To moderator - How about a FS for sale forum

[cnguyen]

it would be nice if we can get a for sale and for trade forum. You can charge people say $2 per ad (using paypal) like RF forum and allow people to put up pics of the item for sale.
This will definitely draw more and more people to this forum.

[earleygallery]

I'm not a moderator but I know the answer to this. Leica fund this website and they have stated that they won't allow for sale ads here.

I am guessing that this is in consideration of their authorised dealers who of course depend on sales of s/h equipment as well as new.

[bill]

I actually like the fact that this site is non-commercial. There are enough places on the web to sell stuff.

Regards,

Bill

[brunom]

James

Regarding your remark that Leica fund this website - is that really correct anymore? are you saying that all the 'sponsers' pay nothing for their adverts at the top/sides of the pages?

Bruno

[rsolomon]

i agree with Bill, would hate to to this into a commercial place on the web, my only regret is that i tend to trust the folks here about the description of their gear. many of us seem to be sesnitive to things that on ebay .....well your just not sure

[rob_x2004]

Originally Posted by earleygallery

Leica fund this website .....

This site is a great little money spinner for Leica. Bandwith is just about free, and the admin isnt payrolled.

Work out how many threads you read where someone says I was vascilating and ... blah blah convinced me ... blah blah I saw the results that such and such posted ... blah blah best purches I ever made. This place is an earner.

And now it carried advertising. Even better for them.

[rob_x2004]

Originally Posted by rsolomon

my only regret is that i tend to trust the folks here about the description of their gear....

Richard you have to watch out for customers like Stuny Nordheimer. They tell you it is second hand, and when it turns up it turns out to be brand new with batteries and spares unopened.

[andybarton]

Originally Posted by rob_x2004

This site is a great little money spinner for Leica. Bandwith is just about free, and the admin isnt payrolled.

Work out how many threads you read where someone says I was vascilating and ... blah blah convinced me ... blah blah I saw the results that such and such posted ... blah blah best purches I ever made. This place is an earner.

And now it carried advertising. Even better for them.

The advertising helps to pay for the admin's costs (not the moderators, I hasten to add!). Leica pay for the hosting.

[johnkuo]

Simply drawing more people is not necessarily a good thing. Just look at some of the discussion on dpreview. I enjoy this unique forum for what it is, and let's keep the commercial aspect somewhere else.

Originally Posted by cnguyen

it would be nice if we can get a for sale and for trade forum. You can charge people say $2 per ad (using paypal) like RF forum and allow people to put up pics of the item for sale.
This will definitely draw more and more people to this forum.

[rob_x2004]

Got to be a win all round then Andy? Seems to be working pretty well in its current guise and format? Seems good to me.

[andybarton]

We have our ups and downs (), but I reckon that this place works just about as well as any public form on the internet possibly can. I know of only one other forum (much smaller and more local) that runs as smoothly as this one.

It's all down to the quality of the people that contribute.

"Group hug" now.

[k_g_wolf]

I would nevertheless like to support a FS- dept. here !

You need to raise cash to be able to invest further into LEICA- goodies. That´s absolutely to the benefit of the LEICA Co.

Why don´t we start with a FS- platform for LTM- LEICA- gear ?

It won´t be so frequented as a platform for LEICA M and R gear but it would be worth while for now.

Q to our humble chief-moderator: Could a POLL help you to fight this through at least ..... ?



Best

[admin]

Thanks for the support ;-)

I'm continously talking to Leica about this topic, but it's not their #1 on their agenda...

A poll wouldn't help because the wish for a "Used gear" section has already been expressed loud and clearly. Good arguments and testimonials "How I bought NEW Leica stuff after starting with second hand gear..." or "I bougth my new M8 only because I sold my xy" are welcome - these would really help me.

Regards
Andreas

Originally Posted by k_g_wolf

I would nevertheless like to support a FS- dept. here !

You need to raise cash to be able to invest further into LEICA- goodies. That´s absolutely to the benefit of the LEICA Co.

Why don´t we start with a FS- platform for LTM- LEICA- gear ?

It won´t be so frequented as a platform for LEICA M and R gear but it would be worth while for now.

Q to our humble chief-moderator: Could a POLL help you to fight this through at least ..... ?



Best

[milsu]

I think it would be great if Leica amateurs could put on sale their best works here, not gear. That will stimulate them to make better photos. But it should be forbidden to professionals, who are selling their photographs anyway.

[brunom]

Andreas

What's the 'official' position on making a post stating that you have items for sale/exchange and that if anyone was interested a private email should be sent?

Bruno

[burgerr]

I think sites like e-bay and so on provide enough room to sell and buy stuff.

Another thing is to discuss the possible market-value of a collector's item within this forum. I find a hard time establishing the market-value of some of the equimpent either to buy or sell. Iow; Am I undercharging or overpaying? This I'd like to discuss rather with "independed" forum members than with a buyer or seller on e-bay. This should be possible or not?

[brunom]

I would feel a lot safer buying/selling items via this forum than using shill -bay which I've used it but never really feel comfortable. I have items [not just Leica - Variosix F etc] I may wish to sell to help fund new Leica purchases, so personally I hope Andreas can reach some form of compromise with Solms ?

Bruno

[luigi bertolotti]

Rules can always be changed but... I think is better NOT to open a For-Sale-Forum, for a number of reasons :

1) Leica co. is anyway a sponsor of this forum: better for them invest in taking care of customers problems and expectations about their current products than promoting the trades of used and collectible gear.

2) Technically speaking, is not so quick to setup an on-line-trade-dept. that really works fine : lot of details regarding payments that have to be deeply tuned: it is costly, and has to pay for its cost. During years and years af acquiring Leica items WITHOUT gving by myself a single penny to Leica Co., I thought sometimes that they could have interest in setup a "branded Leica e-bay" : but this should has to be something completely apart of a user forum: a business by itself (that in turn could hurt some of their dealers...)

3) A trade forum, almost necessarily, has to involve other brands (for myself: I'd like to trade a Voigt Bessa II for some Leica equip... ore some Cos/Voigt lens...). Again, what is the interest of Leica Co. on such questions? Even if marginally, is of some interest for them to learn here that, say, lot of Leica users apprediate the CV15, or that many of us have also DSLR from Nikon or something similar... Keeping track of the used-collector market has little to do with the goals of a manufacturer. which has to use forums as an antenna on about its products are accepted, used, rated by users.

4) IF I read from some member that he has some piece of equipment I really like to have, I can always switch to private: send an a mail to him and, afterwards, it's a private business of two of us.

[brunom]

Luigi

How are you going to know if another forum member has something they wish to sell ? There would have to be an aceptance from Leica that we can post a message indicating what we have for sale.

As good as this site is, and even though Leica may sponsor the site, we all don't visit it just out of altruism for Leica - what about Leica thinking about us ?

As mentioned above, I have some items for sale, but if I don't sell them I won't buy the new Leica item I want - it's as simple as that and Leica should understand that basic fact - and I'm sure that I am not the only one in that position. We are not all about to sell our Leica equipment to go and buy N or C.

Regards

Bruno

[luigi bertolotti]

Originally Posted by brunom

Luigi

How are you going to know if another forum member has something they wish to sell ? There would have to be an aceptance from Leica that we can post a message indicating what we have for sale.

As good as this site is, and even though Leica may sponsor the site, we all don't visit it just out of altruism for Leica - what about Leica thinking about us ?

As mentioned above, I have some items for sale, but if I don't sell them I won't buy the new Leica item I want - it's as simple as that and Leica should understand that basic fact - and I'm sure that I am not the only one in that position. We are not all about to sell our Leica equipment to go and buy N or C.

Regards

Bruno

OK Bruno, I in part agree with You, but my intention was mainly to focus the fact that this forum would be snaturated if you add to it a real e-commerce e-trade section; something that is similar to it, with certain rules and exceptions could be acceptable for Leica co. but, in my opinion, making something "half part" is always an error and do not satisfies anyone: want to make trade on the web ? Establish and setup an e-commerce environment, complete with all it needs in term of functions; it will be no more a forum.
Maybe...ok, it could have sense to setup something really minimal : a "post-it" area with simple messages like "SELL: M3 n°750.002 cond. A- ; write to name.surname@provider.uk"; following this, a private biz not involving the forum.