Buy & Sell Forum : Allow EBay?

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

Hi Folks

There?s been a rash of ?look at my Ebay auction? posts on the Buy & Sell forum, I?m not sure what we should do about them. Personally I find them annoying, if I want to join in an auction then I?ll use EBay! But that?s only my personal opinion, it counts for just one opinion in the scheme of things.

So comments welcome on the following options ?

1. Leave it, allow them through just as we do now
2. Ban them, leave Buy & Sell for genuine ?For Sale? small ads
3. Place restrictions on them (like what?)

What do you all think? I?ll take the majority opinion here as to what we do with them.

Keith Lawrence
BSAC Forum Moderator

[David Walker]

What do you all think? I?ll take the majority opinion here as to what we do with them.

I'd agree with the point that if I wanted to buy something from e-bay i'd be looking on e-bay. Its a big enough site that people will know about it if they are buying things.
However, as i'm not looking to buy anything I don't read the buy/sell forum. One point though: many of the people who use that forum may be there exactly because they don't like / trust e-bay, and want to buy things through meeting the people at a dive site or whatever, give them a bit more confidence in what they're buying.

My conclusion - stop the e-bay posts, but maybe have a single persistent post that refers people to e-bay for alternatives maybe (although I wouldn't bother personally, but will keep e-bay sellers happy)?

David

[Nigel Hewitt]

There?s been a rash of ?look at my Ebay auction? posts on the Buy & Sell forum, I?m not sure what we should do about them.

I'd say allow them through.

If you are looking at a buy-sell forum for something and there is one on ebay you'd like to know. It's not like BSAC is on a percentage on everything sold and they are taking business away from you. If the buy-sell forum hooks a BSAC seller with a BSAC buyer it doesn't matter if they do the transaction by email, phone or ebay the forum has done it's job.

nigelH

[terryh]

If the whole point of the for sale forum is for BSAC members to
get rid of dive kit and a link to ebay facilitates that, then
why not?

If the second point is to enable divers to buy kit (wouldnt be
much point otherwise), then directing them to a place where
they can buy a specific item, again is a service.

I'd say leave it alone, it's fine as it is.

TerryH

[iainmsmith]

If the whole point of the for sale forum is for BSAC members to
get rid of dive kit and a link to ebay facilitates that, then
why not?

If the second point is to enable divers to buy kit (wouldnt be
much point otherwise), then directing them to a place where
they can buy a specific item, again is a service.

I'd say leave it alone, it's fine as it is.

TerryH

Agreed.

Iain

[Mike Halligan]

I'd say leave it alone, it's fine as it is.

TerryH

I very much endorse Terry's view.

If I wanted to buy or sell, I should use both the BSAC forum and e-Bay. If we exclude e-Bay references on the BSAC site I'm hardly likely to behave differently, though over a period of time I might just forget to refer to the BSAC option.

Mike

[Khaled Alwassia]

If the whole point of the for sale forum is for BSAC members to
get rid of dive kit and a link to ebay facilitates that, then
why not?

If the second point is to enable divers to buy kit (wouldnt be
much point otherwise), then directing them to a place where
they can buy a specific item, again is a service.

I'd say leave it alone, it's fine as it is.

TerryH

If i have dive gear for sell and a BSAC diver is looking for the same gear why not facilitate this. When each diver looks at the for sell item they may look at other areas of the webage as well and God Verbid Learn something new.

So leave it as it is.
Khaled

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

See what happens when we advocate democracy, people tell us what they want ;-) On the basis of the comments so far it's a definite "leave it alone Keith". Will do.

Keith L

[derek perry]

Keith

I think if someone is selling something they should put it on our web site and sell it at a price without reference to e-bay.
However the 'e-bay' site has the advantage of the photograph. I don't think we should allow e-bay reference because we will just become a referal point for e-bay. I know you have made a decision, so far on other comments, but I would like to see an ability to put a photograph on our site and then ban e-bay. That way we remain independant instead of just a forwarding and advertising point for 'e-bay'.
Everyone knows about e-bay so we don't need this forwarding/reference system

Derek
(currently outvoted)

Hi Folks

There?s been a rash of ?look at my Ebay auction? posts on the Buy & Sell forum, I?m not sure what we should do about them. Personally I find them annoying, if I want to join in an auction then I?ll use EBay! But that?s only my personal opinion, it counts for just one opinion in the scheme of things.

So comments welcome on the following options ?

1. Leave it, allow them through just as we do now
2. Ban them, leave Buy & Sell for genuine ?For Sale? small ads
3. Place restrictions on them (like what?)

What do you all think? I?ll take the majority opinion here as to what we do with them.

Keith Lawrence
BSAC Forum Moderator

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

However the 'e-bay' site has the advantage of the photograph.

We =DO= allow photographs, you can upload one with the advert. Scroll down, you'll see several.

I don't think we should allow e-bay reference because we will just become a referal point for e-bay.

That's my feelings Derek, and it's getting worse. I feel that there must be a limit somewhere or we'll end up with a forum full of links to EBay and virtually nothing else, people can't even be botherred to take them off when the auction ends.

But I'll abide by the majority view, if that's what people want then fine by me!

Keith L

[Steve Walker]

Admittedly the minority view but I'm with you two, if I wanted to look at e-bay stuff I'd go there (which I don't).

I've used the B&S forum to successfully sell items for fixed prices and that's the way I'd expect to use it to _buy_ items too. Removing e-bay links does not hinder BSAC members who actively choose to use that site for buying kit

Plus, what happens if it _is_ being used as a referral system and it goes FUBAR? A BSAC buddy of mine bought a camera, which had no serial numbers on the camera or it's packaging (don't think I need to spell out the hidden message there do I? or do I?? )

Fortunately she got her money back (eventually! and after a lot of worry and stress) but if BSAC is liable for views express on here (how many times have we had the word "libel" brought up here?) then surely it'd also be responsible for dodgy sale items too?

[andy botten]

Keith,
Didn't your original propsal for a buy and sell page explicitly say no e-bay links?
On the forum "the price is the price!"
I am happy to ban them (the minority grows)

[andy botten]

Keith,
Didn't your original propsal for a buy and sell page explicitly say no e-bay links?
On the forum "the price is the price!"
I am happy to ban them (the minority grows)

[terryh]

Keith,
Didn't your original propsal for a buy and sell page explicitly say no e-bay links?
On the forum "the price is the price!"
I am happy to ban them (the minority grows)

The minority need to get out more!

It's a buy & sell forum.
If my item get's sold because there is a link to ebay then BSAC
have helped me sell the item.

If I find the item through a link on the same, then again BSAC
have done there job.

Either way it's a win-win. So where are earth is the problem?

What I find credulous is that there are far more important
areas which really need attention, but are ignored.

EG. Am I the only one that finds it embarassing that we have to
refer Instructors to a non-BSAC site to get powerpoints for
BSAC SDC's!!!!!!!

TerryH

[Andy Wade]

:=Keith,
:=Didn't your original propsal for a buy and sell page explicitly say no e-bay links?
:=On the forum "the price is the price!"
:=I am happy to ban them (the minority grows)

The minority need to get out more!

It's a buy & sell forum.
If my item get's sold because there is a link to ebay then BSAC
have helped me sell the item.

If I find the item through a link on the same, then again BSAC
have done there job.

Either way it's a win-win. So where are earth is the problem?

What I find credulous is that there are far more important
areas which really need attention, but are ignored.

EG. Am I the only one that finds it embarassing that we have to
refer Instructors to a non-BSAC site to get powerpoints for
BSAC SDC's!!!!!!!


Oi! I heard that.....
:-)

[Nick McV]

It's nice to have a place where you can get quoted prices and not have to faff around waiting for the end of an auction.

Ban is perhaps a little harsh, though. Perhaps requesting a small donation to our favourite charity for e-bay cross postings would have the desired effect :-)

[john kendall]

We could possibly require a "Buy it now" price to be advertised when on the BSAC site. That way, people have the choice of trying to get it cheaper in the EBAY system, or get it at a defined price, if they get in early.

John

[Khaled Alwassia]

What I find credulous is that there are far more important
areas which really need attention, but are ignored.
:=TerryH

Well spoken, making sure that you get no contradicting info on different areas of the BSAC Website should be much more important.

Khaled

[Dave]

See what happens when we advocate democracy, people tell us what they want ;-) On the basis of the comments so far it's a definite "leave it alone Keith". Will do.

Keith L

I see no reason to not allow links to ebay. I know that if I was seling something and had to choose between this forum and ebay, i'd choose ebay. This way allows people to let people here know what's being sold

I would be more concerned about the forum being used to sell non-diving items. I fail to see that allowing a Renault Megane on the grounds that it can be used to drive to a dive site as really being a valid item

Dave