Thread: Charging NEW members for classifieds

Originally Posted by mkevenson

It seems to me that the INTENT of this thread is to discuss how to prevent unscrupulous sellers and to prevent unaware newbie buyers from purchasing a product that is "no good" and or way too expensive for what it is..

give me a break

unscrupulous sellers ???

people do read a lot before any purchase
and where is the FUNDAMENTAL rule
Caveat emptor
"buyer be aware"

YOU can not regulate stupidity or lazyness

Originally Posted by wapienica

give me a break

unscrupulous sellers ???

people do read a lot before any purchase
and where is the FUNDAMENTAL rule
Caveat emptor
"buyer be aware"

YOU can not regulate stupidity or lazyness

We want to discourage unscrupulous sellers, sure.

You wouldn't rip off your friend, right?

Or worse yet ... your friend ripping you off.

Lets face it ... No one likes to get burned. This board's classified ads are basically run on a merit system that some people take advantage of...

Caveat emptor should not be a factor. This isn't ebay, ya know.

Im a very new, new member, but i was thinking that instead of charging for classifieds, maybe set up a senior member rating system, where possibley 10 or so review the the new product/add and give it a 1-10 as to its value/quality-price...?
I know, from what ive read so far, these older members know there stuff.

Thanks,
Mac

Hello everyone. I am a long term straight user and have been reading these forums for over a year. I never signed up until I saw a razor in the classifieds that I wanted. I tend to read more threads than I have time to participate in them.

When I watch the classifieds I take three things into consideration:

1. Location: just because I want to stay within the states. (not all members show this information btw)

2. Post count: taken with a grain of salt because stats can be raised quickly. Plus there are good people out there without high post counts.

3. Post quality: I will search by member name to get a feel for the member by his/her thread contributions.

In the end I do tend to feel more comfortable with a member meeting these considerations. In the end it is to the seller's benefit to have a decent post count or at least a membership date that has some months to it.

Unless you have user ratings or some other trust level meter... it is a matter of good faith between men. A better way would be nice, not all men are worth our good faith.

No matter the suggested solution, you can never make all the people happy all the time.

Originally Posted by krazycrow

When I watch the classifieds I take three things into consideration:

1. Location: just because I want to stay within the states. (not all members show this information btw)

2. Post count: taken with a grain of salt because stats can be raised quickly. Plus there are good people out there without high post counts.

3. Post quality: I will search by member name to get a feel for the member by his/her thread contributions.

In the end I do tend to feel more comfortable with a member meeting these considerations. In the end it is to the seller's benefit to have a decent post count or at least a membership date that has some months to it.

Unless you have user ratings or some other trust level meter... it is a matter of good faith between men. A better way would be nice, not all men are worth our good faith.

No matter the suggested solution, you can never make all the people happy all the time.

If everyone followed your strategy, I would have no problem with a complete buyer beware attitude. It sounds like you did it exactly right. It has been stated many times that the moderators and SRP cannot take responsibility for what goes on in the classifieds so of course the ultimate responsibility is on the buyer. Of course, I still think some kind of clearing/screening method would be preferable. I just don't want to be the one to come up with it!

Yup, Mods can pull your adds. I'm for the fee. It's a good idea, I sure David would know better than anyone, how many people come over just for the sake of selling stuff.
Is it Badger and Blade, or The shave den requires you to have a certain number of posts before you can list an item for sale..

Originally Posted by zib

Yup, Mods can pull your adds. I'm for the fee. It's a good idea, I sure David would know better than anyone, how many people come over just for the sake of selling stuff.
Is it Badger and Blade, or The shave den requires you to have a certain number of posts before you can list an item for sale..

B&B.

I'm also for charging. But maybe have it both post count and time registered.

Is this a place where the much-celebrated "thanks" meter can come in handy? Could have a "verified" stamp on the ads that automatically goes on any ad from a seller with X# of thanked posts. Then you can warn newbies that to be sure a razor is genuinely shave ready- look for a listing from a verified seller.
There may be other ways to earn that "verified" stamp, but almost any system can be cheated if someone cares enough. The goal is to make it just hard enough that the cheats think it's too much, but the genuine members will get there in a fair amount of time.

I belong to a couple of pen lists that allow occasional selling by members who post. I am a mod of one list. We occasionally have new members who post pens for sale as their first post. After explaining that they need to participate before they can sell, they disappear.

It may not work here, but I believe a 100 post minimum would deter many who just want to sell crap. Yes, 100 posts can be achieved quickly, but it still takes time and effort. If there is an easier venue, they won't bother here.

I don't see how charging a fee will prevent garbage from being posted in the classifieds. In the end any fee will be simply passed on to the purchaser anyway. Perhaps charging a fee to everybody to post something weather the item sells or not to generate income may work if this is your intent.

We just need to keep outsiders out of the site or have them become part of the community.