Black Market <--> Free Market

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I've sold things to people that only had one or two posts, and I think sometimes that is the impetus for a person to actually post is because they want to buy something.  Just use your intuition like anything and I think things work out.
 
> I'm not suggesting that a mechanism be developed for judging the value of members!

Seemed like what you were saying?

> adding a filter for length of membership would be good..., say, 80 posts

> if I'm selling something for $5k

Then someone honorable but nothing to add to the forum might "join" JUST to bid on that item. Douglas Self? Pete Millet? Maybe you have Neil Young's dream-box?

> If I'm selling to you (PRR), ....  You say the checks in the mail?  Fine.

Ha. Even if I said that, today the check would bounce. I know technical words; very few people here know if I cover my debts.

Yes, if I cheated you then you could bad-mouth me in my favorite places. OTOH we have seen several long-time members just vanish; I myself now avoid several of my old haunts.

> Make them send you $100 bills stapled to a piece a cardboard

No! I send you cash, you never send me the gizmo.... sellers can rip-off too. AAMOF, seems to me (without doing a study) there have been several complaints of sellers taking money and not following through.

There's escrow services, feedback systems.... more overhead for a fairly small market.

> I like the idea of doing the transaction in a community

Is this a true community? 10,000 members-- you can never know more than a few, and you know very little about those few.

> some members here I'd prefer to never sell anything to.
> there are definitely people on here that I won't sell anything to


That too. Just from posts, I get impressions that some folks are basically honest and others are trouble-makers. Again the post-content is not proof of the deal: some of the members who I dislike seem to be satisfactory traders.

> an auction with a commitment to sell.

Yes, if the winning bid was forced-sale, I'd be real uneasy also. Ethan has now said there is a "reject bid" function; but if you reject the $120 bid for a $100 bid the guy with $120 will be un-happy.

The "Reputation" idea is good, but many good traders may have too few transactions to judge by.

I have no dog in the fight. I can't afford to buy and have nothing worth selling. I do understand why folks would rather deal here than on eBay. It's a great place. But stuff happens. And with cash on cardboard, disagreements.
 
The Japanese and Koreans in the old days always sent me thousands in cash via registered mail.  They know I got their cash that way.  They always got their stuff...check my ebay FB!    :)   

Point is, if you feel the need to demand terms like that, and they balk, then they don't want it as badly as the threshold you set.  I generally don't take foreign Paypal payments because the burden of proof is too high for a seller offering high dollar items. 
 
Ethan has set up the BM as an auction with a commitment to sell.  That's quite different from a classified-style listing where you can feel free to accept or reject an offer to buy.
My opinion: I liked the old black market that was more a community buy and sell between individuals. Does the addition of an auction mean that the forum has to get rid of the classified-style listing area?
 
With the previous forum-style listing, there was no way to know when a transaction took place. In order to implement the feedback feature, there needed to be a way to quantify when a transaction happened, or else anyone could leave feedback for anyone, opening the door to spam and abuse. The new Black Market also eliminates the "bump syndrome".
I mentioned previously in this thread that sellers can reject a bid/buy if necessary. If there are no bids, the listing can be ended early. There's also a Buy It Now function if you don't want it to be an auction listing.


 
I hope it is successful! To explain where I am coming from, I have never been scammed in the black market - I've only had very positive experiences. I have had problems on ebay, so I hope this doesn't head that way.
Thanks for the hard work.
I do support gathering a fee for the site through the sales. I value this forum greatly, have learned much from the other people here, but haven't donated before today for some reason.


 
For those who prefer the old freewheeling style buy/swap/sell thing, without paypal requirements etc, there is still a thriving free fleamarket available at http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/swap-meet/
Cheers
M
 
Also!
Is there a way to view completed transactions in the new black market?
i.e. I wanted to see for how much the ef86s went, where are they?
:eek:
 
jackies said:
i.e. I wanted to see for how much the ef86s went, where are they?
:eek:

$37--to me!

I do agree--it would be nice to have old listings visible (or findable) for at least a bit.
 
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also, now that the black market is paid for and regulated, is there a procedure for claims or dispute etc?
in the event of a bad transaction or bogus seller/buyer.
 
Just my opinion:

I dont think it should be up to the moderator or anyone this forum to deal with disputes, this is not eBay.  Make sure you use paypal and any disputes should be resolved there.  If you want the security of eBay or some other BIG auction site, use those and pay the fees that are associated with getting that kind of security.  If we can all act like adults and conduct business in a fair and honest way (and help out our fellow community members) post it here and know that your stuff is going to a good home.  Again just my opinion. :) 
 
The feedback is there to warn others of what to expect... If the deal didn't go through the way it needed to, then leave feedback accordingly and take it up with paypal or whatever you settled with.
 
I guess I've never had a deal go south on here, but I have been able to trade, acquire, and get rid of cool, low-value parts, knobs and weirdness in the same fashion as one would in a flea market or radio swap or something.  It's cool, old school, and has a personal component to it that is effectively shut out with the ebay-esque system.  If you're not buying or selling big piles of expensive gear and componentry, the risk and inherent "draw" of the stuff just isn't there to pull in the nefarious characters and their rip-off schemery.  Whatever works for all, though.  Just figured I'd throw my two pennies in the pot.  Thanks,

ben
 

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