What's the deal with the exchange?

[mcflyfyter]

Can anyone catch me up on what has changed in the last few years? I tried buying 2 different knives on the exchange, only to be ignored. I have never had any issues spending money before. Also, is there a thread that explains why private messaging was revoked, and now has to be purchased?

 

[Planterz]

PM's have long been granted only to paying memebers. Many many years.

As for why people aren't selling to you, sellers can sell to whom they wish. Myself, I used to hold to the "First 'I'll take it gets it" rule, but more recently, I've sold to the first one that I feel comfortable selling to. You have only a handful of posts here and no iTrader feedback. If it was a choice between selling to you or someone with plenty of feedback, positive comments in GB&U, or even better, someone whom I've transacted with before, they'd beat you out even if you were "first". It's not a reflection on your character or anything, no offense is intended at all. People that sell/buy a lot may unfortunately eventually deal with a scammer or deadbeat or flake, and there's been a lot of them here over the years. Someone with history will be put in line before someone with none. Therein lies the rub, I guess. Can't buy because you have no feedback, can't get feedback because you can't buy.

Do you have any history/feedback on other forums? eBay, gunbroker, swappa, etc? If you do, you could cite those as references.

 

[mcflyfyter]

Maybe I am mistaken about the pm's. I could understand being reluctant to sell to certain people, but that doesn't justify ignoring them. Typically if you have only specific buyers you will sell to, you post those terms to save everyone the headache of dealing with you.

I have just never experienced this on this forum or any other for that matter.

 

[Hard Knocks]

That is an excellent post from Planterz, and the way I see more sellers going about it, myself included. Another thing you might consider is going basic or gold so you have a few PMs available to you. The email option for registered users is hit and miss to say the least, and some sellers just skip the hassle of the communication problems with registered users. Not saying anything about that one way or the other, just saying that's the way it is. It's also possible that instead of being ignored, the seller may have tried to contact you via bladeforums email, rather than with a post in the sales thread, and you never got it. No way really to know this, but I'd say it's a possibility. Hope this helps a little and good luck to you.

 

[Solid_Snake]

some sellers just skip the hassle of the communication problems with registered users. Not saying anything about that one way or the other, just saying that's the way it is. It's also possible that instead of being ignored, the seller may have tried to contact you via bladeforums email, rather than with a post in the sales thread, and you never got it. No way really to know this, but I'd say it's a possibility.

I have had two sellers go to me instead of the first "I'll take it" guy due to trouble with communication. Both times, the first person was just a registered user. Allowing just a few PMs for registered users would help them out. I was a Registered User when I first bought a knife here and I just posted my email address in the thread for the seller to contact me. That's not ideal.