Can someone explain to me how there's people on here selling items they make who are not listed vendors but when I post up a 2 foot x 3 foot entry mat with a the NSX letters on it my thread gets deleted? The reason given for the deletion is that I was not a vendor... but yet I see the battery cable guy selling them in the DIY area all day long. What's the difference there? I've emailed every mod I can and only one doesn't have a full inbox to receive private messages. If I put my item in the DIY area to decorate your garage or man cave does that make it acceptable?
-
Protip: Profile posts are public! Use Conversations to message other members privately. Everyone can see the content of a profile post.
Mods help - looking to sell item that keeps getting deleted.
- Thread starter comquat1
- Start date
I have not received any pms from you.
Anyone selling multiples such as you are required to register as a vendor. If someone is violating the rules please report their posts and their Posts/threads will be deleted if they also have not registered.
Replied (and deleted referenced thread - I don't read every thread so if something goes unreported I can't take action on it)
Would like a discussion on small time sellers - Lud help?
This is a direct message to Lud after having a conversation with RSO about selling small quantities of items in the classifieds section. I am not a vendor here nor do I have a business where this is my livelihood, but I have sold floor entry mats with logos on them on multiple forum boards for people that wanted to decorate their garages or man caves. I only do this as I have access to the factories because of my day job selling their wares along with other lines I rep. When I tried to sell a few left over 2x3 mats from a batch I made for the facebook group my threads were deleted b/c I was not a paying vendor. RSO informed me that it most likely wouldn't make financial sense for me to be set up as a vendor b/c of the small amount of product I would most likely do.
Is there any way there can be an exception made for small time people to offer products/services without having to be on as a paid vendor? I would like to point out I have seen the negative battery terminal guy selling battery cables for months now without being a paid vendor to the best of my knowledge with no recourse on his thread. I have to point this out as his cottage industry is exactly like what mine would be, yet my threads have not been allowed while he is taking orders to this day.
For the record, I feel he adds value to the community and should be allowed to continue to offer his product, as others like him should be as well. So long as they don't step of the toes of paid vendors it can only add to the value of the site that has helped so many of us here.
Thoughts?
This is a direct message to Lud after having a conversation with RSO about selling small quantities of items in the classifieds section. I am not a vendor here nor do I have a business where this is my livelihood, but I have sold floor entry mats with logos on them on multiple forum boards for people that wanted to decorate their garages or man caves. I only do this as I have access to the factories because of my day job selling their wares along with other lines I rep. When I tried to sell a few left over 2x3 mats from a batch I made for the facebook group my threads were deleted b/c I was not a paying vendor. RSO informed me that it most likely wouldn't make financial sense for me to be set up as a vendor b/c of the small amount of product I would most likely do.
Is there any way there can be an exception made for small time people to offer products/services without having to be on as a paid vendor? I would like to point out I have seen the negative battery terminal guy selling battery cables for months now without being a paid vendor to the best of my knowledge with no recourse on his thread. I have to point this out as his cottage industry is exactly like what mine would be, yet my threads have not been allowed while he is taking orders to this day.
For the record, I feel he adds value to the community and should be allowed to continue to offer his product, as others like him should be as well. So long as they don't step of the toes of paid vendors it can only add to the value of the site that has helped so many of us here.
Thoughts?
I’ve always viewed that requirement as incommensurate with the benefit a vendor gets and it doesn’t seem to guarantee good behavior by vendors either. I’d be fine with requiring a paid account for anyone to sell anything on Prime, but I favor elimination of the Vendor accounts.
Rso34
Ben from Daisy auto here
We need to talk please
410-292-9259
Those battery cables were a great help to many members and a near zero profit , that thread wasn't meant to be anything more than helping the NSX community just like my shop has for 20 plus years
It would have been professional courtesy to reach out to me before
Just deleting it and vendor status set up for just battery cables??
Maybe all the great reviews for Daisy auto should be removed also because of one Person
I will be reaching out to everyone who left me feedback or bought a cable and return every penny of their money including shipping m
They were meant to help
Not assist in my salary , or retirement
Ben from Daisy auto here
We need to talk please
410-292-9259
Those battery cables were a great help to many members and a near zero profit , that thread wasn't meant to be anything more than helping the NSX community just like my shop has for 20 plus years
It would have been professional courtesy to reach out to me before
Just deleting it and vendor status set up for just battery cables??
Maybe all the great reviews for Daisy auto should be removed also because of one Person
I will be reaching out to everyone who left me feedback or bought a cable and return every penny of their money including shipping m
They were meant to help
Not assist in my salary , or retirement
Last edited:
Classy reply with the name calling. Glad I could help everyone get a full refund on their cables. Why would you even consider doing that?
If you're not in it for financial gain then you shouldn't have a problem paying to be a vendor here even if you lose money. Do you care that much about the community to lose money and time to help everyone out? My guess is no, you don't. Then what makes you think you deserve the pass on the rules Lud has put in place for people selling things? So because you deem you have a valuable product you should get to list while the product I deem valuable in a different way shouldn't be? I'm curious of your logic... I don't think Lud's rules are you can sell stuff without being a vendor as long as you don't make any profit which seems to be your only reason.
You can stop pm'ing me on this with attacks as well. If you have anything to say, say it in the thread publicly so that everyone can see how you conduct yourself as a professional.
For the record, I don't believe your thread should be deleted, I see the value you offer, but everyone should abide by the rules put in place here, no exceptions otherwise it's no sense in having rules.
I suggest Lud offer a subscription service similar to Ferrarichat where I've had alot of success selling small volume items. It costs $15 a year to be a paying member and you get access to member classifieds to sell anything you want. If you want to be a sponsoring vendor, it will cost you more but you get more in return for your investment. How much you sell will determine what tier you choose to invest in.
Last edited:
[MENTION=5347]RSO 34[/MENTION] are all vendors listed on the Vendor List? If so, I would say there are many people outside the rule.
Hi,
this Vendor status was bad implemented from the start.
There is absolutely no difference between vendors type.
All pay the same for the same time fraction:
- both $1 business and $1.000.000 business.
- both 1 product vendor or 1000 product vendor.
THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.
I will name a few extreme examples:
SOS, Eurobotique vs redbird92, hugabuga
there are many Vendors in-between the extremes, like foundry, titaniumdave, etc.
I agree that there should be a Vendor fee for those who profit from the community,
but not blind to type of business like it is.
Just me 2 cents.
Thanks,
Nuno
this Vendor status was bad implemented from the start.
There is absolutely no difference between vendors type.
All pay the same for the same time fraction:
- both $1 business and $1.000.000 business.
- both 1 product vendor or 1000 product vendor.
THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.
I will name a few extreme examples:
SOS, Eurobotique vs redbird92, hugabuga
there are many Vendors in-between the extremes, like foundry, titaniumdave, etc.
I agree that there should be a Vendor fee for those who profit from the community,
but not blind to type of business like it is.
Just me 2 cents.
Thanks,
Nuno
I still think a subscription based set up like ferrarichat has. $15 gives you access to their classified section where you can sell a car or item of any type. Then the brick and morter business like SOS etc have their own classifieds section or even their own sub forum. I'd pay $15 in a heartbeat to sell my logo entry mats... I'd be lucky to move 15-30 a year at the rate I'm going so it makes no sense for me to be a full blown vendor.
Hi I need help contacting a member silverNEEK. It's very important I get in contact with him. Any help would be appreciated.
Any update on this?
I would too. This is a legitimate concern and the silence from the mods is disappointing. I've purchased several parts from cottage-shop sellers, including Ben's BBC, and my car is better, mechanically and cosmetically, thanks to these folks' ingenuity and their ability to present the results of their efforts to the community. These guys serve every bit as important a function to the community as the commercial vendors do, and the current all or nothing rules about selling products here prevent them from doing so and do a disservice to the community.
[MENTION=6369]comquat1[/MENTION] has proposed a reasonable solution that has been successful in another community and can at least serve as a starting point for the discussion about making our rules more cottage-shop friendly. The community would be better served if the mods would engage in that conversation.
Thank you for that clarification. OK, Lud's silence is disappointing, and the community would be better served by him engaging in a conversation about this.
- Joined
- 10 February 2000
- Messages
- 2,677
The vendor program is certainly not perfect. I've said that from the start. In fact the impossibility of creating a perfect program is a big reason I resisted doing it well past the time when virtually every other forum had gone to that model.
The reason I finally implemented it as I did was to deal with the fly-by-night vendors, many of whom were these "cottage vendors" who I think mostly had good intentions but often seemed to get in over their head and then just vanish and leave people hanging. A lot of site members got burned by this.
I knew it was going to be a bad system for the good cottage vendors, but I don't have a good way to screen the good from the bad ahead of time so I don't know how to solve that.
The system has definitely been extremely effective at discouraging bad vendors. Issues that kept recurring every few months before have gone to nearly zero since this system went into effect. And the mid-to-large size vendors seem to continue to have good results. But that has been at the expense of "collateral damage" to a number of good small vendors.
As discussed years ago when this system first went into action, and as newer members may be unaware, I am open to considering ideas of how to improve it for small vendors as long as it outlines a clear and easily manageable way to draw the distinction.
For example with Ferrarichat example given, their site just says they have one classifed section for individuals only (with a paid subscription required to post) and a commercial classified section for "sponsors, businesses, or high volume users" which I assume requires some level of sponsorship. So do they actually allow low-volume commercial ads in the individual section? Or do they have a low-volume commercial sponsorship level, and how do they differentiate the levels?
The reason I finally implemented it as I did was to deal with the fly-by-night vendors, many of whom were these "cottage vendors" who I think mostly had good intentions but often seemed to get in over their head and then just vanish and leave people hanging. A lot of site members got burned by this.
I knew it was going to be a bad system for the good cottage vendors, but I don't have a good way to screen the good from the bad ahead of time so I don't know how to solve that.
The system has definitely been extremely effective at discouraging bad vendors. Issues that kept recurring every few months before have gone to nearly zero since this system went into effect. And the mid-to-large size vendors seem to continue to have good results. But that has been at the expense of "collateral damage" to a number of good small vendors.
As discussed years ago when this system first went into action, and as newer members may be unaware, I am open to considering ideas of how to improve it for small vendors as long as it outlines a clear and easily manageable way to draw the distinction.
For example with Ferrarichat example given, their site just says they have one classifed section for individuals only (with a paid subscription required to post) and a commercial classified section for "sponsors, businesses, or high volume users" which I assume requires some level of sponsorship. So do they actually allow low-volume commercial ads in the individual section? Or do they have a low-volume commercial sponsorship level, and how do they differentiate the levels?
For Ferrarichat, I sell logo floor mats (of which there can be infinite designs). I am a silver paying member there($15/year) and I have a thread I try to group all logo mat offerings. I've labeled it "logomat storefront". I believe as a silver member I can have up to 5 threads per year for selling things while I can group more items of similar subject under one thread. I've sold Handsfree towel dispensers on there as well and have tried grouping those under their own thread while keeping my logo mats separate to keep things clean.
As for people getting ripped off, I have always been of the opinion that if it's a big enough item ($1000 plus), I want to be running it on a credit card for protection purposes. Currently I have everyone on Fchat pay via paypal gift for my mats unless they won't and then I have them add 4% on top of my selling prices and if they're adamant on paying that way I try to see if they've been around long to know if I'm going to have any potential issues with them. I have a long history of many years there selling mats and not one bad experience with anyone has happened yet, nor have I been stiffed by a buyer either. I will say at the beginning of selling there though I did paypal invoice for almost all transactions to build my rep up. Now anyone who buys from me can see the hundreds of mats I've sold and they know they're dealing with a legit member.
I would have no issue paying $15 to have an upgraded membership that gives me access to an individuals classified section. Then have a Vendor section that costs more for large volume fullsized businesses.
Forgot to clarify, I'll have to look over the individual classifieds to see if there's business's in there. As for where low volume guys go, we end up in the individual section. I'm just a one man show in my basement with no stocking inventory as everything I do is custom so I don't have a storefront or anything online or physically. I just have connections b/c of my day job where I sell them commercially for work. If I didn't sell them as part of what I sell every day, I wouldn't be doing this.
Last edited:
I'm a complete know-nothing on this sort of stuff, but I have an idea for how to distinguish between commercial and cottage-shop vendors. Could it be based on how things are sold?
If sellers are advertising in a thread, communicating with buyers via PM, and requesting payment to themselves personally, it seems like a pretty safe bet that they're not a commercial outfit. If they're advertising or selling via a web page, have any kind of storefront, virtual or otherwise, or are taking payments to a company name, then they're commercial.
I haven't given this a whole lot of thought so it's probably full of holes and ways to abuse it, but it might be worth considering. As RSO said earlier, enforcement is an issue, he can't see every thread that gets posted, but maybe the membership could help with that if they see someone acting outside the rules. Ultimately an environment that encourages entrepreneurs' good ideas and discourages abuse will benefit the whole community.
Can I make a suggestion that we add a new micro vendor subforum for items like we discussed and see how things go for a few months? If it's an issue, then we go back to where things are at currently. If it works well, just keep going as we go. Thoughts?
Just drove home at night. wtf no dynamic headlights. I have switchbacks to race through at night to get home. My 2011 & 2012 porsches have/had those as well as my 2013 lx570. Also what's up with the 2 blank switch plate covers next to the parking sensor and tcs buttons? Looks cheap like that.
Similar threads
- Sticky
