Alternatives to AZ wanted/for sale??

I just re-up'd my Club Membership for another year, however, I only did it because you guys kind of shamed me into it.
Not that I can't afford the 35-bucks, I've even (hope it's legal) logged on to friends accounts, just so I can pay for their club membership,
so I've been around the club for a while, and I've got the keychains to prove it>>:)

Now I can increase my avatar and get more Pm's.
I don't think that any policy changes are ever going to go the way I think they should, but since I now realize that nobody gives a **** about what I think,
my protest is over.
 
I don't think theres a "Fixall" that will make everyone happy, but I can see where someone could take these ideas you have and make something different, but the problem with that would be generating traffic to it.
 
How about not worrying about it?

If your item is priced to sell it will sell. If not then not.

Here is an idea for you. Start your own thread in the raffle section where you link to all of your items that you have for sale. Then you put that link into your signature.

THEN

You go out and be a part of the rest of the community and contribute to other sections so that people can see your signature and go check out all the neato things you have for sale.

THEN

You don't need to worry about your listings being on page one because you will be seen by a lot more people than that.

I bet all of you who do this will end up selling more.
 
Zippo said:
In the german forum there are 3 different threads in the "Wanted/For sale" section.

The first one is for private sellers, no comments are allowed only pms, no bumps by the ot but he/she can modified the original post with price updates, the mods make the bumps and once the item is sold the thread is closed.

The second one is for "wanted" items. Comments and bumps are allowed and when the ot finds what he/she is searching the thread is closed.

The third one is for professional sellers.

It seems that works.
Click to expand...

Those are some of the best ideas in this thread.IMO The German forum operators are very smart.
 
I'll take JB's idea a step further.. Having a link in your signature is a good idea.

Create Your Page on my website, then you can link to it in your signature.. just an idea I had..
 
JB Cases said:
And the traffic there is very slow. Be careful what you wish for because you might get it.
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Bingo, and I rarely agree with John.
In fact, agreeing with JB defeats the purpose of what we're doing here in the first place, but let's not make AZ as boring as all of those other billiard forums.
 
JB Cases said:
How about not worrying about it?

If your item is priced to sell it will sell. If not then not.


I often see posts that are edited to read SOLD. The original price or revised pricing is not listed any more. Is it out of line to disclose the sale price? I understand that the final deal is pretty much between the negotiating parties. Maybe we PM the seller to ask about it?

My point-we see people get slammed for 'if you're selling-list a price', 'no feelers allowed-are you selling or talking?-list a price'.

How do you know the market for an item if you don't have a sense of what was a 'price to move' it? Except, when the price, new or old, goes on for months and years-that price is too high.

...I don't know the answer, but agree that items for sale move fast. 6 pages in a day, is my guess. Most of the abuse seems to come from newer members. Some from established members. Taking 'cuts' in line can be contagious when 'everybody's doing it'.

If you are a power seller-maybe a fee based section makes sense. All businesses have a 'cost of sales' nick to selling their goods.

Meanwhile, I watch the for sale section, and read 7-8 pages deep daily. Sometimes, old stuff becomes new posts with the same people.

Free always comes with some kind of cost.

ps-how long we had spell check? very helpful
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You said it all

Hi 3Railkick,
You said,and you are right,

"I often see posts that are edited to read SOLD. The original price or revised pricing is not listed any more. Is it out of line to disclose the sale price? I understand that the final deal is pretty much between the negotiating parties."

IMO sometime in the future the buyer may want to "flip" the item,and it isn't really any ones business except the parties that are directly involved what the last price was.
A search can be done,and some buyers think a seller isn't supposed to make a profit.Or only make what the buyer thinks is fair (to them) When they look back,if they see the orig sale price,then maybe that is all they will want to pay.Believe me I have seen it happen many times.Items have an intrinsic value (a value all their own). If I found Searing cue in the street does that mean I can only sell it for what you (the buyer) thinks is fair.If the cue is worth 8K it's worth 8K whether I found it or if I paid 20K
If I pay too much does that make it worth more? IMO that's why me and many others remove the price.I hope this helps.
Marc
BTW,this is my last post of this type.I don't want to add to the "vanishing" sales threads problem.
 
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Here's what you can do now:

Create your sale thread.
Advertise your sale thread, by making an enticing link in your signature.
Bump your thread at the appropriate given time constraint.
Make sure you use quality photos and give ample detail.

What this forum could improve upon:

Separate the "Wanted" & "For Sale"
Create sub-forums for Cues, Cases, Cue Parts (Such as shafts & extensions), Tables, Clothing/Misc.
Set bump limits, it is possible to do on this forum as it has been done on similar forums using the same VBulletin system.
Bump limits take away the need for moderators to search out for these threads.
Add thread prefixes (see below)
azbilliardsproposal.jpg

WTS=Want to sell
WTB=Want to buy
WTT=Want to trade
SOLD=Item has been sold
SPF=Sold pending funds

This is just my proposal.
 
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I think there are a lot of good ideas here, I hope a mod jumps in the discussion.

Ian
 
xianmacx said:
I think there are a lot of good ideas here, I hope a mod jumps in the discussion.

Ian
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Here are some ideas specifically designed to help sellers who play by the rules, and help improve the buying atmosphere in the WFS.

  • No new production cues & cases by dealers
  • New custom cues & cases are welcome regardless if it's by the craftsman, dealer, or collector
  • Monitor the threads that turn ugly and move them to a sub-forum called "If You Are Bored & Feeling Antagonistic"
  • The only sub-forum other than the above would be for links, leave it as Raffles, it doesn't matter if it is working.
  • 24-hour bumps, but they have to be quality bumps or price drop announcements
  • Bumps by friends should be allowed as long as they are extremely clever bumps
  • Bumps should not allowed if you are selling crap, you had your chance, nobody wanted it, too bad, you're done
  • Club membership and fifty legitimate posts required to put something up in the WFS
 
cuesblues said:
Here are some ideas specifically designed to help sellers who play by the rules, and help improve the buying atmosphere in the WFS.

  • No new production cues & cases by dealers
  • New custom cues & cases are welcome regardless if it's by the craftsman, dealer, or collector
  • Monitor the threads that turn ugly and move them to a sub-forum called "If You Are Bored & Feeling Antagonistic"
  • The only sub-forum other than the above would be for links, leave it as Raffles, it doesn't matter if it is working.
  • 24-hour bumps, but they have to be quality bumps or price drop announcements
  • Bumps by friends should be allowed as long as they are extremely clever bumps
  • Bumps should not allowed if you are selling crap, you had your chance, nobody wanted it, too bad, you're done
  • Club membership and fifty legitimate posts required to put something up in the WFS
Click to expand...

I disagree with just about everything you have posted.

Don't shun dealers out, give them a sub-forum and make them pay for a dealer membership. That way, AzBilliards makes a profit to run the site and it keeps the wanted/for sale section clean.

Cuemakers should get there own For Sale sub-forum.

A sub-forum called "If you are bored and feeling antagonistic" is NOT healthy for a site, that is supposed to be kept clean.

There should be MORE sub-forums

Bumps are bumps, regardless if your friends post or not. If it doesn't have to do with the sale or concerning more information, it should be removed.

Who are you to judge if someone is selling crap or not? As JB said earlier, if it's not priced to move or it is garbage... it won't sell.

50 posts required to sell is a good idea, but members should not have to have a club membership to sell something.
 
DAVE_M said:
I disagree with just about everything you have posted.

Don't shun dealers out, give them a sub-forum and make them pay for a dealer membership. That way, AzBilliards makes a profit to run the site and it keeps the wanted/for sale section clean.

Cuemakers should get there own For Sale sub-forum.

A sub-forum called "If you are bored and feeling antagonistic" is NOT healthy for a site, that is supposed to be kept clean.

There should be MORE sub-forums

Bumps are bumps, regardless if your friends post or not. If it doesn't have to do with the sale or concerning more information, it should be removed.

Who are you to judge if someone is selling crap or not? As JB said earlier, if it's not priced to move or it is garbage... it won't sell.

50 posts required to sell is a good idea, but members should not have to have a club membership to sell something.
Click to expand...


Glad we agree on something, but you forgot to comment on the new custom cue sellers.
Do we shun the craftsman?
My point of view was developed from years of buying & selling on AZ, and I have never actually started a thread in the wanted/for sale section.
Soon I want to start posting some cues for sale, so this concerns me.
My rule change post was obviously tongue & cheek, and if you want to make a sub-forum for dealers to sell new production stuff like Ebay go ahead, maybe the AZ can make a buck on it.
Personally I say take the new production stuff to Ebay and compete with those sellers.

As far as bumps are concerned, at least buyers can see that the seller has friends that will vouch for him if needed, or offer insightful information on the cue if they are familiar with it.

The WFS has to be tire kicker friendly, too many sub-forms get boring.
Most of the gun forums set up like AZ, have dozens of sub-forums, and it is difficult and boring sometimes to shop around.
Even though those gun forums have thousands more active members, many of their sub-forums move really slow.

Club membership requirement is a tough one.
The requirement to join would definitely slow things down, but it's going too fast now, and it would generate a little more revenue for the forum.
The sign up for club membership and 50-legitimate posts could be difficult for some people, but they will have to deal with it if they want to sell stuff on AZ.

At least I didn't mention that there should be a requirement for an ISP email address, no free emails, which is not a bad idea either.
Some of this could also help with the increase in bad sellers, and the continuously returning scammer.

Any changes should be done within the structure that we have, without a bunch of sub-forums.

Peace
Ted
 
So you disagree with adding sub-forums to categorize items being sold?

If I'm looking to buy a case, I don't want to weed through millions of cues.
 
DAVE_M said:
So you disagree with adding sub-forums to categorize items being sold?

If I'm looking to buy a case, I don't want to weed through millions of cues.
Click to expand...

What's difficult with doing a Search on "case" and limiting it to the Wanted/ For Sale section? Sometimes the search function here isn't the best, but it can certainly handle something like that. Just another way of looking at things. Peace out.
 
cueaddicts said:
What's difficult with doing a Search on "case" and limiting it to the Wanted/ For Sale section? Sometimes the search function here isn't the best, but it can certainly handle something like that. Just another way of looking at things. Peace out.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting take on it.

We can scratch the idea of weeding through items then. Now let's just focus on keeping it clean.
 
Why do I get the feeling that all these great ideas will be ignored and that nothing will change...
 
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