Been thinking a bit about this whole trader debate, and I actually think its going to be a loss to the community if some of the smaller traders on here cant inform people of goods they have for sale.

So for example, Si B, with the excellent plenums that he knocks out at a pretty reasonable charge, or garage19 with his flocked dashes or moose130 with his replica splitters, could there be a system where they pay for just a short term advert now and then, as 200 quid a year + VAT is probably not a viable option for people doing things more or less as a hobby, where as for someone who is constantly trading 200 quid a year is a positive bargain.

I just think its going to be a shame if this site ends up squeezing out the really good base of small traders we have who offer a great set of products to us as a community at good prices and with great customer service, but who dont make enough money to justify weighing out 235 quid a year just to be allowed to mention it?

Is there the possibility of some middle ground here?

 

gotta be a solution here...

as i for one help where i can and have been here since day one..

i cant justify paying the traders fee in one go, so maybe a direct debit scheme is an idea?


didnt really want to get involved with this dispute, but hey ho..

also, forgot to add

while danny@radesigns does rebuild turbos and supply all turbo parts, he has asked if i take on his work load when it comes to the actual rebuilding of them due to family commitments and simply not having enough time in the day regarding his other ventures

however,...a few months ago i suggested i can help him and someone else on this forum out by giving the same cheap prices and high standards in both the rebuild and customer service, i was banned for the night from the forum...
which i know there was another way round it, but at the time my intentions were to get someone out the shit as it were

 

but then would you not get allot of bigger traders paying the smaller fee whenever they have something forsale or want something? or have i missed the whole point

 

one pays for ebays services on a pay as you sell basis perhaps something similar on here could be the answer but not as complex

 

Chip me old sausage... for once I actually agree with you.

There is a benefit to people who use the forum in knowing about products that are in the market place and deals that are available.

Perhaps a Small Traders Fee.. or some sort of platinum membership which people pay and that allows them to host an ad in their signature and they are allowed a bigger sig than standard users perhaps...

Or something like that.

 

No cause for someone like a breakers, pay 20 quid to run an advert for a fortnight wouldnt make ANY financial sense as they would pay ten times what they do now (in fact potentially this scheme might even end up in more people signing up for the 200 a year option when they realise how much response their 20 quid for a fortnight trader status gets them)

 

Yep, thats exactly the sort of thing I mean.

I think its going to be a tragedy if the likes of Si B's plenums become passionfords best kept secret!

 

alternatively it should be free for everyone then

 

what about a fixed price per add in witch the add lasts a fortnite or whatever & includes traders that arent that big or dont care much about beeing called a trader,

then another fixed price per year for other traders that sell loads of stuff on here & like to be known as a trader

hows that sound all mighty admins

 

Thats a different debate, personally I would happily pay 50% extra on my yearly subscription if it meant we could tell ALL the traders to get stuffed with dictating rules to us about who can and cant sell stuff on here.
The risk then though is it becoming too attractive to scammers if its totally free.

So for the small trader thing to work I think it would be fair to make the requirement its only active forum members who have been signed up 6 months minimum and made at least 500 posts or something like that, to stop the nigerians thinking it gives them a good market, make it so its harder to get on here than ebay and it should keep the scammers off.

 

Ps

In an ideal world I would like to see it done on a points system where traders who give out good advice get to advertise free in exchange, but i suspect thats far too difficult to implement.

 

or have a feedback system similar to ebay?

 

Thats actually a readily available MOD you can get for this forum, although would potentially be a fair bit of hassle for Pet to implement as no doubt it wont autoinstall due to the number of other mods he has done.

 

yeah i've seen it on other site's

 

Chip!we suggested something like this to Stu a while back, and he said no! i think its a brill idea, as FT.com has a pay as you go traders thing! its ideal for those people whom have amassed major amounts of stuff from wheeling and dealing to get the best bits for there cars! FT.com charges Ł49.99 per month for traders status!

 

holy shit,...Ł50 a month,....

in retrospect, the Ł200 a year is quite cheap....

 

It seems to me theres only 2 traders that are upset any way at how things are run and have been run for years But yet they only get about 5/10% of there buisness off here

So yeah there must be a workable solution where everyones happy

 

true! so very true!

 

this has been covered so much, and gets no further!

The only schemes like this would really work is if the sales were monitored by a mod.

However, I can see this causing issue with the larger paying traders.

PAYG per item, donating a percentage of the sale for "affiliate" traders would be a suitable option, but then how do you regulate it?

 

I suspect there are more than 2.
2 state their grievances openly on the forum the others moan privately to the mods,and some just moan about everything including their paying customers on here lol

 

perhaps it's not as good an idea as you first thought chip

maybe a better one would be to have a half price deal where you can only advertise the one product you are selling

so if you are selling plenums you pay your Ł100 a year and you get a link under your name which directs you to whatever place you can get information on getting that one thing

a much more workable solution i think, but still open to the scammers to keep the 6 month 500 post count rule too

 

My only point with regards this is that the back yard traders knocking out products in there sheds probably make more profit that the bigger traders due to no over heads and they normally aquire rather than buy there materials or use there place of employements equipment etc to make them some money on the side. they can afford the same as the company's.

 

Thats just basic economic competition, i dont think that PF should have a role in that, PF should be about the users being able to find out about all the options, then they can choose if they wish to support a company with overheads or buy from a "bedroom trader" who may not offer the same support, thats the nature of our society.

So if a small trader want to trade a small amount, he should be charged a small fee for doing so, if a big trader wants to do lots of trade on here he should be changed a big amount for doing so, other overheads are not the concern of this site IMHO

 

This is a difficult thing to work out due to the many different opinions people have on the subject.

Perhaps there could be a system where a bedroom trader puts in Ł80 + Vat and is then allowed 6 ads a year, they can all be used as and when they like but once they are gone that's it. If they then want to put up more ads they will have to pay the difference to top up to full trader status.

I also think there should be a bedroom trader avatar made specifically for these guys, and a regular trader one as exists now. That helps the uninitiated see who's who. Add a room for feedback where everytime a bedroom trader joins, the mods add a new thread entitled that person's username. People who have had dealings are then allowed to leave a one line reply stating their take on the transaction. There would be a mod for this room who would keep it under control and keep out squabbling. Anyone ignoring this rule would be warned and then banned.

That's my 2p.

 

imo, the traders don't want 'bedroom' traders on here as it affects their profits,as they can sell things cheaper because they have no overheads.

i bet most of the traders started out as b.r. traders too,then got bigger.

 

I like the idea Chip!!


Alex

 

Exactly

I have no problems with a small COMPANY selling a few items at a lower charge than i choose to pay
I DO have a problem with people who have no overheads and pay no tax etc selling stuff at half the price i do and yet make twice the proffit i do

If you are a registered company and only sell one or two items then YES i agree you should be charged less

People miss the point real traders try to get acorss ,, i have no problems with any PROPPER trader who can sell cheaper than me ,,I DO have a problem with them who Pay nothing out to anyone and who sell at less than me yet make more money because they pay nothin to anyone

A bedroom trader fooks places like this for real traders hence why i havent posted much on here for the last 6 /8 months as it simply wasnt worth it

 

Its not do-able really for 3 mian reasons:


1) The basic traders fee is TINY and if you cant afford to speculate 54p a day +vat to gain a massive customised audience, you are probably doing something very wrong anyway. A half page advert in performance ford every month is closer to Ł12 a day +vat and you dont get to liase with the customer!!

2) We only allow genuine bona fide registered traders on here anyway. So those with no business account could never join up. That will never change.

3) we have no programming in place to automarte smaller than 6monthly memberships.

 

AGREED. Its slowly but surely starting to really piss me off that people think i disslike traders who work from home. I DO NOT. I deal with many, and like them all.

The generally bandied about term "Bedroom Trader" Referrs to TAX DODGERS. Not genuine people who work from home.

 

* edit *

 

From a users point of view I agree with chip, I would have never found the contacts I have with out forums and most of my contacts are so called bedroom companys.

And don't most of these large companys start off as bedroom companys.

 

Ah, you saw my post before I edited it evidently, as it became obvious to me once I read stu's posts he made while I was typing that one that the site isnt interesting in those sorts of people being allowed to trade at all.

 

[
And don't most of these large companys start off as bedroom companys.[/quote]

well then go and freeload on websites that are free for everyone and nobody will moan

How would you feel if you run a business and paid for a service that others got for free ??? and you lost customers because of it

People only look at this from there point of view , just take one second to think of it from a paying traders

ps,,all these traders your so conserned about all use e/bay anyway so dont tell me without PF you would never know about them ,,also not one of them cant afford the traders fees so dont tell how skint they are because they make more money that proper traders

 

im in agreement also,..

however,....

for a small company trying to become bigger, every single penny counts...you know that stu...
maybe a direct debit system could be enplaced to help out the small registered COMPANIES that are paying tax etc etc.....

for the amount i make from each item, its a far whack to pay Ł200 on the chance of a greater income...

i also know business is about taking calculated risk to move forward....
bit like balancing scales this one....



carl

 

So take teh 6mthly option instead.

 

ahhhhhhh didnt know there was a 6 month option


will investigate now..