Is anyone interested in a Buy & Sell forum page on the BSAC website?

[steve anderson]

Is any one interested in a Buy & Sell page on the BSAC forum website?


I have noticed that more people are submitting posts to the BSAC forum to advertise diving equipment for sale. I think this is great as divers get to see the gear quickly.

I?d like to get people?s opinions here for setting up a page dedicated to divers advertising their dive gear and associated gear, such as RHIBs and safety equipment for sale and to ask for specific equipment to buy.

I have already discussed this idea with the BSAC IT team and got an enthusiastic response ? provided there is a real interest for such a page.

Clearly for any such page there would need to be certain rules, the first of which would be that BSAC would be in no way responsible to quality or condition of the merchandise nor responsible for payment. This would be exactly the same as any other advert in a paper or magazine. Other suggestions are welcome.

So, tell me what you think. Do you want a Buy & Sell page? Do you think it?s a bad idea? Any reply is a good reply ? even if you think the idea stinks.

Steve

[TerryH]

Is any one interested in a Buy & Sell page on the BSAC forum website?

Seeing as we currently use .......

<a href="http://www.diverforum.co.uk/talkforums/guestbook/index.html" >http://www.diverforum.co.uk/talkforums/guestbook/index.html</a>
and
<a href="http://www.ukdiving.co.uk/ukdiving.htm" >http://www.ukdiving.co.uk/ukdiving.htm</a>

or even ebay and UKrecscuba NG.

Its really quite surprising that there isnt one on here already.
Come on hurry up, I have shedloads of kit to shift!

TerryH

[PeteM]

Its really quite surprising that there isnt one on here already.
Come on hurry up, I have shedloads of kit to shift!


What the ABLJ and AIR2 from your garage :-)

[Richie771]

Yep!

I am always encouraging my students to buy second Hand - But Ebay can be a bit daunting - Plus on this forum you will get good honest advice!!!!!!!!

[TerryH]

What the ABLJ and AIR2 from your garage :-)

I really hate to say this, but I have two La Spirotechnique
and three buddys + various Air2 and buddy bits in my garage.
Anybody want to buy them? Very, very cheap.

Would be good for a snorkelling club.

TerryH

[Rich]

Is any one interested in a Buy & Sell page on the BSAC forum website?

yes, that would be an excellent idea....

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

Thanks to Steve for bringing this one up, a new forum is no real problem and we just have to decide the best way to do it - which is where you all come in!

First of all what do people think of the forum structure? Have we got the right forums in the right place? There is an argument for moving Go Diving over to our Travel Club site, that often contains posts for spare spaces both at home and abroad, the Travel Club could also do with some UK trip reports - you don?t have to go abroad to enter the competition. So that is one option, move Go Diving onto the Travel Club site and fill the space with a For Sale forum.

Then what about the proposed For Sale forum? We would have to operate on a ?buyer beware? basis, the BSAC cannot be held responsible for adverts or the equipment offered, but other than that people are welcome to extend their club notice boards onto our forums. We are thinking of making it non-threaded (i.e. you can?t reply) so that it?s just a list of adverts - but then how do you know if something has sold? Maybe we should discourage replies and conversations but leave it so that the seller can post a ?Sorry - been sold? message.

Should we allow commercial posts? (personally I think not). Should we allow posts pointing to ebay auctions? (personally these annoy me, if I want to use ebay I will!).

So lots of questions from me and we?re listening, if you think that a For Sale forum is a good idea then let?s work out how to do it.

Keith L
BSAC IT Team

p.s. I know that we wont please everybody and the IT Teams discretion is final - until you persuade us otherwise that is :-)

[edward haynes]

Could the advertiser just go back in and edit their advert to say "sold".

Just a thought.

Edward

... We are thinking of making it non-threaded (i.e. you can?t reply) so that it?s just a list of adverts - but then how do you know if something has sold? Maybe we should discourage replies and conversations but leave it so that the seller can post a ?Sorry - been sold? message.

[John Williams]

I'd rather the seller posted a reply saying "Sold".
Or allow the seller to delete the post completely.

If you edit the original post it might be for corrections, or because some (but not all) of the kit for sale was sold.....but if readers see a post has been editted then they wont bother to open it because they think that the edit was to close the sale.

John

[derek perry]

It's a great idea, I think no replies should be allowed, author should be able to access to alter, add or subtract some sold items and the access to remove add when all sold.

KEITH, While on subject of the web site, Do we have to have the really annoying habit of us keep finding the same post subject at the top of the page just because people keep adding to it. Can't we have a system where the initial post dictates where the whole subject remains on the page, so new subjects stay at the top. I won't then have to keep plowing down the page to get to the new subjects


Derek Perry
D.O. Kensington Cosmos





Thanks to Steve for bringing this one up, a new forum is no real problem and we just have to decide the best way to do it - which is where you all come in!

First of all what do people think of the forum structure? Have we got the right forums in the right place? There is an argument for moving Go Diving over to our Travel Club site, that often contains posts for spare spaces both at home and abroad, the Travel Club could also do with some UK trip reports - you don?t have to go abroad to enter the competition. So that is one option, move Go Diving onto the Travel Club site and fill the space with a For Sale forum.

Then what about the proposed For Sale forum? We would have to operate on a ?buyer beware? basis, the BSAC cannot be held responsible for adverts or the equipment offered, but other than that people are welcome to extend their club notice boards onto our forums. We are thinking of making it non-threaded (i.e. you can?t reply) so that it?s just a list of adverts - but then how do you know if something has sold? Maybe we should discourage replies and conversations but leave it so that the seller can post a ?Sorry - been sold? message.

Should we allow commercial posts? (personally I think not). Should we allow posts pointing to ebay auctions? (personally these annoy me, if I want to use ebay I will!).

So lots of questions from me and we?re listening, if you think that a For Sale forum is a good idea then let?s work out how to do it.

Keith L
BSAC IT Team

p.s. I know that we wont please everybody and the IT Teams discretion is final - until you persuade us otherwise that is :-)

[Adrian Kelland]

Can't we have a system where the initial post dictates where the whole subject remains on the page, so new subjects stay at the top. I won't then have to keep plowing down the page to get to the new subjects

Derek

The flip side of this is that a very well discussed topic may berelegated by several new posts that no-one replys to. The topics at the top of the forum are generally those that users themselves keep current, rather than those imposed by date order.

I have not seen any forum software that allows the forum order to be fixed to the date of first posting. This does not mean that it is not possible, but that most forums are used to represent the interests of those taking part. The software (vBulletin) of a forum I administer does not appear to allow this control, and it is one of the most common forum systems around.

Adrian

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

Well... it just goes to show that you can't please everybody :-))

We have the option on these forums of natural (date) order or activity (last thread posted to) order, there's some wierd shuffling when things move to the archive pages but in general we have chosen that the most active thread is at the top.

Personally I prefer that, you don't have to scroll down the page to see active messages, when we set these forums up it was the option preferred my most.

HTH

Keith L

[Adrian Kelland]

Well... it just goes to show that you can't please everybody :-))

We have the option on these forums of natural (date) order or activity (last thread posted to) order, there's some wierd shuffling when things move to the archive pages but in general we have chosen that the most active thread is at the top.

Personally I prefer that, you don't have to scroll down the page to see active messages, when we set these forums up it was the option preferred my most.

HTH

Keith L

I'm with you on this Keith.

[Dominic Humphries]

Well, I've done the "It's this much, take it or leave it, I might haggle a bit" method of selling

And I've done ebay, with it's "Tell me how much you're willing to pay" system.

Given that I sold my second-hand drysuit on ebay for twice what I bought it for off a friend, I have to say that from a sellers perspective, I prefer the ebay system of bidding, simply because you're likely to get more for what you're selling.

So while it might be a good idea, I'd only use it myself if it were a bid system.

To sell, that is. I might well buy stuff off it :)

[bugsonfilm.com]

Buy & Sell forum is good subject catagory to have.

Suggest a time period - adds only stay for known time - perhaps 2, maybe 3 weeks - then fall off the board.

Could set it so sellers can alter add appropriately within the time, but if not they can place fresh one anyway with no clutter

Less 'old adds' keeps it fresh and up to date for both buyer and seller. Sellers dont get year old calls aboutan renew or update with new add.

A few thoughts

[Eddie Spencer]

Is any one interested in a Buy & Sell page on the BSAC forum website?


This would be a great idea. I've just come onto the BSAC website as we are trying to sell one of our branch ribs. Telling other members about this equipment through the forum seems the only way - a formal page would be much better.

In case anyone's interested our branch is in Basingstoke and we are selling a fully working Osprey Eagle 5.2 metres with a 80 hp Yamaha engine. Price is ?5,500 ono. Reason for sael is that we have a younger boat with a broken engine and we need to sell this boat to afford the replacement! For more information call Eddie on 01256 353800.

[steven fowler]

Is any one interested in a Buy & Sell page on the BSAC forum website?


I have noticed that more people are submitting posts to the BSAC forum to advertise diving equipment for sale. I think this is great as divers get to see the gear quickly.

I?d like to get people?s opinions here for setting up a page dedicated to divers advertising their dive gear and associated gear, such as RHIBs and safety equipment for sale and to ask for specific equipment to buy.

I have already discussed this idea with the BSAC IT team and got an enthusiastic response ? provided there is a real interest for such a page.

Clearly for any such page there would need to be certain rules, the first of which would be that BSAC would be in no way responsible to quality or condition of the merchandise nor responsible for payment. This would be exactly the same as any other advert in a paper or magazine. Other suggestions are welcome.

So, tell me what you think. Do you want a Buy & Sell page? Do you think it?s a bad idea? Any reply is a good reply ? even if you think the idea stinks.

Steve

I think it is a realy good idea, due to the fact that ebay have a large section on which they sell dive equipment. I for one have found it very good! but for some where to go were the value of the article is in front of you, and details of the seller. So as you can make a quick sale or buy some thing, instead of having to wait days is a realy good idea!!!!

[Dave]

I think it is a realy good idea, due to the fact that ebay have a large section on which they sell dive equipment. I for one have found it very good! but for some where to go were the value of the article is in front of you, and details of the seller. So as you can make a quick sale or buy some thing, instead of having to wait days is a realy good idea!!!!

But you can do that on ebay; rather than selling it by auction you can set it up as a "buy me now" item with a set price. No need to wait for n days for an auction to compete.

I cannot see any benefit in setting up a forum to do that which somewhere like ebay already does very well with all the infrastructure in place as well as maintaining details about buyers/sellers with a feedback rating.

Also, if I was selling something I would be more inclined to use ebay with a huge audience rather than a forum with a fairly limited number of users

Dave

[steve anderson]

Dave

I think you are missing the point of my original post - although it is probably more the case that I did not explain myself very well.

Asking for opinion is the main reason why I submitted the post - and I DO appreciate all opinions, especially those who submit a well reasoned argument that disagrees with my point.

I know that many of the auction sites, such as E-Bay are setup specifically for the task of auctions. I am not suggesting that BSAC undertake such a role. That would be difficult to manage and probably frought with a whole host of legal issues. Rather I am suggesting that a separate forum page be set up for people to advertise thier equipment for sale, to an audience specifically interested in diving.

My suggestions would be similar to some of the other posts.

1 Set up a page for people to list items for sale or wanted.
2 Set the page for viewing only, apart from the initial poster.
3 Allow the poster to update, remove or amend his post as required.
4 Set an automatic purge date of, say 3-4 weeks. As somebody has pointed out, you would not want calls 6 months after an item has been sold.
5 BSAC has no responsibility or obligations

I know that plenty of people do read the forum pages, even if they do not themselves submit a post. Where better to advertise your equipment? Obviously, somthing like e-bay can generate far better prices than a simple ad might generate - E-Bay will not go away just because BSAC has a ad forum.

So please, keep all thoughts for and against coming in.

Cheers, Steve

[Dave]

Dave

I think you are missing the point of my original post - although it is probably more the case that I did not explain myself very well.

Asking for opinion is the main reason why I submitted the post - and I DO appreciate all opinions, especially those who submit a well reasoned argument that disagrees with my point.

I know that many of the auction sites, such as E-Bay are setup specifically for the task of auctions. I am not suggesting that BSAC undertake such a role. That would be difficult to manage and probably frought with a whole host of legal issues. Rather I am suggesting that a separate forum page be set up for people to advertise thier equipment for sale, to an audience specifically interested in diving.

My suggestions would be similar to some of the other posts.

1 Set up a page for people to list items for sale or wanted.
2 Set the page for viewing only, apart from the initial poster.
3 Allow the poster to update, remove or amend his post as required.
4 Set an automatic purge date of, say 3-4 weeks. As somebody has pointed out, you would not want calls 6 months after an item has been sold.
5 BSAC has no responsibility or obligations

I know that plenty of people do read the forum pages, even if they do not themselves submit a post. Where better to advertise your equipment? Obviously, somthing like e-bay can generate far better prices than a simple ad might generate - E-Bay will not go away just because BSAC has a ad forum.


A numebr of BSAC members may read it, though I doubt that a large percentage of internet enabled divers do. I know that if I was going to sell an item I would be inclined to goto somewhere that is well known by most internet users since that is likely , imo, to have the best chance if a sale.

Also, as far as for those looking, you can pretty much guarntee that ebay will be up to date on whether it has been sold with it disappearing once it has.

I don't see any point in copying that which is already being provided ( and to a larger audience ) on a forum here since basically all that you are mentioning is already provided there.

Dave

[steve anderson]

A numebr of BSAC members may read it, though I doubt that a large percentage of internet enabled divers do. I know that if I was going to sell an item I would be inclined to goto somewhere that is well known by most internet users since that is likely , imo, to have the best chance if a sale.

Also, as far as for those looking, you can pretty much guarntee that ebay will be up to date on whether it has been sold with it disappearing once it has.

I don't see any point in copying that which is already being provided ( and to a larger audience ) on a forum here since basically all that you are mentioning is already provided there.

Dave

What would you say to a trial? It is just as easy to remove a forum page as it is to set it up. If there isn't much use of interest after, say 6 months, I'd have no objection to having it removed.

Steve