Saltwaterauctions.com

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by lighteningthes
http:///forum/post/2815744
I too think its a bad idea, I think pretty much every forum I go to there is a private sale sections, from guns to car parts. The board doesnt take any of the money as part of a fee. If they want to make money off the board why not have a "donating member" label? Most other boards already do that.
Most boards also aren't hosted by a store selling those same products. This board is hosted by saltwaterfish.com, a business, who has to look out for their own interests in all this. Having the boards here is a good way to drum up business for them, but it's also great for people who are buying their products to use the boards for research; a good marriage IMO. I personally might not use the auction site, but they have a good reason for doing it... and you can't exactly compare the boards here to others, since most others are hosted freely by non-commercial parties.

 

[otter]

A question,
Was this a necessary move or another idea to make money?
I was unaware of the problems on the classified section members have mentioned. Is this the reason for building a new website, auction house, and charging fees? I don't think so.
Business is business. Some people will see an opportunity to make money and try it. There is nothing wrong with it. It is what it is. Will some people choose not to use it? Absolutely. I am one of those guys that loves to go to garage deals and dig through stuff looking for a great deal. The classifieds is kind of like that. The auction site will work. It is organized and secure. A lot of people will like it. You just might not get the treasures you were looking for.
Final thought. Nothing is permanent. Fish are not. Reefs are not. Everything changes and we all will make choices.

 

[stanlalee]

there perogative. there are several other local, national and popular places to classify live and dry goods. I sure could care less, I'd just bump up my asking price to include their cut if I were going to sell here.

 

[tfolke1]

I'm not sure that I like the "Feel" of it just yet, but I definately prefer it to the live trading section just getting shut down. The "Store" option is interesting. This could potentially bring a lot more sellers in. I personally believe that their were a lot of people that limited their sales a bit to try and avoid getting thrown off the board. It was kind of sad watching some of them get told that they would not be able to sell on the boards anymore so this is definately an improvement over that. It will be interesting to see how many more items some of them can produce. From my first look it does not seem as Personal as the boards did, which is a sad loss. The real problem will be that Saltwater Junkies will not be able to wait for a 7 day auction to end to get their fix!
I don't think that SWfish had much of choice in the matter. They felt obligated and to some extent were obligated to keep people from getting scammed under the old system and that required constant monitoring. Nobodies time is free.

 

[ibew41]

bad move alot of people will just go to other sites to buy the same stuff just 5% cheaper because I know at least 15 people that sell here that sell on other sites.These people are not selling alot just here and there.I know people will pm or email others to go to xyz site to order stuff to save $ and swf will lose members and $

 

[1journeyman]

Folks, as I said previously, post constructively.
Posting "its a bad idea SWF should just do it free" is not constructive.
The old system was not working. If you do not like the new site that is fine; Don't use it and continue to be a vital part of this community.
I highly suspect the only members we are going to lose in this deal are the ones that were taking advantage of the old forum...

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
http:///forum/post/2816573
Folks, as I said previously, post constructively.
Posting "its a bad idea SWF should just do it free" is not constructive.
The old system was not working. If you do not like the new site that is fine; Don't use it and continue to be a vital part of this community.
I highly suspect the only members we are going to lose in this deal are the ones that were taking advantage of the old forum...
I'm not going anywhere.

 

[ynotme4886]

nevermind

 

[robertmathern]

I will buy from the site

 

[frog/lionman]

I will miss the classifieds and live selling sites. I can happily say that my tank has been stocked with stuff I purchased from other members. I would never have been able to stock my tank the way I have if not for this site. Thanks SWF.com and all members.
Frog/lionman

 

[michaeltx]

Originally Posted by otter
http:///forum/post/2816158
A question,
Was this a necessary move or another idea to make money?
I was unaware of the problems on the classified section members have mentioned. Is this the reason for building a new website, auction house, and charging fees? I don't think so.
.
I have been part of this site since 2002 and alot has changed all for the better.
The saltwaterauctions.com site is a option that SWF.com came up with to try to make it more secure in the tradeing and selling of items. It also will help in keeping the buisness' that have been coming here more and more over the last few months from taking advantage of the site and the board members. The moderation Team has spent alot of hours in those 2 areas more and more in the last few months. Admin also frequently mods the 2 areas.
In the last few months 99% of my time has been spent in 3 forums live selling, classfieds, and the aquarium just moderating and researching posters that show up.
there are 46,674 registered members on this site and all I have to do is look in the 2 classifieds sections and find 5-10 posters that havent posted here in a year or more that has adds placed and posters that have hit their 50 post minimum and stopped posting in the other areas of the site.
Is that fair to the other posters? Nope
Is it fair for a store that primarily sells things in a store setting thats having troubles selling stuff undercut SWF.com to sell their inventory? absolutely NOT
Is it fair for new members show up and the first post is to post something for sale and then not full fill their end of the arrangement? Again Absolutely NOT
I think everyone is freaking out about the fee that is being charged at the end of the sale. right?
think of it this way
SWF.com has setup and pays fees and bandwidth to host the board that we all use there are alot of people that come to the site just for information and never ever buy anything from the store. I know that SWF.com has no problem with this would they rather everyone buy from them sure what buiisness doesnt?
Now with the new auction site uses PHP pro software so the software had to be purchased addtional bandwidth and many other things including IT and support for the new site all costs money. They are doing this as a curtacy to us the members of SWF.com and allowing us to use the site and software but are asking for a 5% selling fee. Thats not alot of money less than most of us pay in local taxes on items we sell everyday!!!!!
In essnece things are changing everywhere. Alot of people talk about -- guess what I regestered there back in 1997 or 8 and have maybe 500 posts all I got was rude and intolerable responces along with the other 15 or so boards that are out there. I have found this to be the most pleasant and respectful bunch of people around. Do we have the bad apples in the bunch absolutely and eventually they get weeded out because we dont allow things like what happens on -- happen here.
I hope that everyone takes a deep breath as this major change happens and give it a try. and remember thats a new thing for all of us and for SWF.com and I am sure as times go by loopholes will be found and fixed and policys can change if something isnt working.
FWIW
Mike

 

[spiderwoman]

Question:
So for everything that is for sale in the new auction site, we as buyers have to compete with other buyers who may and will jack up the price unnecessarily?
Let's say that the going rate for AOG is $xyz and the seller wants to sell them for that. He lists them for $xyz-x to entice the crowd. Then all of us start bidding on them, right? The auction can be made for 13 days for example to get the best price. So if I really want them, I have to wait 13 days and hope that nobody goes ballistic and start bidding insane amounts. Is there *buy it now* as on the *big* auction site?
That right there is a big for me. When I'm wanting to buy a specific frag, I want it in a few days.
Anybody that has sold their corals to me know that I spend a lot of money on a single order... more than most in a few months.

 

[clownfish11]

please change the 4 per month thing...I really hate that so please if your going to change something change that, and make it easier to trade
I think the 5% thing is okay, but should be like 2%

 

[nwdyr]

While I completely understand needing to make a profit ( I have owned several small business's) I also know that anything I ever sold here was never for "profit" nor did it make a profit

If I charged more in order to offset the fee's I will not be able to sell anything here anymore. I already have not sold anything here for awhile because money is tight for everyone right now. I would suggest they generate more revenue from advertising or maybe even a very small membership fee

Maybe like 10-20.00 per yr? either way I will stay a member here as long as they allow me too

If a seller here is a legit business...and I know some are

then yes , they should be charged. I think you can define them by the number of sale adds and the total amounts of those items sold. It sounds more complicated then it really is.

 

[nwdyr]

the more I read about this....I think they are shooting themselves in the foot with this idea....sorry JMO

 

[puffy_fish]

I keep checking the site and nothing really is posted. Is it not working or have no one posted stuff for sale yet?

 

[nwdyr]

well....Why not have the "other" site and leave us here?? if this is truly a outside site and completely Diff. then SWF.com. Let the general public and business's use it. We ( or at least I) are not business's. Seems to me they are starting a totally new separate entity and spiking it with "us" to help get it off the ground

I am sorry again to be so neg. about it ,but now this site has just become "commercial" maybe that's what they wanted to do huh

Maybe I am just a dork , but I liked it when we were a community and not a public type forum like those bay guy's. and again I will sell there NOW b/c its cheaper and allot more viewers

OK i will shut up now

 

[spiderwoman]

Actually a separate *classifieds* site would be better than auction. All of the live selling auction sites are getting very little action. There are multiple 3rd party/off-the-shelf classifieds applications that would have fit this bill way better.

 

[groupergenius]

<

[hr]
How about a link on the side??

 

[demartini]

booo

There are many other SW forums that allow you to sell stuff for FREE! Craigslist lets you sell for free too.....