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Buy & Sell to CLOSE


SteveCole
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There's a temptation to view all sorts of classified ads as nothing more than a souped up version of the postcard in the newsagents window. I don't know if it's regulations/stautes, the ethics of the team involved or more likely both that

drives the need to 'protect people when transactions go bad' but I guess that most of us (me included) hadn't considered this. I'll hazard a guess that this simple phrase masks a whole lot of effort, grief and agro in making sure transactions happen in a smooth and safe manner.

 

Andy will probably remember the agro I got into when a former rmwebber took my money for a kitbuilt locomotive, then had the cheek to claim I'd received it when I hadn't. The former rmwebber's equally charming partner than threatened to sue me for some or other when I initiated a Paypal dispute. Finally the model arrived, with the courier's paperwork confirming it had only been shipped once I escalated, despite said charming partner claiming I'd had it for weeks. Some people are just thick and deceitful unfortunately, which is why customer protection is vital.

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I tried to engage a couple of times and it just didn't work out (NOT a criticism it was just a bit clunky) - why not just be happy with EBay which has all the bells and whistles and protection which we all moan about but is actually what we all want - protection for our £'s and our privacy, albeit at a cost - it has served me very well over the last 18 months in building up a model railway for MUCH lower cost than retail with very few returns or re-sales needed.

 

Just looking forward to my latest buy - a "new other" Bachmann 50ft LMS parcel for £16......................

Edited by halsey
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For me, the original Classifieds were a chance to buy (or sell) items from fellow modellers who you might know (in real life or just on the forum), so it was a two way transaction - I got what I wanted and helped a friend, they got rid of what they didn't want and helped a friend.

 

With Ebay (which I've never used) there is not that sense of camaraderie.

 

Also, despite the usability issues with Buy & Sell, it got too flooded ( for me) with traders, rather than modellers.  

Edited by Stubby47
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For me, the original Classifieds were a chance to buy (or sell) items from fellow modellers who you might know (in real life or just on the forum), so it was a two way transaction - I got what I wanted and helped a friend, they got rid of what they didn't want and helped a friend.

 

With Ebay (which I've never used) there is not that sense of camaraderie.

 

Also, despite the usability issues with Buy & Sell, it got too flooded ( for me) with traders, rather than modellers.  

 

Understood and agreed - that is possibly what the "new" version needs to re-provide - although I have found asking questions in topic threads and the PM system has delivered a number of items to my door from members either FOC or for very low cost.

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I tried to engage a couple of times and it just didn't work out (NOT a criticism it was just a bit clunky) - why not just be happy with EBay which has all the bells and whistles and protection which we all moan about but is actually what we all want 

Maybe because Ebay doesn't contribute towards the running costs of this 'free' forum.  IIRC at the last whip round before Warners, there was around £15,000 raised, this lasted less than 10 months.

 

 

B& S wasn't perfect but I think that Warners were either over promised or let down. I was prepared to give them a chance and see what happened, I sold quite a few things through the site, there were 2 occasions where a member couldn't get it to work from his end so contacted me and we managed to conclude a sale, both were for just a couple of quid as I'd rather see things used.

I do think that part of the initial problem was that members did not like the idea of having to pay for something they'd had for free but this site has to at least pay for itself.

 

 

Rbay is fine and I sell some non railway items through it (work related) but depending on the item listed the amount of chancers, timewasters and outright fraudsters can be incredible.

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For me, the original Classifieds were a chance to buy (or sell) items from fellow modellers who you might know (in real life or just on the forum), so it was a two way transaction - I got what I wanted and helped a friend, they got rid of what they didn't want and helped a friend.

 

With Ebay (which I've never used) there is not that sense of camaraderie.

 

Also, despite the usability issues with Buy & Sell, it got too flooded ( for me) with traders, rather than modellers.

 

Summed up very nicely, I think on the whole the classifieds worked well for me for a lot of sales and purchases, but complete understand it only takes a few bad eggs to cause a lot of pain for Andy et al. Likewise B&S had some successes selling, but was a lot more clumberson to use and really made any purchases.

 

I also use a couple of other (non railway) forums which have classifieds, one only lets you sell if you are a paid member while letting anyone buy, the other has a much higher post count (something like 500 or 1000 in order to access along with a requirement to have been a member for a year. I think it also had a post count in the hundreds required to even view it. In both cases it's worked well as a barrier to stop the idiots who only sign up to the forum to sell stuff (who seem to form the bulk of the dodgy types).

 

I look forward to seeing what Andy comes up with as the B&S replacement, hopefully whatever it is will get a lot more views (and a lot more sales). A return of the much missed ability to have an email subscription when something is listed would certainly be appreciated

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I used both systems but was very careful with classifieds checking the sellers postings. Some you knew and had a good spread of postings to gauge their reliability. Brand new and minimal fluff posting always raises questions.

Yes the buy and sell search was clunky but as I use view new content the addition of the locked announcements of items for sale made it easy for me to grab an item I wanted and the transaction was flawless.

Thanks for the opportunity and having had issues on another forum where I had to cancel a cheque when communication dried up I appreciate why Andy doesn't have enough hours in the day to do the Mag work, police here and deal with the occasional chancer on sales.

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We have a "Wanted" forum, could we not just have a "Available" forum? I have a lot of items I'd prefer to sell on here rather than ebay.

 

I doubt an "Available" forum would take much time setting up, compared with B&S?

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No different to the old classifieds really and all the hassle that caused Andy. Problem is security, that's why eBay has set up the way it has and why I understood and accepted the clunky search in B&S, you can't expect that level of slick processing from the sales part of a forum they've tried to provide without the massive cut that eBay/Paypal take.

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Not particularly sad to see it go, but sad for Andy and others involved in setting it up that it didn't work out the way they had hoped.

 

Personally I hardly ever used it - even to look at. Perhaps I was doing things wrong, but every time I tried to view it there were only a dozen or so items listed, and they seemed to hang around, so I lost interest in it pretty quickly.

 

It seems to me that what's needed is something with the simplicity of the old Classifieds, but with the protections of the Buy and Sell page (at least for items over a certain value). One option would be to have 'Buy and Sell Mk 2', but also retain the classifieds section as a 'front end', with classifieds containing a link to the relevant B&S page. That way you still get all the user-friendliness of the Classifieds, and people can post their questions/answers there (which should prevent the seller being asked the same question umpteen times) , but the protections of B&S remain.

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Why do people keep mentioning protection etc? Force payment via paypal and the only people who resolve disputes will be paypal. Simple.

 

Not quite. Some people don't like PayPal for a variety of reasons. The main one being that it voids the credit card protections in place when buying with a credit card for instance. A dispute via eBay/PayPal usually goes with the buyer mind.

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Why do people keep mentioning protection etc? Force payment via paypal and the only people who resolve disputes will be paypal. Simple.

 

Until you get the person who doesn't want Paypal to take their 3.5% or whatever and asks to be paid by Friends & Family and the gullible buyer who then waives all his protection.

 

Until you get the seller who won't send the item with appropriate tracking with associated insurance and finds the buyer claims they never received it.

 

Etc.

 

Anyone who posts "Why don't you just... " generally has no comprehension of what they are asking.

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It is a shame it didn't work out. The basic concept was good, but I agree with the comments above about a number of fundamental issues, such as search. I did buy stuff on it, and sold one thing (the other listing vanished without trace).

Edited by ruggedpeak
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Andy Y wrote >>> Anyone who posts "Why don't you just... " generally has no comprehension of what they are asking.

 

 

I read that comment slightly differently Andy, I think a poster could also have been asking a question looking for a fuller explanation.

 

The life blood of the RMWeb forum is comes from a large amount of questions.

 

Regards

 

 

EDIT. crossed out the word is

Edited by Barnaby
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I think a poster could also have been asking a question looking for a fuller explanation.

 

 

I doubt it; it's most likely to be someone who has ignored everything which has already been said, that they know best, and that all they want is the old-style classifieds back because a) it was free b) they didn't have to put much effort in or c) they didn't have to honour the transaction.

 

Been there, the T-shirts will be on sale in some form in the future.

There is a link to 'Classified Ads' on the homepage.........

 

 

It's not on the other pages yet and it's not working (yet)

 

That's an old link which re-routed readers to the intro topics for Buy&Sell. I'll sort that.

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Well, the old system was unregulated and therefore prone to abuse.

BS was hard to use and must have taken a lot of admin.

 

I think the mostly obvious option would simply be, not to have any form of it, and let people use EBay. I doubt it was a big revenue stream ?

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We have a "Wanted" forum, could we not just have a "Available" forum? I have a lot of items I'd prefer to sell on here rather than ebay.

 

I doubt an "Available" forum would take much time setting up, compared with B&S?

 

Isn't the opposite of a Wanted forum an "Unwanted" forum?  :jester:

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For me, the original Classifieds were a chance to buy (or sell) items from fellow modellers who you might know (in real life or just on the forum), so it was a two way transaction - I got what I wanted and helped a friend, they got rid of what they didn't want and helped a friend.

 

With Ebay (which I've never used) there is not that sense of camaraderie.

 

Also, despite the usability issues with Buy & Sell, it got too flooded ( for me) with traders, rather than modellers.  

Another one quoting Stubby here...

Yes, I too found the B&S tricky to navigate, and a bit clunky

Just like Stubby, I too would rather deal with a fellow RMweb member than someone I don't know on ebay

Chances are, the ebay seller may be a decent sort too... but there is definitely more a feel of camaraderie on this forum

And both buyers and sellers are more likely to ask / answer questions long after purchase

 

I hope another form of marketplace does emerge in future...

I'd rather give a fee to rmweb, than to ebay and paypal too....

 

EDIT: PS. Anyone wanna buy any of my layouts? ;)

Edited by marc smith
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