General Help
Quick facts
- Registration – Free, of course :-)
- Types of ads – Free and Premium
- Ads last for – 28 days
- Forums – Free, registration required
- 6,500,000 - the number of visits Cracker gets per a month
- 350,000 - the number of ads on Cracker
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Do I need to register for Cracker?
We require that all ad posters and forum users on Cracker to first register with us, before being allowed to use Cracker.
Registration with Cracker is free! It requires you to supply us with a valid email address, create a screen name (if you wish to partake in our forum discussions) and other details.
Note: You do NOT need to register or log-in to view the forums or search through ads. It's only necessary if you want to post a comment in the forums or place an ad in classifieds.
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What type of data do you collect about me?
To help prevent online fraud, Cracker collects some specific location data about you when you post information to the site.
We primarily use this to prevent known criminals from placing fraudulent ads on the site. In some instances, however, we may also provide this data to authorities if there has been a case of a fraudulent transaction.
FYI, we do NOT use or provide this data to another authority for anything other than combating online crime.
You can learn more about our data collection policies from our
Privacy Policy.
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I never received my confirmation email. What should I do?
Some reasons for not receiving your confirmation email are:
- When you submitted the ad, did you type your email address correctly? It only takkes (sic) one typo to screw it up. If this is the case, you need to re-submit your ad from scratch.
- If you are using a web-based email account such as Yahoo or Hotmail, it''s possible your Self-Publish email was sent to your Bulk (or Spam) Mail folder. Some large email providers (such as Bigpond) employ spam-filtering software to trap unwanted emails. Please check all your folders (or contact your ISP) to make sure this hasn''t happened.
- Your ISP or email account may simply be experiencing technical difficulties or delays in delivering your emails.
If you have checked all of the above and it still hasn’t come through, then send us an email at info@cracker.com.au
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What kind of content do you refuse?
For both Forums and Classifieds, we don't allow the following on Cracker:
- Postings that give out other people's personal details
- Postings that promote or solicit harmful or illegal activities (either implicitly or explicitly), these include, but are not restricted to:
- Soliciting prostitution
- The sale of certain restricted wildlife
- The breach of Federal and State laws
- Postings that advertise the services of a competing website, such as another classifieds (free or otherwise) or forums site
- Encouragement of any pyramid scheme, multi-level marketing, "club membership", distributorship or sales agency or other business opportunity which requires a payment of any kind, which aims to recruit other members or sub-agents, or pays commission-only. (Some paid MyCareer job ads are exempted.)
Your access to Cracker will likely be banned if we find any of your postings not adhering to the above.
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What's the deal with my 'bucket'?
Your bucket, located within your profile and only accessible once you have logged in, is your online storage area. Here you can upload any images or videos you are likely to use in your ads on Cracker. Having a bucket means you only need to upload that image/video once and not each time you place your ad.
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How can I protect my copyrighted content?
If you intend on posting images on your ads or in the Cracker forums, you may want to look into adding a watermark to them before uploading the images.
Sometimes we'll come across 2 completely different ads containing the same photos, with both advertisers claiming that the image is theirs. Unfortunately we can't always determine who the rightful owner is and often these cases come down to a situation of your word against theirs.
A Watermark, while not a definitive indication of ownership, may at least deter users taking your photos in the first place.
If you do find your images being taken by another user, bear in mind there isn't much we can do, as pointed out above, we don't own who is telling the truth. You can though seek legal advise from the
Australian Copyright Council. They are the best authroty for you to seek advice from, whether it is legal advice or you just have a general copyright enquiry.
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I've been banned. Why?
Your access will be banned if we found you posting content which we don’t allow on Cracker (see the above
What kind of content do you refuse? for details). You’ll also get banned if the other members voted you out. Cracker is a user-censored site and as such, the community has the last word.
If you've been banned, it means a LOT of Cracker users have accused you of one of the following things:
- Harassment
- Spamming
- Giving out other people's personal details
- Ripping off other users of this site - that means fraud, a prosecutable offence
- Promotion of harmful, illegal activities
When this happens, we investigate users' complaints. If they're mostly correct - that you've stepped over the line on multiple occasions - then you're out.
That said, we're pretty tolerant - be cool and you'll probably stay in.
If you really think you've been banned unfairly, then email us at banned@cracker.com.au and explain why. Any decision after that will be final.
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What should I do if someone harasses me?
If you're genuinely being harassed repeatedly, then please email us to let us know.
If the harasser is an advertiser, please send us their ad's title (the precise web address of the ad is vital), ID number, its category, and the relevant email address (if it's visible).
If you're being harassed because of an ad that you placed, please send us the harasser’s email address (or any other details you may know). You might also consider deleting your ad and re-posting it using a new title and email address - we suggest an anonymous web-based account such as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail.
If you’re being harassed via the Cracker forums, as with the above instances, contact us. Unfortunately we know forum trolls do exist and generally make forum life hell for most. Don’t antagonise the troll by replying to their posting or baiting them, this just encourages them and can make you look like a troll too. Report the user to us and we’ll looking restricting their access.
If you're receiving any other form of harassment because of our site, please
contact us and we may direct you to authorities who could advise you better of your legal options.
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What can I do to protect myself in a transaction?
Because we are a locally-based classifieds and second-hand goods site, many of our users choose to transact face to face, which takes much of the fraud risk out of online buying and selling.
We strongly recommend that you visit our
Secure Trading Tips page for further advice.
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What can I do if a transaction turns bad?
Please let us know if you feel you've been cheated in a transaction, providing any details you may know about the individual/company involved.
In most cases, we sadly can't do much. We want to help you, but generally speaking it's just mostly beyond us. We recommend you go to the police and/or small claims court for any real investigation.
We strongly recommend that you visit our
Secure Trading Tips page for further advice.
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I saw content that offended me and I want to complain - how do I do it?
If it is an offensive ad, send the advertiser an email and let them know your feelings. If they haven't provided an email contact, then use our flagging system to register your complaint - please do NOT send us an email.
If it is an offensive comment or thread within the forums, use the flagging system. Don’t forget though, everyone is entitled to their opinion, however if that opinion is truly offensive to you, take heart that’ll you are probably not the only one who feels like that. Of course you can start your own thread and vent (Our ‘
Rant and Rave’ forum is the ideal place for rants and raves), but bear in mind not to make the situation worst. The poster might just be having a bad day and every user has the ability to edit their own comments.
If you feel the content is prohibited, use our flagging system. If a lot of other users also complain, then we'll review the content and possibly remove it (if it's stepped outside our
guidelines).
Remember, it's a web community - everyone here has an equal say.
You can only flag each ad and forum thread/reply once - so please don't try to do multiple votes to get something removed. It won't work (and may even get you banned in return!).
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What is "flagging"?
Flags are simply a feedback system for you to tell us when an ad or forum message is Explicit, Spam, Miscatergorised or contains Offensive language.
If a lot of users "flag" the content, it'll be put on hold until we have reviewed it to see if it follows our
guidelines.
If it's judged outside our rules, then it will be re-categorised or removed. If its OK, we'll leave it exactly as is.
The flagging system is there to let the Cracker community to moderate the site, not us. It's the backbone of our philosophy - it's a democratic here, and "appropriateness" of content is up to you to decide.
By using the Flag this ad feature (its the 'flag as inappropraite' link on every ad and forum), we're asking you to signal what you feel is and isn't OK.
We're open to any other suggestions for our site, so if you've got one, we're all ears. You can let us know your idea via our
Feedback forums.
You may only flag once per ad or forum. One posting, one vote!
Your flagging options are:
- Explicit - use this if you feel the ad/thread is of an Adult nature. We have a feature which flags content as explicit and only users agreeing that they are over the age of 18 can access it.
- Spam - if you believe the poster is engaging in spamming activities
- Miscatergorised - if you feel an ad or forum post has been placed in the wrong category or city
- Offensive language - if you find the ad or forum thread to be containing lanuage that is profane, offensive or just down right unacceptable.
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But what if I already complained and the content remained?
It's probably because other users didn't think the ad was so bad.
Everyone feels differently about what is and isn't acceptable. If you're still upset about the content remaining you can always have a vent using our discussion forums.
Overall, remember this: all ads on Cracker expire after 28 days anyway. With that in mind, it may not be worth getting too hot under the collar. Threads and comments don’t expire, but users have the ability to edit or remove their own comments after posting them, but of course if enough users flag it as offensive, we’ll take action.
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What are the star ratings?
On every ad and forum thread, there is the option for you to rate the posting out of 5 stars. If you feel the content is bonza, true blue or top notch, then let everyone know and give it 5 out of 5 stars. If on the other hand you weren't very impressed by it at all, you could give it a low rating.
You can only vote a star rating once. On both forums and ads you can search by star ratings, allowing you to bring up the most popular content, as voted by you.
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Explicit content on Cracker
On Cracker we allow ads and forum posts on just about anything imaginable, everything from dicussions about dogs, boat sales and TV soaps to ads for computer repairs, share accommadation and personal trainers (and everything in between). We also allow for content of an Adult nature on Cracker and have ads for Escorts, phone sex and webcams, as well as discussions about relationships, dating tips and what makes for the perfect partner. We know not everyone on Cracker will want to see this content and so we class any Adult content we find as explicit.
The only way to access this explicit content is by agreeing that you are over the age of 18 years and you wish to view such content. You can do this 2 ways.
Firstly, at the top of each ad and forum category there is a Show explicit content link. Clicking this will allow you access to the explicit content on Cracker only while you are active on the site. This means if you leave the site and return then you'll need to click the link again. Secondly within your profile page there is an option that allows you to access explicit content. Clicking this link will allow you access to explicit content ONLY while you are logged in. If you access the Cracker site without logging in, then you'll either need to login or use the Show explicit contentlink (as explained in the above point) in order to access explicit content.
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The Cracker Chronicles, our newsletter
The Cracker Chronicles is our (hopefully) monthly newsletter, with which we like to keep you up to date with any Cracker happenings. Your can subscribe to it via your profile page. If you are already receiving it and wish to unsubscribe, there is a link at the bottom of the newsletter which will allow you to do so, or just login to your profile page and check the unsubscribe option.
We also have all previous newsletters available on Cracker for you to check out on our
Newsletter Archive page.
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I saw a great ad and want to send a link to a friend. Can I?
You bet. Simply go to the ad and click on the Email to a friend link. A pop up will appear where you'll need to enter in your name, your email address and the email address of your friend.
BTW, we don't store either of your email addresses (or send/sell it to someone else). We're not that dodgy. :-)
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Can businesses advertise on Cracker?
Certainly, but we're mostly a peer-to-peer community so please place your ad in our Businesses category. If you place business ads outside this category they'll probably be removed.
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Can I add a link to something I'm selling on another auction site?
Sure, no prob - but ONLY if you provide a fixed price on the item so our users can buy it then-and-there. (An eBay auction with a Buy-It-Now function is OK.)
We're really trying to create a site that offer good deals for both the buyer and seller. Auctions, by contrast, favour the seller - they're geared toward getting the maximum price.
Be upfront about the price you're willing to accept and we'll be OK with it. Otherwise we may take your ad down.
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Can I scalp tickets on Cracker?
If you're charging LESS than the original going rate, we'll dig on it (we even have a 'Tickets' category in our For Sale/stuff for sale section). Otherwise no ripping people off for your own gain ain't a cool gig to play at.
This is a thorny issue - we try to know the price of every ticket in town but it's hard to regulate this with any real tenacity. Believe us though, our users are on their game about this... and they go out of their way to tell us when someone is hawking at crazy prices.
If your ad is flagged a lot, and the ticket is well overpriced, we'll take it down.
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Can I buy banner space on Cracker?
Yes, we do have banner space available. To find out more in regards to purchasing banner space (costs, banner specs, availability etc) send us an email via our
Contact Us page.
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How can I contact someone at Cracker?
Email us via one of our addresses on our
Contact Us page. Sorry about there being no phone number but we're a very small team - if we had a number listed we wouldn't be able to handle the volume of calls. (You don't want to spend an hour on hold, do you?)
We try to reply to all emails on the same day but sometimes it isn't possible (we have over 350,000 classifieds). Please bear with us, we'll reply as soon as we humanly can.
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