Is it true? Is it...

[butch]

Kind? Is it necessary? Those were someone's rules for consideration before speaking. Seems to be an acrid tone in some of the discussions. Price policing is sneaking into the Classifieds. I know these are growing pains for a forum with over 8,000 members. (Watch the population counter at the bottom of the page). I don't think anyone can stop it. Maybe no one should try. Some like confrontation and I don't. I just hate to see trends that soured me on other photo forae.

Maybe this wasn't kind or necessary.

 

[rover]

Thank you butch for the polite reminder.

We, meaning everyone not just the admin and mods, do want to keep the friendly nature we have enjoyed at RFF.

 

[back alley]

It bothers me, too. I wish Jorge or the mods would speak up against it.

Roland.

personally, i don't like it.

if i have a concern about pricing then i usually p.m. the seller and offer my thoughts, with the proviso that he/she is free to do with 'my thoughts' what they please.

i also get occasional p.m.'s from from prospective buyers asking my opinion about a particular price, seller, deal etc.

i normally do not hesitate to answer these requests.

joe

 

[kevin m]

No one ever jumps in to say "your price is too low," do they?

All you see is "pm sent" followed by a few "darn it, I was too late." 🙄

If a person's price is too high, time and silence will clue him in. It's 2006, we all know what everything costs.

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

Butch as usual brings up several good points.

If you feel a person's price is too high, and are so bored that you feel utterly compelled to do something about it, please PM the seller privately.

Don't interfere with someone else's sale ... you wouldn't want someone to do the same to you. It is condescending, rude, uncouth and speaks more of your own lack of character than the seller's. Exercise the golden rule.

If you feel compelled to behave boorishly, try the Leica forum at photo.net. They are always looking for a few bad apples .

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

It bothers me, too. I wish Jorge or the mods would speak up against it.

Roland.

I agree Roland. If the mods see it happening, it would not entirely offend my sensibilities if they spoke up against it in the FS thread itself, or removed the post, as it truly is not germane to the ad.

FS ads are not meant as forum threads. If the intervening poster is truly upset about pricing, he/she is welcomed to start a thread in the open forum complaining about recent 'high' prices.

 

[back alley]

tom and roland,
i have struggled with this one lately. jorge prefers a more free reign and less interference approach to moderating the forum and i sometimes feel a baseball bat is a better alternative.
these days i think twice before applying my mod influence.

joe

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

i sometimes feel a baseball bat is a better alternative

joe

Love baseball bats, they sometimes get the point across more succinctly 😉

 

[back alley]

Love baseball bats, they sometimes get the point across more succinctly 😉

exactly...it's so nice to be understood 🙂

 

[rpsawin]

My recent experience with this issue is that anyone one is free to ad to the discussion whether they know what they are talking about or not. In that respect it's just another post. And that's how it works here....thankfully.

It is clear some responders did not read the ad throughly or, in one case, was commenting on the wrong camera. Oh well, it's not a big deal. But I will think twice about offering any equipment here first. I thought I would offer some equipment to a group who might appreciate it as users of photographic equipment.

I personally would oppose any enforcement efforts and would instead encourage the "Think long, speak breifly" approach to responses.

Bob

 

[Rafael]

If you feel a person's price is too high, and are so bored that you feel utterly compelled to do something about it, please PM the seller privately.

Don't interfere with someone else's sale ... you wouldn't want someone to do the same to you. It is condescending, rude, uncouth and speaks more of your own lack of character than the seller's. Exercise the golden rule.

I couldn't have put it better myself.

 

[Flinor]

I'm with Jorge. About a year ago I posted a FS for a Fuji folder priced about $125 too high. After a week of many views and no responses I finally did the research that I should have done first and saw that I was wrong. I lowered the price and it sold quickly.

Having that experience I still would have resented some one pming me just to tell me that amy price was too high. Is he trying to be helpful or just starting negotiations?

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

As Kevin rightly indicated ... you can convey to a seller that his price is out of range in two ways. Most effectively, by silence. Well-priced items invariably get supporting posts saying "great bargain" "nice price" "if I weren't buying a vacation home (or the M8), I'd snap this one up" etc. Inappropriately priced items leave a very loud silence in their wake.

Alternatively, you can make silly busy-bodied posts in someone else's FS thread.

Little reason to do the latter if you can achieve the same results with elegant silence 🙂

Most RFF members offer their equipment here (as opposed to Ebay) at already much reduced prices. Principally to sell to fellow members for camaraderie and to have a pleasant selling experience. If they really wanted a profit, it is always more profitable to list on Ebay.

Having someone niggle with your price in public or in private when it is already offered here at a discount to Ebay makes the whole experience simply unpleasant. And should the trend continue, that hurts our community in less members willing to list here first, as one poster above has already alluded to.

 

[mfunnell]

If they really wanted a profit, it is always more profitable to list on Ebay.

While I've quoted you, Tom, I really don't want to "pick on you" to disagree with you. I've just been through an exercise where I "accidently" acquired a really nice (and I mean really nice) recently-CLA'd M3 for what I think of as a bargin-basement price (I bid the low reserve; there were no other bids). While I wasn't expecting to "win" the auction (an obviously "worse" in a user sense camera I'd also bid on went for twice the price) I was more than happy to complete the transaction.

But I reckon the seller was dudded. He was paid way less than he deserved for a really nice camera. But he didn't have an "e-bay reputation" and he was way, way too honest about his camera. I told him that, and offered him the opportunity to back out of the deal. But he said he needed the dollars. And that's OK too, I guess... I certainly feel I've got a great camera for a very good price.

I still think he would have done better selling elsewhere than e-bay.

...Mike

 

[kevin m]

...you can convey to a seller that his price is out of range in two ways. Most effectively, by silence.

Amen, Tom. I put up a 24mm Elmarit w/finder on the p.net Leica forum for $1,800 a year or so ago. Got no responses for a week, lowered the price to $1,650 and sold it the same day.

The reason I'm willing to sell cheaper on a community forum is simply because it feels "good" to do so. It helps to foster a sense of trust among people who might otherwise remain strangers, and keeps us all away from the evil clutches of the ebay empire. 😀 But I will not offer a bargain to someone rude enough to comment on price in a person's "fs" post. Period. We all know what everything costs, so for you to interject your comment is not only rude, it's pointless, too.

And again, I have yet to see anyone offer the opinion, "Whoa, dude, you've underpriced this item!" 🙄

 

[back alley]

And again, I have yet to see anyone offer the opinion, "Whoa, dude, you've underpriced this item!"

actually, to be fair, i see this often in the classifieds here.

joe

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

And again, I have yet to see anyone offer the opinion, "Whoa, dude, you've underpriced this item!"

actually, to be fair, i see this often in the classifieds here.

joe

That is true ... there are frequently friendly positive praise. I've done it with comments about a great price, or a great partner that I've worked with before.

But it is worth noting that the makeup of the negative price interfering group as opposed to the positive group are almost mutually exclusive. I can easily name the names in each camp, and, interestingly, they don't overlap.

In other words, there seems to be a select group people who take particular pleasure from interfering with other people's affairs. They have no inherent interest in actual purchase, nor for that matter, it seems, any real intent to educate others. Rather, they merely use these attacks as a platform to watch themselves tear another member up. And, pathologically enjoy their notoriety as spoilers.

I think that is what Kevin objects to. And I agree with him, it is pointless and counterproductive.

 

[kevin m]

...actually, to be fair, i see this often in the classifieds here.

My apologies, Joe. I'm a newcomer here so I'm not aware of the history of the forum. I was just reacting to what I've seen here recently and, I hate to admit it, I've probably carried over a bit of baggage with me from the photo.net Leica forum. 😱

 

[back alley]

My apologies, Joe. I'm a newcomer here so I'm not aware of the history of the forum. I was just reacting to what I've seen here recently and, I hate to admit it, I've probably carried over a bit of baggage with me from the photo.net Leica forum. 😱

no worries kevin.
your reply already tells me you'll fit right in here.
this has become the kind of forum where people speak up easily and apologize as easily when they misspeak.
i have done the same on occasion😱

joe

 

[clintock]

Would it be difficult or worthwhile to make the comments section of each classified ad 'moderate-able' by the one who placed the ad? Know what I'm trying to say? Make it so the one who placed the ad can delete other's posts in the ad's thread?