Well, I knew there would be some kind of fall out... I'll try to answer these all as best as I can.
C4 - The dealers get to keep their forum for an additional 2 months because they helped support this site through banner advertising, and many of them signed up for it strictly because the dealer forum was for advertisers only. As such, we are obligated to give them more time to get ready for the switch over and make preparations.
As far as being better than anyone else, I find that sentiment amusing. Currently the dealers have to pay for advertising to be able to sell in the dealer forum. It's been that way for since the beginning of May. If anything, it's my opininion that we were a bit unfair in making them shoulder the brunt of keeping this site open, something that the classifieds have now changed. Now, you pay as you go - the more knives you sell, the more you help contribute to keep this site open. You get to help put something back into the community you get so much out of for free.
Emanym - You had it right the first time. We'd prefer if the ads were limited to one model... that is, it's ok to have variations of the same model (plain, combo edge, black, satin), but please don't post 40 different knives in the same ad. We're not going to shove that down anyone's throat though...
Savitar - You need to read the fine print a bit closer, my friend. That $2 insertion fee is non-refundable whether or not the item actually sells. Regarding making more profit on an auction, guess what, you can make less as well. That's the nature of an auction, you win some and you lose some. You can do the same thing with a classified ad as well, for example, "One of a knife, will sell for $100 or best offer"
As for your other specultion, I'll answer that in a bit.
TOMBSTONE - You bring up some very good points, and I agree with many of them. I wholeheartedly agree that if we made the forums only for paying customers, while many would pay, a great deal more would not, and would simply leave. That is very counter-productive to forming a good community, I think we'll both agree.
Mike and I thought long and hard about this, and again, we tried to find the least painful way to do this, and make it as fair as possible. That's why the prices are as low as they are (significantly lower than any newspaper or knife magazine), because we don't want to make this any more of an inconvenience than it has to be. By bringing together the buyer and the seller, we are providing a service, something that I don't think $1.00 is too much to ask for.... and we both agree the prices are extremely reasonable.
Cumberland - Remember the old Kennedy and Lincoln "Conspiracy or Coincidence?" arguments? Don't put too much into a trend, not that much of this was planned. Otherwise it'd be better organzied.
If we just wanted to take advantage of everyone, we wouldn't have bothered to make the announcements, personal's, and wanted categories free to use. We wouldn't be giving a 2 week grace period in the Individual / Custom forums, or a 2 month grace period in the Dealers forum. We wouldn't be charging a measely $1.49 for first time customers, and $1.00 for repeat buyers.
Regarding the multiple inquiries about 1SKS, let me clue you guys in on something I'm not sure if Mike want's me to tell you - if it wasn't for 1SKS, BladeForums.com would have closed up shop in February. We wouldn't be here right now. You wouldn't be learning about knives, or chatting about the latest design, or selling your collection, or having huge sales. You'd be elsewhere, until they couldn't keep it open anymore either.
To me, this is the best solution we can use to keep things on a fair and even keel. It doesn't penalize anyone any more than anyone else, and it rewards those who sell more than once. It has tons of new features that make things easier, and guess what? It's not at all expensive - less than anywhere else out there - period.
Dealers aren't forced to buy banners anymore to advertise their knives. John, if you think about it, the $50 per month you paid for a banner would cause you to lose money too; you don't see the cost immediately, but it's still there. Think about it.... This way, there's a nice simple direct cost per ad, and once you've made up for that, it takes care of everything else. It's just another way to meet the same ends.
However, if any dealer wants to cancel their banners after August, Mike and I will work something out with you. It's not like we're hard to work with, after all.
Chuck - Yeah, tell me about it, it's a steal all the way around, but what are you going to do. Regarding the multiple categories... if there is enough traffic for it, we will eventually move to seperate listings for the most popular makes / models / makers.
Tom - GREAT POINT!!! I didn't even think about that.... well folks, now you don't have an excuse not to - you can use debit cards and still be squared away.
This will work guys. We are going to make it work.
Mike and I are going to be promoting this, and other (soon to come) features heavily. As a matter of fact, check your next BladeMagazine for some information on just how we are going to do that. But we're going to make this work for you guys, and we can't keep paying all of the expenses involved with it. We've found the most reasonable method possible, and if that won't work, we'll try something else, but I think you need to give it a chance before you make any decisions.
Spark
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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com
Insert witty quip here
