FAQ's

What is Pocono Bay?
Pocono Bay is a medium for people in the area of the Poconos, in Northeast Pennsylvania to auction, buy, sell, give to one another, and even list yard sales on one website, without having to use multiple websites, or worry about being scammed by individuals outside the United States, or beyond a reasonable traveling distance - which does happen with such places as Ebay and Craigs list. Pocono Bay will be monitored by its members, rather than controlled by "Moderators" who determine (often with their own rules) what can and can not be listed. Pocono Bay allows you to instantaneously list your items with no unreasonable limit and to see your listing posted immediately, ensuring the owner and/or those in his employ has no advantage over an ordinary member of obtaining an item offered. Pocono Bay trusts its members to act reasonably and intelligently when creating listings in the Free area, as well as other areas.

Am I breaking the new PA Auction Law by listing my own items for "Auction"?
No, but be aware with regard to auctions, the new law, PA Senate Bill 908 Amended, long-windedly entitled the AUCTIONEER AND AUCTION LICENSING AND TRADING ASSISTANT REGISTRATION ACT basically states you must be auctioning your own items that you place on our site, or not in the business of posting items for others, as receiving payment for performing the service of listing items for others, as a third party, is unlawful. The short of it: Selling your own items is fine. Selling other peoples items in the auction area and charging those people for listing them requires you get a license. Senate Bill 908

Can I ask for a "wanted" item?
Yes, by posting a FREE listing and using the word "WANTED" in capitalized letters before the item name. This allows those who are looking for a free item to recognize that you are seeking something and not giving it away. This method can produce results if someone viewing the category looking for one item and sees you wanting an item they can part with. An example of a proper listing for a wanted item can be found HERE. There is also no charge for this listing.

Is it only for Northeast PA and Poconos area residents?
Yes, it has been created with residents of the counties shown on the map (located on our home page) in mind. These counties are: Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Susquahanna, Wayne, and Wyoming. You should only register if you reside within these counties. We believe such an area is more than sufficient to generate an active website and still be within reasonable traveling distance for a local item. Should you see a listing that is not from the counties we cover, please contact the Admin.

What are the rules for listing items?
The rules for listing items and general rules of conduct as a member of Pocono Bay can be found by clicking this link: Listing Rules.

I Registered But Can't Access My Account. Why?
You are likely running some type of spam blocker on your email system. You will have to set it to allow emails from "poconosbay.com" (include the "s" in "poconosbay"). Everyone who registers will be sent an email asking that they confirm they registered. This is done as a security measure, which we won't go into here, but if you don't receive this email, you should check your junk mail folder, trash folder, or any folder where "spam mail" might be placed. If you are unable to locate the email, please contact us through the contact link at the bottom of the website.

How are you keeping other counties, states, and countries from selling on Pocono Bay?
Through ISP checks and with the help of members. Pocono Bay was created for those living in the local area. When a person registers on our site, their ISP address (unique to every computer) is recorded. We can backtrace the ISP and find the location of where the individual registered, or logs in from. In rare instances, a person may be traveling, but if the login continues from outside the area for an extended period of time it will be obvious that he is not a resident. Also, members that receive a package postmarked from outside our area should inform us so we can monitor the users login activity more closely. We may also send out postcards on occasion to the users registered address asking for a verification code to be returned to us via email if we suspect a fraudulant registration was made.

Is every area really free?
YES. Posting a basic listing of items for sale, yard sales, free, or auctions is completely free and you can list as many items as you want (but, no multiple listings of the same item). There is only a small charge should you want your listing to stand out above the others using highlight and other options available. Also note that repetitive postings of the same item over and over is strictly prohibited on this website and can cause you to lose access to the site.

Can I upgrade my basic listing?
Yes, but as mentioned, there is a small display charge to stand out above the rest with highlights, bold lettering, or other additions to a basic listing you may opt for. Those option are:
Up to 5 Additional Pictures. $0.60 (.12 ea.)
Bold Lettering Items. $0.80
Highlighting Listing. $1.00
Reserve Pricing Items. Flat rate of 2% of Reserve Price.
We want you to compare our costs to that of eBay. You will find that our charges are well below what you would pay eBay if you listed with them. Don't forget to add in their "Listing Fee" and "Final Value Fee" charges when doing so.

Where Is the "Relist" Option? - My Auction Item Didn't Sell
We haven't included the Relist option on our website. The reason being this: Because PoconoBay is free it would invite people to abuse the auction listings, if we made it easy to simply press a button to relist an item. Let me explain. Auctions should start at a lower price than sale items. If we made it easy to simply relist an item, people would do nothing but list items for auction at what they want to sell it for. If they got multiple bidders then they would actually get more than they hoped. This would also alleviate them from having to set a Reserve Price. Nobody would try to sell an item in the "sale" section and the majority of auction items would end up being over-priced. eBay doesn't have such a problem because nobody wants to pay a relisting fee if it doesn't sell, so the price is usually lowered on a second attempt on eBay. If a person has to manually relist an auction item, even if they auction costs nothing to insert, they are more likely to refrain from beginning an auction over-priced and any second attempt to auction an item will be more realistic. We saw this as a solution to keeping auctions free, without charging for relisting items.

Can I list my item multiple times in multiple categories?
No, that is not fair and would soon create irritation for those who search through the listings. Pick the best category you think is best for your item. People that multiple post will lose access to the site.

Why Can't I register With My gmail Account?
Gmail is a free email service. With very few exceptions, most people in the area have an ISP (Internet Service Provider) that supplies them with an email account as part of that service. By eliminating free email services we eliminate the possibility of people opening multiple accounts in an attempt to influence auctions or to register using false information. This was also done to protect the members of Pocono Bay. Free email accounts are notorious for having security issues that allow viruses and other malware to be implanted through these types of accounts. If you use these services on your own computer, our recommendation is to stop.

How Do I Retract My Bid?
First, ask the seller to contact us, explaining to them the reason for retraction. If it is simply because you changed your mind, then they have every right to refuse, as your bid may have deterred someone else. If, however, your bid was made in error, such as bidding $1000 on an item worth $10 because you misplaced a decimal point, then I'm sure the seller will comply. In this instance, should the seller refuse, contact us directly and we will retract the bid. Do not wait until the auction is nearing completion to ask for a retraction. Retractions should be requested immediately upon realizing your mistake.

Can I advertise on Pocono Bay?
YES! However, our banner advertising space is limited on this site. If you wish free advertising you may submit your business name, physical address, and phone number for inclusion into our business listings page where it will be displayed in simple text on our sister site, PoconoPond.com. We also offer to link your business page listing to a webpage or website for a nominal fee. This will allow businesses serving the Pocono area to advertise. Advertising costs for text links, banners, sizes, and cost for Pocono Bay can be found when you CLICK HERE. You will need to be a registered Poconos area business to have this opportunity available to you. We also offer to create a webpage for you, should your business not have an Internet presence.

Can I List My Block Party Or Wedding Under "Area Events"?
Sorry, No. Area Events are reserved for public community events sponsored by organizations in which anyone may attend. This includes fairs, carnivals, firehouse breakfasts, music festivals, and similar happenings.

Is the site complete?
No. This type of site is never complete. New additions are being added daily, bugs are being fixed, functionality is being altered...it is a never ending project. Currently, we are developing a script that will allow members to see the username of members they gave a free item to. Each time they pick up a freebie the total number indication is increased. This would quickly identify those who are abusing the generosity of others. It's far from complete, as we need to also put in place a method to prevent multiple, unwarranted clicks from others.

I have a suggestion.
Send an email to the administrator. All suggestions are read and considered.

Who is the company behind Pocono Bay?
Not a company. Just one man, who has a day job ringing the tower bell at the local church, for which he is paid extra to yell out, "Sanctuary!". His name is (and this must be said in your best James Bond impression) Dees...Matt Dees. He knows how to build websites and saw a need in the community for this one. After hiring two administrative assistants, he began this project of Pocono Bay. His goal in life was to join the Procrastinators Club of America, but his application was denied to the successful completion of this project.

Why are you offering Pocono Bay?
Matt has lived in the Pocono area for more than 20 years. He has many friends, and many more acquaintances. He has listened to his friends discuss how horrible eBay is with its listing fees, final value fees, forcing the seller to use only Paypal, overseas scammers, high shipping costs, and the inability to touch the item before it is purchased. Everyone also knows that there are far too many scams floating around Craigs List, the other option. Freecycle? Moderators refusing listings because you requested or offered more than one item (among many petty offenses). Reports of Mods "cherry picking" submissions before publishing. A great idea that the founder has allowed others to control and abuse under the umbrella of his name. Residents of the Poconos also know how high the price of advertising in the newspapers is and the restrictions of using the "Bargain Box." It's not productive and just does not make it cost effective to list an item through that medium. He has also listened to his neighbors as they express a desire to only do business locally and keep the money circulating in their community. This, combined with the generous offer of a friend who worked the original coding and built the first such website like this one in Mobile, Alabama allowed Matt to be able to place this Pocono Bay website on the Internet for his neighbors, here in the Poconos.

This is just to make money with...am-i-rite?
Furthest from the truth when considering ad revenue is given to the assistants as part of their pay. It survives on donations, though money is always a benefit. This is done because Matt genuinely cares for people and wants to see people save money, and make money in a safe environment (like a "Bay"). The advertising from this website does little to cover the cost of time in running and maintaining it, or the advertising to promote it. Since he does not charge a fee, he is not above begging for donations - which can be given through the donations button found near the Pocono Bay banner. Matt will not refuse any loose change you find in that couch you are selling, or bought. If you think you got a great deal advertising or buying on this site, throw him a bone and keep this website online.

Why do you ask for money to upgrade listings?
It is done to give those who want it, an opportunity at better visibility for their listing. If no one had to pay for a highlight or a bold then everyone would opt to highlight and bold their listings. It would not be special. Also, as mentioned previously, it does take money to operate the site and ad revenue doesn't cut it. The options pricing is minmal, but it does make a difference in the amount of listings using those options.

What is this "Free" area?
It's just like the other free website. Only we don't control you. We also don't look over your post before it is published. Your item is published immediately upon your submission. We think people have sense enough to follow the listing rules and there is no reason to hold back a post in the free area for our review. Everybody has what they consider junk and they put it out on the side of the street for bulk trash. Our landfills are pretty full with junk (including that which NJ sends us), but did you know that what may be one mans junk is another mans treasure? That saying is true. Let us say you have an old table that is cracked and you no longer want it. It is just easier to buy a new one, but John Smith needs a table and he is good at carpentry, but can not afford a new table. He sees the table on this site, contacts you, and then gets a table he can repair and use. Nothing in our land fill and a person has been helped...two good deeds in one.