Please Vote - Considering Major Changes for Classifeds

[spencer60]

Back in the old days we used to have the classified magazines. In theory you were supposed to pay a percentage of any sale to the company, but really no one did that... They made money by selling the magazines.

Personally, I would keep the site free, but have a yearly and lifetime membership required to post in the the classifieds section. Free users can view classifieds, but can't create them.

That way you aren't dealing in some yahoo sending you a $1 money order every month, which would hardly be worth the effort. Do it like the NRA. A year-long membership or if you think you need more than that, a lifetime one at a discount.

 

[flyingfrog509]

What the Hell is savageshooters.com? Never heard of it.

It's ODT for Savage gun lovers. http://www.savageshooters.com/forum.php (it's a safe link, no porn other than gun porn maybe) Stats below show they are quite a bit smaller in membership, threads, posts but have almost double the guests on-line. Might suggest that we need members who might create some articles and content like that to help bring more people to view the site and that in turn helps views for add revenue. Non-members can browse for sale forums but it costs 15 dollars a year to be able to contact anyone on a sale listing. (no buying fees no listing fees)

[Broken External Image]:Savage Shooters Statistics
Threads 42,714 Posts 359,310 Members 20,711
There are currently 688 users online. 48 members and 640 guests

compared to ODT

Forum Statistics
Threads: 1,898,871 Messages: 8,657,109 Members: 71,771
Total: 478 (members: 144, guests: 312) online right now or at least when I posted this

 

[I-Tooth 4 I-Tooth]

Man conflicting opinions abound no doubt! Some will hate my comments and I don't care

How about this.....you pay to join new or remain a member. Pay for a year = $x? 5 years discounted = $x.....pay 10 yrs = more discount $x....pay for lifetime = max discount $x? Essentially the NRA and similar membership model. Longer you sign up bigger the discount and less overall costs out of pocket

I know it costs a Lot to run a heavy site like this. Charge reasonable annual fees with discounts for those who sign up longer / longest membership....and keep ad revenue in place as well? Why should you Not make a profit for doing this?

I'd gladly pay, which I already do as a "Supporter".....and would pay more to keep asshat bs'ers out the circle whom play all of us at times with their games. Pay to play with other legit members

 

[Baldilox]

I think it's well worth one frigging dollar to post five adds. But I do think it would hurt the site some. Everyone is always looking for something for free and if a supporter commitment is to much to swallow then I feel some of those people will also choke on that one dollar a month.


I don't believe it's a bad idea, I just think the gimmie dats would revolt .

 

[outdoorsmanc]

im okay with paying for the right to be here, but dont make it required. some folks wont like it.

 

[Baldilox]

I agree with those who say it's fair but will drive some folks away. Maybe not too big a loss though, since many of those leaving would be Craigslister types.

Agreed with alleycat and others about becoming a supporter. Go ahead and do it, you know this place is worth it.

 

[Lionheart]

Looks like all you need to do is occasionally post a thread like this to get folks to become supporters.
Seriously, giving supporters first crack at ads will probably get you lots of revenue. My understanding of the economics of a trading forum like this is that you want to do things that will increase membership and posting activity...not potentially decrease participation.
Maybe your advertisers are not paying enough?
Or maybe all members should always click through the site to buy from advertisers ?

 

[rockyfatcat]

In an effort to get away from outside advertising (and to stay afloat ) I'm having to consider some very major changes to how the site raises money. In the past I've relied very heavily on outside ad networks to supply our ads to us, but in the last year the landscape has changed and a lot of gun forums are having a very rough go of it, including us.

One idea I am seriously considering is charging $1 a month to post ads in the classifieds for non-supporters and leave it free for supporters.

So for $1 a month you could post 5 listings per category per day (Just like it is now). Would also offer it for $10 a year if you didn't want to become a supporter and just wanted the classifieds, which would make it an even cheaper $0.83 per month.

Do you think this would kill the site? My opinion has always been that charging money would kill the site, but I feel like $1 a month for non-supporters is cheap enough that people wouldn't leave over it. If this change was enacted and we didn't lose any traffic I would be able to shut off outside ads. (which would be amazing and make the site run faster, we would never have malware or popups again and could remove all outside ad tracking)

I'd love to hear everyone's opinions, especially non-supporters. Any posts that "supporter shame" anyone will be removed to keep this on topic.

Thanks!

While every time I get close to pushing the button and becoming a supporter. I seem to get kicked in the teeth and placed on a 3 day suspension.

I love ODT, but constantly end up putting people who list the same craigslist BS over and over, on my ignore list. Sorry, same broken designer sun glasses relisted ad infinitum. The same with the silver 'rounds' AKA coins. The same with Shabby Chic broken furniture and anything made with parachute cord.

You ought to charge a hefty dollars per ad price, for each individual ad like these.

 

[Trouble]

I have referred so many people to this site. Both buyers and sellers mostly all new to guns. None of which would have took the extra effort to pay money to buy or sell their guns. Just another inconvience when they could go somewhere else.

 

[weather7man]

The site is already going downhill, outrageous that you cannot make a comment about an inflated price