Nice, George. Been a long time coming. Good to finally see these changes. RIP: "Darn. If only it was a medium." "But it is a medium." "Oh. Uhh...too bad it isn't blue."
I'm wondering about ads that were placed in the Market Place prior to this. Do we need to re-list? Will they expire? Can we still bump them without being charged? Do the new pay classifieds expire? I'm not against this pay thing, but I think that it takes some of the community aspect that I liked about this site away. I know that spammers and other such lame things came with the old system, but I liked that I might stumble across somebody dumping some random part for a couple of bucks or a 6er of beer. Now, small item sales won't be worth it (as much) unless you have a whole garage sale. I know I can become a full member and then it's waved, but currently the no job situation makes giving one more person $30 a bit tough. When I get a job again, I will give more support in the way of money, though. This is just my $.02, but feel free to disagree. Maybe it will even inspire more paying it forward.:beer:
George - one more thing. I was going to post a bike shop review, but since that's a marketplace sub-forum, permission not granted.
Thanks for the info. I'll fix those permissions. Current market place threads: will stay as is. People can still post in them as usual, just new threads can't be made. Market place itself will stay for now.
Fixed that now. Thanks again for pointing it out. The payment is integrated in the ad placement process. Uses paypal although a paypal account isn't required.
Its your website and I'm not going to knock you for doing what you think is best, but I personally don't like the change. That is all.
Sounds like the people that don't like the new system are the ones who were constantly nickle and dimiing people for crappy parts that most people would just give away or throw them into the useless parts pin in the garage. Some people treat this website as thier personal trading post/garage sale link/Buy my stuff. I have sold a number of items on this board..... But it kinda sucks when you are on the homepage looking at the 25 most recent posts and half of them are "FS" ads. I have no problem paying $1.50 - $2 for a listing.
I like the move to a formal marketplace, but the fee is lame IMO. With a proper classifieds the forum will no longer be cluttered with FS threads. Who cares if people come here just to post for sale ads? This site is getting big enough that 98% of users are anonymous anyways. I'd rather have a larger selection of stuff for sale. I believe the Marketplace was there so people could sell stuff . Nickel and diming? No one makes you buy anything, and unless I'm mistaken you're always free to make an offer if you don't like the price! Some people like buying "crappy parts" to put on that commuter bike, singlespeed or project bike. Not everything has to be XTR, Thompson or King you know.... Who cares? There is a lot of good stuff beyond the most recent 25 posts.
By my thinking, STR is community of riders that gather to discuss mountain biking (and other issues). Having a Marketplace to support buying and selling among members was a natural extension. Not the other way around. Times are tough for many of us so I can understand some concern over fees to sell unneeded items but I choose to prioritize supporting a site where I've made a boat load of great friends, kept me stoked to keep riding and in shape. It's hard for me to put a price on that. I'll just buy one less Payday bar from the 7-11. Frankly I'm a little surprised to see negative comments from those that have made a bunch of money selling their stuff here yet contribute little to nothing in the way of discussion or financial support. I guess craigslist is still free.