We’ve wanted to have a buy and sell for a long time but haven’t found a great way to do it with software. So until we can find a better solution I wanted to start a low-fi category that we can improve over time.
Note: On “Closing” Buy & Sell Listings:
The original poster can now edit their first post of a thread in this category indefinitely.
As a result, you can mark your listing as sold YOURSELF rather than flagging posts and asking moderators to do it for you. And that’s what you should do from this point on.
I’m not sure if it’s just me, but my attempt to post on that Buy-and-Sell category was blocked waiting for approval from a moderator. Not sure if that was what you intended … but thought you might like to know in case it wasn’t
It’s really great news that you’ve started a Buy and Sell Category. I have recently run the gauntlet of selling some of my surplus gear in order to fund my most recent Iem purchase. What a stressful process I found it when having to sell via eBay. I like eBay but for me it was stressful, especially if your an inexperienced seller like me.
It would have been nice to offer my gear through the community and benefit the guys on here. Like I say I’m happy you’ve been able to get this category up and running. Best of luck everyone with your buying and selling.
This is a great idea. Perhaps it would be an idea (I’m not sure if it would be a good idea) to restrict the Buy&Sell to members who have either been around for a while etc…I’m not sure what the rule would be. I just thought that perhaps this would foster the community aspect vs. someone joining just to buy a piece of gear for sale, and then never posting again.
At the same time, there isn’t anything wrong with someone joining just to purchase something.
I was thinking the same. Are you suggesting that only senior members should be able to post products or that only senior members should be able to see the listings and make a transaction?
I’m honestly not sure. Perhaps just making the buy/sell area visible to senior members. Though I’m not sure what constitutes a senior member. I just know that you will possibly have people signing up to buy things, and then never post again/visit again. I’ll think about it and try to come up with things, but ultimately it’s up to you and Taron as to what way you want to go.
I suppose it depends if you want to get a big buy and sell section like head-fi, which definitely has its benefits as it makes more types of gear available. Or a smaller more community minded buy and sell, where the deals are better, as its more about making gear available to members of the community, vs. making the biggest profit possible?
I agree with your ideas regarding transactions being for the benefit of the community rather than just another one stop shop for everyone. The problem I see with letting everyone free access is obviously one of trust and honesty.
I would also be more inclined to give better prices and deals to the people I have interacted with and in a way become to know a little.
I don’t know what everyone else thinks. These are obviously just a few personal thoughts. I don’t wish for the forum to become an exclusive club for just a few. But when buying and selling some well thought out rules should be implemented.
I know the whole system is pretty new, but it would be great if it was based on history. At first, just length of membership and down the road based on feedback from previous transactions. My local sales/purchase tool is Kijiji.ca (our Craigslist in Canada). Works great for inexpensive items, say under $200.00. Past that it is tough. I then discovered CAM (Canuck Audio Mart). It’s where you can find low to Very high end audio, including headphone gear in Canada. Every member has a history. While nothing in life is guaranteed, if a guy has a bit of a history, you can feel somewhat safer dealing with them. There are also commercial dealers. I have bought and sold several items and feel very comfortable on it.
So maybe start building history and then start collecting feedback on each transaction?
I wouldn’t use it as most of the people are going to be American or possibly even European, which means currency conversion, higher shipping charges and dealing with customs. I have been on Head-Fi for ten years and never done a single transaction.
Every community that buys and sells gear should have a way to see Trade History or another way to make sure the person you are dealing with has made a certain level of successful trades. Just my suggestion as I’ve seen both work. An available transaction history would require less active moderation in my opinion anyway
