USAGE GUIDELINES - comment thread 3 3

[divad]

Santa Claus, or the Tooth Fairy

 

-Jim

 

I am particulary interested in the Tooth Fairy pedigree.

[jimm94]

You don't want any of those. Too many bite marks on the corners.

[mica]

I think I've made my position known

Many times

so that's it for me for now,

Thank goodness, I don't know why you're so adamant about this.

Lives must hang in the balance. No offense.

but would certainly encourage others to speak up.

You've definitely broke my silence.

[joe_collector]

The future is here!

 

The funny thing is, that NONE of those options are what you're suggesting - getting rid of the "forum-only" requirement and alllowing dealers and other sellers to relist their online stock here.

 

Next time post EXACTLY what you're proposing, as this poll does not support your view, no matter the response.

[Zonker]

I don't know why this is so hard. Based on the new guidelines, anyone, including full-time and part-time dealers, should be welcome to post books in the Forum Buy/Sell Area that are EXCLUSIVE to the boards. That means if Bob Storms, Mark Zaid, Vincent Zurzolo, Santa Claus, or the Tooth Fairy want to post books here that are only being advertised/marketed on the forum, then great. I think that's perfectly fine, and I have no problem with it whatsoever.

 

What I don't like is the concept of excluding people from the forum based on their station within the hobby. This is an especially slippery slope considering that the intake of books by some so-called "collectors" (not pointing fingers at anyone in particular) is less than the exhaust. Not to mention "collectors" such as myself who sometimes buy specifically for the purpose of resale.

 

-Jim

 

My thoughts exactly. Are you sure I'm not your shill?

[joe_collector]

I don't know why this is so hard. Based on the new guidelines, anyone, including full-time and part-time dealers, should be welcome to post books in the Forum Buy/Sell Area that are EXCLUSIVE to the boards. That means if Bob Storms, Mark Zaid, Vincent Zurzolo, Santa Claus, or the Tooth Fairy want to post books here that are only being advertised/marketed on the forum, then great. I think that's perfectly fine, and I have no problem with it whatsoever.

 

But that's the whole point that banner wants to CHANGE. Somehow "following the rules" is too hard for these big dealers, so banner suggests getting rid of those horrible "forum only" rules in the Forum Only marketplace, thereby rendering the split totally useless.

[joe_collector]

I don't know why you're so adamant about this.

 

I wonder about this too.

[deathlok]

I think I've made my position known so that's it for me for now, but would certainly encourage others to speak up.

 

For what its worth, I agree with you 100%.

[Zonker]

I don't have an agenda, I just want to occasionally be able to buy and sell a book here and there without having to wade through dealer offerings.

 

[Architecht]

I wonder if we could help meet banner's desire for more help with his hard to find books by instituting some WTB guidelines.

 

IS it entirely insane to make it a guideline that WTB posts should include title and condition notes, and price that you WILL buy the book for?

 

If we did that, would filling WTB requests on this forum become so convenient that dealers would take more advantage of respond to WTB posts (and so would other collectors) and thus obscure wants would be filled more easily?

 

Of course, it's up to you what you list as a price. $0.01, or $10,000. But if you do that, even if you low ball it a bit, you may find someone who knows you're close, and can offer the book you need to you "in that ball park"?

[divad]

I don't have an agenda, I just want to occasionally be able to buy and sell a book here and there without having to wade through dealer offerings.

 

 

[drbanner]

I don't have an agenda, I just want to occasionally be able to buy and sell a book here and there without having to wade through dealer offerings.

 

 

[drbanner]

I wonder if we could help meet banner's desire for more help with his hard to find books by instituting some WTB guidelines.

 

IS it entirely insane to make it a guideline that WTB posts should include title and condition notes, and price that you WILL buy the book for?

 

If we did that, would filling WTB requests on this forum become so convenient that dealers would take more advantage of respond to WTB posts (and so would other collectors) and thus obscure wants would be filled more easily?

 

Of course, it's up to you what you list as a price. $0.01, or $10,000. But if you do that, even if you low ball it a bit, you may find someone who knows you're close, and can offer the book you need to you "in that ball park"?

 

WTB posts haven't been very successful for me here, but that's b/c I'm looking for tough books. I don't know that we'd want to impose guidelines as to how WTB posts should be formulated as most collectors will consider various combinations of grade, eye appeal, price, and page quality in determining what they'd pay.

 

It is worth noting that there have actually been quite a few WTB posts recently, so the idea of a separate WTB forum may carry more weight now - I know that the last time we discussed dividing up the forums you decided not to break them out as there just wasn't enough volume to justify it, and you didn't want too many sub-categories in the marketplace.

[joeypost]

I wonder if we could help meet banner's desire for more help with his hard to find books by instituting some WTB guidelines.

 

IS it entirely insane to make it a guideline that WTB posts should include title and condition notes, and price that you WILL buy the book for?

 

If we did that, would filling WTB requests on this forum become so convenient that dealers would take more advantage of respond to WTB posts (and so would other collectors) and thus obscure wants would be filled more easily?

 

Of course, it's up to you what you list as a price. $0.01, or $10,000. But if you do that, even if you low ball it a bit, you may find someone who knows you're close, and can offer the book you need to you "in that ball park"?

 

WTB posts haven't been very successful for me here, but that's b/c I'm looking for tough books. I don't know that we'd want to impose guidelines as to how WTB posts should be formulated as most collectors will consider various combinations of grade, eye appeal, price, and page quality in determining what they'd pay.

 

It is worth noting that there have actually been quite a few WTB posts recently, so the idea of a separate WTB forum may carry more weight now - I know that the last time we discussed dividing up the forums you decided not to break them out as there just wasn't enough volume to justify it, and you didn't want too many sub-categories in the marketplace.

 

I think this would help since most WTB posts get pushed to the bottom of the viewing list within a day, if not a few hours. Having one spot to look through would make selling easier if I can match a buyer to a book instead of throwing it on ebay.

[Comicdey]

I wonder if we could help meet banner's desire for more help with his hard to find books by instituting some WTB guidelines.

 

IS it entirely insane to make it a guideline that WTB posts should include title and condition notes, and price that you WILL buy the book for?

 

If we did that, would filling WTB requests on this forum become so convenient that dealers would take more advantage of respond to WTB posts (and so would other collectors) and thus obscure wants would be filled more easily?

 

Of course, it's up to you what you list as a price. $0.01, or $10,000. But if you do that, even if you low ball it a bit, you may find someone who knows you're close, and can offer the book you need to you "in that ball park"?

 

WTB posts haven't been very successful for me here, but that's b/c I'm looking for tough books. I don't know that we'd want to impose guidelines as to how WTB posts should be formulated as most collectors will consider various combinations of grade, eye appeal, price, and page quality in determining what they'd pay.

 

It is worth noting that there have actually been quite a few WTB posts recently, so the idea of a separate WTB forum may carry more weight now - I know that the last time we discussed dividing up the forums you decided not to break them out as there just wasn't enough volume to justify it, and you didn't want too many sub-categories in the marketplace.

 

I think this would help since most WTB posts get pushed to the bottom of the viewing list within a day, if not a few hours. Having one spot to look through would make selling easier if I can match a buyer to a book instead of throwing it on ebay.

 

I agree, I've posted WTB, and they get buried very very quickly. I've had a little luck, so it's definately a nice thing to be able to do.

[topofthetotem]

My last WTB post I wanted mags and went on to buy around 60 Eerie/Creepy/SSOC from board members.

The majority was from Gateway & Pirate.

[cd4ever]

My last WTB post I wanted mags and went on to buy around 60 Eerie/Creepy/SSOC from board members.

The majority was from Gateway & Pirate.

 

I would love to see a WTB forum as long as the posters were seriously willing to buy what they say and aren't just fishing hoping to snag an ASM 300 9.6 for 30 dollars.

[topofthetotem]

My last WTB post I wanted mags and went on to buy around 60 Eerie/Creepy/SSOC from board members.

The majority was from Gateway & Pirate.

 

I would love to see a WTB forum as long as the posters were seriously willing to buy what they say and aren't just fishing hoping to snag an ASM 300 9.6 for 30 dollars.

Oh yeah for sure don't make a guy dig through boxes, scan, price and grade a book for nothing.

I did have to bump my thread a couple time to get any play.

[esquirecomics]

I understand your concerns Andy. I don't doubt that I am in the minority that feels the marketplace should be opened up more than it is now, which is why I didn't include "Make it a free-for-all" as one of the options in the poll. Chrom's suggestion is a good compromise, so I decided to include that option instead.

 

The books I'm looking for are tough enough to find in the first place, so I'll take 'em anywhere I can find 'em. Similarily, I try to attend shows when the doors open to get the best selection, as opposed to attending on the last day when dealers are selling books at a greater discount. Collectors primarily selling books here, or collectors that prioritize getting a good deal over a good selection probably don't have the same priorities, and that's fine.

 

It's easy enough to skim through and ignore the posts that don't interest me, but I guess it's not as easy for others...although I'm sure we would all enthusiastically jump on a listing of Doug Sulipa's latest Manitoba books, or the next Oakland collection, irregardless of whether or not those books are listed on some other website.

 

Well, I don't think it would be as simple as "ignoring" the dealer posts, should it come to that. The boards are a market and the more big players that move in, the more the small players will be pushed out. It's really that simple. There's a finite amount of dollars available here, and it would suck to see it going (once again) into big dealer wallets.

 

I depend on the marketplace and my sales here to bear the bulk of my hobby-related costs. I know I am FAR from being alone there. I don't need some weekend warrior with big bucks and huge inventory coming and taking money away from small time players who do it because they love it or can't collect otherwise. Dealers have TONS of other places they can do that, Mike. Heritage, eBay, Pedigree, CLink, their own sites, ect. Do they REALLY need another one? Should we sacrifice nice books at attractive prices from other collectors to have another venue for big timers to pump their overgraded, overpriced wares? I say hell no. I like buying from collectors, I like selling to collectors, and I like leaving dealers out of the loop entirely. This is one of the few places where people can do that on a consistent basis.

 

With all due respect Andy (and I'll use your post to respond to obvious others who support your premise), I simply don't follow your logic. Basically what you and others are saying is that you want to preserve your own self-interests. This has nothing to do with what is best for the boards and the forumites, but just yourselves because you want to maximize your own sales (which, of course, there is nothing wrong with).

 

For one thing, what constitutes the "big player", and what is the difference between them, anyone else and these "weekend warriors with big bucks and huge inventory"? How often have we seen any individuals within these categories come into the forum and cause a problem? Not very often. The "big players" as I would define them are rarely, if ever, here. They don't need these boards for sales purposes. And if they wanted to come here, they should be able to freely do so as long as whatever rules are in place are followed.

 

Anyone who tries to "pump their overgraded, overpriced wares" will not get anywhere because people will complain about their overgrading and their overpricing. And if you think either of these descriptions are exclusive to the "big players" or "weekend warriors" rather than some of you small fry (or whatever you believe you and others are), then you are not in the same community I am in.

 

And all of those other forums you mentioned for sales are more than available to you and everyone else at anytime. People buy the books. Not the person selling the books. No one is pushing anyone out except for you, Divad and others who want to discriminate against "dealers", whomever they may be (and it seems that basically they are anyone but you guys).

 

The purpose of the forum only thread should be for ANYONE to offer books EXCLUSIVELY to forumites. Good for the seller. Good for the buyer. Good for all forumites. Everyone's happy.

[joe_collector]

The purpose of the forum only thread should be for ANYONE to offer books EXCLUSIVELY to forumites. Good for the seller. Good for the buyer. Good for all forumites. Everyone's happy.

 

Sure, but I also do not agree with banner, that we need to water-down the rules, so that dealers are allowed to just dump their online stock lists here, while concurrently posting them in their site, on EBay, and using various consignment sites like CL.