ped

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1354726680' post='1889661'] Plus a special forum for gingers, of course. [/quote] Too much competition, we're not touching that.

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1354722695' post='1889597'] I joined this site purely to sell a bass I'd had lying around for years. Zero post newbie guitarist. I made all the newbie mistakes - no price, no pictures, no other posts. Thanks to the friendly encouragement of the other members I soon listed price and pictures, and the bass was sold, a feedback thread was started, etc. 6 months later i've got two new basses, bought and sold many pedals, and have met several very nice chaps when collecting/trading. My guitars are gathering dust... So that's what the old style classifieds has going for it! I'd prefer it to remain free, or possibly £2 a lisiting. Here's another idea - keep it basschat, but create a guitarists sub-forum and guitarists classifieds?! Why not drummers too? Just an idea. Ted [/quote] Hi Ted I bet everyone would prefer it to be free unfortunately that just isn't possible if you also expect BC to be fast, reliable and updated. We are opening two new forums soon, Guitarchat and Drumchat. These will be the same format and be the place for other players to start their own communities. We'll try and make it so that if you are logged in to any one of the sites owned by the 'Chat Partnership' you'll be registered and able to post on any of the sites under our company. I know lots of bassists play lesser instruments on the side, so this would enable some crossover. Cheers ped

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1354709103' post='1889350'] fora. [/quote] In between Flora and Fauna

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1354707420' post='1889314'] To my shame I have sold/traded quite a bit on here and not made one donation . Why? Lazy. Please feel free to pan me, but I bet I'm not the only one. I would be happy to be made to pay £2/£3 per ad, better value than the free on Bumtree and Freeloved. £20 subscription? I think you will lose a lot of members, not just the rarely active. I am sure the Mods have done a lot down the following avenue, but to me, an advertising spend, with their own page, for the likes of Fender, could be strongly looked at? Say Fender had their own page on here, at £10,000 pa, it is costing them 50 p pa per bass player, as we have about 20.000 I believe? No doubt I am being my usual simplistic self. Karl. [/quote] Hi mate Ideally we want to move away from advertising as much as possible. I don;t like 'affiliation' with a brand via a forum, either - BC's strength is it's independence from manufacturer bias. Cheers ped

[quote name='BarnacleBob' timestamp='1354647082' post='1888716'] Just wound to original spec. There was a delay in the repairs because I actually tried to locate 2 replacement pups from Vigier - Ben (the rep) said they would be difficult to get as an old model but Patrice in reply to me on the forum said they were available but the trail went cold eventually. Had them rewound at Bareknuckle after trying Wizard who couldn't do it BB [/quote] Ah right, OK. Those original pickups sound great, though. Bet they sound nice now they've been sorted. Really love these basses... keep them coming, any other owners on BC?

[quote name='Ruiner' timestamp='1354700433' post='1889200'] I don't think a subscription is a bad idea, but personally would be in favour of also having the option to pay for a one off ad also, or a shorter, say month long subscription. [/quote] That's the plan, however as we're limited by the payment options available then we'll have to go with what we have, initially.

Hi guys Thanks for all the extra ideas - as great as some of them are, again, simplicity is the key, at least initially. I'm sure we can customise things as soon as we start turning a profit, though. I'm speaking to the new web developer later when Steve has finished going through the small print on the contract. Initially it's probably going to be just a subscription fee and a one off fee if possible. Cheers, more updates as they come.... ped

[quote name='BarnacleBob' timestamp='1354645853' post='1888693'] 269 - which makes it an '86 I think. BB [/quote] Very nice.. did the pickups remain single coil or have you fattened those up?

Looks great!! Serial number?

Things under a certain price would be free.

[quote name='longtimefred' timestamp='1354640973' post='1888592'] i know it attracts people here but if the only people allowed to use the for sale section for sales were subscribers then it could be one more bit of security for buyers/sellers avoiding potential pain in the bottom deals. [/quote] I think as long as users are always careful, the benefits of being able to advertise to EVERYONE far outweigh the advantages of selling to a select group. It's also one of the main things that brings folk to the site.

[quote name='Toasted' timestamp='1354640484' post='1888572'] So it's not just about covering costs, it's also about making profit? Seems fair enough. [/quote] We're taking it one step at a time as there are lots of things we want to fix/upgrade but yes long term this site is becoming more and more a full time job. I should put as much effort in at my ACTUAL job!

[quote name='Toasted' timestamp='1354639772' post='1888556'] How much money do you need to raise? [/quote] How long is a piece of string? Obviously as this is a business and something Steve and I want to develop we're looking at what's fair.

[quote name='Toasted' timestamp='1354639133' post='1888542'] I'm confused. Is the point of all this to: 1) raise funds for Basschat (every "solution" involves users spending money that they currently don't) 2) reduce workload for moderators (moaning on about people bumping / not posting a price) 3) provide some sort of "user experience" which we're not currently getting (thumbnails of dubious quality) [/quote] 1 and 2

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1354635897' post='1888472'] The main problem with adding features to support good ideas like this is that unless your platform was designed to cope with extension in this way, you can quickly end up with an unmaintainable system that consists more of exceptions than rules. And doing it 'the right way' isn't cheap. [/quote] Yeah, precisely. We're limited to some extent by the platform. Even the classifieds add on was a third party 'hook' made by someone to fit into the software. Unless we hire our own person to totally code something from the ground up, these bolt-ons are never going to suit us perfectly. This has been proven in the feedback thus far about the new section. [i][u][b]So do we all like the sound of a single payment for a one off advert and the option of a single yearly payment?[/b][/u][/i]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1354635645' post='1888463'] I made the assumption that it would be the same procedure as banning people from OT, (for eg.) ........ ........though that does have the knock-on effect of also banning the user from several other areas which they may have been able to make useful contributions to. [/quote] Yeah, that would be very hard to keep track of and to moderate. It would also mean we'd have to get involved in every sale and confirm the status of the deal,etc. Simplicity is the key, I think.

[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1354634830' post='1888448'] How about a subs benefit of 1 days preview on all sales threads before it goes on free full view to all members? Might help some people grab an elusive piece of kit or bargain? If say that, plus every sale thread has a £1 insert fee would be a great plan [/quote] Again, simplicity is what we need initially. Things like this sound easy but are actually very difficult (and expensive) to maintain and code. Nice idea though

[quote name='woodyratm' timestamp='1354634728' post='1888446'] I'll admit - I've been lazy and haven't read this whole thread! But... I've just had my first proper nosy at the classifieds section. I quite like it, adding a "bump" button would be pretty cool. My main (and currently only!) issue is that I tend to just hit "New Posts" and read the results (and before anyone says - I know I can select Classifieds in the search criteria) - I like reading the posts without needing to change my search (I don't just read the for sale posts currently, I jump between). If we could get the classifieds incorporated into that type of thing and get rid of the "for sale" section (so not having both) - then I'd be totally happy. I like the idea of prices being added from the get go! [/quote] Thanks - yeah one of the issues with the classifieds 'module' is that it appears under different criteria in the search. I too use the 'view new posts' as my home page.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1354634341' post='1888436'] a simple % of the selling price is paid on a sale being made, anyone not forwarding said amount is blocked from future sales until it is. [/quote] Hi mate Thanks for this - remember the key is simplicity, though. This would be very difficult to enforce with basic software. I still like the suggestions thus far of a fee to insert a single ad, or a single fee for unlimited posts a year.

Hi guys More good feedback. Please make sure you look at my last post where I explain why a % fee isn't actually very easy and where I suggest items below a certain cost are free. £20 was just a comparison to TB, so don't get too hung up on the actual cost yet. I think it's clear that the new section could be scrapped. I'll talk to the web guy and see what our options are in terms of 'packages' - Ideally I'd like a single price per advert as you lot suggest, and offer an alternative yearly fee too. Thanks guys ped

Thanks for the feedback so far, some great points. Points 3,4 and 5 are just ideas really, not especially critical. I think charging a percentage is a good idea, but it's actually quite hard to implement without some sort of modification, ala the new classifieds section. This is also what Talkbass have a simple one off fee. However we might later be able to offer extras to paid members like they do (but you already get an avatar for free!) This is what a flat fee is best at least to begin with. The average passer by would have to weigh up the cost against using something like eBay, and I think we can happily compete on those grounds. Smaller items could be sold in a sub-forum for items totaling less than a certain amount, where listings are free. One day when we can afford it we may be able to introduce a % fee (capped to not penalise people selling expensive things). I also feel ANYONE should be able to view the marketplace, after all, it means there's thousands of potential new customers for you to flog too. This is good for footfall and for you as a seller.

[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1354624439' post='1888221'] Am I the only one who doesn't see any pics in the new Classifieds section? This happens in Firefox and Chrome - I just get grey squares where I imagine the pics should be. EDIT: I mean the thumbnails - I can see the main images in the actual ads [/quote] The uploads system is broken at the moment (fix happening at the moment) so it's all grey there at the moment.

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1354624239' post='1888214'] 1 I like the regular market place. 2 I always leave a donation if I make a sale and would prefer it to stay that way. I guess though that some don't, so I understand the need for a fee. My donations have probably amounted to more than the suggested fee . 3 the bump button would work, although not sure if it's necessary really 4 good idea 5 the seller should be free to give what details they want to. If they don't then it's their problem and the item may not sell or if it does, then may be not for the best price. [/quote] Hi Gary, yes, thankfully kind souls like yourself donate often, which is very kind and has fuelled us thus far. I'll see to it that donators get access in return for donations made, or something like that, because you're right, many have donated in the last few weeks.

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1354624209' post='1888211'] I prefer the new classifieds section by far. However, it's a nuisance that some items are posted in there whilst others are still using the old forum. It's got to be one or the other IMHO. Adding a 36 hour bump button would only encourage people to get their friends to write useless replies to bump it up instead. [/quote] Yes sorry that was our fault, it wasn't/isn't clear. We'll use one or the other, though.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1354624141' post='1888207'] Part of me is thinking, 'Ha! I just knew the Classifieds were going to cost money!' and another part is thinking, 'If I owned BassChat, I would have charged a sub A LONG TIME AGO...' People don't like change. Particularly BassChatters, who are a conservative lot. I support your latter six points completely, Ped. Clear and concise ads sell stuff, simples. Keep the regular marketplace forums for chatting about stuff for sale, and have people link to a proper ad in the classifieds. Then you get the best of both worlds and everyone's happy. I would be glad to cough up a nominal sum for the privilege of using the classifieds - as long as you're not expecting a donation as well! Look at the alternatives, people! eBay, anyone?? Gumtree?? I don't think so. [/quote] Thanks.. yes I'd actually like to try to give free access to recent donators if possible, as a thank you.