[mapesdhs]

"Reasonable market prices must be enforced"; this is not possible and a bad idea in so many ways.

"Nobody is gonna buy a $500 Indy."; not true. There are collectors quite happy to pay a lot more than that for what they want. Same applies to any model of SGI.

Trying to control pricing in the ways mentioned here will not work, especially when they're based on false assumptions of value. Noone has the right to decide what something should cost, in either direction, nor the right to decide what happens to something after a sale - that implies persistence of ownership.

If you want the marketplace to be popular then don't try and meddle with pricing. Stick to just trying to ensure that listings and transactions are honest, prevent fraud, etc.

Ian.

[Raion]

I think we are at the best compromise we can have. Clearly the old way didn't work, and many of us got sick of so many people just using eBay to sell here and moreorless using the forum as nothing more than an advertisement launchpad. I don't have a problem with it, but it's disappointing to see more threads about eBay than about private sales to individuals. With feedback systems, more rules and structure, we have a much better chance of reversing the trend.

I repeat I'm not the type of person who wants to sit around doing nothing while literal anarchy and chaos envelop one of the core aspects of the hobby. I think the point that everybody complaining about prices is the last year and a half have been a disaster on pricing for many of us. Whilst bargains can still be found if you are savvy, not everyone can do what I did and find a dual 600 Octane V12 for under a grand. Similarly, when entry level systems are reaching nearly four digits on open eBay markets it's a serious problem.

Time may tell that you may be correct on this but I'd rather say I tried then to say I stood idly by and did nothing. It's not like I went through with this unilaterally. I crowd-sourced both user and administrator stances to get the best compromise I could.

[hamei]

"Reasonable market prices must be enforced"; this is not possible and a bad idea in so many ways.

I don't know about "enforced" but here's something you're not taking into account, Ian ... if you, or 3ddoc or mashek or reputable say "Here's an menet card, tested, works, $250" then the buyer can presume that's what he's going to get.

But Joey Baloney from the Baloney Brothers who hires ... less-skilled people, shall we say ? ... to rip apart stuff that was piled six-high in a beatup old box track that the disposal guys at Wassamatta U literally threw in the back, and wouldn't know a V10 from a turnip, does a search for the part number, sees your price and wham a little added on and that's his price, well ... that's not so reasonable.

So as mentioned in line 1 I don't know how you 'enforce' that but at least some comment on the expectation of getting something for what you pay, seems reasonable to me.

[ghost180sx]

I'm with Ian/mapesdhs on this one in that it dosen't make sense to "police" pricing.

However, if anybody here is familiar with Amibay, they have a great ruleset to follow. One rule they have is that if an item is silly overpriced, that commenting on the price that the OP set is not allowed. However, nobody is obligated to buy things for the prices people list them at. If it remains unsold for a certain amount of time, you could even have the thread locked and perhaps would be a hint to the seller that they got the pricing wrong, at least for this forum.

The no comment on price rule avoids arguments in for sale threads where people are beating down the seller and the flame war that ensues. It keeps the listings clean.

I am in total agreement that people saying "oh I'm selling this here in the forums for members first" and then listing it on eBay and posting the link a few days later is wrong. If you're going to sell here, I as a buyer want to see listings and negotiate with the seller by PM/DM here. eBay is a problem because it is either an auction listing or buy it now, and becomes exclusive to eBay once it's posted there.

If the item has been cross posted (and is not exclusive) the seller should be honest and say so. Because nobody likes the usual "oh hey sorry I can't sell it to you anymore, it sold over at Amibay/eBay/flea market down the street". It's OK to me though if it's up front and fair.

Sellers should also be able to mark their listing as sold, in some way, and have it closed off.

Prices that items sold for should be reported for historical purposes and for transparency. This could be hard to enforce, but I think it should be strongly encouraged.

Listings that are for untested should be clearly mentioned as such by the seller. Then the prices can be made accordingly. After all, seller reputation is everything. For example, after having bought from mapesdhs, I would vouch for his high quality and standards to anyone.

Is there a way for people who have bought to leave reviews or comments about their experiences?

[Raion]

Hey Ghost, let me go ahead and clarify if there is any unclarity on how we do things.

We don't police prices. I want people to sell what they want, for however much they think it is worth. However, I do encourage people to be flexible with pricing. I do not have any intention of, if someone thinks it's worth it, telling them they can't sell an Indy for a grand.

I don't allow appraisals, but people can talk about the past value of something and explain the circumstances behind it. I want to make it so we don't really have a culture of price driving.

Similarly I think it's unprofessional to mock people. I know I haven't always followed this rule, but effective as of Sunday we changing our culture to be professional, upright and ethical when it comes to sales.

For price recording, what we are doing is collecting data for now. I have, in the eztrader plugin, added information on sale pricing. We will collect this for a period of several months to a year or more and then do the following:

Publish the raw data open source in a CSV format

Compile the data with reports that will allow someone to run a report on the data to determine median and mean sale prices, with variance and other factors listed.

Make this tool available on an independent website. Of SGUG or any other competitor comes up with a similar tool, I'm even open to accepting the data from them. It would be something like "sgiprices.com" or something and I'd want it to be a useful community tool.

[ghost180sx]

Sure, sounds good to me.

[Raion]

All old subforums are now removed due to lack of activity (30+ days)

[Raion]

EZtrader tutorial updated for those in the dark:

https://wiki.irixnet.org/EZtrader-Feedback-System