Newbie with no feedback

Thank you all for your feedback and
I just looked into posting something I have up for trade . . . And unless I am misunderstanding, I can’t do that without a paid membership, apparently since 2015. 7.5 years and the exchange rules haven’t been updated to be congruent one way or another, which means one simply can not participate in this community without buying a membership or someone taking a chance on them. Not going to lie, that’s aggravating.

Edit: In my frustration, I misread the exchange guidelines not once, but twice. Thank you to those that pointed out my misunderstanding.
 
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txsnoman said:
Thank you all for your feedback and encouragement.

I just looked into posting something I have up for trade . . . And unless I am misunderstanding, I can’t do that without a paid membership, apparently since 2015. 7.5 years and the exchange rules haven’t been updated to be congruent one way or another, which means one simply can not participate in this community without buying a membership or someone taking a chance on them. Not going to lie, that’s aggravating.
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Yes as a non paying member you can respond to sale ads to buy and you can respond to trade ads. You cannot post for sale or trade ads. In all honesty the Gold membership is well worth it if you plan on selling anything and that might even make some members more comfortable to sell to a paying member.

*edit* ... to add a gold membership also you to directly post pictures without the need of a photo hosting site like imgur ... which I find a great benefit.

This is a copy and paste of the exchange rules that cover "registered users" (non paying members).

REGISTERED USERS - The first level of membership. If you have not purchased a paid subscription, you are by default a Registered User. As such, you are very limited to posting areas in the Exchange. You may respond to threads where you mean to purchase an item, or trade. You are not allowed to create threads for Selling or Trading (but you may respond to existing ads). You do have the ability to create Want To Buy threads.
 
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txsnoman said:
Thank you all for your feedback and encouragement.

I just looked into posting something I have up for trade . . . And unless I am misunderstanding, I can’t do that without a paid membership, apparently since 2015. 7.5 years and the exchange rules haven’t been updated to be congruent one way or another, which means one simply can not participate in this community without buying a membership or someone taking a chance on them. Not going to lie, that’s aggravating.
Click to expand...
You do understand that you can participate in the community, without spending a penny on trading and buying, correct? You just cannot post your own trade ads or offer something to sell.

Why? Well for one, if it were free to sell here, can you imagine all the scammers that would be posting here? It’s hard enough weeding out the chaff as it is! Two, Spark (site owner) isn’t running a free bazaar here, gotta pay to play. Trust me, membership has its benefits (not all forums are visible to non-paid members).
 
I have absolutely no problem paying for a membership on BF. The amount is negligible for all the information and entertainement that I got since I joined, and I for one know that a website is not free to run.
 
txsnoman said:
which means one simply can not participate in this community without buying a membership or someone taking a chance on them. Not going to lie, that’s aggravating.
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You’re forgetting all the posts so far saying that you can participate without entering the exchange area at all, so again, building a presence on the forum will do more for you than upping your feedback number and I’m sorry to say that it will take longer than the week you’ve been here. The rules are pretty clear about buying and selling and who’s allowed to do that so I don’t know where the confusion is but like the others have also said a few times now, if you’re here for the exchange, pony up a little cash for a Gold membership.
 
SpyderPhreak said:
You do understand that you can participate in the community, without spending a penny on trading and buying, correct? You just cannot post your own trade ads or offer something to sell.

Why? Well for one, if it were free to sell here, can you imagine all the scammers that would be posting here? It’s hard enough weeding out the chaff as it is! Two, Spark (site owner) isn’t running a free bazaar here, gotta pay to play. Trust me, membership has its benefits (not all forums are visible to non-paid members).
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This ^^^ …well said 👍🏼
 
I'm pretty new to this forum and immediately purchased a gold membership. I remember a time when all this information was in a magazine or book. I know I spent well over $10 for magazines alone. The $10 for all the information contained on this site alone makes it worth it for me. Plus the added benefits of posting in the exchange. Just my two cents...
 
When I first started selling in here I was already a member of 3 years and had been active outside the knife exchange. Even then I had several reluctant buyers. It took a lot of back and forth dialog and convincing to ease their concerns. And I started with a fairly inexpensive knife. The first feedback is the toughest, but then it starts getting a lot easier.

In your case you have 3 hurdles: lack of feedback, lack of tenure, and lack of general participation. It's going to be tough. My recommendation is to just buy from dealers for now and start participating in the forums for at least 6 months. Then try the knife exchange again.
 
txsnoman said:
one simply can not participate in this community without buying a membership or someone taking a chance on them. Not going to lie, that’s aggravating.
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Nope, not true at all. You just can't list sales threads. Establishing yourself and becoming a part of the community is free to anyone. If all you want is to use the exchange, buying a membership is your better bet, but even then some won't deal with folks who only participate in the exchange.
 
participating is free... there is no charge for that. certain parts of the forum require a subscription which is reasonable. I would not deal with a new member or any one with relatively low forum presence. it reduces the odds of being scammed imo.
 
txsnoman said:
Thank you all for your feedback and
I just looked into posting something I have up for trade . . . And unless I am misunderstanding, I can’t do that without a paid membership, apparently since 2015. 7.5 years and the exchange rules haven’t been updated to be congruent one way or another, which means one simply can not participate in this community without buying a membership or someone taking a chance on them. Not going to lie, that’s aggravating.

Edit: In my frustration, I misread the exchange guidelines not once, but twice. Thank you to those that pointed out my misunderstanding.
Click to expand...
Hi Everyone, happy to join you on bladeforums.

Knives addict for many years, originally from France and now based on the east coast of the US.

Same concerns as txsnoman and having a few knives for sale (to buy others of course) I wanted to know if presenting an ebay profile here was authorized or if it brought a plus?
Having around 500 positive transactions there maybe that helps? Or not.
Btw i'll try a first sale soon and let see!

Thank you.
 
parisfactory said:
Hi Everyone, happy to join you on bladeforums.

Knives addict for many years, originally from France and now based on the east coast of the US.

Same concerns as txsnoman and having a few knives for sale (to buy others of course) I wanted to know if presenting an ebay profile here was authorized or if it brought a plus?
Having around 500 positive transactions there maybe that helps? Or not.
Btw i'll try a first sale soon and let see!

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Hello,

You should familiarize yourself with Exchange Rules. That should answer most if not all of your questions about posting items for sale.

Exchange Rules

How you should handle yourself in The Exchange
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
In my 7 or so years here ( new account not new guy) This has been brought up several times. I myself have made listings to only be sold to Gold or higher members just to slow down the poaching of fair market knives to sell on the bay. We see a bunch of folks that just come here to buy and not participate in the knowledge base and real fondness for knives the forum is really for. Some of them just to pick up knives that we here will sell to one another at fair prices then put them on the secondary market for a profit.
Hang out to get to know folks, this will clear up real soon.

Welcome to BF
 
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