Set Up Forum for Sales?

[Nosybear]

After the recent debacle over the bubble counter and reading some comments on the front Forum page one thing is certain: We BF'ers don't want to be spammed. But there can be legitimate offers of interest to the brewing community, the B&B in Asheville as an example, or even the Bubbler guy (no snarky comments on the idea, please....). So why not set up a permanent forum area for people to hawk their wares? Put some rules around it - it has to be brewing-related, it's not a permanent commercial space, we could post excess gear for sale, I don't know. I'm sure my fellow BF'ers can come up with a more comprehensive list of rules than me. That way we know when we go there, the dreaded Marketing can rear its head. Anything to receive the Monty Python serenade (Lovely spam, wonderful spam.....) can be moved over there and those of us who don't want to receive the latest-and-greatest offer from whomever just need not go there.

(I hate to mention it, but you guys might be able to monetize it, while keeping the spam away from those who aren't interested)

Thoughts?

 

[Craigerrr]

I am on a vintage chevy truck forum, there is a separate area for buying snd selling. There are commercial sellers who are allowed to post new products, but they must pay a premium vendor subscription rate to do so, and must follow strict guidelines. They are considered "forum supporting vendor members". There tends to be one contact per vendor. One benefit is being able to private message that vendor member. For instance if your having an issue with your fermentasaurs, or your grainfather, and there are involved in the forum, you could private message them for help. For member to member buying and selling you must be a paid subscriber to post items for sale. They are very strict on this for the reasons Nosy states. There are rules about posting prices, and updating your thread when an item, or items are sold.

 

[Craigerrr]

There is a thread in the general chit chat area posted by a trial member that would be locked real quick on the forum I am referring to above. Some beercation solicitation deal.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Could go both ways I think I agree with Craig above would be handy being able to contact supposed product sellers directly through forum. But then again remember you can go to "their" website and contact them via email.

The other side is it may attract some unwanted attention.

What's the main reason brewers go to brewersfriend.com to use and access their cool beer recipie creator not to buy/sell hardware that id think would be down the list past talking to other avid hombrewers about hombrewing on the forum....

Just my 2c

 

[Steve SPF]

I haven't been here long but...

... I pay a premium in part so that I don't get advertised at, to me it's part of the deal.

A dedicated Buy/Sell forum no problem, we have the choice to browse or not. The ability to sell us bubble counting dealies in every forum because the seller has paid a premium/access fee is honestly a bit alarming.

@Trialben

I'm here to learn and to share plus use the brilliant tools available to us. I'm definitely not here to buy bubble counting dealies from dudes in Shitkicker, Sacremento; think of the postage!

 

[thunderwagn]

I'll post my opinion also.
Comparing the B&B spamming post is like comparing apples to oranges to L Bussy how to on Brewbubbles.
I'd like to see a link back to where he actually tried to sell anything.
There's no pleasing a few here. Some seem to be hellbent on having 2013 BrewersFriend back and any deviation is a crime.
I don't want spam either, but there was a big difference in posts. Bussy has been around and helpful in brew forums for years.

 

[Steve SPF]

I'll post my opinion also.
Comparing the B&B spamming post is like comparing apples to oranges to L Bussy how to on Brewbubbles.
I'd like to see a link back to where he actually tried to sell anything.
There's no pleasing a few here. Some seem to be hellbent on having 2013 BrewersFriend back and any deviation is a crime.
I don't want spam either, but there was a big difference in posts. Bussy has been around and helpful in brew forums for years.

Maybe me being a bit facetious but a fairly honest answer to the question. Paying a premium should keep you free of adverts in whatever form, in my humble opinion.

 

[Nosybear]

The reason I'm suggesting this is so people who want to reach our community with offers can and we can choose to ignore them at will. Some are worthwhile, some are not but rather than being either impossible to reach or spammed on the other forums, I'm proposing a forum we could browse at choice. In general, I'm posting the same idea as Craigerrr - strict rules, BF gets a cut through subscriptions, we can go look at whatever. I'm in violent agreement with Thunderwagn, too: There's a great difference between the Asheville offer and the bubbler (although I later found out the bubbler idea wasn't commercial). To Steve's point, visiting the area reserved for commerce would be completely voluntary: Don't want to see the ads, don't go there.

 

[Craigerrr]

So, this is obviously a sensitive issue, let's keep cool heads here folks.
My post was just to describe the details of another forum's practices and policies.
At the end of the day, this is a beer making forum, not a buy sell platform. It seems that when we deviate from making beer subjects, people can get a little upset, outspoken, or maybe a little more appropriately passionate about what they want BF to be, and that is okay.

 

[Nosybear]

And to be clear, I don't mind if it doesn't happen.

 

[Megary]

I think I understand where Nosy is coming from...Why not make a controlled spot for "ads" that could be of legitimate use to the community? (Kind of like the last few pages in a magazine.) And maybe a little $$ goes towards the BF site. Win-win?? Not a bad idea.

Can it be properly controlled and would it be worth BF's time to do it? I'm not so sure. Their forum, their call. (For what it's worth, I consider my membership dues as paying for my unlimited, personal use of the brewing software only.)

But I think there is a bit of a Catch-22 for any sellers that would be allowed on here because the best sales pitches that I could possibly get on this forum are testimonials from the knowledgeable community, not from any 3rd party - no matter how good the intentions of the seller are. If I'm interested in a Mash Tun Widget, I'm going to ask the forum if they have any experience with this gadget first, then make my decision based on the responses. And lo! If the community reviews are bad! A bit of a risk for the seller I would think.

Anyway, I would prefer my ads in a magazine but if properly done, it could work.

 

[Yooper]

We won’t do ads.

One of the benefits of another homebrew forum I’m on is that we have Sponsors who can respond to questions about their equipment and post sales in their own area of the forum; however I don’t see that happening here in this forum for various reasons.

The issue that brought up this topic is one that was a one-off- a guy who worked with our developer to come up with an integration. We allowed it, because we thought it may be of interest or beneficial to our members, and there was absolutely positively nothing for sale at all. I don’t foresee this happening again.

I think we could consider a buy/sell/trade forum for our members who wish to sell an unused piece of equipment but that would not include any commercial sellers. It would be up to the community’s needs if that is something that is wanted.