www.nfed.co.uk

I had a few issues to deal with yesterday which are worth a mention. Don’t let any of the following put you off, it is a very small number of problems for the amount of ads that are going through the system.

Passports: Can I remind everybody that it is illegal to own or advertise a horse without a passport. If you enquiry about a horse & they cannot produce the passport, walk away. Any problems should be reported to your local trading standards office, there is a fine of up to £5000 if the passport cannot be produced when requested by the Trading Standards officer.

If you post an advert for a horse on the NFED, you are accepting the Guidelines & Rules. Guideline 18 reminds you of your passport responsibility. If we receive a complaint & a copy of the passport cannot be produced, the advert will be removed.

False advertising & abusive Emails: When I receive any complaints, all correspondence is kept & passed on to the relevant authorities if requested. Again if the item or animal is falsely advertised Trading Standards may become involved. If things become heated & threats are made by either party, copies will be kept & this may become a police matter, so please think before you type!

Paypal payments: Many advertisers are accepting payment by Paypal which is fine, but please remember that payments can be reversed. I have also had a user that was supplied with the wrong Email address by the advertiser to make the payment to. Unfortunately the address did exist & they had a Paypal account, so the payment went to the wrong person, leaving the would-be buyer out of pocket & the goods unsold.

The following has just gone out on the newsletter, but worth adding here..

Can I remind everyone whether advertising or responding to an advert of the importance of keeping records of who they deal with? I’ve had a lot of requests over the last few weeks for personal details & although I have the records here, I cannot give out the information due to the data protection act. We can only provide personal details to investigating authorities.

It is always worth printing out the advert that you are responding to as a record of the description (In all cases the advertisers is solely responsible for the advert). We can provide text copies of old adverts, but these will not contain photos or personal details. At the very least we will require the advert number or advertisers Email address to locate the ad.

If you are purchasing a horse or pony, make sure the passport is valid & signed by the vendor. If you are loaning or renting, ensure that you have legally binding loan agreements or contracts in place. The NFED can only act as a point of contact, any arrangements or contracts between buyer & vendor are the sole responsibility of the parties concerned.