Possible trade thread?

[StephenKingman]

Hi Scott, i would like your advice and feedback (and permission) regarding a "trade" thread i just posted in Off Topic. Basically, i recognise that a lot of members here are on eBay and other sales sites so how about a thread where people with books to sell can post what they are selling (price, condition, postage) and anyone interested can swap eBay info and make the sale or else people who are looking for a book can ask for it and anyone who has it can reply and swap info. I understand that a lot of people here are not on eBay and many people dont want to hand out addresses when it comes to postal orders etc but equally there are plenty of like minded people here who dont mind giving out such info, when it comes to getting books they love. I completely understand that its not risk-free and people would have to understand that when posting and paying for books etc but im looking at my 4 shelves of books in front of me and this idea of buying and selling amongst members here just came up.

I posted it in Off Topic as it gets more traffic compared to sales forum and more people will see the book needed or for sale. Heres how it would work: member posts an ad example "Millemium trilogy, good condition, 5euro plus postage" and anyone interested could swap either eBay info (when ad is up, postage) and make the sale or anyone not on eBay can swap postal order info. Equally, anyone wanting a particular rare, classic or signed book etc can ask for it and anyone who has it can pass on the relevant info. I know theres quite a lot of risk but i do personally think that there are enough members here who still read old fashioned books who would benefit from this.

Its still just an idea at this stage and im not sure if you would like such a thread and its ok if you dont want it, I will delete it. i was just throwing it out there to get feelers on reaction, but if you get a chance let me know what you think.

[Scott]

Yes, that is acceptable. Perhaps I can also add a link in the buy, sell trade section to the topic. You may (or not) find that it will be better to make a few different topics for each different general type of transaction, e.g. one topic for people who want to swap e-bay details to complete the transaction on e-bay, one topic for people who want to swap books, one topic for people who want to sell books not using e-bay (understanding the risk of being scammed). I suggest making the topic a sticky, but I will leave that up to you.

Alternatively, I could make the buy, sell, trade section a sub-forum of the off-topic section if you think that would draw more attention to it.

Yet another option--down the line--would be to create a whole new section of the website different than the forums with some special functionality to assist in the independent sales of books, i.e. create our own e-bay for book sales. I don't know if the demand would make it that feasible or not.

[StephenKingman]

I appreciate the feedback Scott. I will see what kind of replies i get on the main thread over the next week or so and see how many members both old and new would want this kind of service, certainly i think the forum is busy enough to justify a sales thread amongst its members and if initial sales went well, trust would be built and more members may see it as a regular point to buy and sell books which appeal to them. Obviously a short disclaimer would be needed on the thread to emphasize the fact that all buying, selling and payments are 100% at your own risk and the forum will not be responsible for any loss arising from it.

I like the idea of putting a link in the sales thread plus making it a possible sub-forum in Off Topic. It depends on demand and feedback over the next week but i imagine a lot of people out there will like a forum to sell and buy books and Kindles, particularly when the current eBay market is so saturated with over-priced books nobody gets to see. Ill keep you posted on how the thread is going.

[Mary WhiteFace]

I have been looking for a Buy-Sale-Trade forum topic and can't find one. I saw it referred to in a post on anti-spam guidelines made by Scott, so I started searching. I see that this is an old thread, so maybe the idea was abandoned.

I am interested in possibly participating in such an endeavor. Is there already a forum for such a purpose?

[Scott]

I have been looking for a Buy-Sale-Trade forum topic and can't find one. I saw it referred to in a post on anti-spam guidelines made by Scott, so I started searching. I see that this is an old thread, so maybe the idea was abandoned.

I am interested in possibly participating in such an endeavor. Is there already a forum for such a purpose?

We use to have one but it didn't gain much traction. It would be hard to restart because of the risk of scams and the easy availability of other venues such as ebay and the Facebook marketplace. Another obstacle would be that we have members all over the world, so internationally shipping used books could be more expensive and more trouble than just buying them new from a local book store. With those caveats, we can still look into starting some kind of buy/sell/trade system.

[Mary WhiteFace]

I have been looking for a Buy-Sale-Trade forum topic and can't find one. I saw it referred to in a post on anti-spam guidelines made by Scott, so I started searching. I see that this is an old thread, so maybe the idea was abandoned.

I am interested in possibly participating in such an endeavor. Is there already a forum for such a purpose?

We use to have one but it didn't gain much traction. It would be hard to restart because of the risk of scams and the easy availability of other venues such as ebay and the Facebook marketplace. Another obstacle would be that we have members all over the world, so internationally shipping used books could be more expensive and more trouble than just buying them new from a local book store. With those caveats, we can still look into starting some kind of buy/sell/trade system.

I can understand the difficulties surrounding such an endeavor. Would it be possible to tweek the original idea of a buy/sell/trade forum to simply having a place to post a request for a hard to find book? No offering of books to sell would decrease the risk of spam, yet being able to ask for help from other members in locating hard to find publications would be nice.