The Want to Buy Board Is Live — Here's How It Works

Wanted posts — the "anybody got one of these?" and the "still looking for…" — have moved off the forum and onto a proper board at rpls.com/want-to-buy. That forum is now read-only — nothing's been deleted, every old link still works, but new requests go on the board from here on.

This one's the little sibling of the Classifieds board. Same idea, turned around: Classifieds is for what you're selling, Want to Buy is for what you're after.

Why bother

A wanted post in a thread has the same trouble every forum post has — it scrolls away. You put out word that you're hunting a data collector, three people see it the day you post it, and a month later, when somebody finally digs one out of the back of the shop, your thread's on page four and long forgotten. And there's no telling a request that's still open from one that got filled last spring.

The board fixes that:

• Active requests sort to the top, and every one carries an Active, Found, or Expired badge. Turn up what you were after? Mark it found and it drops off the top — no more calls about a thing you've already got.
• It's dead simple. You're not selling anything, so there's nothing to photograph, no category to pick, no verification photo. Say what you're looking for, roughly what you'd pay, and how to reach you. That's the whole form.
• Everything's on the one page. No digging through threads — every open request sits right there on the board, most active and newest first. You can skim the lot in a minute.

Where your old post went

A few of the recent wanted posts were brought over to the board. Not all of them made the trip.

Have a look at rpls.com/want-to-buy for yours. If it's there and you're still looking, you're set — you can edit it from your dashboard. If it isn't, post it fresh; it takes about a minute. The old threads stay right where they are either way.

Posting a request

Head to rpls.com/want-to-buy and hit Post a Want. You'll need to be logged in.

The form asks three things: what you're after, your budget if you've got one in mind, and how folks should reach you. A couple of things worth knowing:

• Put a budget on it if you can. "Up to $6,000" tells a seller in one glance whether it's worth digging the thing out of the shop. "Make me an offer" just makes them guess.
• Keep the description short and specific. Make and model, the condition you'd accept, whether you need the accessories with it — a seller reads that and knows in five seconds whether he's got your match. There's a cap on the length on purpose; it keeps the board quick to read.
• Mark it found when you find it. It's the kindest thing you can do for the next person who's about to message you about something you tracked down three weeks ago.

Requests stay up about six months. After that they're marked expired, and they come off the board a while later. Still looking? Post it again.

How people reach you

Every request shows who posted it, and the name links to your forum profile — that's how an interested seller gets in touch, right through the site. No email address sitting on a public page, nothing to scrape. Want to field calls instead? Add a phone number to your request; that one does show publicly, so only put it up if you don't mind it being out there.

The rules that carry over

Private parties only. Surveyors looking for their own gear. No dealers fishing for inventory, no manufacturers working the board.

And the original one, same as it's been since day one: be nice. Somebody goes out of their way to dig something out of storage for you, treat them right — even the times the deal doesn't come together.

On membership

Memberships start August 1, 2026. From then, posting a request is a member benefit. Browsing the board stays free — same as it is today. Until then, everything works as it does now. Saying so now so it's no surprise later.

That's about it

Old threads stay put for now. New requests go on the board. Mark them found when you track the thing down.

Questions, or can't turn up an old post of yours? Reply here and I'll sort it out.