Hi Everyone,
It is happening more and more that people are signing up just to sell their golf equipment here and not offering anything else. They sell their gear, make their money and move on.

We do not mind providing this service for free but would like to make sure that we are offering our regular users this service and not newbie users.

SO...

You must now have a minimum post count of 20 to place an ad here in the Classifieds. That way we know you have given something to the forums and no doubt helped someone or offered useful commentary.

We think that this is fair and hopefully rewards those of you who visit often and offer their time, which we really appreciate.

Posts from members under the 20 mark will be deleted.

Bebox

PS - Thanks to the recent suggestions by a few of our regulars about this topic.

That is really not fair and have never come across anything like this before in other forums.

So what if people just sign up to sell their golf equipment!

That will just encourage people to post whore.

It was actually suggested by several of our readers. Why should we provide a free way for someone to sell to the largest online golf audience in Australia when they are not offering anything to our forums. They come in once, sell an item and never return.

It costs a tremendous amount of money to run this site so we think it is fair that people need to give something back in return for us allowing them to make money.

20 posts is very little but at least shows you are offering soemthing to the community here.

I don't believe I agree with this concept Bebox. I have been around a very long time on this group and have just recently climbed above 200, 50 would have taken me 6 months.

Furthermore, I love buying golf clubs, if Joe Schmo joins up just to sell his gear, GREAT!!! That is a plus for me, not a negative, even if the odd 'dimwit' try's to claim he ripped off everyone and spoils things every now again. So I vehemently oppose such an extreme form of regulation.

Bad idea.

Love Jerry

QUOTE: bebox @ Apr 20 2005, 04:34 PM

It was actually suggested by several of our readers. Why should we provide a free way for someone to sell to the largest online golf audience in Australia when they are not offering anything to our forums. They come in once, sell an item and never return.

It costs a tremendous amount of money to run this site so we think it is fair that people need to give something back in return for us allowing them to make money.

20 posts is very little but at least shows you are offering soemthing to the community here.

Sounds fine but you should clarify if it is 20 or 50 post as you have stated 50 post in the body and 20 in the heading.

TGB

I agree bebox, this forum is for discussing golf.
If people want to sell eqipment they can go to ebay.
Stick with it. 50 is good.

QUOTE: Brew @ Apr 20 2005, 04:44 PM

I agree bebox, this forum is for discussing golf.
If people want to sell eqipment they can go to ebay.
Stick with it. 50 is good.

Incorrect Brew, the Golf Classifieds area is clearly for selling golf clubs, whilst other areas are for Golf Talk, and some even post on AFL, NRL, Soccer and the Pope.

Surely it is to our benefit as users, to have as many people sell their gear here as possible. Hell we even convince a few people to come back. But this 'must be one of us' 20/50 post limit smacks of outright snobbery. It saddens me that we feel the need to be so insular.

Jerry

Sorry changed it to 20 from 50 a while back as 50 was too high. Forgot to change it in the body of the post.

20 is the figure...

Good work Jason!

100% on board.

Why?

Because someone who has posted here for a while is likely to have shown to some extent their personality and hence given a hint about how dependable a sale from/to them will be.

Good move.

Excellent point miro67...it's our very own version of eBay feedback

OK Bebox, how many members have only ever posted in Golf Classifieds as a seller? Second, has anyone posted a sale first and gone on to hang around posting in other forums. If we are going to become isolationist I would like to know why?

Jerry

Good idea! I was thinking of raising the topic of perhaps having a previous post history to buy something offered for sale. Why? Because recently someone who wanted to buy an item I had for sale on this forum wanted it sent COD. He had signed up 2 days beforehand. I decided to not proceed and the other party understood my reasons as all the risk of the sale falling over was on my end.

A previous post history does provide some reasurance of the person on the other end of the transaction.

I agree that there must be some history on this forum prior to placing an advertisement here. I'm more likely to make a purchase from someone here who has some history. I have recently recommended a purchase based on this criteria and felt safe recommending that seller even though I had never met them.

I don't think any the regular forum users would like to see this forum become another 'used golf sale yard'. It would remove the focus of this forum.

QUOTE: Anth @ Apr 20 2005, 06:12 PM

Good idea! I was thinking of raising the topic of perhaps having a previous post history to buy something offered for sale. Why? Because recently someone who wanted to buy an item I had for sale on this forum wanted it sent COD. He had signed up 2 days beforehand. I decided to not proceed and the other party understood my reasons as all the risk of the sale falling over was on my end.

A previous post history does provide some reasurance of the person on the other end of the transaction.

So how does a person making 20 posts, give you any more security than a person making one? It will still be a transaction based on blind faith. BTW COD is exactly how most transactions should be carried out, as the seller you only risk the cost of postage, as the buyer must pay the PO cash to obtain the goods. If he doesn't front you get your club back, this issue is exactly the same on ebay. The only difference is ebay doesn't require you to have a rating of 20 before you can bid on anything.

This idea protects no-one, and achieves nothing but to restrict the number of people who can participate in our forums, this is just wrong, and it makes me cringe.

Jerry

QUOTE: bebox @ Apr 13 2005, 09:47 PM

We think that this is fair and hopefully rewards those of you who visit often and offer their time, which we really appreciate.

No Bebox, it penalises us by restricting the variety of clubs on offer. I presume the unpleasantness of Sarrt83 has precipitated this action?

I repeat this restriction does NOTHING but eliminate product from these forums to our detriment.

It offers no security for anyone, how does a previous post history offer any security on your transaction? It rewards no-one. It doesn't add anything to Golf Classifieds. All it does is discourage people from posting on our forums, in particular Golf Classifieds.

Have we all gone mad?

QUOTE: Jerry Springer @ Apr 20 2005, 08:23 PM

No Bebox, it penalises us by restricting the variety of clubs on offer.  I presume the unpleasantness of Sarrt83 has precipitated this action?

I repeat this restriction does NOTHING but eliminate product from these forums to our detriment.

It offers no security for anyone, how does a previous post history offer any security on your transaction? It rewards no-one. It doesn't add anything to Golf Classifieds. All it does is discourage people from posting on our forums, in particular Golf Classifieds.

Have we all gone mad? 

Then goto ebay and stop your complaining. These aren't your forums, you don't fund them and you certinally don't make the decisions. How much stuff have you bought off these forums? You'd want to be buying every day with the noise you're making.

QUOTE: Ben @ Apr 20 2005, 09:17 PM

Then goto ebay and stop your complaining.  These aren't your forums, you don't fund them and you certinally don't make the decisions.  How much stuff have you bought off these forums?  You'd want to be buying every day with the noise you're making.

Ben, tell me what this measure would accomplish. I simply object to needless restrictions, I would like as many people posting on ISG as possible, and I fail to see how this helps. Enlighten me.

QUOTE: Jerry Springer @ Apr 20 2005, 09:33 PM

Ben, tell me what this measure would accomplish. I simply object to needless restrictions, I would like as many people posting on ISG as possible, and I fail to see how this helps.  Enlighten me.

So you think I should start dumping gear from my shop in the for sale area?

jerry...out of curiousity...have you ever bought anything from the golfs classified here on ISG???

I know it's hard to prove otherwise, but if you don't use it like u preach for it...what's the point???

again, I know u can say yes (heaps of time blah blah blah)...and I can't do anything otherwise, but just wanted to know thats all...

QUOTE: Jerry Springer @ Apr 20 2005, 09:33 PM

Ben, tell me what this measure would accomplish. I simply object to needless restrictions, I would like as many people posting on ISG as possible, and I fail to see how this helps.  Enlighten me.

Jerry, how does someone coming in here and wholly and solely selling clubs add value to the forum ?? I would have personally preferred a post count of 100, you go through the classified and have a look at the number of 2 and 3 time posters. How does this help ??

Recently some of the sellers have lacked credibility, something they can/could build in here over time, similar I guess to ebay, have cred, will buy .

I don't think 20 isn't enough, but at least 20 means they will have

hung around for a while !!!!

Pete

From what I have read, the classifieds have been added as a courtesy for the members of the forum. This would indicate to me that a person should be here to contribute to the forums and if they have equipment for sale they can also use this as another avenue to try and sell said equipment.
Forum first
Selling second...20 posts is not much to ask to be able to use the service.

QUOTE: OMG @ Apr 21 2005, 06:59 AM

From what I have read, the classifieds have been added as a courtesy for the members of the forum.  This would indicate to me that a person should be here to contribute to the forums and if they have equipment for sale they can also use this as another avenue to try and sell said equipment.
Forum first
Selling second...20 posts is not much to ask to be able to use the service.

very nicely put

QUOTE: 3oneday @ Apr 21 2005, 05:11 AM

Jerry, how does someone coming in here and wholly and solely selling clubs add value to the forum ?? I would have personally preferred a post count of 100, you go through the classified and have a look at the number of 2 and 3 time posters. How does this help ??

Recently some of the sellers have lacked credibility, something they can/could build in here over time, similar I guess to ebay, have cred, will buy .

I don't think 20 isn't enough, but at least 20 means they will have

hung around for a while !!!!

Pete

Thankyou 3oneday!!! At last someone prepared to discuss the topic!

In my opinion, someone coming in to sell clubs on our forum achieves TWO positive outcomes;
1. It offers me as a member a club(s) to buy which I otherwise might not see
2. Once they are here it is a chance for us to convince them stay and contribute

Putting a 20 post minimum in place simply creates an us and them situation, and discourages new members from joining. Do we really want to become an Orwellian group where 'All ISG'ers are equal, but some are more equal than others?"

Furthermore how does a post history prove anything about an individual? Suggo was around for ages and got booted,as opposed to Sarrt who was a more short term dill.

So I don't like the idea because it reduces my buying choices, and discourages new members. If it offerred me some protection then it wouldn't be so bad, but it doesn't. It is a lose for old and new members alike.

Jerry

QUOTE: Jerry Springer @ Apr 21 2005, 09:36 AM

1. It offers me as a member a club(s) to buy which I otherwise might not see

yes it does, but how would you deal with a person with 1 post as opposed to 300 ?? I have had people purchase gear off me through here who weren't members of ISG. Would you display more caution, or less, depending on a post count ??

QUOTE: Jerry Springer @ Apr 21 2005, 09:36 AM

2. Once they are here it is a chance for us to convince them stay and contribute

Not sure about this one, to some extent the sartt episode highlighted how easy it is to have a crack at the members, while the bad back bloke did the same.

No one is getting ripped off because guys like them get flamed pretty quickly, ie, they leave a trail that can be followed through ebay, other attempted sales etc. Do they add value ?? possibly novelty value, a release valve for the ones who enjoy ripping heads off, but generally they just add aggression, something this site could really operate nicely without. Generally though, and I'm sure

J

could confirm, they don't stay to even achieve 5 posts, let alone 20. Do their business and go.

I could come in here and post links to every item I have going, but eventually everyone would tire of it and start to complain. I/we choose not to do this out of respect for the site, and because we know that once it starts everyone would be doing the same.

I take your Suggo point onboard as well, I thought he had cred, and if he had sold stuff I would have taken his post count as a credible person. I suppose that comes back to the old chestnut of "ruining it for everyone else" .

Possibly thought could be given to a system that is employed by tourspecgolf.com. They employ a feedback rating for their members who sell gear, so the purchasers can bolster said feedback. I believe this system also requires a small fee to be paid to the site managers.

Pete