[Eaglerapids]

I wish that when somebody puts something up for sale they would put a price on it. Do they expect to get offered more than they paid for it or something? What must happen is they don't think we're gonna know the value of it and offer a high price. If someone doesn't put an asking price on an item, I for one, never reply. I'm not gonna offer a price and then wait around for days for the guy to entertain other offers or wait for other offers that may be a couple of dollars higher. If you want to put something up for sale, put a price on it! If I decide I want it for that price I'll pm you and if I'm the first to pm you then I expect to get the item for that price. Pretty simple actually.
While I'm on the subject a few more pet peeves of mine.
If you put some outrageous shipping charge on your item I won't buy it. period. I will not pay $20 shipping on a regular ole lens, no matter how much I want it (shipped in the US). Or even $15. If you think it's worth all this much money for your time to run to the Post Office, add some money to your original offer but you're not fooling me into thinking I'm getting the lens cheap when you want to charge me $20 for shipping. I know how much shipping charges actually are and I'm capable of adding the cost of the lens plus the shipping charge to arrive at the total I'm about to pay. I might pay it for the lens but I'm not paying it for shipping. Period.
Pay your own Paypal fees! I will not pay your Paypal fees, period. If you want payment through Paypal, that's your choice. If you want me to pay them add them to the original offer, hide them from me. Make it easy for me..Pentax blah blah blah for $45 plus $7.50 shipping, then I'll decide to buy or not.
I don't really think auctions are a good idea here. I'm seeing a lot of new guys come in here and trying to get top dollar in auctions. It seems most do not work. On Ebay I'm seeing guys offer items for sale with a minimum bid higher than the item is selling for in regular auctions with a buy it now price that is outrageous. I think maybe they are picking up lens pretty cheap and now they want to retire on the sale of a Super Takumar 55/2. Most of these sales that I'm seeing end with no bids, as they should. We're a community here and I hate seeing these noobs come in here and trying to get us to compete against ourselves, it just doesn't seem right but that's me. It worrys me also when someone wants to run a high priced auction here instead of on Ebay. They would have to pay no fees for one and if they ripped one of us off, what the heck would our recourse be? We would never see them again.
When I registered here back in March or April, the marketplace was very cool. I hadn't much experience buying from Ebay and i've picked up a few lens and stuff here. I may have paid a few dollars more than I could have gotten them for on Ebay but there was none of the hassle. I'm not buying stuff to resell and make a profit, I'm buying to build my kit, I'm buying to build my system.
Sorry for this mini rant but I had to get this off my chest......
Now, back to our regular scheduled program.

[Alfisti]

To a degree I hear you but I thinkwhat has happened is that a bunch of people bought into the system because of the K10D and now want out. They then come here trying to sell the gear at 90% of the value they bought it for which is 120% of the value of buying it new now!

So the dedicated Pentax user is interested in buying, clicks on the thread then says "sorry too much" and everyone is in a huff.

Who buy used gear for more than it costs to buy it new in your country?

[igowerf]

I agree with your post for the most part.

"Make me an offer for my gear."
Agreed. I HATE when sellers do this. If I absolutely have no idea what my stuff is worth, I put how much I think it's worth to me and tell people that they should feel free to make offers/haggle.

Sure, I'll make an offer, but don't get pissy if it's lower than what you expect. Just post the price that you expect.


Shipping
Again agreed. If you live in the U.S. then you can get free Priority boxes from USPS and eBay. USPS Priority costs are extremely reasonable, especially with the $8.95 flatrate box. Plus, Priority takes only 2-3 days for domestic packages. Unfortunately, there's no way to avoid high shipping costs to international buyers, but they usually know what to expect.


Paypal
I don't entirely agree here. Paypal is a convenience for the buyer, not the seller. I have a Paypal account primarily because I like to pay with Paypal when I buy stuff.

When you first open a Paypal account, you don't get charged ANY fees at all, but you can't accept credit card funded payments. To accept credit cards, you have to upgrade to a premium account and then Paypal hits with you fees whenver you receive money, regardless of the funding source.

In my threads, I always stated "NO CREDIT CARD FUNDED PAYPAL," but people would ignore my pleas, and eventually I was forced to upgrade to a premium account. Now I get hit with both eBay fees and Paypal fees if I try to sell on eBay.

After that, I started asking for money orders only, but buyers would actually ask to send Paypal instead! The problem is, the fees for buying a money order are actually higher than Paypal fees. A buyer would rather just pay the PP fees instead.

The moral of the story: Don't ruin it for everyone else! Just link your damn checking account to your Paypal account.

[superbass]

I understand your frustrations, but I've had good experience with the marketplace. Everything I've bought here has been in excellent condition and for a good price. I just ignore the outrageous auctions and ebay posts. The only problem I've had is with people not responding to pm's (which has only happened twice so I guess it's not really a problem), but that's to be expected. Oh, and nobody bought my tripod!

[superbass]

In my threads, I always stated "NO CREDIT CARD FUNDED PAYPAL," but people would ignore my pleas, and eventually I was forced to upgrade to a premium account. Now I get hit with both eBay fees and Paypal fees if I try to sell on eBay.

I once told someone I'd pay with a bank transfer so they didn't get hit with the fees, but I didn't switch my source to bank and it took it from my credit card

Oops.

[Mr Hyde]

I agree with alot of what was said here but I'd like to see it one step further.

#1 If you are a seller and you are charging a set shipping fee, just tell me what the bottom line is. That's all. Please dont tell me the lens is a certain amount and shipping is another amount. that's silly really. Just tell me how much it will be shipped to my door.

#2 If you are a seller and you charge actual shipping list the price of the item and indicate that you will charge actual shipping costs.

#3 If you only will accept paypal and wish the buyer to pay the fees just incorporate that amount into your asking price.

#4 If you are going to offer a discount for paying by a method other than paypal then list both prices.

That's it. Pretty simple. I bet it will get future sellers a few more offers

[Buddha Jones]

*EVERYONE*

Read the Marketplace Disclaimer...

If anyone is NOT following the rules, report them. We are not a storefront, a broker or an auction house. We do not intend to be one so we do not enforce the rules of one.

BUYER BEWARE. BE A SMART SHOPPER.

That is our stance. Do you research, know your products and their values. We know that not every seller abides by our rules but we are not actively hunting them out either. Report them. But ultimately the owness is upon you to be a smart shopper.

I agree with you...
I would also add that I dont like the links to the ebay auctions. "FA ______ for sale" then when you open the thread it is a link to the Ebait Auction.

Offer it here first, with the price you want for it. Give your Pentax Forum brothers and sisters a chance first. Ask the price you want. If you dont get any offers or are told it is too high, then put it on ebay.

That is what I think outstanding forum members should do. Keep the good stuff in the family if possible.

But just tell us the price. Whatever it is.

-gus-

[sychen]

I agree with the Ebay links...
Its a deliberate attempt to drive up the price, with no benefit to this community at all.

I'm on other forums that ban this practice as it has demonstrated in the past the sale price does gets affect.

As it is a marketplace for members of this community and not a advertising forum.. those posts should not be allowed.

Cheers

[Jesus]

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/search.php?searchid=207256

Here is a pro seller , it seems, by looking at his past post

[Bramela]

I fully agree with most that has been said here.
The one thing that P...s me right off is the sellers that come here and advertise their listings on Ebay, as mentioned above.
Make up your mind, if you want to sell it Ebay, Fine!. If you want to sell here , Fine also.
But dont use this forum to advertise your ebay listings.
I just shut it off when I see it anyway.

[blende8]

In our German forum we have these rules:

- No ebay notices.
- A price MUST be given.

Normally the prices are slightly below ebay level.

[JCSullivan]

Its true that stating a price is great and I for one have on occassion been tiffed-off if someone did not state a price. However, I am also guilty of ONCE having placed an item which did not include a price. Simple reason, I just don't know what to ask.

Having a price listed helps me make a decision - too high or not; within my budget; buy or not; otherwise, all it takes is a PM.

PayPal fees, absolutely NOT. Pay your own PP fees.
Shipping charges, become part of the total costs. I either accept it or NOT.

When dealing with sellers within Canada, the sale is as simple as an email transfer with NO bank charges, max 2 transfers/month.

To the USA it has been PP with the exception of one (my fault, I failed to read the payment options) I had to purchase a money order for a cost of 50% of the selling price.

Linking to ebuy is not a bad idea - sometimes we are just not aware of what's there and makes it easier because we don't have to monitor ebuy.

The Market Place is an excellent place so long as it is NOT abused. It is a community service so to speak.

My 2¢ worth.

Hi JC,
I am new here, but the first time I opened one of the EBAIT link For Sale threads here, It just felt wrong. And still does each time I open one.
I just feel that we are a community and this is our market place. So to see a Super Tak listed here only to find out it is on ebay and I will be bidding against the whole pentax world and every C and N owner collecting old glass, does not feel all that special to me.

It is like our marketplace is being used as a billboard to their real marketplace, and we are just given the notice so we can bid the price up even more.

I enjoy being a member of this forum and I appreciate the help I have received so far. I learn something here everyday. So when I have collected way to many little black lenses and begin to sell some. I will offer them here first and give a price. If after that they dont sell I will offer them to the masses. That is my just my idea of community.

Taking care of our own first...
Being good Dealers/enablers to our brothers and sisters suffering from the addiction. We should not have to drive to the bad side of town to get our drug of choice when we have it right here. haha
-gus-

[Adam]

Thanks to everyone for your input and insightful comments. I will consider the following future changes to the marketlace:

-Requiring an asking price or price range
-Only permitting eBay links after an item has been in the Marketplace for at least week
-Permitting only definitive "for sale" or "for trade" threads; no "feelers" or "would anyone be interesed" threads

I'd also like remind everyone to use the proper acronyms in all thread titles. One of the following must be found at the beginning of each thraed title, depending on category and thread type: FS, FA, WTB, or WTT. It's also important that everyone leaves feedback for each transaction. This is quick and easy to do, so I strongly encourage it so that future users know which sellers or buyers are to be trusted.

Finally, please remember to close all of your outdated or sold items. You can easily close your own Marketplace threads by using this system: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/latest-board-news/8130-automated-marketpl...d-closure.html