IMPORTANT: New Classifieds Section, and the For Sale Forums

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Ryan,

I don't think you read my whole post. I quoted from Mike's post: " I have to start making money before I can put more into this site. The auction software and the classifieds cost over $20K and that figure does not include the many hours it has taken to put this together."

My point was along the lines of that they had already spent this money, while they were saying that they were loosing money??!! I don't think that I implied that the 20K was just for the add software. My only objection is the delivery of the news. Spark started a post (on Knives for Sale) looking for a cure, when he had already had one. The cure is fine: I just don't like someone telling me there may be options while they are testing the software that they are going to use!!

I'm in for the price of an add, and I wish the Mike and Spark the best! This site can't be beat... (Yet...)

SPARK I still would like you to consider making the cut off dates for the members posts the same as for the dealers posts. We, the general members, are why you are currently selling banners at the rate of $16,800+ a year... (Read my last post... and please reply!!!)

Thanks,
Michael



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He who has smelt the smoke is never free again...
 
C4, I'm pretty tired but I'll try to answer your question as best as I can.

The auctions had been planned for quite awhile... the members have been asking if and when they would return, and we responded to their wishes. We felt that the auctions would supplement the for sale forums nicely... and would help make this site even "stickier" than it already is. After all, making this site grow larger helps everyone, right?

The classifieds were more of a late edition to the mix. As you all know, we've been aware of the use of the individual forum by part time and full time dealers for a while, ever since the Dealer forum was turned "advertisers only" The idea initially was to provide a way for the dealers to advertise on the site without having to pay for banner ads (since not every dealer has a website... and to reduce the amount of manhours we needed to make sure that things were going smoothly.

Making the Dealer Forum for advertisers only increased the amount of time we had to spend each month making sure that only the current advertisers had access... naturally, we wanted to spend time doing that on something more productive than scouting the individual forum for "part timer's" and adding / removing posting abilities for the Dealer forum.

Since we were only too aware of the shortcomings of the UBB software, it was naturally a no brainer to say - "Hey, let's find something purpose driven that we can basically allow to run itself without our input, and will be easier for everyone to use" (not to mention offer a ton more features).

We figured that if individuals wanted to use it because of the additional features that the For Sale forums lacked, so much the better. At the same time, we didn't want to "throw the baby out with the bathwater", ie, turn off the Individual forum because we couldn't figure out a way to enforce the dealer policies.

Mike and I had run out of idea's (we came up with many of the same ones that you guys did, and others as well) on how to make the Individual forum work and be fair to everyone. We knew that something had to change, but we didn't just want to make any rash decisions, like just shutting down the Individual Forum and opening the classifieds without any warning or transition time.

We may step on our johnson's every so often, but we could plainly see that if we didn't try to find another way, we'd catch holy hell over it. Think about it - how po'ed would you guys have been if we just said, out of the blue, "We're shutting down the Individual Forum, sorry, but them's the breaks"?

So, I made my post asking for feedback, hoping that someone would come up with a viable solution. Unfortunately, we didn't get any viable solutions, and like I listed above, every suggestion I saw just wouldn't work.

So, stuck between a rock and a hard place, we made the best decision we could, trying to be fair & equitable to *all* of the members, instead of showing favoritism to anyone in particular. Everyone agree's that the price is right. Any way you look at it, you can't get more fair than this.

Regarding your question about why the dealers are getting "preferential" treatment - it's my honest opinion that we owe it to them. Many of them paid for banner ads just so they could advertise in the Dealer Forum. Some of them have supported us, unquestioningly, since day 1. Regardless, we made an offer when we turned the Dealer forum to paying advertisers only in the beginning of May, and I'd feel remiss if we didn't give them a boost when we had to make changes to the policy so that while we couldn't keep the forum open forever, we at least gave the dealers who squared us away the best "thank you" we could.

BTW, not *all* advertisers advertise for the whole year... several are month to month, something we're changing as we speak since we're only offering 6 and 12 month advertising now... again, less hassle and more time for maintenance. Also, remember, the banner ad rates haven't always been what they are now... Anyhow, don't make the mistake of thinking that banner ads alone cover all of the manhour and operations costs... cause they don't. Sorry, Math Majors.
biggrin.gif


C4, this answer your questions? Lemme know...

Spark

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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
Spark,

Yes, it does answer my question; and thanks for taking the time to do it!!!

By the way, I'm no math major either (otherwise I wouldn't be spending so much on knives...). I'm just a builder and part time humidor maker. Here's a link to a few humidors I just built for some Boston blue bloods. They hold 500 cigars....
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=270015&a=5057977


Thanks again,
Michael

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He who has smelt the smoke is never free again...
 
I previosly posted a response that was supportive, and still support BF decision to go commerical. HOWEVER, to have to pay for a "wanted" ad is silly.



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"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"
Thomas Jefferson

www.lameyknives.com
 
The wanted ad section is free. You may be seeing the section that allows you to upload an image and there is a charge for that but the ad itself is free. I just did one myself to make sure.

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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
Show Your Support -Visit Our Sponsors - Click On The Banners!
Visit www.onestopknifeshop.com
All sales from 1 Stop Knife Shop help support this site!
 
Well this is from the peanut gallery but I'll offer my 2 cents. Firstly I don't pay the bills at BF so I won't ask that they do anything 'my' way. Mike and Spark will find a way to make this place work for them...and hopefully it will be as inviting for us as always and they will enjoy continued success. I have purchased toooo many knives thru the exchange...all dealings have been enjoyed....dealing with others on bf has been great. I gladly paid into the online magazine a while back....didn't know if it would work but I knew I had enjoyed myself at bf so I never mind helping pay some 'freight'. I was really hoping it would work though cause I could envision all sorts of possible 'extra's' like exchange listings and such that would have enhanced 'membership', making bf financially solvent, again selfserving on my part cause I like this place and want them to 'make it'. I'm certainly glad that Mike and Spark can see some light at the end of the tunnel...and if my interest in blades helps them get there thats great. For me this is 'hobby' and 'recreation'...and I've been pleased to find such a resourcefull place to indulge myself when time allows. I just hope the 'mechanics' of the classifieds are as simple as possible for the sellers....cause though this is certainly not 'all' that bf offers it certainly has been a hit with me and I'm sure others as well. Do what you need to do guys...you've created this monster...success brings its own problems...enjoy.

dvc

Larry

be careful what you wish for..you may get it.
 
What a disappointment. I was recently able to purchase two knives I wanted by simply posting to the "Wanted to Buy" forum. I got responses the same day and experienced friendly transactions. Now, since this section is being shut down, I don't know what I'll do when I'm looking for a particularly hard-to-find model. Guess I'll have to post under the appropriate maker/manufacturer forum.

Is everyone else as disappointed as I am about losing this section of Bladeforums?

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Guyon
AKTI Member #A001044

"The hardest knife ill used doth lose his edge."
-William Shakespeare, Sonnet 95
 
Can someone please explain why people think they are losing the Wanted Forum? You are not losing it, we are simply moving it. The Wanted section of the classifieds is FREE. Go have fun!

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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
Show Your Support -Visit Our Sponsors - Click On The Banners!
Visit www.onestopknifeshop.com
All sales from 1 Stop Knife Shop help support this site!
 
Since I have become a member I have purchased at least 25 knives either from the dealers that advertise or private individuals. In each case I had the pleasure of dealing with first-rate individuals. The savings I have realized over the retail cost is very substantial. This would not have been the case without this forum. I would like to thank those who have given of their time and talent to make this possible. In my case the cost of an individual knife purchase has gone up $1.50 and this is not such a burden as I had originally thought. I would make one suggestion, that is to run the For Sale section for an appropriate period of time and if necessary adjust the cost so that the owners are fairly compensated for the work necessary to maintain this feature.


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Dale Richmond
AKTI Number A000949
 
Hi Spark;
Sire is a lot of debate over what seems to be a very reasonable plan.

I am new to BladeForums but sure would hate to see it go, and if this small charge means that it will survive it seems a small price t
to pay.

Keith
 
Man, i'm not on for a few weeks and boy do things change!
biggrin.gif
I'm not on as much lately, but I'm behind whatever you guys have to do to keep this going.still a great place with great people.

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russ aka bladezealot. a cat almost always blinks when hit in the head with a ball-peen hammer.
 
Amen Russ
It's interesting to see all this bitching
because they're trying to make the forums support themselves. A bunch of cheap SOBs in my opinion that come here for FREE entertainment and expect it to continue at the expense of somebody else. I hope to hear that the new additions to the forums return a decent profit. They certainly deserve it.
Best of luck Mike and Spark. You're going to need it with these whining cheapskates.
 
Mike & Spark,
This thread was interesting and informative up to about 60 posts...... After that it has been too much for me to keep up with and seems to be a lot of repetition. I only have one question or request:
Can you please post the 'rules' for the new sections somewhere after crunching all this data?
One of the initial rules was placing ads of same model and there seemed to be some back and forth there and I don't want to weed through the rest of the posts to find out what you decided. You guys have my full support and I don't want to start this new section off on a bad foot.
Thanks,
Shawn

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I know I can't hold the hate inside my mind
'Cause what consumes your thoughts controls your life
So I'll just ask a question
What if?

What if your words could be judged like a crime?
-CREED ('What if')
 
When they got to the RATE of selling banners at $16,800 per year to the dealears, Spark and Mike decided to invest more money to profit off of the members....
 
Wow, never realized we were selling banners at $16,800 per year to the dealers... I always thought it was $50 per month. But hell, if we're making $16,800 per year per dealer... we must be doing well...

I thought we covered this before, C4. Not all of the dealers have subscribed for a full year. Not all of the dealers paid under the $50 per month plan ($50 per month started back in March, and quite a few paid for a full year at $20-25 per month last year). And finally, even if they were all paying at $50 per month for a full year, it doesn't cover the labor and the operating expense that go into running this site.

But I guess anything short of emptying our wallets and throwing the money at you will be considered us just trying to profit off the members, huh C4? I mean, why should we even attempt to break even when we can just throw another $60,000 away so some people don't have to put into it what they get out of it, right? I guess we're just mercenaries.

Shaking my head in wonder...

Spark

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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
Let me see if I have this correct. The future of BladeForums depends on the changes that are being introduced.Without them we would lose this valuable resource. Is what is being proposed to high a price to pay? I think not, but then again maybe I am missing the point of all this complaining.

This seems to be a very reasonable solution to what must have been a difficult problem. So for what it is worth Spark I say go ahead and do what is required to keep this great sight alive.

Bye for now,
Keith
 
Hi Spark;

Do what needs to be done to keep this great forum alive and well. What you are putting forward seems a small price to pay.

Best Regards,
Keith
 
I propose that this thread be locked and everyone move on to bigger and better things. Anyone second? Third? Can't make the future better if we're hanging on to the past!

Shawn- Speaking for the unsilent majority ;-)
 
I'll second, third, and fourth it, raise you $20.00 and call your flush. Or is that flush your call?? Heck, I never was a card player.

Gawd pleeze let's move on!!!!
 
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