Marketplace Subscriptions

[ped]

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1361901925' post='1992807']


I think there will definitely be less incentive to do one-off listings for things between £50 and £100. Bearing in mind that it's an up-front fee for a non-guaranteed sale, a point that bobbass4k made in the original thread. £7 is more than I was expecting - most of the concensus in the thread linked to by Hamster was for a fee of around £2 per listing.

Also in that thread, Ped stated "Guys .. I've said a few times now, items under £100 or so will be free to list.". I'm a little disappointed that Ped hasn't stuck to this: lowering the limit to £50 quid is going to take a lot of things like effects pedals into that zone where it becomes a big gamble to list them.
[/quote]

It wasn't just my choice, and we can always raise the free limit if we can afford to do so. Better to do that than decrease the limit later on.

[BetaFunk]

Does that mean the end of the 'this is a feeler' and 'not sure i want to part with this' posts?

[Moos3h]

Very happy with this, long live BC!

[Moos3h]

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1361910144' post='1993004']
Does that mean the end of the 'this is a feeler' and 'not sure i want to part with this' posts?
[/quote]

I ruddy hope so!

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1361910781' post='1993022']
I ruddy hope so!
[/quote]

[icastle]

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1361910144' post='1993004']
Does that mean the end of the 'this is a feeler' and 'not sure i want to part with this' posts?
[/quote]

Not necessarily, but it will certainly deter all but the most financially unastute fishermen.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Hamster' timestamp='1361810135' post='1991238']

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Approximately 4% of members who have sold items on the website have donated and the income generated isn't enough to support ongoing development of the site. [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]So as a follow up, we'll be introducing paid advertising to the marketplace.[/font][/color][/quote]

A pretty sad statistic but not surprising and a shame when considering all the hard work the mods obviously put in to this forum.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1361911467' post='1993036']
Not necessarily, but it will certainly deter all but the most financially unastute fishermen.
[/quote]
That's a good point. That means the well heeled amongst us can still advertise basses they have no intention of selling.

[3below]

Basschat is great, I have bought a fair bit of kit here. I have sold one set of kit and gave a donation (no email though - but may have been in early days) . I would be happy to subscribe. What are the costs of hosting and running site? what bandwidth are we using? should this data be available in the community?

Edited February 26, 2013 by 3below

[icastle]

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1361896952' post='1992664']
My only concern is that if only 4% of sellers want to pay a small amount for selling through BC then will there be a big drop-off in the number of items for sale?
[/quote]

That was a thought I initially had when this subject was broached a little while ago.

However, when you look at the other tangible options, you could be paying up to 10% of the final sale value in commission fees instead of a fixed single fee.
Obviously, on smaller sales, this wouldn't be much, but it's a hell of a lot when you start selling equipment running into the hundreds or thousands of £s.

I think people already know that BassChat is one of, if not [b]the[/b], place to go if you're looking for any bass related information and realise that we offer a much more bass targeted audience than most of the other 'sales site' alternatives.

I don't think it'll take too long for potential advertisers to get over their reluctance to pay a modest amount to get access to that audience and understand that if their item is saleable and the price is right, it'll probably sell.

[icastle]

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1361911834' post='1993051']
What are the costs of hosting and running site? what bandwidth are we using? should this data be available in the community?
[/quote]

There's more to it than hosting and bandwidth costs.
There are also development and software upgrade costs.

The only free items involved in BC are the Mods and Admins (although I keep getting told that Kiwi & Ped have both had to have prescribed medication since I arrived).

IMHO the 'actual' costs of running the site aren't really something for public dissemination.
I can't think of another similarly relevant site that does it and that's really only the business of the guys who have paid, and continue to pay, the bills every month - as they have done for donkeys years (and I suspect have had to dip into their own pockets to subsidise BC on numerous occasions).

[ped]

Yah that's the long and the shirt of it. The advertising pays for day to day costs, although its a full time job trying to organise it. The development costs are what we find crippling; especially as we need tighter security and have been attacked on several occasions. We have lots of things to fix and improve, and without regular reliable finding the site will slowly grind to a halt (remember bassworld anyone?!)

Thanks in anticipation of your support guys

ped

[Toasted]

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1361884112' post='1992356']
I think so too. It's a very intelligent solution to the problem.
[/quote]

... and only what users have been asking to happen for [i]years[/i].

[ped]

[quote name='Toasted' timestamp='1361914462' post='1993112']


... and only what users have been asking to happen for [i]years[/i].
[/quote]

Yeah it's been a long time coming, but it costs a pretty penny to have the software modified to this degree.

[Toasted]

I can imagine.

[hubrad]

Who's been attacking Basschat? I'd be looking closely at Banjo Hangout if I were you! :-D

[ped]

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1361916331' post='1993154']
Who's been attacking Basschat? I'd be looking closely at Banjo Hangout if I were you! :-D
[/quote]

Those buggers at asschat again

[icastle]

I dunno...

...that lot are always trying to gain access via the backdoor...

IBD

(In Before Discreet )

[Phil-osopher10]

I think it is a very good idea!

What about posts like I've got this lot to sell (list the items and the prices beside it) and none of the items cost more than £50 on their own but cumulatively they do? Where do you stand on that?

[ped]

Probably wouldn't mind you listing them for free.

[Hamster]

[quote name='Phil-osopher10' timestamp='1361918050' post='1993179']
I think it is a very good idea!

What about posts like I've got this lot to sell (list the items and the prices beside it) and none of the items cost more than £50 on their own but cumulatively they do? Where do you stand on that?
[/quote]

Unless of course you list a whole bass for sale in parts but offer to deliver it fully assembled. [size=4] [/size]

[Steve A]

Hi chaps,

I don't think people should think too little of the 96% of people who have never donated money to the site. To be fair, I think many people would simply believe, if they even give it any thought at all, that the site was adequately funded by other means as most forums possibly are.

The 'donation' option has been a user's free choice and clearly most people have chosen to use the site for free, myself included.

Subscription to the site as a way of contributing and therefore helping to keep the site alive is a sensible option and I hope you get a good response that really makes a difference to you chaps who run it.

As someone who has not only sold a lot of gear via the site but has also had bass students who have come to me for lessons having seen my teaching post on the forum, a £20 annual fee seems more than fair.

Good luck chaps!

All the best,


Steve

[Lfalex v1.1]

Hmmm.
What, then, of those who stump up the £14 for listing two items which then fail to sell. That's a fair amount to be out of pocket without having sold anything at all...

Will PMs be subject to scrutiny to prevent any deals taking place outside of the marketplace environment?

What if you list something at £60 and you are haggled down below the £50 threshold? That penalises the naive, ill-informed and just plain optimistic potential vendors. You've just lost over 25% of your expected return.

Charging someone 0.2% of their revenue from a Ken Smith sale is one thing.
Charging someone 1.0% of their revenue from a MIA Fender is another
Charging someone 10% of their revenue from flogging a hard case or FX pedal is yet another.

There's a real danger that mid-price items will become an unattractive proposition to sell here, and that will be to the detriment of the entire community.

[/devil's advocacy]

[ped]

We'd hope that anyone coming here to sell items around the £50-100 mark are probably selling other items too, or at least members who have signed up for more than to sell these small value items. In that case, a donation from them for the use of the forum in general is probably a reasonable ask.

We can always adjust the prices and so forth at a later stage, but to begin with we can't customise it any more because we can't afford to do so, yet.

Cheers

[davehux]

IMHO - £20 to advertise whatever you want, to a bunch of like-minded nutjobs who, for all my transactions, have been the most friendly and trustworthy people you could ask for, seems like great value. You'll get mine as soon as you're open for business on Monday

If you don't want to pay, head for The Bay