Another BST section for a paid seller?

[Leon]

I posted this in Frank's thread but it really deserves it's own.

What if a large ebay seller wants to sell on the BST AND since they don't want to hog up the live auction section, or other sections, they pay to have their own BST subsection? There would be 0 cost to our members and no markup on the buys there. It might go into effect as soon as today......If it is implemented it will be on a trial basis.

NO OTHER BST sections will be affected at all, nadda.


And here is another response from the other thread that addresses a few things too...

If we implement that "seller paid" BST section it is going to be on a trial basis. That seller will have their own section for listing whatever they want to, however they want to...as they are paying a substantial fee to do it. Until that type section is proven I wouldn't want any other sellers to have a section. If it works, then we can go from there. But we aren't talking a small charge, it would be significant. So a private seller would still want to utilize all of the other BST sections that are free, and will be free, to post in.
To reiterate there would be no additional cost to buyers...so if there was an auction that ended at $50, the cost would be $50 (plus a non-jacked up shipping charge)

[keating3620]

sounds good to me since it would be a seperate section from the regular BST. If they have lower BIN prices than EBAY I assume they would sell more.

John Keating

[GoldenAge50s]

Sounds OK to me--a trial run can't hurt anything, that I know of!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by keating3620

sounds good to me since it would be a seperate section from the regular BST. If they have lower BIN prices than EBAY I assume they would sell more.

John Keating

The seller would rather deal with our collective nut cases than ebays . I don't blame him. If there are no roadblocks, obstacles or issues we haven't thought about that aren't overcome-able, this new section, under the Live Auctions and above the 19th Century, could be in effect as soon as this evening.

Let me reiterate NO CURRENT BST SECTIONS will be affected at all. No member will ever have to pay anything to be on this board. No member will ever be charged for selling something. However, this is different and would be a captive commercial BST place for one seller and for all members to frequent, should they desire (and anyone on the BST probably would want to check it out).

[tbob]

Originally Posted by keating3620

sounds good to me since it would be a seperate section from the regular BST. If they have lower BIN prices than EBAY I assume they would sell more.

John Keating

+1

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Does selling retail space affect your license for the site?

[conor912]

Worth a shot......can you say who it is?

[ullmandds]

does his name start with Prob...and ending rhyme with Mean?

[Sean]

It sounds to me like a good idea.

[Luke]

Sounds good to me. I always like it if I can support the advertisers that help keep our site in operation.

[Sean1125]

For full disclosure, it would be myself and Greg Morris who would be running auctions/news/promotions/our own section. We are trying to figure out what sort of 'promotion' to add for net 54 members and if this does go into place I would like input. We were thinking a 1% rebate on won auctions on both net54 and e-bay or something along those lines.

Thanks guys.

Edit for clarity:
Auctions - we would run auctions similar to the auction section, just our own stuff so we don't clog up other sections
BST - We would post our buying threads and selling threads in their own section so we don't clog up other sections
News - Our recent pickups, what is happening in the hobby for us
Promotions - Giveaways, Kickbacks, you name it we are open to trying it.

We would never get where we are without you guys as collectors and buyers, so we would like to listen to all reasonable suggestions and actually make implementations rather than refrain from posting at all or giving dodgy answers.

[ullmandds]

how about 34% off?

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Sean1125

For full disclosure, it would be myself and Greg Morris who would be running auctions/news/promotions/our own section. We are trying to figure out what sort of 'promotion' to add for net 54 members and if this does go into place I would like input. We were thinking a 1% rebate on won auctions on both net54 and e-bay or something along those lines.

Thanks guys.

I guess my question to Leon would be, is it YOUR section, or just a new section that you guys would be the first to inhabit? If you guys are wildly successful and others want to jump in, would they move into the "paid" section or get their own? I.e. could we possibly down the road have 20 paid guys with their own sections? That seems cumbersome.

Not trying break balls here - I've had several good experiences with Greg and welcome a new idea....just kicking the tires.

[TUM301]

"let`s run it up the flagpole" , been waiting years to say that .

[rainier2004]

Interesting idea and I see a couple ways this could go.

I'm assuming Leon would hand choose all sellers, as its his site, but would there be a set list of standards to be able to sell on the site they would have to meet? Is there a feedback system associated with this? Who handles complaints and problems with transactions?

[asphaltman]

Auctions...news...promotions, etc under it's own BST section. Doesn't really sound like a BST at that point.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by asphaltman

Auctions...news...promotions, etc under it's own BST section. Doesn't really sound like a BST at that point.

Well, you are correct. That is why it is under our member's free Live Auction section in the BST hierarchy. The current Live Auction section isn't technically a BST area either.

The seller(s) in the proposed section are not unlike any place else on this board. While I don't think I want any rules per se', I feel whomever the seller is will need to behave in an ethical manner. Haven't we always tried to police it that way on our BST? If I get a complaint I am sure it can be handled. If I get more complaints or headaches, then there won't be a section like that any more. It can go up and come down without going to Congress (*not mean to be a political statement). I spoke with Sean a few times already and he (hey Sean) knows that the plug can be pulled at any time, if we decide to go forward with a trial.

And Andy, I just saw your questions. They are good questions. Let's see how that plays out.....we don't want it to be worse than it is now

and one other thing too, the discussions have mainly revolved around selling in that space.....the other things are possible but less discussed so far...

[scooter729]

Will this additional revenue for Leon help to lower our membership costs here?

[sebie43]

Sound good, a trial cant hurt

[bn2cardz]

Isn't a paid section just like having a banner at the top to an individual's website that I can click on and see what they are selling? I don't see why a section on here would be needed if they are already an advertiser either way I have to click on there looking for something to buy.

Another thought is would the posts keep popping up when I click on the "New Posts" tab? I use this tab because I like looking at all the posts across the forum, but it seems like it might be a bit much sifting through 100+ posts of what is for sale by one individual. At that point I would have to go to each section avoiding the paid bst section that I am wanting to avoid.

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by bn2cardz

Another thought is would the posts keep popping up when I click on the "New Posts" tab? I use this tab because I like looking at all the posts across the forum, but it seems like it might be a bit much sifting through 100+ posts of what is for sale by one individual. At that point I would have to go to each section avoiding the paid bst section that I am wanting to avoid.

+1

I brought this up in the other thread. It would potentially make the "New Posts" results useless as the volume of paid BST posts increases.

[DanP]

This seems better planned than the Affordable Health Care Act. For those who are worried if will affect your current use of N54, don't. If you like visiting your existing BST forums, you can keep visiting your existing BST forums.

All kidding aside, let's give it a try.

[BlueSky]

If this goes into effect (sounds like it is headed that way), I wonder if we will see a sharp increase in the number of board members as a result.

[thehoodedcoder]

Its a way for them to get closer to the people buying stuff, and circumventing the fees of:

1) Auction software, particularly the high price that simple auction site charges
2) Ebay listing fees
3) Paypal fees

It makes it cheaper for you, better for the board and better for the seller while keeping the same format that currently exists.

If you had to ask me. The end game is to have seller based auction listings with real auction software like ebay has, rather than through postings.

There are a number of free scripts out there to accomplish this and might be a better route than simply making threads with auction listings.


Kevin

[4815162342]

FWIW, in my opinion listing cards with reasonable for-sale prices would probably work better than auctions in a paid BST section.

[poorlydrawncat]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

FWIW, in my opinion listing cards with reasonable for-sale prices would probably work better than auctions in a paid BST section.

Agreed. The reason why it works on auction sites like ebay is because they have simple methods of tracking auctions and the sites are built to facilitate them in general. I personally would never participate on an auction on this site because it's too much hassle. That being said, I buy cards listed at fixed prices from the BST all the time.

[ullmandds]

it seemed kind of lame to me to have mostly non-vintage cards up for sale/auction...right in between categories of vintage card categories? just my opinion.

[buymycards]

I thought the final prices were fairly strong considering the items that were offered. These were low to mid grade lots that would be a tough sell on eBay and it would be a lot of work to try to move them at a card show. I enjoyed the auctions and I liked the items that were listed for sale, but I didn't end up winning anything.

I was looking forward to the next round, but it doesn't look like it will happen.

Best of luck with your next venture.

Rick

[Sean1125]

If anyone has suggestions I am all ears.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

It was a worthy experiment.