Lower member count
Closed section for viewers
Attitude change
Economic situation
Put a SKX for sale for GBP150 on one of the other forums and it's gone in 60 seconds.
Put one one here for GBP100 and you'll have to bump it 5 times.
Isn't it wonderful you have a choice? Go for the big bucks on an open forum at the risk of getting scammed, or sell in the pleasant safety of TZ UK at a small cost to your price. If every forum was the same, there would be no point in more than one of them existing.
Have you taken a look at H&V lately? There are more "villain" markings on here than on other watch-enthousiast-fora.
Scammers are everywhere these days, hence most avoid places like eBay or similar open market sites and turn to a forum to meet (and buy from) minds a like. The haggling, scamming, etc. on such a small and closed forum should worry you more.
For the record, I've always enjoyed TZ, not only for SC, but also for reading interesting topics (especially in boys room ) and met some great people with whom I converse through pm quite a lot. But also quite a lot have gone and the overall attitude has changed, just look at some of the topics in SC which totally lost common sence when it comes to a reply.
That's just an indication of how keen people are to keep the sales environment as clean as possible. TZ UK is still an extremely pleasant place to sell watches. Also, I'm not recognising the accusation that things don't sell here. I think I've only had to bump one sales thread once. Just need to get the price right.Originally Posted by Marco-T
Lets just say this is a friendly forum where we can still agree to disagree
I enjoy reading it and it’s a safer sales environment than many others. I don’t get worked-up about profiteering and so on, some stuff sells, some doesn’t; life goes on. I’d prefer to buy and sell on SC than through traders, where possible.
Topic seems more appraise for here: Hyde Park Corner "Bring your own soapbox and have a whinge."
No, I understand that (and don’t really appreciate your tone) - my forum is first and foremost a community too. The sales corner is just an extra facet which my member enjoy and there’s no reason to have less items there.
It's very much about the audience as well.
I'm always amazed when watches approaching five figures are taken within minutes of posting, with queues of people ready to buy, but stuff at around the £100-200 that IS keenly priced just gets no interest. The 007 on there at the moment is perfect example. That would easily sell on ebay for more than the asking here, but we've either all got one (as I do), or aren't in that end of the market. Perhaps it will only sell when there's enough margin in it for the hoovers?
All the stuff of mine that sold sometimes within minutes was under £500, mostly a fair way under £500. I would go with the idea that everyone's already got a 007.
We clearly differ in our opinions (and it’s really not about my tone!).
You yourself said that sales corner is just an extra facet for your members ( I’ll assume it’s plural) to enjoy, so why let non members or people only using your forum to sell stuff, enjoy those benefits too?
IMHO (and your opinion may differ), the quantity of items available is unimportant because it’s not a sales focussed forum.
I don’t see the benefit just as being able to sell stuff, it’s being able to buy it privately too. To answer your question, I let new members enjoy the sales area because it means established members enjoy it more when the area is busy. There are more buyers as anyone can see it.We clearly differ in our opinions (and it’s really not about my tone!).
You yourself said that sales corner is just an extra facet for your members ( I’ll assume it’s plural
IMHO (and your opinion may differ), the quantity of items available is unimportant because it’s not a sales focussed forum.
Playing devils advocate for a minute, why wouldn’t you want new members posting items for sale?
I don’t know about the stats for this site but I’d wager that although you say it’s not a sales focused forum, the sales corner will be the most frequently visited forum in TZ.
I’m not disagreeing with you or the way the forum is run, merely pointing out that there are better alternatives IMO. Being scared of newbies posting things is irrational - in fact it’s nirmally how members end up using my forum in a wider sense after they join to sell.
Last edited by ped; 3rd April 2019 at 22:28.
I have noticed that there does seem to be a lack of listings for watches in comparison to "other items".
Maybe it's a case of rose tinted view of the past, but I'm sure that I used to see watches of interest to me much more often than I have over the last 6-8 months.
I have noticed a lot of items are certainly over priced especially Rolex watches. It seems crazy when you can often purchase the same watch cheaper from a dealer and have the benefit of a warranty.
Have you tried to purchase from a dealer though ??
A fairly recent feature of SC seems to be that anything that I am remotely interested in goes very quickly, its like some people are watching it all the time. it is ages since I have bought anything from SC.
Maybe it is 'you snooze you loose' but it didn't used to be like that, or maybe the quality of the items for sale was better.
Currently 289 members on watch talk and 12 in sales corner!
I was referring to pre owned dealers.
Or an old coat
Second hand shoes get me!
I said ‘will be’ if people are allowed to see/use it. It’ll have a knock on effect and increase use of the forum.
Lack of trust. A number of longer-term members have been identified as untrustworthy so they're easy to avoid, which makes SC a safer place to buy and sell. Opening the door to all and sundry to sell whatever they fancy increases the risk, making SC a less safe place to buy and sell.
Many, though not all, members cherish that safety. Some members are still willing to send watches on spec. We'd be waving bye-bye to that by letting anyone have access to SC.
Prices on SC have historically been cheaper than you'd find in the open market. In addition to the collegiate nature of the forum, from a purely economic point of view this is because sellers are willing to pay for the safety of SC in the form of lower prices. Buyers pay to benefit from those lower prices through participation in the forum.
In my experience the amount of posts a member makes has little to no correlation with how trustworthy they are when it comes to selling. We have people selling every day who haven't posted before; as long as the buyer and seller speak on the phone and take all necessary precautions then there's just as much risk as dealing with anyone else.
I understand what you're saying though - just trying to say that we shouldn't fear new sellers if the members here feel that SC is getting stale. Perhaps a better system would be to make it visible to everyone, letting members sell more easily and new members build up rep as buyers first, then allow those same members selling rights after a prerequisite number of posts/time.
I accept also that the average price of an item here in SC is probably higher than that of my website (for bass guitars) but not by a lot - so perhaps an extra level of 'exclusivity' is suitable here.
It all depends on what Eddie wants the place to become - sounds like he doesn't want it to grow/change, which is fine. But threads like this show that perhaps there's appetite for more growth and an even better forum?
By making SC more accessible to those people who aren’t really interested in the forum and only want a free sales outlet?
What do I know, I only run a forum three times the size and have spent years perfecting the marketplace making it one of the best in Europe. I’m done ✅
As matter of interest, and this is a genuine question, to what degree has the market in bass guitars and amplifiers been infected by fakes?
But this forum isn’t about a marketplace! It’s about discussing watches and other stuff but with an area where members can sell some stuff that they don’t want anymore.What do I know, I only run a forum three times the size and have spent years perfecting the marketplace making it one of the best in Europe. I’m done
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