Vendors - Sticky Point

[Fishy]

With the growth of the forums over the last 6 months, we are getting a fair amount of people/companies that can/could/have supplied goods. Be it cars, electronics, body kits, etc.

This might start a nice little debate on things, but I think that it needs to be sorted out.

There are people making more than a fair amount of money from the users on here, and I feel that unless they are pre-pared to support the cost of running the forums, they should not be allowed to make money from the site by posting their goods.

The costs are not high compared to other forums, this I know for fact.

This would get them a banner ad (top of every screen) that would be clickable to their website.

Thoughts please ladies and gents.

Dan

[J4P RX]

This we sort of mentioned before in that thread that went really off topic wasnt it ;)

I still think the same. I agree with your point, but then if someone has a real good bargain or something id also hate to not know about it...

I dont have an answer, but if I was a paying trader and someone who wasnt paying get plugging stuff id get pretty annoyed.

Lee

[Gman]

This could be paid for through the credit card payment system on the site if it was a fixed cost. It would mean vendors posts wouldnt be displayed until payment info tallys with post info.

[StreetPizza]

You could always go for the honesty route. A small percentage of every sale made through the board, to go to the club. That way would be fairer on the smaller traders who may not make enough money to cover the cost of banner ads. Whether it would be enforceable or not, I don't know.

All I know is that whilst I basically agree with you, I also don't want to miss out on potential bargains just because people don't want to pay advertising fees...

[johnf]

Big can of worms this.

Lets say a member replaces his stock nose and offers the original for sale to other members. This could be a god send to somone who's just pranged his.

I see nothing wrong with that.

A very different situation to the guy buying/importing, stuff to sell using the forums.

They should pay to advertise.

As a suggestion, could we stipulate that all items being offered for sale must be cleared by a designated 'moderator' who has the authority to decide the catagory of sale the item falls within and apply a fee, going into the club funds, if he feels the potential sale is just a commercial venture.

[20B_boy]

Agreed Danny, but this has come up before and no one seemed to give a :censored::censored::censored::censored:. I think any one whos making cash, especially those who are advertising stuff every two minutes, should give some thing back. This forum is as tight an advertising demographic as any rotary specialist could ask for, any other place/media they'd have to pay for it large...

All suggestions welcomed I'm sure. Although considering the response by a few people on the subject to date I rather think the honesty-option may not be that fruitful! :cool

Any private individual who wants to shift stuff they have spare is fine, thats not what this is about is it? Thats what a club is for. Not for traders to line their pockets with for free ;)

[J4P RX]

As per Johns example I see no problem. That to me is a private sale, which just happens to be from someone who also supplies parts.

It would be 2nd hand items, with no vat etc. Its the more blatant adverts which are stepping on people toes a bit.

Having said that, I dont think we have any banner ads from parts suppliers so at least its a level playing field at the moment.

Lee

[20B_boy]

Originally posted by J4P RX
Having said that, I dont think we have any banner ads from parts suppliers so at least its a level playing field at the moment.
Except that some abuse the forum and others dont.

Humbug!

[g11ary]

Made my feelings clear last time.

[Fishy]

Originally posted by 20B_boy
Agreed Danny, but this has come up before and no one seemed to give a :censored::censored::censored::censored:.
Well it would come down to the moderators to moderator it. Simple!

Private persons selling stuff is not a problem, as all they are trying to do is shift items that are no longer of use to them.

Traders are here to make money, and I don't have any problem with that. BUT I think that they should be willing to help the board prosper, as it would at the end of the day benefit them.

Dan

PS. Brian Ellis to my knowledge is the only one to do this so far. ;)

[MikeLMR]

I think that sounds fair enough ... most other forums seem to operate on this principal

[scooby_si]

yeah it is never a black & white subject but where possible a distinction between private & corporate sales then there maybe sum room for fiscal exchange http://smilies.crowd9.com/ups/dvx_rune/smooch.gif & it wood/will be good when suppliers realise sponsorship has benefits but i agree more with the comments with wot i find trully beneficial as a member is to have the best deals available to me & i wood be gutted if i this wasnt the case but as they say the devils http://mysmilies.creativesell.net/contrib/fk/devil.gif in the detail so any suggestions can hurt IMO http://mindscraps.com/s/cwm/cwm/heee.gif
Si

[20B_boy]

So where do we go from here?

Its very well discussing it but we'll end up just letting the thread die again if we dont actually decide what to do about it. And the forum will end up being dominated by every muppet who has some thing to flog :D

Perhaps we should start by reviewing the rules of the for sales sections on the other main car marque sites. I dont frequent any scoob or gtr forums etc but obviously a fair few others do here - do they have this same thing where every man and his pooch are out to make a buck for free out of those who join?

Do we need to meet up to sort it out? Does it need to be voted/passed by x-people? any one seen the clubs constitution?

[J4P RX]

Well on the GTR forum you have to have a banner ad. Anyone can advertise something for private sale, including those tuners which dont have a banner ad (as some of them quite often just sell on their old parts).

Thats about it really, but they have 5 or 6 companies all with banners. They have a trade section for placing ads in, and I believe all the ads in there have to be moderated before they are seen by the general users.

Obviously from time to time someone tries it on, but its normally pretty obvious.


On SXOC however it does appear to be anything goes. Most the tuners are given their own section of the forum that they even use to sell parts over, give info over. I dont know if they make any contributions for this.

Lee

[iaint]

Just to add my 2p... We could have a 3-tier thing

1) Private sale in the 'For Sale' section.
2) 'Traders' section for use by traders who have paid for banner advertising on the site.
3) Specific Trader section costing more than the banner ad but giving them a place that only they can create threads in. People wanting to buy can then respond.

With the upcoming 'rotorstock' event I guess MRC will be needing all the revenue possible!

Iain

[bnaellis]

I agree with a lot that's been said on here already. I was browsing through the rotary vendors the other day and saw lots of companies advertising there stuff and then loked at the number of their posts. Needless to say some ave no interest as such in the rotary club community etc as they never post unoless they have something forsale. That in my book is rape as they are quite obviously using the forum for a means of reaching a wider audience and making more money. What goes on on here I don't of on any other club forum. Why? because there are guidlines and rules in place.
Suggestions under forsale section make a sticky that flashes in read so it cannot be missed titled ( before advertising read here)
In the sticky it will have guidelines for trade advertising and until the conditions are met trader may under no circumstance advertise there goods otherwise threads will be deleted.
I don't personally think traders should be paying a percentage of every sale. I think has it currently stands a set annual fee is the correct method.

rgds

[t2rew]

what brian said seems to make the most sence so far...