3.8. Wanted listings may be posted in a different location to where the member who has posted the wanted listing is located providing that they are able to provide a shipping address within the region that the wanted listing is posted. e.g. a UK member may list a wanted listing in the USA & Canada section if they can provide a USA or Canada address for the item to be shipped to.
7.3.9. The trade section is for members to post trade listings and to invite offers or bids and therefore is not a discussion section of the forum. Only genuinely interested parties should post in a trade listing.
7.3.10. Topic authors who receive unsolicited comments in their trade topics may use the report feature to request that they are removed. Posts can be removed at the sole discretion of the Moderation team / Administrator. A warning may or may not be given to a member posting unsolicited posts in someone's trade topic. Members are asked to read this further information regarding unsolicited comments, before posting in the trade sections: https://www.thesilverforum.com/topic/14830-please-read-commenting-in-sales-topics-no-unsolicited-posts/
7.3.11. The sale of precious metals items produced by Silver Shield is currently prohibited on the forum. For the reasons outlined in this topic: https://www.thesilverforum.com/topic/19696-sale-of-silver-shield-items-on-tsf/
7.3.12. The trade section on TSF is for members to list items for sale or auction and for precious metals dealers to list precious metals for sale or auction directly via TSF messaging system. Members may list non-precious metal items for sale or auction in TSF’s non-precious metal trade section, providing they are personal items for sale or auction and not listing for commercial gain or as operating as a business in the eyes of TSF.
7.3.13. Jewellery should be posted in the non-precious metal trade section unless it is for sale or auction purely for investment purposes, e.g. selling scrap gold jewellery for spot price.
7.3.14. Members may only list jewellery if they are selling personal items. Commercial sellers or those operating as a business in the eyes of TSF must not list jewellery, or items considered as jewellery in the eyes of TSF, or any other non-precious metal item for sale or auction to promote their business on TSF. Gold or Platinum Premium Members may have a link in their forum signature to any website, including a non PM commercial business of theirs.
7.3.15. In some limited circumstances TSF may agree to allow certain members operating as a business in the eyes of the forum permission to list jewellery in their sub forum or preowned jewellery in the trade section. This is at the sole discretion of the Administrator, and if they are operating as a precious metals dealer in the eyes of the forum and only occasionally selling a few pieces of second hand jewellery. This is because these sales may be the same as private sales, i.e occasional, and selling jewellery is not their main focus.
7.3.16. Business sellers and dealers require a business account to have an account on the forum. This will allow businesses to list items for sale or auction on TSF. Business Gold and Business Platinum both include a licence to sell or auction commercially on the forum alongside all of the other features listed in the membership package. Members that are businesses must maintain an active business account to be on the forum. Gold Business is only available for sole traders / self employed, those operating as a business in the eyes of the forum. Those with registered businesses such as Ltd, GmbH etc will require Business Platinum/ Business Platinum may also be purchased by sole traders / self employed.
7.3.17. Standard members (that are non commercial members in the eyes of the forum) may list one (1) trade listing per 30 days. It is against the terms and conditions to edit an original trade listing in order to add additional items and circumvent this limitation. Similarly adding additional items in the forum of adding posts to the original topic, or editing the initial topic after it has been submitted is against the forum rules. Please upgrade your membership to Premium Membership to list unlimited listings. Those who try to post trade listings outside of the trade section will be asked to upgrade their membership.
7.3.18. Should you have a trade listing that has not had any recent posts in it; you may, a maximum of once per day, post the word “bump” in order to bump your listing to the top. Note that every time a member comments in your topic, your topic is bumped to the top, therefore there is no need to use the word “bump” if your topic has already been posted in on that day. Using the bump feature by using the word “bump” more than once per day would count as excessive use and abuse of the system. Any post in a trade topic by the topic author could count as excessive bumping irrespective of the contents of the post and at the sole decision of the Moderation team / Administrator. We therefore ask you not to abuse the system.
7.3.19. If a member wishes to post a links to external web-sites in their trade listings they must either have Gold Business Membership or Platinum Business Membership. External links may only be used for reference purposes only and not to direct members to purchase via these external web-sites. Note that the rules on self promotion still apply. Gold Business Membership or Platinum Business Membership entitles the member to a licence to list items for sale or auction commercially as well as have a link to their website in their forum signature. We encourage all members to fully disclose their relationship to their business within their forum signature. This ensures absolute transparency.
7.3.20. Having Gold Business Membership or Platinum Business Membership does not give a member licence to post spam however, or for excessive self-promotion of their businesses. Members should instead discuss advertising opportunities for their business via private message with @ChrisSilver.
7.3.21. Gold Premium Membership (or Gold Business Accounts for businesses) or Platinum Premium Membership (or Platinum Business Account for businesses) will however allow a member to have a forum signature adverting their company or project and will show beneath every one of their forum posts.
7.4. Risk of trading
7.4.1. Neither the Administrator nor TSF can mediate any trades on the forum and it is between the buyers and sellers, or other parties to a trade to resolve any issues that they may have due to a trade. TSF is not a part of any trade that happens on TSF.
7.4.2. Members trade at their own risk. The Silver Forum does not vet any members/sellers on the forum and neither @ChrisSilver nor The Silver Forum are liable for any loss(es) that may result from trades.
7.4.3. There is a Dealer Directory on TSF for reference purposes only. None of the Dealers listed in this section or any Advertisers have been vetted. TSF and the Administrator therefore cannot be held responsible or liable for any loss(es) or damages that may arise with trading with any Dealers, Advertisers or Members either off of or on the forum. Please do your own due diligence first.
7.4.4. Members should do their own due diligence before trading. Any member may view another member’s trading feedback or information regarding how many posts a member has made and how long they have been a member on TSF for. Note that trading feedback has not been verified to be accurate or genuine by TSF. It is advisable to trade with long standing members with extensive trade feedback and forum posts.
7.4.5. Members of TSF use the trade section at their own risk. Neither TSF nor the Administrator accept any liability for any loss(es) that may arise by members trading between each other. Neither TSF nor the Administrator can be held responsible for any loss(es) or damages that may arise from members sharing personal information such as name and/or address with each other and members do this at their own risk.
7.4.6. When you are given another member's shipping address in a message relating to a trade, the address is given to the seller / trader for the sole purpose of fulfilling the trade.
7.4.7. The address is not to be used by the seller for advertising or sending unsolicited letters. And the address must not be shared with any other party, other than is necessary to deliver the item. E.g. the courier / delivery company.
7.4.8. The only time where an address may be used for another purpose other than for fulfilling an order is when the express written consent is given in a private message. This message must not be deleted.
7.4.9. Any misuse of someone’s address, or if the address is used for any other purpose without consent apart from the sole purpose of delivering the item and fulfilling the trade would be a breach of trust and confidentiality. And also the forum’s rules.
7.4.10. Although we cannot mediate any trades members should report, by using the report feature, any suspicious trade activity. Or any disputes that they believe TSF should be aware of in order to reduce any potential trade issues in the future. This is particular important if you believe a member is selling prohibited items such as counterfeit items.
7.5. Trading in restricted items
7.5.1. We do not permit the trading of items including but not limited to firearms, knives or other weapons on TSF. We reserve the right to close and remove any trade topic that is in breach of these terms and conditions.
7.6. Commercial / Precious Metals business related members.
7.6.1. From 1st February 2021 businesses on the forum must maintain an active business membership and/or an active advertising package that includes Business Membership. Those with an active preexisting advertising package (purchased before this date and still active), please contact the forum (ChrisSilver) to upgrade your account to include a business account, your rate will remain the same and there will be no extra charges. An active, current and paid Business Membership must be kept to maintain an active account on the forum.
7.6.2. Business Gold Membership or Business Platinum Membership would also give you a licence to list items for sale or auction commercially as well as a link to your website in your forum signature, we also encourage you to fully disclose your relationship to the business within your forum signature.
7.6.3. Having Business Gold Membership or Business Platinum does not give you a licence to post spam however, or for self-promotion of your business(es). You may wish to discuss advertising opportunities for your business with @ChrisSilver, please enquire and we can send you our current Media Kit.
7.6.4. Business Gold or Business Platinum allows you to have an auto-signature advertising your company or project and will show beneath every one of your posts on TSF. You may have up to 3 commercial links in your signature.
7.6.5. Note that the trade section is for items for sale or auction directly via TSF. External websites cannot be linked to in trade topics. If you wish to link to an external website to advertise precious metals items for sale off of TSF, please request interest in a Dealer Sub Forum or Official Sponsorship with Sub Forum. Official Sponsorship is invite only and Dealer Sub Forums can be purchased by established Precious Metals businesses, or established forum members operating as a business at the sole discretion of the Administrator. Business Gold and Business Platinum
7.6.6. Business Platinum members may have a forum signature with a link to your website as well as a 250x50px banner to your website in your forum signature if you have either Gold Premium Membership or Platinum Premium Membership or Official Sponsorship.
7.6.7. If you market your own products, services, or website(s) (directly or indirectly by referencing your own website) without having Business Gold or Business Platinum membership your account may be permanently blocked or banned without warning. Please note the forum rules on self promotion.
7.6.8. Business Gold and Business Platinum Membership accounts may reply to topics to add value and useful/helpful knowledge to other members. Again please do not use it for self promotion, although in some limited situations replying to a post and linking to your own website (if adding useful information and completely relevant to the topic) may be allowed.
7.7.9. Only self employed, sole traders, or those operating as a single person business in the eyes of the forum can purchase Business Gold. For Ltd, GmbH and other such similar registered businesses, they will require Business Platinum. Self employed, sole traders, those operating as a single person business in the eyes of the forum may purchase Business Platinum instead, if they would like the extra benefits of the package and to show their support to TSF and to other forum members. Please see packages for full list of benefits.
7.6.10. Business Members may maintain a separate personal Premium membership account (on a separate login) providing both accounts are paid and maintained. This will give several benefits outlined in the packages. This is the only exclusion to TSF's rule on duplicate accounts. Please contact @ChrisSilver to authorise this first so that the system does not automatically flag/ban your accounts.
7.6.11. If you purchase Business Gold or Business Platinum membership and decide not to adhere to the forum rules or etiquette, e.g. spamming, you may get a warning. If it is decided that your account should be banned, e.g. for spamming, or if we believe you are trying to scam members on the forum, or if your account is banned for any other reason that the Administration sees fit, your Business Membership payment will be used towards administration costs and will not be refunded.
7.7. Self promotion
7.7.1. Promoting your own business by starting topics/posts is not allowed. It is not acceptable for any posts that link to your company. However, in the course of replying to a topic/post, linking to your own website could be allowed if it is relevant to the topic/post and useful to the member who asked the question / started the topic.
7.7.2. If you would like to let other members know about your business, whether in the precious metals industry or any other non-related business that you may have we recommend to place a text link and banner link in your forum signature, this would require Gold Business Account. Platinum Business Account and would also allow you to have a 250x50px banner and links in your forum signature that will show underneath every forum post.
7.7.3. Dealers wishing to start topics about their own business, or to promote their own business, please consider a Dealer Sub Forum or Official Sponsorship with Sub Forum.
7.8. Dealer Sub Forum
7.8.1. Dealers and businesses are also invited to be considered for a Dealer Sub Forum or Official Sponsorship with Sub Forum. Official Sponsorship is allowed to selected businesses and members, to be considered for Official Sponsorship please private message @ChrisSilver.
7.8.2. Official sponsors have their own Sub Forums for their product offerings, as well as the public recognition of being an official site sponsor and thus likely increasing sales through the forum. Please note that business sellers and dealers are required to have a licence to list items for sale on the forum, you can do this by purchasing Gold or Platinum Premium Membership. More info is found here: https://thesilverforum.com/topic/7121-business-sellers-dealers-please-read/.
7.9. Affiliate links
7.9.1 It is against forum rules for members to use affiliate links on the forum. It is also against the forum rules to suggest to members to private message you so that you can send them an affiliate link or in any other way to exploit the forum by trying to financially gain from linking members to other websites.
7.10. Failure to follow the guidelines on Trading (Buying and Selling)
7.10.1. If you think someone has broken a rule, please report it to the moderation team by using the report button feature. Attacking someone whom you think has broken the rules will only result in you breaking the rules! Every post has a 'Report' link on it, this usually can be found in the upper right hand side of the post but location may differ.
7.10.2. If someone breaks the rules they may, at the discretion of forum staff, be awarded one or more warning points. These points are displayed under a user’s avatar on every post they make Points will stay on a user’s account for 365 days before being removed. Once a user has accrued an undisclosed amount of warning points their account may be temporarily suspended or permanently banned. We may also ban accounts without any prior warning(s).
8. General Data Protection Regulation
8.1. Deletion of posts and inactive user accounts
8.1.1. Our policy states that it will not delete posts en masse nor will it delete active or inactive user accounts, apart from to comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). By accessing this community forum, users are opting to submit material or content on to a publicly accessible website. Please refer to the guidelines above in regard to deleting posts.
8.2. Deleting accounts & GDPR
8.2.1. Please post carefully as only sensitive information in limited situations will be removed by request. To preserve the archives If you wish to delete your account, the forum will delete your account and all posts will be assigned to an anonymous guest account, this complies with GDPR.
8.2.2. You will be unable to re-register on the forum using the same email, username or from the same IP address.
8.2.3. We recommend that rather than deleting your account, that we deactivate your account, this will allow you to use the same forum username and account in the future, you would just heed to email the forum Admin to easily reenable your account.
8.3. Controlling your personal information
8.3.1. We take your privacy and security very seriously. The Admin area of the forum login is encrypted and requires two factor authentications. Your email address used for registration is not publicly visible, though Administrators and Moderators can view this.
8.3.2. We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your explicit permission or are required by law to do so.
8.3.3. You may request a copy of any personal information that we hold on you. You may also request that we delete all information that we hold on you should you wish to close your account and no longer be a member of our website. We can delete this information upon request only when your account has not been banned, and/or TSF requires this information as detailed in the next section below. This information includes:
- Your name/username
- Email address
- Known IP addresses
- Known devices
- Opt in details and customer data
8.3.4. TSF will retain personal information in order to confirm that the relationship existed, or in order to respond to any arising legal claims. Any such information retained will be reviewed at regular intervals and eventually deleted at the point it is no longer necessary to retain this personal information.
8.3.5. Note that forum posts that you have made will not be deleted but will be assigned to the username “Guest”. Should you have posted any personal information in any forum posts, such as email, name, address etc, we will of course delete these specific posts upon request.
8.3.6. Administrators reserve the right to block or ban users who they believe are in breach of these rules, or if their common sense dictates you should be blocked or banned for any other reason. Remember that The Silver Forum is a community, this is a forum for discussion, please respect all other members. Any abusive or threatening behaviour will strictly not be tolerated and you will be banned for life. Please refer to all other parts of the forum rules that relate to banning accounts.
9. Competitions & Prize Draws
9.1. Members wishing to post competitions/prize draws on TSF can post competitions/prize draws but will be subject to automatic moderator approval before the topic will show as ‘live’. We will then contact you if we need any further information or approve the competition if all is acceptable.
9.2. All such topics must be posted in this section of TSF: https://www.thesilverforum.com/forum/34-prize-draws-competitions/.
9.3. Topics incorrectly posted in the wrong TSF section will be removed for moderation and the posted where the terms and conditions have been met.
9.4. TSF does not allow members to sell tickets for competitions or to financially gain from competitions. Whether directly or indirectly, selling items and then giving members a free ticket to enter a competition/prize draw is also a breach of these terms and conditions.
9.5. Competitions/prize draws posted by members must be solely free entry competitions/prize draws. Competitions/prize draws such as “subscribe to my YouTube channel for a chance to win” and other similar topics are allowed. Members should post their topic in the correct section and it will be automatically sent for approval before going live.
9.6. TSF runs Prize Draws that can be seen here: https://www.thesilverforum.com/raffles/.
9.7. There are a number of different categories for TSF Prize Draws as follows: Prize Draws open to ALL Member Groups, Premium Member Prize Draws; and occasional Prize Draws for Selected Member Groups. As per section 5.1.3 of these Terms and Conditions, Premium Membership comes with a range of benefits of which entering prize draws is not a listed benefit, as there is no guarantee that these draws may take place regularly or at all, as per section 9.7.2. The benefits of membership are specifically relevant to those set out in 5.1.3 and expectations should be accordingly managed in terms of the additional benefit brought by entry into a Prize Draw which may or may not be regularly drawn and which the odds of winning are significantly low; especially when balancing the overall costs of membership with the value of the prizes on offer.
9.7.1. Prize Draws open to ALL Member Groups: These prize draws are prize draws that are run for all members, they are open to all member groups whether standard free forum members, or paying members. These prize draws in this section may be sponsored by a third party or sponsored by TSF.
9.7.2. Premium Member Prize Draws: These are the draws for Premium Members and are a specific thank you to premium members. These Prize Draws can stop at any time and as such should not be seen as a specific benefit to holding Premium Membership given that the Prize Draw is not guaranteed to take place regularly, or at all.
9.7.3. Prize Draws for Selected Member Groups: These prize draws are additional prize draws that are run in addition to the premium member prize draws. These prize draws in this section may be sponsored by a third party or sponsored by TSF, each prize draw will state which member groups it is open to.
9.7.4. Prize Draws have to be actively entered by following the Prize Draw guidance. Applications to enter the Prize Draws are not automatic regardless of membership level. If a member does not enter the draw their name will not be included in the draw.
9.7.5. All Prize Draws are randomly selected. This is a process which produces verifiably random results. The draw ‘event’ is recorded, but not published, but can be made available on demand if requested. The names of winners are published following the conclusion of the Prize Draw which is officiated by the administrator.
9.8. Any giveaway/prize draw that is sponsored by a 3rd party is the responsibility of the 3rd party to send to the winner. TSF cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage of prize(s) during shipping or failure of the sponsor to send the prize(s), or for incorrect prizes being sent. Neither TSF nor the 3rd party are responsible for any taxes, import duties or similar taxes and charges that may be applied by your country for receiving an International delivery of precious metals as a result of winning a Prize Draw. This is applicable to all prize draws.
9.9. TSF is promoted widely in order to enlarge membership. Premium Membership carries clear benefits, including those benefits as set out at section 5.1.3 of these Terms and Conditions. This ensures that (as per section 5.1.6.) TSF can continue to run the forum as well as grow TSF and the wider TSF community. The larger the community is, the more great and helpful knowledge is shared and the more trade deals are available.
9.10. TSF accept responsibility for all aspects and stages of the Prize Draws. TSF conducts each and every Prize Draw, whether open to all membership or not, equitably, promptly and efficiently. Expectations are appropriately and carefully managed by TSF in all descriptions in all Prize Draws.
9.11. TSF does not, and will never, encourage any member to make a purchase or series of purchases as a precondition for entering any Prize Draw.
9.12. TSF administers all Prize Draws ensuring that clear participation rules are widely available, that all free Prize Draws are made clear and that the start and end date for all draws are published.
10. Charity Topics
10.1. We support members who wish to donate to charities. Members may post topics/posts to bring awareness of Charities or to encourage other members, however these charities must be official registered charities. For charities registered in the UK they must have a valid charity number and be shown on https://www.gov.uk/find-charity-information any posts/topics must link to their official website. We also support the sharing of funding pages on Virgin Giving https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/. For charities outside of the UK, please get in contact before posting. There are also rules about creating any sort of prize draw that is created to attract people to donate to a charity, please contact the Administration before posting such draws so the rules are clear about what is allowed/disallowed.
11. Compare Gold Coin Prices
11.1 The Gold Coin Comparison chart which can be found here: https://www.thesilverforum.com/compare/ is to be used solely for indicative reference purposes and should not be used as the sole source of information of any purchase or investment decision. Members are responsible to do their own due diligence before deciding to purchase from any dealers on the comparison page. Members should also check dealers terms of sale and prices on the dealer's website. Note that prices on the TSF compare page may be inaccurate and we can not guarantee the accuracy of the information on the page. Neither ChrisSilver nor TSF can be held liable for any losses that arise from purchasing from any of the dealers found on the comparison page or any other pages on TSF. TSF do not receive any remuneration from any purchases made via the Compare page or other links on TSF.