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Supporting Member Requirement for Wanted Ads?

LilRay

LilRay

Commercial User
Dec 27, 2007
4,166
39
Between my Roscoe and Leather
Disclosures
Owner: Cockeyed Cow Custom Leathercraft
#1
Paul,

I'm just curious why Supporting Membership is required to post a Wanted thread. I realize the reasoning behind For Sale ads but I'm misguided as to the Wanted posts. After all I can purchase without Supporting Status ?

Believe me I know Supporting Membership is very inexpensive, however I'm disabled and on a fixed income and spare cash is hard to come by.

Thanks for any explanation,
God Bless, Ray
 
#3
Please understand, I'm not questioning helping TB stay afloat I'd love to, but any extra $ I have to use to buy strings etc. If there were a working way to obtain Supporting status, I'd be all over that. I've got plenty of time, just not much $. I really enjoy being a part of TB, I've had a lot of fun.

Thanks Guys,
God Bless, Ray
 
#5
I'm not a moderator - but I have been around since the beginning and there was a lot of debate about this.

So - there were many people who just came here to use the classifieds and nothing else! :hmm:

I think the general conclusion was that if people are going to make money out of the site by buying & selling gear, then they should make a contribution!

Also it makes sense in that you don't want to be buying gear from somebody who won't be there tomorrow....and supporting members demonstrate a commitment to staying around, so everybody feels better about it!

Plus, there have to be some tangible benefits to being a supporting member! :p
 
#6
I understand your point Bruce, and it is very valid. However in my opinion a wanted ad can be useful to someone who is selling their instrument here on TB. It'd more or less be a point me to your ad kind of thing. There is a massive amount of sales ads on TB. I visit TB at a minimum half a dozen times a day and I'm sure I miss several ads by not checking the classifieds each time I read posts made here.

And actually the Buyer's or ones that would place a wanted ad, aren't making any money. The seller still makes the money. No different than the current system of Non Supporting buyers. Maybe to Reply to a Wanted ad you have to be a Supporting Member makes more sense than being a Supporting Member to place a Wanted Ad.
Seems to me the Supporting Members selling things would want the broadest avenue to get their items sold. As I'm sure If it were only Supporting Members allowed to both buy and sell, TB would have a drastic decline in Sales completed.

Just posing a question,
God Bless, Ray
 
#7
Bruce Lindfield said:
I think the general conclusion was that if people are going to make money out of the site by buying & selling gear, then they should make a contribution!

Also it makes sense in that you don't want to be buying gear from somebody who won't be there tomorrow....and supporting members demonstrate a commitment to staying around, so everybody feels better about it!
Click to expand...

You miss the point, Bruce. He's only talking about the WTB ads, not the FS ads. Non-supporting members currently have the ability to read and buy from the FS ads. How would it be any different if they posted a WTB ad? There is no difference of trust or accountability with a WTB ad. And while it is possible to make money by flipping a bass that has been purchased, they could only flip that bass here by buying a membership, so no money could be made just by using the WTB ads.
 
#8
bongomania said:
You miss the point, Bruce. He's only talking about the WTB ads, not the FS ads. Non-supporting members currently have the ability to read and buy from the FS ads. How would it be any different if they posted a WTB ad? There is no difference of trust or accountability with a WTB ad. And while it is possible to make money by flipping a bass that has been purchased, they could only flip that bass here by buying a membership, so no money could be made just by using the WTB ads.
Click to expand...


EXACTLY!;)

Thanks Bongo.
God Bless, Ray

BTW. Does anybody know Who all Mods the Forum Usage thread? Is this something Paul himself will need to address?
 
#10
I thought it had also to do that people will feel a bit safer buying from a supporting member rather than a non-supporting member.

No offense to non-supporting members ;). But a possible scammer wont likely buy a supporting membership.


But, if non-supporting members can place wanted to buy ads, a lot of non-supporting members can contact that want-to-buyer and a lot of transactions can be done between non-supporting members.

Would this be the reason that this is not allowed?
 
#12
bongomania said:
You miss the point, Bruce. He's only talking about the WTB ads, not the FS ads. Non-supporting members currently have the ability to read and buy from the FS ads. How would it be any different if they posted a WTB ad? There is no difference of trust or accountability with a WTB ad. And while it is possible to make money by flipping a bass that has been purchased, they could only flip that bass here by buying a membership, so no money could be made just by using the WTB ads.
Click to expand...

Well there has always been a section called Classifieds and what I was talking about was the reasons why that section was reserved for supporting members - I can only suppose the restrictions apply to the whole section and can't be split further...?
 
#13
C'thulhu said:
I thought it had also to do that people will feel a bit safer buying from a supporting member rather than a non-supporting member.

No offense to non-supporting members ;). But a possible scammer wont likely buy a supporting membership.


But, if non-supporting members can place wanted to buy ads, a lot of non-supporting members can contact that want-to-buyer and a lot of transactions can be done between non-supporting members.

Would this be the reason that this is not allowed?
Click to expand...

How would placing a Want To Buy thread scam anyone? As long as sellers don't send anything without first receiving payment? I still am missing the point.

To be completely honest I can do this now, as a non supporting member.

Scenario,
I see a bass FS in the classifieds call it the AAAA bass. I can post in that thread "Boy I'd really like to have that AAAA bass. Would you trade for my XXXX bass? Buyer says no I want a YYYY bass or cash only. Another TB'er posts I have the YYYY bass you want in trade but I'd like the XXXX bass, lets work a three way trade. Or rather I'll buy your XXXX bass for the amount asked on the AAAA bass. How is this not a way for two non supporting members to conduct a transaction?

I've seen the three way trades happen. Not to mention if I am a new Supporting Member I'd have no feedback so as far as the comfortability issue I see it as a moot point, as far as the Want to Buy ads are concerned. Besides not all scammers are idiots, I'm sure there are those out there willing to drop $20.00 to take somebody for $1,000.00.:eyebrow:

As I've said before I understand Supporting TB when it comes to placing FS ads or using TB as a place to flip a lot of gear. Where I differ I guess is I see Want To Buy ads as another way for people with FS ads already placed, to point someone looking for their particular item directly.
As it is now I have to comb the ads if I am looking for a specific item, read the ads everytime I visit TB and take a chance on missing an ad placed by a Supporting Member.

What I'd like to See is this;

I'm looking for a XXXX bass
With a XXXX neck
In XXXX Color
I have up to XXXX to spend depending on condition.

If I were a Supporting Member with this item That I am willing to part with. As it stands I have to set my price I'm willing to accept for that Item. By placing a Want To Buy ad and declaring what you have to spend, Supporting Members COULD receive more than they had planned to ask. IMO a Win Win for both parties. Buyer gets exactly what he/she wants and Supporting Seller gets more than he/she had planned to ask.

I guess I just have too much time on my hands:eyebrow:

Where have I gone wrong?

God Bless, Ray
 
#14
Bruce Lindfield said:
Well there has always been a section called Classifieds and what I was talking about was the reasons why that section was reserved for supporting members - I can only suppose the restrictions apply to the whole section and can't be split further...?
Click to expand...


I guess that is in essence my question as to why the Want To Buy ads can't be split from the FS ads.

God Bless, Ray
 
#15
LilRay said:
Paul,

I'm just curious why Supporting Membership is required to post a Wanted thread. I realize the reasoning behind For Sale ads but I'm misguided as to the Wanted posts. After all I can purchase without Supporting Status ?

Believe me I know Supporting Membership is very inexpensive, however I'm disabled and on a fixed income and spare cash is hard to come by.

Thanks for any explanation,
God Bless, Ray
Click to expand...

Ray,

Your point makes sense, but let me explain why the policy started. In 2005 the decision was made at the urging of Classifieds moderators to make all posting in the Wanted forum 'SM only' as a result of the forum being used as a back-door to make free sales. Non-supporting members who didn't want to pay to sell, used the forum to post trades ("Wanted to Trade" threads, I'll trade you mine for yours, etc). Also, say you have a Fender Jazz for sale. Users would simply search the Wanted forum for a Fender want ad, and then post their new ad as a reply to that thread. It's bumped to the top, and after a few replies the sale goes down just like a For Sale thread.

I'll start a discussion with the forum admins about this, maybe there's something new that can be done to update reply permissions, etc.
 
#16
paul said:
Ray,

Your point makes sense, but let me explain why the policy started. In 2005 the decision was made at the urging of Classifieds moderators to make all posting in the Wanted forum 'SM only' as a result of the forum being used as a back-door to make free sales. Non-supporting members who didn't want to pay to sell, used the forum to post trades ("Wanted to Trade" threads, I'll trade you mine for yours, etc). Also, say you have a Fender Jazz for sale. Users would simply search the Wanted forum for a Fender want ad, and then post their new ad as a reply to that thread. It's bumped to the top, and after a few replies the sale goes down just like a For Sale thread.

I'll start a discussion with the forum admins about this, maybe there's something new that can be done to update reply permissions, etc.
Click to expand...

Paul, Thanks a lot for the reply. PLEASE I'd like it stressed that I'm not questioning Supporting TB. I'd love to, I just don't have access to much cash personally. I'm willing to help in any way I can.
But I think what you are eluding to as to the Back Door sales and trades is essentially the scenario that I created in post #13, which is still occurring on TB. Without limiting Placing and Responding to all Classified ads to Supporting Members only, I don't think it is viably possible to stop such a thing. And when you limit both the Placing and Responding to classified ads to Supporting Members only, Completed sales will drastically drop as the potential buyers field will have been minimized.

As far as a solution, could there be a way to place Wanted ads say at a maximum of once a year for non Supporting Members, or TBD by the Forum Admins, with abuse of such privelage resulting in loss of access to TB.

Or an area accessable to non Supporting Members to post in, but Supporting Members are only those allowed to reply.

Please keep me informed of your findings when you discuss this with all admins.

Thanks again for the reply.
God Bless, Ray
 
#17
We have updated forum permissions to allow non-supporting members to post new threads in the Wanted forum. A Supporting Membership is still required to reply to others' threads. It's not a perfect solution, but we'll see how it goes...
 

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