Inflated prices

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Quiet said:
You'd see a bunch of them taking issue with that "Take it to Ebay" edict, because the entire reason they are here on Bladeforums is that they get to be dbags that skirt Paypal rules (not really possible with Ebay transactions) and they would get additional dings from the Ebay fees. That's the entire issue here is that they are taking advantage of a ripe platform. Captive customer base, Exchange rules that are really very lax, and a moderation staff that doesn't have the time to police everything 100% so plenty of these guys skate under the radar for years, getting away with paying the $30 Gold Membership fee and not having to worry about fees or charges all while doing "seller/retailer" level business.
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Exactly. That's why these threads bring them out, need to protect their cheap place to sell.
 
Quiet said:
You'd see a bunch of them taking issue with that "Take it to Ebay" edict, because the entire reason they are here on Bladeforums is that they get to be dbags that skirt Paypal rules (not really possible with Ebay transactions) and they would get additional dings from the Ebay fees. That's the entire issue here is that they are taking advantage of a ripe platform. Captive customer base, Exchange rules that are really very lax, and a moderation staff that doesn't have the time to police everything 100% so plenty of these guys skate under the radar for years, getting away with paying the $30 Gold Membership fee and not having to worry about fees or charges all while doing "seller/retailer" level business.

As an example, I'll say it. If you're selling a hundred friggin' knives a year, that should be an automatice "This guy's a retailer" tag and a requirement to pay for a dealer's membership.
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Yup, none of that F&F nonsense when selling on the eBay Marketplace.

As a side note, eBay itself is scheduled to migrate from PayPal as its sole payment provider conduit. I believe that their payment processing migration will be completed by 2020.
 
Casinostocks said:
Yup, none of that F&F nonsense when selling on the eBay Marketplace.

As a side note, eBay itself is scheduled to migrate from PayPal as its sole payment provider conduit. I believe that their payment processing migration will be completed by 2020.
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Yep. And that's really the crux of the matter. I think that if the BF Administration created a new rule outlawing all of that Friends/Family or "NET to me" chicanery, and required sellers who sold more than a certain number of knives a month to register as a dealer, you'd see a lot of these issues solve themselves.

Of course, the flippers and flipper-apologists always answer to that suggestion the same way in these threads: "Don't do THAAAAT, you'd drive people away from here!"

...yeah. Yeah. See, that's the point, genius. You want to do retailer level business virtually for free, find somewhere else to skirt the rules. We already know many places don't play that, so you guys would probably end up crawling back in here and straightening your act up. This wholesale skirting of multiple rules has got to go, and frankly, anyone who would leave over them tightening things up?

No one will miss you. BYE.
 
Casinostocks said:
Yes and that's the crux of the argument. What do you think about a "store" level membership? I think that may be a reasonable compromise and then buyer can elect to do business or not do business with someone who engages on this site as a side business as well as participating as an everyday member?
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It sounds very reasonable to have a store level, rather than jump straight into authorized dealer, from gold or platinum.
A member selling from a "store front" could also put out a disclaimer that they are not authorized to take back defective new knives for repairs, and refer that work to the original manufacturer.
 
shinyedges said:
Exactly. That's why these threads bring them out, need to protect their cheap place to sell.
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yeah...cheap is bad...for...ahhh....errr...sellers, or is cheap bad for buyers?:confused:

sellers are "taxing" buyers so that's bad, right?

shiny, little help over here...can't figure this one out on my own. :oops:

Maybe a new flipper membership level can be developed and the ensuing extra-hefty fees could be used to help wayward BF members who get locked out with just their dial up interweb tryin to get in on some of these Sprint Run extravaganzaas when they do inevitable hit the BF Exchange. The fund could help defray, or subsidize <your pick>, the costs of securing the coveted blade from the flippers.
It'd be kinda like a sin tax on liquor and ciggys to help widen the roads...now everybody can get behind that idea because flipping and drinkin and smokin is bad and the ones who do it don't deserve to and must be curtailed from doing it or else help out the less fortunate...right shiney!

Son, you gotta bring real solutions, not just empty complaining, to effect real change. :thumbsup:
 
PeteyTwoPointOne said:
yeah...cheap is bad...for...ahhh....errr...sellers, or is cheap bad for buyers?:confused:

sellers are "taxing" buyers so that's bad, right?

shiny, little help over here...can't figure this one out on my own. :oops:

Maybe a new flipper membership level can be developed and the ensuing extra-hefty fees could be used to help wayward BF members with just dial up interweb get in on some of these Sprint Run extravaganzaas when they do inevitable hit the BF Exchange. The fund could help defray, or subsidize <your pick>, the costs of securing the coveted blade from the flippers.
It'd be kinda like a sin tax on liquor and ciggys to help widen the roads...now everybody can get behind that idea because flipping and drinkin and smokin is bad and the ones who do it don't deserve to and must be curtailed from doing it or else help out the less fortunate...right shiney!

Son, you gotta bring real solutions, not just complaining to effect real change.
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Oh no, he dropped the "son" line. Haven't seen that used lately. Boris used it often, was equally as dull then too..
Anyway, :thumbsup: keep on..
 
Casinostocks seems to be suggesting a separate membership other than dealer. This seems like a better idea than the full dealer membership to me. The dealer membership comes with a certain amount of endorsement from BF and a certain level of expected behavior. I don't think flippers practices really fit that group other than that they are selling for a profit. You could very well degrade your dealer members. Not sure the dealers want them either. Nobody wants to poor little flipper :)
 
PeteyTwoPointOne said:
yeah...cheap is bad...for...ahhh....errr...sellers, or is cheap bad for buyers?:confused:

sellers are "taxing" buyers so that's bad, right?

shiny, little help over here...can't figure this one out on my own. :oops:

Maybe a new flipper membership level can be developed and the ensuing extra-hefty fees could be used to help wayward BF members who get locked out with just their dial up interweb tryin to get in on some of these Sprint Run extravaganzaas when they do inevitable hit the BF Exchange. The fund could help defray, or subsidize <your pick>, the costs of securing the coveted blade from the flippers.
It'd be kinda like a sin tax on liquor and ciggys to help widen the roads...now everybody can get behind that idea because flipping and drinkin and smokin is bad and the ones who do it don't deserve to and must be curtailed from doing it or else help out the less fortunate...right shiney!

Son, you gotta bring real solutions, not just empty complaining, to effect real change. :thumbsup:
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And you call others obtuse? You're deliberately missing the point, son, so, let me help you out. Flippers artificially inflate prices, driving market prices higher, hurting everyone who wants to try said knife. They also skirt the rules here, costing the forum money, which could be used to pay for more bandwidth and storage, which, you may be aware, runs out from time to time. Additionally, it's common for flippers, among others, to demand F&F on their sales, in effect stealing from PayPal. Nobody here is asking for your stupid idea to be implemented. We're all perfectly happy to buy our own internet service, and knives. Hell, I even bought my own lunch, and pay for my own gas and 'lectric.
I know you have claimed not to be a flipper, but the more you defend the practice, the more I hear "Methinks he doth protest too much!"
If that's too hard to understand, son, I'll type slower next time.
 
I think my plan has legs...the banner for Flipper Level Membership could be a big ol' scarlet "F" that could symbolically stand for lots of different things, just let your mind ramble.

It could become a meme, or better yet, a catchphrase to denote when you deal with a flipper, it would go something like this...."Bro, I just saw you bought that Sprint Run from Petey...dude, can't you see by his banner he's a scarlet level "F"er? Are you stooopid or something? Stay away from those "F"ers! All that light shiney shined? on all these rotten "F"ers was wasted on your dumb azz!"

Look at it this way, it just makes it super simple to show everyone who the true F-ers and F-ees are.

Bottom line, shinyedges shinyedges thinks some members can't tell when they're about to get royally "F"-ed and need help finding out because...knowing + edgejumakation. Knowledge being empowering, and stuff.

And of course under my proposal, you'd still be free to get "F"-ed all you wanted, if that's your bag and you got the coin to support it. All I'm saying is it's not like someone sneaks on you, hits you over the head, drags you in an alley and "F"s you and then takes your sneakers for good measure, like it now stands. With my plan you'd go into the deal knowing you were gonna get "F"-ed by a paid up, sanctioned F-er.
 
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PeteyTwoPointOne said:
I think my plan has legs...the banner for Flipper Level Membership could be a big ol' scarlet "F" that could symbolically stand for lots of different things, just let your mind ramble.

It could become a catchphrase, or better yet, a meme to denote when you deal with a flipper, it would go something like this...."Bro, I just saw you bought that Sprint Run from Petey...dude, can't you see by his banner he's a scarlet level "F"er? Are you stooopid or something? Stay away from the "F"ers! All that light shiney shined? on all these rotten "F"ers were wasted on your dumb azz!"

Look at it this way, it just makes it super simple to show everyone who the true F-ers and F-ees are.

Bottom line, shiney thinks some members can't tell when they've been royally "F"-ed and need help finding out because...knowing + edgejumakation. Knowledge is power.
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So, is that your solution? Shiny (note the proper spelling) wants to do something to solve a problem. If all you disagree on is his method, but you truly want to stop people taking advantage of others and the forum, is this your solution?
 
Peter Hartwig said:
Casinostocks seems to be suggesting a separate membership other than dealer. This seems like a better idea than the full dealer membership to me. The dealer membership comes with a certain amount of endorsement from BF and a certain level of expected behavior. I don't think flippers practices really fit that group other than that they are selling for a profit. You could very well degrade your dealer members. Not sure the dealers want them either. Nobody wants to poor little flipper :)
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Yes, that was I was suggesting as an additional level to the already existingGold / Platinum. In other words, a Gold level Store = $130 and a Platinum level = $160. The Site can set limits and bandwidth as see fit. Again, just a respectful suggestion that may be beneficial to the Site as well those who it intends to serve better.
 
Kbrasmodeler said:
So, is that your solution? Shiny (note the proper spelling) wants to do something to solve a problem. If all you disagree on is his method, but you truly want to stop people taking advantage of others and the forum, is this your solution?
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I've amended it a little since your quote, but yeah.

I think it addresses all the issues, and most importantly provides a solution that has potential to please all parties involved.
 
Kbrasmodeler said:
The sad thing is, I think you might actually be serious.
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I think it'd be as useful as starting ANOTHER flipper recognition/vent thread / beware of the big bad wolf you can't see for yourself thread...yup, I seriously do. :thumbsup:

A lotta good that W&C one did, right fellas?:rolleyes:

Their's lacks legitimacy because of where it resides ,IMHO. And that'd be the problem with getting it right in the general forums-- legitimacy AND validity. That plus the effort it'd take to make it so.

Of course there's the most obvious guys who are scalpers, but everyone spots them without effort. They're low hanging fruit that's easy to legitimately target.

But that's my point, if they're that easy to pin a scarlet F on, why do I need MORE help?

Gonna be tougher to uncover the stealth flippers, with all kinds of pitfalls and repercussions. This is coming from someone who's been carelessly, and unjustly targeted, himself. It's not fair, it's petty, and it's a waste of oxygen.
 
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PeteyTwoPointOne said:
I think it'd be as useful as starting ANOTHER flipper recognition/vent thread / beware of the big bad wolf you can't see for yourself thread...yup, I seriously do. :thumbsup:

A lotta good that W&C one did, right fellas?:rolleyes:

Their's lacks legitimacy because of where it resides. And that'd be the problem with getting it right in the general forums-- legit AND valid. Of course there's the most obvious guys who are scalpers, but everyone spots them right? Low hanging fruit that's easy to legitimately target.

But that's the point, if they're that easy to pin a scarlet F on, why do I need MORE help?

Gonna be tougher to uncover the stealth flippers, with all kinds of pitfalls and repercussions. This is coming from someone who's been carelessly, and unjustly targeted, himself. It's not fair, it's petty, and it's a waste of oxygen.
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You've been intentionally obtuse this entire thread, you've ignored logic and made it a point make this a thread about w&c. Your post history speaks volumes. You sir, bring nothing to this community and I for one am glad you started posting in this thread, you've made your character crystal clear :thumbsup:
 
Time to put this to bed but I want to add the following.

Good news for the flippers... There will not be a "public" Name and Shame.

Bad news for the flippers... I have every intention of enforcing the following rule from the Exchange rules... I've already started. If your only purpose on BF's is to sell, either purchase the correct membership level or take your crap somewhere else.

DEALER / MATERIALS PROVIDER - Dealers are defined as anyone who purchases at wholesale pricing, or purchases items with the intent to resell (flipping). Other terms for dealers include purveyor, broker, reseller, etc. Materials Providers offer raw materials such as steel, handle materials, or other items related to knifemaking in general as typical stock for sale to the forum members or to the general public via their own store front or website.
 
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