Pay for Trade access? bad idea?
 

For some that don't know, I'll be putting more time into oOple next year - however it works out. And I want to constantly make it better.

The 'for sale' section is pretty popular and having experienced ebay recently - it reminds how stupidly high the fees they charge are.
I wondered what people would think of paying something like £5 for a years access to post in this section (reply via PM, or browsing wouldn't be any different to how it is now) - this would be to:

1: stop scammers from posting stuff up and give added protection - they don't want to spend £5, and I'd still be checking new members even if they did.

2: keep things civil and have the seriously interested only from posting - rather than testing the waters etc. You'd still have to obey by the rules - mainly the 7 day rule of not reposting your advert (spamming) like a maniac.

3: let me give some tshirts and hoodies to the boys that help maintain the section and pay for the hosting and re-development of the website.

I've always been happy for CLUBS to have either a specific advert thread or adverts in their own club forum for members of the club selling to other club members - this is only sensible and is up to the moderator of the club themselves to decide if they want that sort of thing in their section and how best to maintain it (a single thread would possibly be best - sticky'd to the top of the forum).

It's just an idea - at the moment I like how popular it is and I absolutely don't want to drive people away and I don't think people should have to pay to advertise. It's been suggested and I thought I'd gauge reaction.

Personally I'm not sure - the safety aspect and keeping it more sane (if people pay even a small fee they won't want to behave silly) are benefits - but I see a big drawback in what's essentially been a popular part of the site for years.

I'm torn!

Don't be afraid to say it's crap and you'll go elsewhere. :lol::thumbsup:

I think it's a brilliant idea. It will keep the sale section clean and safe.

I was maybe thinking you could have membership thing.
So members pay like £10.00 a year and they get access to the oople chat room(i can see that getting popular!)or sale section,Oople reports/photos and they could custom their status thingy you know the senior member thing.
My final idea was members could be entered into a oople raffle once every 6 months were you can win a oople shirt or decals,something small.Non members would still get normal access to the forum but without the things mentioned above.

What do you think?

Thanks.

I'd happily pay. It's a good way of keeping the trouble makers out who only join these things to spoil it for others. True supporters of the site would all pay for access I'd have thought. If ultimately it benefits the running of the site and secures its future it can only be a good thing. I for one would be lost without it. Made some decent mates on here.

I very much appreciate that this community in itself is free, and I think that really should stay that way.

However, for sales... well, there is allready money involved from two parties: I don't see harm in adding a third party (oOple) with a fee once a year. I would only use the fee for sellers though, not for buyers - I'd be put off by that because though I sometimes buy something from oOple, on average I don't spend a lot of money here (not yet anyway) :p

Oh, and am I right there was a 'Donate' button on the site a few years back? :confused: I've been a member for a while now, and in the recent months/year I've been pretty active on oOple and I'm really having a great time here! For me, that's worth something, but it takes some time to find out. For me a month or so back it felt like I wanted to donate something... but I couldn't find a button like this! I know it's not the most efficient way of getting a monetary reward for all your input and effort for this community, but perhaps you could add that feature to the fees for the sales section? If someone is making a payment to you anyway, I think more people would be tempted to make a donation...

And another few questions... First of all, I saw a thread of 'For Sale and Wanted (NL/BE only) in the Belgian forums... How will you keep those topics up (because they are very handy) yet keep all people from switching to those topics for their sales?

Secondly, you see an ad-like topic in the wrong place every now and then... how will you handle that? People have to stick by the rules and you'd like to prevent people from taking a peek what life's like on/over the edge... However, you don't want to introduce military regimes to keep people in check (especially since oOple has such an easy going and fun atmosphere)... How do you keep things loose, informal and fun when there is actually money involved? :eh?:

The trade section on racechat was well used until they started charging for access, now there is tumble weeds blowing through there.

Having said that tamiya club trade area is well used, but there the fees give you a hole lot more (showroom etc).

Keep it free but make the donate button appear.

Sparky

The fiver per year for sellers is a good idea.

The Paypal address for donations towards the upkeep and running costs of the site is

[email protected]

Speaking as someone who was scammed this year, I would welcome any moves to make the for sale section safer. I'm sure most people wouldn't mind paying a once a year fee for this. I like the sound of Nasir's suggestion too. Food for thought Jimmy.

I totally agree with this....in the spirit of the internet try to keep it free!!:)

If clubs held events with some profits from registration etc.. going from Oople, this may help to cover admin costs? Not sure how this relates to the economics
of running a club though..

Scammers are a problem....maybe tighten more on the rules here....posting limit, pictures 100% essential otherwise post deleted.

Though, if push came to shove, I would be happy to pay a fee..

£5 a year seems fine to me, already pay that on UK-microRC for membership which supports the forum and lets you sell stuff.
I've donated once before, paying £5 a year just means I get reminded to give some money to the forum. :thumbsup:

i've sold lots of stuff through oople and would be happy to pay £5 per year. Cheaper than ebay fees on one sale usually!

As mentioned before, a lot of people may abandon the section due to an annual fee if they are only a lite user.
Would it possible to have an annual membership for unlimited use, and then maybe a £1 per transaction fee for those that only sell one or two items per year?

I would have no problem at all paying £5 per year to buy or sell. Most other forums I've been on over the years run a similar system, or one where you pay a fee to get extra features as nasir said.

£5 per year is less than a pair of tyres ;-)

Just as a example
If you sold a motor on ebay for £50 then 10% would be taken by ebay as a final sellers fee, add to that the insertion fee & then paypals cut(not sure on amount) i would say you would get about £44 in total, so that's £6 lost in 1 transaction
Pay a fiver & get to advertise as many items as you like for free all year on oople is a great idea
Would be happy to pay this

I have bought and sold a few items.
Sometimes it has worked well sometimes not.
Part of the reason people use the section is because it's a free alternative to eBay. If it stops being so many will start looking elsewhere.
Whilst £5 doesn't seem a huge amount I think you risk driving traffic away.
I am not an expert but ultimately isn't revenue derived from traffic?
Great as oople is I don't think attempting to charge users is the way forward.

I don't think I'd pay it. Soz.

Who can not afford 10p per week or even 20p for the use of this site that every member use's at least once a week.....for me i'm on here every day and would welcome any fee, membership or traders fee.

Like the membership fee idea better stops any numpty's from joining trying to scam honest people from there hard earned cash and personal possessions.

Mick

Good idea Jimmy!

Implement it right away! Lets get them reports uploaded :lol:

Oops double post.

Struggling not to get splinters sitting on the fence on this one.

I’m all for the internet being as free as it can be but somebody has to pay for the hosting and other stuff I don’t really understand.

I spend far too much time on here – laughing at peoples inane posts and arguments, getting really useful advise and buying/selling so I’d happily pay £5. I also know I should donate some money but never quite get round to it - donation is on its way to you now Jimmy because I have just had a bit of a guilt trip.:blush:

How difficult/bureaucratic would it be to have a voluntary £5 or £10 “membership” fee that was highlighted in your profile so you were listed as a “Oople Supporter” or something similar? Might create a bit of peer pressure amongst us all to make sure we remember to help out a little for such a great resource. If you do not want to pay, then fine, but if you use this site a lot don’t be surprised when we all start calling you a tight wad!! If you are a newbie or light user then fine, don’t pay.

Rob

Just away from the trade section, there can't be many (probably no one!) who doesn't look forward to the latest report coming online, so if this tiny amount of money per year made the reports bigger, better and more regular it's got to be worth it?

I think its a great idea. There are too many people who post only in the for sale section to save themselves ebay and paypal fee's. I know one person with over 130 posts all in the for sale section and one in trader feedback.
Ebay charge listing fee's final fee's and then by the time paypal take their cut you could be looking at £5 or more costs on just one item making oOple at just £5 for a whole year unlimited sale posts a bargin.
People know the costs of ebay so would still know the bargin oOple £5 fee would offer.

I buy and sell a fair bit on oOple and have always been happy, its a great forum and the galleries and reports are second to none. I would happy pay £5/10 a year for membership to oOple.

For r/c are very rarely sell on ebay due to fees, i still buy on ebay though. But i think a small yearly charge wouldn't be unreasonable considering the amount of time and effort Sir Jimmy and the crew put in.

Raymond

Its a good idea!

I would even look at more than £5, oOple is great!
I sell loads of things, £5 is nothing!!

M

Do it Jimmy, £5 sounds good to me

I'm also of the opinion that it should be free - and the horrors of what happened on racechat have just been brought back to me with someone's comment.

It's not about making money though - it's more about giving something back and making the section a bit safer. I think the one negative comment is probably enough to keep me off it for now.

I like the idea of a annual fee for selling or a one off payment for each ad as I sell a few bits but not everything sells, either 10p per ad or per item

The one negative comment is about another community, not ours.

Were all happy to pay a measly £5 per year to help you out :thumbsup:

One of the other forums i use has a "premium" membership status, they get a few extra features like extended reports that they get to see 24 or 48 hours earlier than the "oiks" access to the magazine back issues and so on).

And also it means that the web admin actually know who they are (CC details, home address, work email addresses and so on).
This has tended to mean (except in one case) that they are the more trusted sellers.
Might be worth looking at if Oople is to become a commercial success.

Just paying for posting privileges seems a bit, um, high risk.

I will look into it - the site is going to be totally revamped at some point and I will be putting a lot more time into it no matter what. Covering a lot more events hopefully and producing some ace content.
Vbulletin allows a very easy 'membership' thing that's all automatic afaik - maybe taking away is the racechat error. I felt a real second class user on that site myself. I Will look how I can justify a small contribution to give some extra and show at least you're a paid up member and thus MORE trustworthy (as I have your details and will come get you).
Online chat is great but very server heavy I think - I will look into some options. We used to have it on the doughtyuk.net forums and sometimes all gather together on msn group chat (like, 50 racers at once - madness)

It would be good to have a subscription of £5 too oOPle and for that you can sell/buy for free. Buyers need to be free as so to encourage sales.
By having a subscription it could be set up to remind you every year. While jimmy deserves paying for his reports, to limit it to members cuts his work getting viewed by many world wide, they need to be free to promote oOPle/off road.
Tough you charge and the members/ traffic could drop.
To me annual subscription with free for sale adds, and maybe a £1 fee for all sales from non subscribers.

I've donated a few times now, Happy to do so. I'd welcome a for sale payment. Needs to be viewable by buyers though.

I've also asked about a Advertisers section a couple of times via PM with no responce ;). Just though I'd post that in here as I know your on this topic Jimmy :). Might be out of my price bracket? but there is no harm in asking and it would mean I don't need to keep bumping my threads :blush:

Brilliant idea.

Although not knowingly for most people, the trade section on oOple is taken for granted.

You have a fantastic way of selling your gear aimed at only the right audience and the only fees you pay are those through PayPal payments.

I say do it, get them charged!

Hi mate, I know I know - give me a bit of time - at the moment this site has just been a pure hobby and done on evenings. We don't have a TV or anything - oople is all I do and sure I get burnt out and frustrated sometimes that I can't do all the stuff I want on it as I don't have the time / energy. Well that's changing.

As much as I HATE paying for anything..... £5 to have access posting ads in the 'For Sale' section is something I think that is a simple way to stop spamming, scammers and target your private ads at the right people.

I would say, paid membership of any other kind I would frown upon, as that is why most of us ended here, RaceChat and their stupid paid membership thing, so you could have more than 10 pm's etc....

My opinion on it is that i would have no issue at all in paying a small monthly fee to be a paid up oople member.

On a car forum that i'm a trader on, i pay to be a trader, and the members can either not pay to be a 'full member' but this limits their posts to 20 a month, and they get delayed access to view items for sale. The paid up members can post as much as they want and can view items for sale as soon as they are listed. they can also PM anyone where as non paid members cant use the PM system.

its a tricky one, as making people pay to have more benefits does drive some people away, but if its a small charge and their are some benefits for paying up (ie early access to the items for sale), then i'm sure everyone will be fine with it

:)

Being a member of another forum that has a subsciption 'Plus member' scheme. I do feel that it gives a them and us type of feel to the place, which I dont think would be right for oOple.
The paying for trade access for sellers seems to me to be more suitable. Personally I have not sold anything RC related I just keep getting bigger sheds. But if I were to go into therapy and be cured of my fear of selling, I would have no issues with paying a small subsciption for a sellers status. I have bought loads of stuff from oOple and never had a bad deal.

Great news your going to have more time to try and tweek oople which to me is a perfect forum (only one I've ever been registered with.

I think £5/£10 is a bargin to sell in the trade section where else do you get such service? I have sold some balls once on eBay sent them out by my usual method and the buyer said he never recieved them this has never happened on oople due to the fact everyone bar a few a honest people

Buds

Very good idea,cant see why £5-£10 a year would be any problem for sellers as like it has been mentioned before ebay can take well over that for 1 sale!!!,i would pay without hesitation and remember this payment would also be helping the best rc site on the net, so a no brainer i think.

you would get more of this though
http://oople.com/forums/showthread.p...667#post684667

Hi then a moderator could simply point the few that would do that in the direction of the for sale forum,its hardly going to happen hundreds of times,look at the overwhelming support for the idea,what ever field you are in some will always try to beat the system though for the sake of £5 hardly seems worth the trouble.

Just to clarify Jimmy's original post - the fee would be to post in the trade section only. Everyone would still be able to view the threads and still be able to PM everyone in order to purchase - nobody's status would change except that (unless you had paid the yearly fee) you wouldn't be able to POST in the trade section. Presumably this would apply throughout the trade section inc wanted and non-RC.