Marketplace Entry Fee

[booter]

like some have said..if being scammed is that big of a problem..dont deal with people who dont have feedback..or any neg feedback for that matter. pay paypal as payment for merchandise or just dont deal with it. its an easy solution. people that usually get hosed are the ones that just have to have a certain disc from joe schmoe even though he has no feedback.

when i first started trading on here i got scammed out of a trade feom someone who never logged back in. prob wasnt the only one but he never sent a disc to me and never logged back on. from there forward,ive been real cautious of who i deal with. 500+ transactions later..ive had zero probs with someone scamming me.

all it takes is common sense.

 

[deadbody]

Hey guys.... it'll still be FREE to VIEW mp threads and PURCHASE from the threads posted.

Paying a yearly $5 to create marketplace threads should have been institutionalized a long time ago.

The issue is that this will stop the guy who just has a couple extra discs he wants to offload. He'll just take them to PIAS or sell them at the course. It will also massively impact the people who just post wanted threads. I've found that I sell a lot of discs to people who don't look in the for sale threads and just post a wanted thread. Those people are at their core lazy, they won't pay $5 to get the ability to post a looking for a disc thread, they won't search the old sales threads for the most part. So those sales will disappear. This makes it harder to move plastic for the sellers (which I am one of and won't try to pull any punches and say that I am not). This will lower traffic, which will lower the sales price for discs (or make them take longer to sell which is the same thing).

Please Tim, your reasoning for doing this is poor, it won't help things, it will turn your marketplace stale quickly (like within a year) and will drive people from the best site for DG on the intertubez.

 

[PhillyMatt]

sounds like a great idea... IN COMMUNIST RUSSIA

(i'm all for it and will gladly pay up)

 

[bholy08]

Hey guys.... it'll still be FREE to VIEW mp threads and PURCHASE from the threads posted.

Paying a yearly $5 to create marketplace threads should have been institutionalized a long time ago.

I agree!

 

[scarpfish]

They have advertising revenues to pay for the bandwidth and the site. If they are having revenue problems, thats a problem. They have several companies paying advertising prices and that should cover the bandwidth needed I would think.

My cable provider gets advertising revenue from people who buy commercials on various channels they provide me. I'm sure the advertisers pay a plentiful amount for those spots, but they still charge me $57/month for the privilege of being able to watch those channels.

The amount of whiny petty entitlement on here just flabbergasts me.

 

[HarkeyPuck]

Why leave the best DG site on the web for a mere $5.00?

I couldn't have said it better myself buddy!

When I heard timg was getting a new server I paid $25 bucks and never looked back. This site has helped me in so many ways...

Where are courses
What courses are good
What should I throw
Where should I go to buy this
Is this product good
Trades
Sales
Flip City trip
Etc..
Etc..
Etc..


...oh and smileys :clap: :thmbup:

 

[bjreagh]

$5/year sounds reasonable to me. I won't say it in detail, but think about these things:
1) sales tax
2) income tax
3) Paypal fees

This is not DiscGolfMarketplace.com. The primary goal of the site is courses. The forums and marketplace are undoubtedly useful side effects. The $5 is helping to keep the marketplace up and running.

Also, you will never be able to avoid scams completely, on this or any other site, or even in real life- that is just the world we live in. But I can see the donation/fee as a deterrent to some of them.

(I don't use the MP very much, but this is my 2 cents.)

 

[creeper78]

Most new members to DGCR don't start out on or come here for the MP: They come for the course reviews and get hooked on the forum, then from there discover the MP. As long as the site retains it's quality (which the extra 5$ will go towards unless Timg develops a taste for Lobster stuffed with truffles), the MP will survive. Will it be more secure, probably not, but it will survive and DGCR will have more income.

I don't know whether "most" is actually the case or not, but it's how/why I joined. This site has great info and is presented in a manner which I found easiest to use.

I love the marketplace for obtaining discs that you just can't get anywhere else, or selling some of my own, but it's not the original reason that I picked this site.

As for additional security, I don't know how much it would really affect it, but even if it's a low percentage, it's still something. Someone had earlier posted that if someone really wants your big screen TV, they'll just bust the window. That is true, but there are also people who commit crimes of opportunity. If you leave your car unlocked, they'll steal the change in the console, but not mess with it if they'd actually ahve to break out a window. If the inconvenience of signing up and making a paypal payment deters any scamming, isn't that a plus?

Also, I have no idea how much bandwidth this site uses a month, but we still use it free, so I have no problem with the added stipulation that to take advantage of the ability to Sell or request (Wanted), you have to pay $5 a year. You can still peruse and buy for free (at least that's how I read it).

 

[BrotherDave]

The amount of whiny petty entitlement on here just flabbergasts me.

To be honest, flabbergasting you was never a great endeavor. :\

 

[HarkeyPuck]

For only 1.3698 cents a day you too can take advantage of the great deals in the DGCR Marketplace!! That's right, go to your local 7-11 and grab a penny from the penny tray and you too can pay $100 for a frisbee!!

 

[Mr. Orange]

Any one who has used this site for years, with thousands of posts, should have gotten a crown long ago. Most of the whining on this thread is blah blah blah. This site has saved you more than $5 in gas by having good directions to new courses. The reason behind this decision doesn't even really matter Tim has made it and it is a pretty good one.

 

[scarpfish]

The issue is that this will stop the guy who just has a couple extra discs he wants to offload. He'll just take them to PIAS or sell them at the course. It will also massively impact the people who just post wanted threads. I've found that I sell a lot of discs to people who don't look in the for sale threads and just post a wanted thread. Those people are at their core lazy, they won't pay $5 to get the ability to post a looking for a disc thread, they won't search the old sales threads for the most part. So those sales will disappear. This makes it harder to move plastic for the sellers (which I am one of and won't try to pull any punches and say that I am not). This will lower traffic, which will lower the sales price for discs (or make them take longer to sell which is the same thing).

I don't see what part of that negatively impacts the website. I also don't see why you guys think that you're entitled to a certain expectation of sales on a forum that was provided to you for free, and did not have to be provided to you in the first place.

You guys have to remember that the MP started out as humbly as any other board on here, but as the site grew that changed. There are more than double the number of MP threads than there are any other board and I would not be surprised if at least 50% of the forum traffic on here is MP traffic. Aside from the sticky/highlight/feature fees, Timg derives nothing from that traffic but a higher bandwidth bill. If instituting this fee lowers traffic, well....so what.

I'm sure if Timg knew the MP was going to grow into the monster that it has, some semblance of a fee would have been instituted a lot earlier. Perhaps instead of complaining about having to pay a fee to post threads you guys could be grateful for the amount of time you've had free access.

 

[HarkeyPuck]

Scarp you're using your head. Thank you.

But most people want everything handed to them for free on every level.

Ah 'MERICA

 

[Pwingles]

Hows this, you say, "hey pwingles, to help support dgcr we are now making it $5 to create threads in the MP, the money gets you a year of being able to make threads in the MP."

And ill do it instantly, cool?

But as stated previously in this thread, selling us on the "security" aspect of it is a little thin.

Anyway, lemme know

 

[justin]

It seems wrong to have people making money on TimG's site site without having paid anything for that. The site has grown to a massive number of users and doesn't need to be free for sellers in order to attract more users. I understand the folks who don't want to pay annually to post wanted threads but perhaps the backend of the marketplace is an all-or-nothing thing when it comes to charging for posting. Posting a wanted thread still means the site is providign a service to you. It's making DGCR your concierge who is our there trying to find your needed item.

TimG runs the best DG site on the web and I would hate to hear he's at the point of saying, "I can't balance my day job and this site and the site can't pay me as much as my dayjob." It's really sad how upset people are about $5/year and I don't think those people understand how many hours/week Tim works on this site and some may have forgotten how frustrating it was to try to find courses in the pre-DGCR days. I've been a premium member since it was first started and I love the added features.

Thank you so much for always being so open about changes coming to the site Tim and I apologize for replying to your thread. You weren't asking for my or anyone else's input.

 

[HarkeyPuck]

While this will obviously help generate some revenue, it will also provide a little security.

Kinda said that already.

 

[jtreadwell]

sounds like a great idea... IN COMMUNIST RUSSIA

(i'm all for it and will gladly pay up)

IN COMMUNIST RUSSIA, DISC TRADE YOU!

I don't know whether "most" is actually the case or not, but it's how/why I joined. This site has great info and is presented in a manner which I found easiest to use.

I think it is. I mean, it's DGcoursereview not DGbuyselltrade. The MP is a wonderful function and the $5 will make it more manageable for Tim. If less folks use it, well, it'll be more manageable for Tim.

 

[bomb1985]

sounds like a good idea

 

[Murderous Monkey]

See, I'm afraid that it will keep the "normal" guys, myself included, who have normal run of the mill discs from joining anew. I've already been here and done a bit of work quickly so I think eventually will pay, but to new people wanting to get DX discs into other new peoples hands, for example, $5 might deter. It's happening regardless, only time will tell whether it reduces the "normal" disc inventory...hopefully not as that's where I fit in.

 

[StuMagoo]

I'm not sure how I feel about this yet but I know $5 is a lot cheaper than what feebay would charge me in sellers fees if I used it as much as i use the marketplace.