Preview of the NEW ArizonaShooting.ORG classifieds and auctions
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h8pvmnt said:
Like I said in the initial post, I have it set so that I have to approve the accounts before you can bid or sell. I did that for you about 5 minutes ago.
The verification YOU did was to verify that you used a valid email address. Once it goes live, that's all it will need - I only added the last step in for now while testing, just in case I made a mistake somewhere and a bunch of spam accounts get added.
SupportTheSecond
Member
Just a comment on the pay methods posted. Paypal has a strict no firearms or firearms parts policy and if you get caught they will impound any monies you may have in your Paypal account. I've read of instances where people have been hit pretty hard. I believe they then charge you 2500.00 per incident as a fine.
SupportTheSecond said:
Yep - and taking that risk is up to the person - the site itself doesn't play any proxy or middleman - it would be direct from buyer to seller. I just put it in there as an option, because some people still choose to use it. Also, since the site can be used for things other than firearms, the option to take PP may still be appreciated by some sellers.
h8pvmnt said:
Thanks. I need to fix that so that you *must* choose a sub-category. It's in there though... In fact, I asked for feedback above on whether the category under Sporting Goods should be "Shooting" or "Firearms". I put it under "Shooting" for now, but am open to other thoughts.
When this goes live, I strongly suggest that all new listings be done as "classifieds" rather than "auctions" since we need to build traffic up for auctions to be truly viable.
Comanchero
Member
I keep getting this error when trying to list:
‘Main Category’: the value ‘3704’ is invalid.
‘Main Category’: the value ‘3704’ is invalid.
Comanchero said:
Because it is invalid. You have to continue to pick a sub-category. See the pic I posted 3 posts above yours.
cat-mechanic
Member
OK, so for tools. All I found was under Garden and Patio. That looks more like garden tools. Maybe a separate tool listing for automotive, in the auto section. and for gunsmithing tools, in the firearms section?
Comanchero
Member
Okay, got it. First time I tried, no drop down menu appeared below the category of sporting goods.
cat-mechanic said:
Good feedback - thanks.
Rather than recreate all the categories and sub-categories (I started it that way but it was REALLY tedious and time-consuming), so I found a site that allowed me to export all of it, and I imported it with minor modifications, so there is some clean-up to do.
The category you seek is under "Garden & Patio Furniture" --> "Power Tools & Equipment". I did however, just rename "Garden & Patio Furniture" to "Garden, Patio & Tools" to make it a bit more intuitive.
I also added "Parts" and "Tools" in the Cars & Vehicles section.
I cleaned up the "Shooting (Firearms)" section under "Sporting Goods" a bit as well. As the site grows, I will add more categories to narrow things down.
mtptwo said:
If a seller tries to bid on his own item, it returns a message "You are the owner of the listing." and won't allow it.
If you're referring to shill bidding, as in a seller creating a second account and using that one to deceptively bid on their own item with a different account to raise the price - there is no good way to prevent that. Even sites like Gunbroker, eBay and those who have a considerable amount of experience, resources and expertise in online auctions have not been able to successfully prevent shill bidding.
I like the simple classified system. I like that you have to have a minimum amount of interaction with the site in order to see the classifieds section. It provides a filter from the general public. It's one of the only reasons I use the classifieds here. I've had plenty of great transactions with people here precisely because it is a closed classified system. Opening things up to more people defeats the purpose of posting things here.
AR-15Man said:
While I understand what you're saying, the problem is that eventually, over time, it dies out. I am already seeing that in the site statistics. While there are ebbs and flows, the overall trend is downwards because there is an artificial barrier to entry for new people. Less people with access to buy, means sellers are less likely to bother to list... less people selling means less buyers to go through the 'effort' to get access, etc...
If I open it up how it was originally, the traffic will go back up, undoubtedly, but we run into the same issues we've seen previously. There really aren't ways to get around that with using out=of-the-box forum software that isn't designed to also be a way to sell things. You can mitigate it with a LOT of oversight and moderation like AR15.com does - but that's simply not feasible here.
Thus, the real site that's purpose built for selling - and one that I've modified to work with both auctions and classified ads to draw as many people as possible to it. Remember backpage? Like it or not, that was the place most people used to buy/sell locally before their downfall. They had issues - some loved the anonymity and some hated it. It resulted in occasional frustrations as a seller may ghost a buyer after agreeing to meet up. That's a reason I've offered a 'verification' system here that's optional, as it gives more peace of mind for some who don't want to deal with 100% anonymous people. Again, it offers sellers and buyers choices; best of both worlds.
I can certainly understand where you are coming from, from a site health prospective but I can already see the achilles heel in your system. An "optional" verification system is pointless. It will at best be underutilized and at worst completely ignored by most of your new user base that you will attract with an open registration system. You'll end up with backpage 2.0. You can either have a small closed system that moderates itself or a larger actively moderated system, best of both worlds is a pipe dream.
I've only seen these online systems work two ways:
1. Forced to pay: Rock Island Armory requires a credit card in order to bid. So if you fail to submit payment on time, they just bill your credit card.
2. Actively moderated: On Gun Broker you can arrange payment between buyer and seller but the site is actively moderated, so the seller has recourse if they get ghosted. Get banned ect.
Wish you the best, of course, but I'm skeptical to say the least.
I've only seen these online systems work two ways:
1. Forced to pay: Rock Island Armory requires a credit card in order to bid. So if you fail to submit payment on time, they just bill your credit card.
2. Actively moderated: On Gun Broker you can arrange payment between buyer and seller but the site is actively moderated, so the seller has recourse if they get ghosted. Get banned ect.
Wish you the best, of course, but I'm skeptical to say the least.
AR-15Man said:
There is no perfect site, otherwise there wouldn't be hundreds of different auction and classified ad sites. However, the plain discussion forum classifieds we have here are not going to work long-term. They were fine 20 years ago, but they don't work today unless you are happy keeping only the same users you had 20 years ago without any real new users becoming involved.
How is an "optional", free verification system pointless? Some will use it, some won't - that's the idea. All things being equal, would you buy from a verified seller, or one who isn't verified? If it isn't used and people just choose to go based on feedback, then so be it... that's why it's optional!
I think that both of your examples are wrong. The site doesn't take any credit cards, nor credit card numbers/info. The site isn't a clearinghouse and isn't a proxy, nor does it even HAVE a payment gateway for the site. If you want to do something like pay a $1 fee to put your classified ad on the home page and you choose not to pay it after 30 days, the account just gets locked - there are no financial repercussions. The way that $1 fee is paid is via PP - and it doesn't require the seller (the person paying the fee) to have a PP account to do it. If a seller chooses not to settle his account, it would be impossible for me to just bill a credit card - because I don't (nor will I ever) have that info.
Second, to my knowledge, Gunbroker isn't "actively moderated". In fact, they don't take action against a buyer or seller unless someone alerts GB to an issue, and even then, they are very lackadaisical in taking action and will almost always take the passive route. I've also never seen any instance when GB allows themselves to be inserted into the middle of a buyer/seller dispute. The only exception to the latter is likely going to be with the new GunBrokerPay system, as they will have no choice since they are experimenting with becoming a payment gateway for sellers.
Anyway, if you want to complain in general, this is not the thread for it - this is the thread to USE the new one and provide specific feedback on the functionality of it - what's broken, what is missing, something misspelled, etc. So, please, back to that now.
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