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  • 🔷Why can't I make a new post here in "The Marketplace"? 🤔

    All registered users can reply to other members' posts here in the Marketplace, to respond as potential buyer or ask questions of the seller.
    However, only members who have paid to become "Premium" members or "Patrons" can make a new "for sale" post here in Marketplace.

    Premium memberships can be purchased for as little as $10... a very reasonable fee in order to sell equipment here, far lower than the seller's fee would be on eBay or Audiogon or other sites. Our site doesn't sell ads or sell user's information. This small fee is the only source of funds for the site to offset the costs it takes to run the forum.

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CHANGES to Marketplace - Fee for SELLERS only

josh

Administrator
Staff member
Forum Administrator
Moderator
⭐️⭐️PATRON⭐️⭐️
I want to make everyone aware of a change I've made to the Marketplace section of the board, and explain why I felt the need to do this.

SUMMARY:
I've created an optional, paid, "Premium" account level on this board. Anyone wanting to create a new thread in the Marketplace section, to list an item for sale, will now need this "premium" account status.

Note that this change will only impact the ability to create a new thread in that one forum area. Replying to posts in the marketplace will not be affected, so this means that buyers and potential buyers should not be affected in any way, only sellers will need a premium account to list an item for sale.​
This change is only for the Marketplace section. Creating posts, replying to posts, sending messages... all work as normal for everyone in every other section.​

REASONS FOR THE CHANGE
It's always been my wish to create an area for people to exchange ideas, tips, and advice on the equipment and to ask questions of owners or dealers. I've never wanted or asked for money for membership. While running the board does cost me ($800-$1000 per year for software licenses, hosting fees, domain fees, and bandwidth), I've done the work and spent the money because I like having the community, I've met great people and learned a ton, and I know others have too.​
Recently, about 95% of the posts here on the forum are in the marketplace, and the vast majority of those are from dealers or owners who register here JUST to list their item, get it sold, and they never come back. They aren't contributing any content here other than their for-sale listing, and once sold, they're gone. They register and sell their stuff here because it gets to the right community of course, but also because it's been free, unlike Audiogon or Ebay, where they'd have had to pay a substantial fee.​
Over the past year, the amount of time dealing with registrations has become significant. Today I woke up to find that I have 4,283 pending registrations to sort through and approve. That will take me at least 10 hours of emailing people to see if they're real and not spambots. Most are spammers, some are these one-time sellers, and maybe 3-4 will be real users wanting to join to help or ask questions or just learn about the equipment.... the kind of people this board was really meant to serve.​
Lately, more of these "drop-in" sellers have been astoundingly rude... demanding that I get them registered faster than the once-a-day or once-every-other-day when I usually tackle this work, so they can get their free listing up on the site. Yesterday I got an email 5 minutes after someone registered asking what's wrong with me and why they were still waiting to be approved. They want their account right away, so they can sell their stuff, pocketing thousands of dollars in most cases, and avoiding the fees they'd pay on other sites. I get nothing but grief from most of them, almost never a thank-you, and they're gone. Many of the rudest ones, incidentally, are Kaleidescape dealers or "professional sellers" unloading older equipment or customer-returned equipment.​
It's become such a hassle that I've decided to institute a small fee. Again, it's for sellers only, and therefore shouldn't affect the many people who have been here a long time and contribute, learn about the equipment, and help others out when they can. For those that put me through the time and expense of handling their registration and only wish to sell an item here, I feel that asking for a small fee is reasonable.​

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
I've started with what I think are extremely modest fees.​
  • $10 gets you 30 days of "Premium"... more than enough to list an item for sale and conclude the transaction.
  • $50 gets you 6 months of "Premium" so you can sell multiple things and conclude several transactions.
  • $80 gets you 1 year of "Premium"
  • $100 gets you "Patron" status, and gives you a year of seller access. And a big THANK YOU for supporting the forum!
  • Your posts and profile will get tagged with a special designation ("*Premium*" or "**PATRON**") to others will know of your support for the forum.
HOW TO REGISTER AND PAY FOR A PREMIUM (SELLER) ACCOUNT
To get to the Paid Subscription page, go to your "User Control Panel", and on the left side near the very botton you'll see a link for "Paid Subscriptions". Click that. Or just click this link to get there now.​
For now, the only payment type accepted is PayPal. If you need a premium account and don't or can't use PayPal, drop me a note and we'll find some other way.​

FREE PREMIUM ACCOUNTS
Last point - anyone here who has >50 posts on the board has already been given premium status on their accounts. These super-members do not need to pay to list items for sale for a year.​
--josh
 
Last edited:
Josh,

I read the announcement and agree 100%. I appreciate what you do and try to contribute because I enjoy the community and support the product. If every person ran their operation/business/whatever with the same care and effort you did, this would be a very wonderful world indeed.

I was thinking that while I am a dealer, I don't fit into the same category as the drive by sellers but am a go with the flow kind of person. That you thought out how to take care of your existing users just exemplifies what a class outfit you run. What I cannot understand and probably never will because my brain just doesn't work that way, is how people who get such great service can be such jerks and not only that, but how they can stay in business.

On behalf of all the real users here on the forum, THANK YOU. Certainly this wouldn't be the same without you and probably would never have even existed if it were not for you.
 
You know my thoughts already (clearly echoing Mike's), and completely agree with the reasoning.:)


Jim
 
Thanks to you both for your kind words... Very much appreciated. This wasn't an easy decision, but I had felt that I was reaching the point of not wanting to run the board any more because of all the hassles and grief. Notes like yours really help restore my feelings about why I wanted to do this from the beginning.

--josh
 
Josh, if I can sell a system for some hundred or thousands Euros, the 10$ is a very fair price. But I will keep my system ... :)
 
Josh,

As someone who is more or less a lurker here, this new policy seems completely fair and even-handed to me.
 
Ha, thanks CT, but those of us who've been around here a while have seen that you're HARDLY a lurker! Glad you come check things out here pretty often and set us straight on so many details... we're lucky to have you!
 
Thanks guys! It's been going well, and only one nasty email and plenty of nice ones!
 
Hi Josh:

Maybe you could create a single WANTED thread and regular members could post equipment they wanted there. This could help sellers find additional outlets for their equipment.
 
Not a bad idea... will let Jim ("Cinelife") make the call on that.
-josh
 
Nice idea, but I'd rather keep all of the market related items in the same thread. Keep in mind, you always have the option of going to the bottom left side of the screen and selecting the filter that would display all "Wanted" listings in the Marketplace (or other search/filter options).




Jim
 
Clearer explanation of wanted thread idea

Hi Jim:

I think you misunderstood my idea based on terminology. For me, the Marketplace is a forum in which threads exist. My suggestion is that moderators add a thread for all WANTED items where non-paid members could make single postings about things they wanted to buy. Then paid sellers could respond via PM or email, so there would not have to be a cluttering of messages asking questions or following up, just a list of WANTED items. When a want is satisfied the requester could ask to have that message marked closed somehow.

Does that make more sense?
 
I like that idea. For example, I'm looking for an Alto myself but I don't want to pay to post a WANTED ad for it.
 
Understood, I'll speak with Josh, and thank you for the feedback!:)




Jim
 
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