Small annual fee for Buy and Sell?

[bradhusick]

Perhaps it would improve our Buy and Sell forum here to charge a small annual fee. It might keep out the undesirables. What do you think?

You don't have to leave a comment, but please vote for one of the choices.

 

[smartwombat]

I hadn't noticed any undesirables.

 

[Vivek]

If the site needs financial help, I am for it. However, I really do not see any reason that it ( a fee to use the BS forum) would keep "undesirables" out.

 

[stephengilbert]

"I really do not see any reason that it ( a fee to use the BS forum) would keep 'undesirables' out."

I agree. And I wonder if we would agree on who's desirable.

 

[seakayaker]

I do not believe the fee would keep someone from trying to make a large profit, such as the M9M recently posted for sale in the B&S thread. Common sense is the only thing that is going to protect the buyer when making a purchase.

If the site need to raise funds to support hosting and software updates then an annual fee could be appropriate.

The Range Finders Forum charges a fee for using the B&S section of their site. I personally would still use the same precautions when buying an item that I use here. Charging someone a fee to post an item for sale does not make the sellor legitimate.

JMHO

 

[Bill_Green]

First, I haven't noticed a huge problem, but there have been a rash of people looking to make a profit recently. Second, if you have to pay a fee for something, you are going to milk it. Third, if I'm selling something here it is because I am offering a deal to people that I like, other forums refer to it as a "bro-deal." If I have to pay for the privilege of selling my gear at a discount, I'm not going to bother.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

If the site needs financial help, I am for it. However, I really do not see any reason that it ( a fee to use the BS forum) would keep "undesirables" out.

The site has changed to a cloud base server and yes it is more expensive to maintain. That I know for sure. Jack is the book keeper. I would just buy glass. I'm a whore you know. LOL

 

[Godfrey]

I don't see that there is any problem to fix in Buy and Sell, so implementing fees for that alone makes no sense to me.

I'm against charging fees to limit parts of a site or forum in the general case. If you're going to make this a "for pay" forum, make that policy forum-wide. If you want to keep it free but need some sustaining income, request annual donations and/or do a reasonable job with advertising.

NOTE: I despise having advertising thrust in my face all the time. It litters the world and the mind. I'd rather pay an annual fee to NOT have advertising.
​

A strong NO vote from me.

 

[Devon Shaw]

I'm still relatively new to the forum, but in the last few years I've probably had 5-10 transactions made via buy/sell and have had no problems. For the most part you can tell a sketchy individual within the first PM or two (if not in the ad itself).

I have bought and sold a lot via forums, Craigslist, and eBay, and as I see it the largest advantages to dealing in forums are that for the most part gear is priced at what it is worth and that people are relatively knowledgable, honest, and human. While there is the occasional (general intentional) great deal or someone looking only to profit, this forum has been for me the epitome of the advantages of forum marketplaces.

I see no reason from a usability standpoint why GetDPI should implement a fee to buy and sell.

Also, I am currently a student (photojournalism), and even a $10 or $20 fee is considerable and would have given me serious pause before beginning to participate in the buy/sell forum. If there is ever any thought to offer some kind of student discount in the Gallery Member Prints For Sale area I would definitely be interested.

 

[glenerrolrd]

Ok....my vote was for a small fee on an annual basis . This will limit the number of “hit and run” listings . As Guy noted FM does this well and I buy and sell many items there . Feedback is given and maintained by member ..so when you see a listing you can see how active the person has been in the buy sell . Reputations are built on member feedback for both buyers and sellers . This costs some money to maintain and thus the need for a fee.

If you look at the listings you will see a significant number are from Non participants ...its free ..so why not list it here attitude is prevalent .

This will not fix the problem of “flipping” , overstating warranty transferability or whatever bugs you today? But it will make the buyer seller history available and limit the infrequent participant .

 

[D&A]

As I stated in another thread (Leica warrenty thread), I know it cost money to keep a site like this up and running and asking for some sort of annual fee or financial contribution is well worth it. As for a fee to use the Buy & Sell, I'm not certain if it will achieve the desired results that have been bandied about. Thats a tougher situation to resolve in a way thats amicable to all and doesn't alienate the many vauable contributers to this site. I guess it opens the doors to a discussion of ideas.

Dave (D&A)

 

[manouch shirzad]

There is a company out there that sends out two millions junk mail everyday, do you think they still would do that if they had to pay
just one penny for each email?

I work with a software developing company and we have to spend millions and millions to stop these junk email and spams from reaching our servers and our customers. Yes, junk email is free but do you like to receive them? There is nothing for free but junk e-mail.

Why buying and selling in a very respected photography forum should be free, try to sell a $10,000 camera on ebay and see how much it would cost you.

We are blessed that with dedication of owners and moderators of this forum we are able to talk about a common subject for all of us “ PHOTOGRAPHY”.

There are thousands of websites that I can reach for buying and selling items, but non of them can give me the pleasure and satisfaction of checking for the new posts on this forum.

I am totally for “Pay Per AD”, and on top of that even to keep this site up and running I’m in favor of annual membership.
All the members of this forum can afford annual membership.

Best,
_______
Manouch

 

[aleksanderpolo]

I highly doubt that the annual fee will stop all the flipping, consider how much, for example, the MM ad would make if it sell.

If the B&S board was originally made for the forum participants, why not make it a requirement to have, say, 500 non B&S post before one can place a FS ad? This way it will drive away all the flippers, reduce the work load of the mods, and encourage more participation in the forum.

The photographic forum here is among the most helpful and friendly out there, but the B&S board seem to be a free-rider's ebay, with all the flipping and endless bumping.

Finally, I would like the thank the mods for your efforts that were put into running this forum. I understand that most of the stuffs you do are behind the scene and few would appreciate or thank you for it.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Thanks . There are limits on how we can control the software to do certain blocks and such

 

[Vivek]

I did not vote as there is no column that suits me. If there is charge, please make it $100/-.

I also strongly urge the participants (especially the BS regulars) to subscribe to support the site.

http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/about...mber-increasing-your-image-storage-space.html

 

[Cindy Flood]

I would like to see a a fee of $29-30 a year and a post limit of 40. 500 would be impossible for many who like to participate by reading and don't actually add comments unless they have something important to say. 500 limit might lead to people posting just to bump up their count.
I would look at the fee as more of a contribution to a site that I support, than a b/s fee.

 

[Bill_Green]

I would like to see a a fee of $29-30 a year and a post limit of 40. 500 would be impossible for many who like to participate by reading and don't actually add comments unless they have something important to say. 500 limit might lead to people posting just to bump up their count.
I would look at the fee as more of a contribution to a site that I support, than a b/s fee.

Case in point, I have been here since the beginning and this will be my 424th post.

 

[aleksanderpolo]

Ya 500 post might be too much, if there is a way to do word count, that might be more appropriate as people can bump their post count by "+1" "I like it" etc, without real contribution.

 

[kdphotography]

.... I would just buy glass. I'm a whore you know. LOL

Ain't nuthin' wrong with that.

Imho, I think the impetus for a small fee for the B&S forum stems from trying to limit hit and run sellers and perhaps the few unscrupulous sellers, etc. Maybe a minor inconvenience annual fee of $10 could be charged to post in the B&S, but free for those GetDPI annual subscriber members (expanded gallery storage).

Perhaps the best "buyer-beware" is purchasing from a known quantity, that is, those you know are active participants of the GetDPI family, or known gear whores. In much this same vein, perhaps it would be helpful if the Buy-sell comments/ratings could be attached to individual user-profiles (like FM or ebay) instead of the long anchored comment threads in the B&S forum, where noted transactions tend to get buried after time.

Of course, I find it much easier to simply follow the first unwritten rule of the GetDPI B&S forum, which is to first offer the item to Jack or Guy. Guy often will feel an insatiable compelling reason to purchase your equipment. Other forum family members will then have the opportunity to purchase the equipment from Guy on the GetDPI B&S forum a few months later .... :ROTFL:

ken

 

[Guy Mancuso]

That is the golden rule. Lol