How about a FOR SALE section?

[Dan Smith]

How about setting up a section of FOR SALE items? EBay is getting worse every day. This site is used by a lot of photographers for information so why not a For Sale section for LF gear only?
A suggested donation of a percentage of sales to help finance it maybe?

[Gem Singer]

Dan,

Tuan mentioned the possibility of adding a "Classified Ad" section a few times in the past. Seems that he felt that it would tend to degrade the "non-commercial" aspect of this website. I agree that the time has come for him to rethink that concept.

[Ole Tjugen]

A week ago I would have agreed with you. But at that time I wasn't trying to sell my Technika III 5x7", and could be in favor of a "for sale" section without any risk of being seen as self-serving.

But now I am trying to sell it, so I can't.

;-)

[Dan Smith]

Self serving or not, the time has come to put a classified LF section here. A time limit would be nice and LF gear only. NO Australian medium format sellers need apply!!!??? EBay has gotten to be a pain in the butt & many don't like to shop there. I would rather list stuff with pages I normally visit & donate a bit to help these sites rather than the attitude guys on eBay. I might even list a HELIOPAN filter or (horrors) even compare something I have to the quality of a HELIOPAN filter just to piss off Bob Soloman(who knows?.
At any rate, why not have it here for LF gear where LF photographers gather?

[Jim Ewins]

I too, don't care for eBay and think that a LF forum sponsered market would be beneficial, but separate from the forum. It may be a bit of a chore to manage it.

[Rick Heitman]

I propose a simple solution. No dealers, and whatever you want to sell, goes on with a description of your item with your email only. This way the purchaser and seller can do all the talking through email.There wouldnt be a whole lot to track by doing this. If the seller can take paypal or whatever, then the buyer can do all that without filling up a thread.No ebay charges, no hassling, and it seems to me that we all come to this site for the enjoyment of LF anyway, so their shouldnt alot of other sellers coming to this site anyway. Just my 2 cents.

[Gem Singer]

Do any of you remember Jon's classified section that he included on the "F-Stops Here" forum? If Jon could do it for free, without complications, I don't see why Tuan can not do it.

[Scott Fleming]

I'm for it.

[David A. Goldfarb]

We've done pretty well without it. There are LF classifieds on f32.net, the Azo forum at michaelandpaula.com, and APUG.org classifieds. Auction sites in addition to eBay include photogon.com and www.westlicht-auction.com

[Tom Westbrook]

Actually, I've been slowly at work revising the software to add a top layer that allows extra fora or sections for such things as a Wanted/For Sale & calendar of events. I doubt the work will be done before the summer (here in the USA) since I've been spending most of my available free time taking photos and printing them. But rest assured, it's on it's way, and will be separate from the main forum so those who don't want to see the extra sections can avoid seeing them.

I leave it to others to develop usage guidleines and a liability waiver for Tuan & Co. to avoid colateral damage from frauds that might be perpetrated (if any).

[Eric Brody]

There's a perfectly good classified section on the APUG website, (apug.org). It's a terrific site for large and medium format photographers in general as well.

Perhaps those of us here could utilize that instead of re-inventing the wheel with a whole new section here... and there'll be one less site to go to to look for equipment. I already spend too much time looking for things I can neither afford nor justify at KEH, Badger, Midwest, and a couple of others, as well as an occasional glance at that auction site.

Eric

[Scott Fleming]

Davie A. G.

Thank you. Some of those are news to me.

Are they listed somewhere on the front page? If not, they should be.

[Sal Santamaura]

I remain opposed to a "For Sale" section on (or any other commercialization of) this site. Those complaining about eBay ought to consider what they'd have been able to sell their used equipment for prior to that auction site's existence.

Of course, it's Tuan's decision, not ours!

[CP Goerz]

Sounds great, most folk on this site generally know each other or about each other over time so it would be like selling/buying to/from friends. I would consider myself a dealer at this point so of course would excuse myself from the section except to buy of course.

Selling on Ebay is a bit expensive and becoming more so as time goes on, in the future as they have an even greater stranglehold prices will be twice what they are now. Ebays greatest fear is other specialized auction sites popping up will take away customers from their site. You have probably noticed them buy up any competitior they can as a way of insuring an even larger base and at the same time less competition.

Ebay is just a venue you choose to use or not as you see fit, there are still plenty of camera stores out there(though fewer selling LF than ever before) and lots of classified sections to check out...By the way I just came into a massive supply of Holga cameras..anyone interested? ;-)

CP Goerz.

[Glenn Kroeger]

I am torn by this. I like the non-commercial nature of this site, and find Ebay a minefield (that so far I have navigated safely). The amount of traffic on the LF classifieds at photo.net is quite low these days.

One possible compromise would be to have a WANTED section. This would let folks looking for items express their interests, but would eliminate any large scale selling. Folks with items to sell could scan the wanted list, and contact folks off site.

[CP Goerz]

Or to discourage mass selling have a maximum of four/three/two/whatever things per month for sale.

cp goerz

[Hans Berkhout]

To keep it simple then, I would first offer my for sale items to Andrew G directly. For a % like on consignment. What do you think CPG? If he declines, Jm Galli would be next on my list. Anybody else?

[Mark Carstens]

I’m conflicted about this idea too. I’ve bought and sold on both ebay and photo.net, but for me, I feel better about dealing with standing members of close-knit community whose founding purpose isn’t to sell gear, but to exchange information and ideas, seek advice, etc.

With that said, if this idea were to come to fruition, I wouldn’t want this site (or part of it) to become just another venue for selling used gear. How would we avoid creating a targeted site for equipment “dealers” (obviously, not talkin’ ‘bout you, Jim) who don’t give a rip about who they’re selling to or the ramifications of misrepresenting what they sell? Ask for a fixed nominal donation to site maintenance when listings are made? Require membership in the community for a set period prior to listing gear for sale? Create a buyer/seller feedback system? All of the above? None of the above? Can you repeat the question?

In short, I’m in favor of exploring the idea, but would want to know how it might play out before I said, “Let’s do this!”

[CP Goerz]

Hey HB,

Why not offer the items for sale to everyone instead of to one or two people? Its not that its impossible to do already as everyone is pretty free to E anyone who posts here. How a % of the sale would be transferred to the site is the tricky part...a % of the sale? or a flat fee?

I would say that a 'no dealer' clause would be a good idea, it wouldn't take long before the pages were filled with all kinds of Whizz-Bang junk. A filter for any Holga Lomos or even some acid etched glass salesmen would make it a bit more cosy.

Larger brains than mine can work out the details!!

CP Goerz.

[michael Allen]

I'm in favor of the "For Sale" section. All the other forums seem to be able to manage one. Photo.net appears more digitized each time I go there and the other forums with For Sale sections are over seas which can be cost prohibitive.

[Brian Ellis]

We already have two perfectly fine large format for sale places, one at rec.photo.equipment marketplace and the other in photo net. Why should we clutter up this excellent forum by duplicating that which is readily available elsewhere?

[Bill_1856]

As the dwarf Grumpy said in Snow White: "I'm again it."

[Scott Fleming]

Brian,

What's that first one you mentioned? New to me.

[Dan Fromm]

Scott, rec.photo.equipment marketplace is part of usenet. Accessible via http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search (http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search)

How can you chase all over the Internet and be unaware of usenet?

[MIke Sherck]

There doesn't seem to be a shortage of sale venues. Perhaps the perceived need would be met by a simple list of equipment sale sites?

Mike

[Mark Sawyer]

I like Mike's suggestion. What about a separate set of links on the home page to the "for sale" lists? Perhaps a second list of links to commercial dealers who submit a small one-time fee to help support the forum costs?

A set of links to lf workshops would be nice too.

[Capocheny]

I'd be in favor of Glenn's suggestion for a "Wanted" list...

I'd post what I'm looking for on the "Wanted List" with my email address. A seller with the "Wanted Item" would email and deal with me directly. That way... it doesn't take up a lot of space. It would be a private deal... no muss, no fuss!

IMHO, most people here know "exactly" what they're looking for and the price they're willing to pay. If we did it this way...the site wouldn't get clogged down with a bunch of esoteric stuff that people aren't in the market for. Also, time and item limits would be a strict necessity. A small fee for placing an item on the "Wanted List" could also be charged to control frivolous listings.

Alternatively, if you have an esoteric item for sale... list it on one of the other sites or, as Hans has suggested, sell it through someone like Andrew. Again, that would be something the owner could negotiate with the seller.

But, in principle, I agree with most posters that it would be a shame to lose the purity of this forum.

Cheers

[Kirk Gittings]

I would vote no in any form. I can't see how it would not overwhelm the thread list in a very short time and change this into something much less user friendly and more awkward.

[JohanHB]

Sorry, NO!

[QT Luong]

I am favorable to the idea, but in an entirely separate forum. So this would have to wait until Tom can develop the multi-forums software, unless someone wants to step in before.

[Jan Van Hove]

Well, I don't want to step on anyone's toes, here, but I'd just like to point out that I have a Classified section on the Mamut Photo forum, and I'd be willing to expand this section, break it up into lenses, accessories, cameras, for example...

I understand the reasoning behind both the arguments behind wanting to have a for sale section directly here, and people who want to keep any commercial interest out of LF.info. So I just thought I'd offer a compromise...

Cheers.

PJ