So when is it price policing and when is it helping out?

There was a recent thread where someone obviously had no idea what they were selling and were asking 40-50% of low market value. Some of us mentioned it and the comments got deleted, likely based on the price policing rule.

So I guess the question is when is it just helping out vs intruding? Of course someone popping into every thread and saying "It's $10 cheaper on ebay" is annoying and I'm sure that's what the rule is for. But sometimes people obviously ask WAY too much or too little and it becomes obvious they don't know what they have and what it is worth. Is it really price policing to tell someone the lens they have listed at $700 is only worth $275? Or on the flip side if someone is selling an item at like half the cost due to obvious ignorance, is it just OK to watch them get taken to the cleaners while someone more knowledgeable jumps on the deal?

If your goal is to inform the seller, send them a PM so they can chose to alter their sale.

This is a rule that we are not interested in looking for gray areas.

Prior to the "price policing " rule, literally half of the for sale threads on the forum had at least one reply pointing to some one of a kind dream deal or scam price on E-Bay.

The people posting these pie in the sky prices were totally convinced that this was "fair market value"

Black and white is the best solution here, the whole problem with price policing is that every one seems to have a different idea of what fair market value is.

Again, if you are posting it in line, your goal is not to inform the seller, it is to dirty the sale publicly.
So send PM if you are looking to educate.

Price Policing rules are not unique to POTN.
Any forum with a decent market section enforces them. Not doing so sour the forum very quickly.