should we have a buy/sell/trade thread in the low down lowdown?

[rumpelstiltskin.]

i am stealing adamixoye's idea. i support the notion, and i believe this can be viewed as a referendum, or at least a petition for referendum.

 

please debate. please vote. thank you.

 

robb.

[rumpelstiltskin.]

posting error. my bad.

[Adamixoye]

As should be obvious, I'm for it.

[Timothy Lyons]

I'm all for it, cheaper slightly worn-in, loved gear for the masses! And a way to get rid of gear you don't have a use for other than eBay!

[Skout]

It would definitely be cool, I'd like to check it out, if it ever is made possible.

 

Skout

[Slowly]

I won't vote cause I'm a refugee from Keyboard Corner. We considered it over there but in the end decided it would get in the way of the real purpose of the forum. 10,000 people only visiting the forum so they could post a free ad. You would have to have tight restrictions or end up in a lot of mess. Kcbass

[Adamixoye]

Any idea how many people need to vote before we suggest this idea (again) to someone in charge (e.g. a mod)? Understanding that the voting may be self-selecting, still, one side is running away with it...

 

Oh there was one other thing...what was it...oh yeah, *bump*.

[dcr]

As much as I like the idea in principle, & as well as I think it would work well among US who are "real" residents...my first thought was exactly what Kcbass said.

[dcr]

You might also check to see whether the whole point isn't moot. Would MusicPlayer be cool with it? It's not too hard to imagine them wanting to avoid all the hassles that could come with being a de fact market-place--the extra bandwidth, the complaints over bad deals, etc. Since it's THEIR board, it doesn't really matter how many of us would like to start something like this, if they don't want it on their board.

[bassplayer5217]

i agree with dcr

 

i believe that it would be a great idea to have this forum have some light influence of a vintage sales thread, or for instruments and gear that may be of interest (i.e. not just getting rid of an old squier).

 

however, as i said, i think this poses a lot of contreversy

 

1) since as members on the internet, we are not currently bound to any countries proper business-relations rules as of now

 

2) also, i bet that parents of youngens like myself (i.e. 21 and younger) will be upset if a bass comes with a scratch and didnt know about it before it was purchased. this will obviously put a lot of presure on MusicPlayer in that they are the only establishment really linked formally to the sales that would take place on the forum

 

3) however, i would love to see a thread that would link to new ebay.com bass guitar sales or perhaps anyother websites or phone numbers that could be used to sell instuments not just under ordinary conditions. otherwise, we will have a million 15 and 25 watt crates on sale here and squier among gsr200 ibanez on sale, taking up space

 

that is by beef, thanks

 

peaceOUT

[jeremy c]

I don't think it's a good idea.

 

There are plenty of places to put things up for sale.

 

And of course Musicplayer.com would have to ok it which I doubt they would. (and we'll get a whole bunch of yammering here if the vote goes "yes" and then musicplayer says "no".)

 

Go look at the for sale and wanted threads at talkbass.com

 

I look there reasonably regularly...my opinion after reading them and trying them is that a message board is not the best way to buy and sell.

 

The want ads at harmonycentral.com are pretty good.

 

I just looked at them and there was a Geddy Lee bass for $450 and a Dean 8 string for $325 and lots of other good stuff...and I only looked at today's postings.

 

On this board, we seem to know each other, so there is some sort of trust between members...which could fall apart quickly as soon as someone didn't like their deal. The only way I would vote for this was if there were requirements: only one item can be posted per month and the member must be a platinum member to do it. And that would be impossible to enforce.

 

I voted no.

[_Sweet Willie_]

I voted "no." I really do view this forum as discussion, education, philosophizing, etc. -- but not really for buying and selling.

 

I also agree with Jeremy -- there really are plenty of other outlets on-line and otherwise for buying/selling/trading gear. I have had some real success.

 

I also think that often we know when one of our fellow bassists here at the LDL is moving gear. We also know which members are revolving doors for gear (I will not name names here, but you know who you are!!! ). It is not inconceivable that there are some wheelings and dealings "under the table," if you catch my drift.

 

Yes, it would only be one thread. Yes, there probably could be some decent rules to govern it (e.g., senior members only, etc.). Yes, I could learn to live with it. Yes, it might help some of our regular brethren. (For example, I know that robb. had some trouble moving his Crown K2 ). But, no, I'd rather not see it.

 

Peace.

[Adamixoye]

Originally posted by dcr:

You might also check to see whether the whole point isn't moot. Would MusicPlayer be cool with it?

Well, they haven't killed the one in the guitar forum, so I can't believe this is a big issue.

 

jeremyc and Sweet Willie--I've tried those other outlets, with no success. Could be what I was selling (a BP-8, which, by the way, is still available ), but I thought the price was reasonable.

 

As for legal issues, how would this be different from any other free classifieds out there? It's just a place to gather information. Selling stuff person-to-person is always a crapshoot, whether it's gear, a car, illicit drugs, etc. I don't think this should factor into our thinking.

[jeremy c]

I'm back. You've changed my mind.

 

I see the points that have been made. If the for sale/wanted was one thread only....and you only posted to it....all replies would be by private message.....then it would make sense.

 

I just don't want to wade through dozens of gear for sale threads and especially the replies to the posts.

[Tom Capasso]

This topic came up a few weeks back, and again this week. The moderators discussed it and threw around some ideas.

 

We don't think it would be good for our forum.

 

1. As others said, there are lots of ways to do this already. I'll add www.thedudepit.com to jeremyc's list. Those guys have a nice community and you can figure out who is trustworthy. They have more people that like to move basses than we do here. The Bottom Line also accepts for sale posts.

 

2. We think lots of people would stop by and post their sale stuff that never join our community. That's just more junk to read through, and you wouldn't get the benefit of dealing with someone that you (sort of) know.

 

3. Even if we set up rules to manage it, it would be up to the Moderators to do that work. As much as the three of us love this community, we're not looking for more work to do. I left Robb's "extra" post on this thread, but I personally spend some time everyday deleting double posts (usually caused by system errors and not any member's fault). As our keyboard friend said, there would have to be controls, and that means the Mods.

 

4. The "one thread" idea (which is the only one we seriously considered) will lead to old posts that need to be deleted, and people starting new threads because they think it's OK.

 

We have seen subtle ways to let people know when they have something to sell. Robb mentioned he wanted to sell his Crown. It wasn't a banner or big post, but everyone that spends time here knew that. Anyone could email or PM him about it. I don't want this to become a marketplace, but as a community we can be sensitive about what we say and take the transactions off-line.

 

I can imagine reasons that musicgearnetwork might not want a "sale" forum, but I will send a note to the sysadmin (Dendy Jarrett) and let him know about this thread. He may know someone prepared to moderate such a forum that could support sales for all of us (guitar, keys, PA, etc.).

 

Thanks for your interest in making this a better community

 

Tom

[Phoney McRing Ring]

That would be great. But the postage cost of shipping gear over the pod would be huge

[Adamixoye]

Originally posted by Tom Capasso:

This topic came up a few weeks back, and again this week. The moderators discussed it and threw around some ideas.

 

We don't think it would be good for our forum.

 

1. As others said, there are lots of ways to do this already. I'll add www.thedudepit.com to jeremyc's list. Those guys have a nice community and you can figure out who is trustworthy. They have more people that like to move basses than we do here. The Bottom Line also accepts for sale posts.

 

2. We think lots of people would stop by and post their sale stuff that never join our community. That's just more junk to read through, and you wouldn't get the benefit of dealing with someone that you (sort of) know.

 

3. Even if we set up rules to manage it, it would be up to the Moderators to do that work. As much as the three of us love this community, we're not looking for more work to do. I left Robb's "extra" post on this thread, but I personally spend some time everyday deleting double posts (usually caused by system errors and not any member's fault). As our keyboard friend said, there would have to be controls, and that means the Mods.

 

4. The "one thread" idea (which is the only one we seriously considered) will lead to old posts that need to be deleted, and people starting new threads because they think it's OK.

 

We have seen subtle ways to let people know when they have something to sell. Robb mentioned he wanted to sell his Crown. It wasn't a banner or big post, but everyone that spends time here knew that. Anyone could email or PM him about it. I don't want this to become a marketplace, but as a community we can be sensitive about what we say and take the transactions off-line.

 

I can imagine reasons that musicgearnetwork might not want a "sale" forum, but I will send a note to the sysadmin (Dendy Jarrett) and let him know about this thread. He may know someone prepared to moderate such a forum that could support sales for all of us (guitar, keys, PA, etc.).

 

Thanks for your interest in making this a better community

 

Tom

Tom, I appreciate the fact that you guys considered it. However, I'd like to ask one question: from what you know about the thread in the guitar forum, are these concerns justified? It's my opinion that they are not--that forum gets the same level of spam as before the thread, etc. Perhaps Myles would disagree, but then again, he was the one who created the whole thing in the first place.

[SteveC]

Definately NO. There are other places for that. I have had great success at Harmony Central and BassGear Classifieds.

 

Lets keep this the way it is and do our buying and selling elsewhere.

[Bob Gollihur]

As mentioned, we moderators had a private discussion about this, listed pros and cons, and concluded it was unnecessary.

 

If there was a real need, if there weren't a flock of other places for posting gear available or needed, I could see it. There are much better and more frequented places, and they have been mentioned.

 

I voted no, since I can't see how it would actually ENHANCE this forum, combined with the fact that there are so many other dedicated places for gear posts.

[Adamixoye]

Well Bob, if you voted "no", isn't that the only vote that counts?

 

Anyway, I give up. Maybe I will try the other places again, but for now, I've updated my signature in a hopefully appropriate attempt to sell gear through other means.