Classifed Category Changes

[91xlt]

i have supported this site since the beginning, and will continue to do so...

the good it does outways the few and far between "problems"

you have "tolerated" me, i have no problem recipricating.

[danp]

Originally Posted by 91xlt

this is a firearm education/conversation site, not craiglist.

This is true, but the classifieds section is craigslist.

It's just easier than dealing with all the crap that happens in the classifieds threads.

People obviously can't read the rules. Hell, most people can't even post their classifieds properly. I fix the titles on about 50% of them.

[bt-99]

I really appreciate all the hard work you do with this site. I visit almost every day. My only concern with these changes is that we will not be able to see who posted the first I'll take it which in turn will lead to questions about fairness in sales.
Thanks!!

[Frenchy]

The way I see the Classifieds, is there are 2 things to consider, if ppl are allowed to post under it, then some one could technically snatch the sale for themselves.
IE: some one posts a S&W mod 66 4’ at $450.00 and I see some one respond to it, I would be hard pressed not to contact the person responding to it and say Hey Buddy, $450 I can get you one with a holster and belt. ( I technically could If I was to sell my S&W cause I did pay less then that.) No guys it’s not for sale!

That’s the down side. Mind you, $450 is not that far off what you see in many stores, but it is high still considering you can and do see them much lower then this many times, EX: I paid $275 for mine.

The up side of being able to post under is to help newbies, For example, not too long ago, Some one was selling a S&W 9mm Sigma, the price if I remember well was around $275. I would have jumped in there to say HEY SOME ONE!!! If your looking for a bargain gun, here it is!

I ended up buying the 2 mags for $40 SHIPPING PAID they could have sold for $60 + shipping anywhere.

So it goes both ways, It would be nice to say “Buddy, price check” when the price is high, or “Look at this!” when the price is more then fair but you are not looking for one.

An other example, last week there was a computer for sale, I know for a fact some one was looking for one, So I interceded by pm and said Hold this for Josh, his SN is XXX and got him the sale. Had I not seen it, Josh would have been with a much more expensive computer and some one else would have gotten the sale.

So the problem that exists is on both sides of the fence. Some one could technically flame a sale, or undercut it by knowing who is interested in it. Or some one could help the sale by saying I know who wants one contact them.

The first needs to be avoided if at all possible, the second can be remedied by sending a PM like I did to both parties to get together.

As we don’t pay to advertise here, I think Doug and Dan can do what ever they please with advertisings. But it would be nice to know if some thing being sold is high or possibly the same price you could buy it elsewhere. I think the idea of the Classifieds is to get a fair price between members, not to make a profit on the sale.

As we have many newbies here, It might be good if we could scale the price maybe with the rating system. 5 being very good, 1 being high.
Could this be possible?




Sorry for writing a book about it again...
Well not really

[danp]

Originally Posted by bt-99

I really appreciate all the hard work you do with this site. I visit almost every day. My only concern with these changes is that we will not be able to see who posted the first I'll take it which in turn will lead to questions about fairness in sales.
Thanks!!

While this appears to make sense at first glance, ultimately the seller can sell to whoever they want regardless of who posts first.

There's no way we could enforce that even if we did allow people to race to post the "I'll take it"

[JayBell]

Originally Posted by Frenchy

[As we don’t pay to advertise here, I think Doug and Dan can do what ever they please with advertisings. But it would be nice to know if some thing being sold is high or possibly the same price you could buy it elsewhere. I think the idea of the Classifieds is to get a fair price between members, not to make a profit on the sale.

the idea of any advertising posting area is to make the seller money, not necessarily to give other folks a "deal", members or not.

If you want to know what things are selling for, go do some price checking, like any normal consumer. Getting off ones lazy ass and doing a google search, or a search on other gun sales sites can pay off.

it's capitalism, thats how it works in a free market society, if you dont think the price is fair, you go to another seller.

[sgser]

the board is growing at an alarming rate, and the old timers like you and me are being faced with 30 new recruits a day.


Is the a rough count as to how many are now on the board? Strikes me that PFOA could be a viable political force, in itself, with some coordination. Also, if we align with other state pro-gun orgs and can get to the point where we speak with one voice on issues there is no telling how effective we can be.

[pdog06]

I see the pros and cons of doing this, and respect you guys for the jobs you do. You will never please everyone.

But...it seems like it could also hurt peoples chances to buy/sell also. Other members can give info to someone about the product if the seller is not online.

Ex.
A couple months ago someone posted a bipod for sale. They were very vague in the description of what they were selling, even saying in the listing they were not sure of the brand. There were a few people inquiring about it with questions and the seller was slow giving them answers. I happen to have the same exact kind he was selling, so I thought I'd help him out by posting the info for him/her so the buyer could make his/her decision. For some reason my post got deleted without any explanation to me whatsoever. If nobody tells me what I did wrong how will I know not to do it again? It ended up that the guy who originally wanted the bipod did not get it because the questions now remained unanswered. I feel this decision to delete my post was not in the best interest of the buyer and the seller.

You could also put a penalty banning (or suspending) people from the classifieds for bashing others FS items. If you're not interested and don't have anything positive to add, just dont say nothing.

I know these are just a couple things and there are many more things at hand, just thought I'd add my 2 cents worth.

mike

[Emptymag]

pdog,

just to be clear, could you not have PMd the person with the question?
I've done that myself.(before the "limitations")

None of this is ideal, but until a better solution comes along, it's what we have to work with.

By the way, I'm in advertising, so trust me, it makes me absolutely friggin' NUTS when I see vague ads with no photos and seemingly not much interest in selling said items. Prospective buyers should not need to ask many questions... many will not. If a person has to ask, they will likely just move on. Sale lost.

[pdog06]

Originally Posted by Emptymag

pdog,

just to be clear, could you not have PMd the person with the question?
I've done that myself.(before the "limitations")

None of this is ideal, but until a better solution comes along, it's what we have to work with.

By the way, I'm in advertising, so trust me, it makes me absolutely friggin' NUTS when I see vague ads with no photos and seemingly not much interest in selling said items. Prospective buyers should not need to ask many questions... many will not. If a person has to ask, they will likely just move on. Sale lost.

Yes Emptymag, I could've pm'd the guy(and probably should've done that also), but I chose to just put it on as a post so anyone else would have the correct info also.

The vague ads drive me nuts too. Hey, the rules are being tweaked this time and I'm sure they will be tweaked again. I just thought I'd give an example.