Funding MLP Forums, Part 2 - Classifieds

[Emerald Flame 380]

It's a great idea that can work in a few ways. Artists can do commissions, customizers can sell customs here, and people can sell international exclusives to people who have no other way of getting them. Go for it!

[Ezynell 2,036]

I know, but bronies are people. They can be even less trustworthy in some cases.

~

 

As Libertina (post below) said, there would probably be a system implemented to ensure legitimate sales. I would think that multiple pictures of the product, a possible video, MLPForums subscription, and a credible reputation/ post count on the forums would be needed before setting up an item to sale, especially if you were to sell multiple of them.

 

Seems solid. Needs to have a really good filtering though.

Liek required to make certain things before selling anything becomes a option.

Tie it to post count, 100 or so to make sure peeps are dedicated to keeping their word and promises and having some sort of basis to base human opinions on.

 

I for one favor this idea. Not only does it give the members of the forum a chance to earn some money, but it brings in possibilities of expanding the variety of forum users and lets them express their creativity such as selling commissions, and even more. Plus I haven't seen a single pony-dedicated store.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Ezynell

[Tom 890]

Libertina's idea, letting only those who have posted <insert number here> posts sounds good.

And I really like Ezynell's proposal of needing pictures and/or videos of the product to be sold, both for helping to ensure legitimate sales and it would also give potential buyers a better idea of what they are buying.

[LowfatEnvelope 335]

I like this plan! Would be cool to have another place to buy pony merch and support the site at the same time

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

I've said most of my opinions on this to the other mods already, but I will say that I don't think we should limit it to subscribers only. What if there was a person who has no money and wishes to make money? So basically, you're telling them: "You have to have money to make money." I suppose that's true for the most part that a lot of stuff is just having money to make it, but it wouldn't be too fair to those who just need to make some cash. Plus, people who may not be able to donate/subscribe might want to give money to the forums in a different way by having commissions, but then won't be able to anyways because d'oh! You need to subscribe to even do that.

 

I think there should be an approval process beyond just "you must have such-and-such" posts. Like Ezynell said, with detailed pictures and such. People should be carefully surveyed based on that.

 

That's all I have to say about it. In other words: sure, why not?

[Aureity 3,055]

My only concern about this is scamming. Other than that, it seems perfectly fine.

 

However, it's unfortunate that some greedy people try to take advantage of others. Even MLPForums won't be exempt from this. Perhaps a minimum post count for all potential sellers? Such a thing would mean that the seller has invested time and effort in building his forum image, and hopefully will make them think twice about scamming a naive buyer.

[Typhoid Libby 1,265]

Posting address.

Everyone wishing to sell items gets mailed a verification code needed to access the store function that they will pay postal fees for.

 

If they get the code, they are legit because they provided the real address that can be forwarded to authorities when/if there is irregularities.

 

Use that as the final fail-safe.

Simple and provides the bare minimum of IRL information required with minimal costs making it easy to start up, but should provide a easy way to pin point where the haxxor is in real life without the participant giving away every single tid-bit of their personal life.

[Fizz. 1,078]

I have an idea: Stick this everywhere, put it in every signature, only donors can remove it.

 

 

Problem = solved. c: You're welcome

 

 

 

 

[Fighting Brony 74]

This sounds fantastic!

[Ironsight 13]

That sounds AWESOME! My bro and I are probably gonna start doing more customs and we might do commissions through this site.

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

I know, but bronies are people. They can be even less trustworthy in some cases.

~

People also can pose as bronies for this; make an account, make you pay for nonexistent merchandise, then leave.

I don't think we have any such members yet; but as soon as money gets involved, scammers follow. Unless you're being elitist and only allow dedicated members, it's too risky.

 

That being said, Libertina's suggestions sound good. Arylett also makes a good point, methinks.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Feather Spiral

[Klopp 2,050]

I suppose it's about time to throw my opinion in on the matter at hand.

 

First off, I shall list the pros I see of the whole situation:

• Greater involvement of members in the community:

With the addition of classifieds there will be more to do on the forums, and activity will definitely increase. Not to mention it may even attract new members to the forums.

• More money to keep the forums up and running:

Come on, who here doesn't want to see the forums live on and grow larger? With a bit of extra cash in the forums pocket, we'll be able to stay fast and flourishing!

• More money in members pockets:

Sell stuff, get profit. We could all use more cash sometimes, and this will be a good way to get some more.

• International Product Sharing:

An item may only be sold in Germany, but a member in England may want it. Same goes for all countries internationally. Well, we just happen to have members all over the world, who would be able to sell worldwide to each other using this feature.

• Members can sell stuff!!!

Alright, you may be wondering why I am so excited about this here. I often log on and have to boot a thread to the moon because a member is trying to sell something, which is currently against our forums rules. I abhor doing this, and quite honestly feel like an asshole every time. Members will be happy to sell stuff, but not as happy as I will be to no longer have to delete more threads attempting to do so.

• And much much more!

Yes, this is just me being lazy, but I'm sure a bunch of you can think of one or two reasons to think of as well, that I may have missed, So just pretend those ideas of yours are this paragraph

---

Now lets move on to a few cons involved:

• Fraudulent sales:

Something every single one of us wants to avoid, but there are some possible solutions to prevent such fraud.

 

Some possible solutions?

Post count limit - This is one way to ensure that only genuinely interested members have access to SELL at least. Selling items certainly needs to be withheld from members for a bit. I'd say a minimum of 80 or 100 posts before allowed to access. The 40 we have used before might be too low for something that can effect a members life outside of the forums, and the higher count would only be for everyone's safety.

Proof of Existence - The user must have multiple pictures of the item and photos used for advertisements would certainly be a no-go. This will certainly help for sakes of physical items, but what about commissions for artwork? If the item does not exist, then it cannot be shown before it is payed for. However a few examples of previous work should be sufficient, and verifying that it is indeed their work wouldn't be too hard. (sometimes)

Banishment if caught attempting to fraud another member - In a case such as this, I wouldn't even hesitate to throw you to the moon. You try it once, you're not going to be given a second chance. Banishment from the classifieds forever, and at least a one week suspension from the forums.

Everyone wishing to sell items gets mailed a verification code needed to access the store function that they will pay postal fees for..

^While that will require extra work it is still a valid solution. Could very well be a worthwhile investment in order to keep members safe from fraud. Lots of letters to be mailed, that's for sure. If we were to go with this getting it set up to work efficiently would take some time though.

• No sales = sad face

Members may post something and, for whatever reason, no one is interested in buying it. Could be for any number of reasons, but any member might get upset, sad or even angry because an item they posted does not sell. There is pretty much nothing that the moderating staff could do to prevent this, but it's a problem we will likely have to face.

---

 

That's how I see things for now, I'm sure I'll slap myself for forgetting something obvious tomorrow and if that happens I'll be sure and add it later In any case, the big one here is definitely going to be fraud. If we can manage a way around that there will be only miniscule problems that should only pose as a minor nuisance.

 

That being said; I'm all for the idea of classifieds.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,520]

Time for my own, long-overdue response to this thread, since I'm the one who actually handles all of our financial affairs.

 

 

In other words, if you are paying a monthly fee you get a feature to sell pony related merchandise?

I have to admid, that sounds like an awesome feature!

 

We all know this forum got a lot of creative members and with this new feature, its their time to shine.

So it would be good for the forum upkeep AND for the members.

 

I approve, go for this one.

 

This idea is ingenious! First off, there are a huge number of people who make and sell things to other ponied on these forums (noticed in Creative Resources), and what better way to help with the site's donations by getting some positive profit from it! I know a lot of people who would be more-than-willing to do it!

 

Are you sure we can't have this setup along with the subscription idea? They are both beyond-amazing proposals.

 

I've said most of my opinions on this to the other mods already, but I will say that I don't think we should limit it to subscribers only. What if there was a person who has no money and wishes to make money? So basically, you're telling them: "You have to have money to make money." I suppose that's true for the most part that a lot of stuff is just having money to make it, but it wouldn't be too fair to those who just need to make some cash. Plus, people who may not be able to donate/subscribe might want to give money to the forums in a different way by having commissions, but then won't be able to anyways because d'oh! You need to subscribe to even do that.

 

I think there should be an approval process beyond just "you must have such-and-such" posts. Like Ezynell said, with detailed pictures and such. People should be carefully surveyed based on that.

 

That's all I have to say about it. In other words: sure, why not?

 

Tying classified listings into subscriptions is a good idea, and definitely something to consider. As Ary said, though, we would have to consider those who want to sell items but do not want to or cannot get a subscription. Perhaps there could be a discounted listing fee for subscribers? This is something that will be considered and planned out more carefully if the idea does go through.

 

 

That's a really good idea :3

 

I know Feld0 wasn't too happy about me posting before about commissions, but I'd be completely happy to do a slot based amount of artwork/pixel things and have money donated go straight to site upkeep! :3 Means that if I can't afford to donate, I'll still be able to contribute somehow? Gotta be a Win/Win if Ponies are getting art, I'm getting practice, and the site is getting donations from it all?

 

Laydee Kaze, if you're still interested in taking paid commissions on MLP Forums, PM me. Although we have no formal system in place for handling it, we can work out an agreement that would allow you to do this.

 

 

 

 

 

Alot of Artist's don't really like this. It's more on the lines of, Customer pays, then you get the item. You can't walk into a store, eat the food you want, THEN pay for it?

 

But alternatively, you could always pay half, then pay the other half when it's done if you're that worried about people running off with money?

 

With the walking into a store, eating food and then leaving. Some restaurants do that? But online it's different, as you're a single person with no legal backing. If you walked out of a restaurant without paying, they have evidence, bills and money to pursue you.

 

I think deposits are fine and dandy for art Deposits aren't perfect but are the best balance of protection for buyer and artist ^^

 

One possibility we could potentially look into is holding the buyer's payment, and paying it out to the seller once we can verify that the item has been shipped or received. This would require some careful thought, however, as we do not want to open up the opportunity for the buyer to scam the seller, either. I'd hate to run into a scenario where the seller never gets paid because the buyer didn't respond to a request to provide proof that the item was received.

 

If people scam you they're putting themselves in the open, and are at the mercy of the staff on here when they get found out, aren't they? I'm not seeing the big deal. Seems like a legit deterrent for me. Make some severe punishments for people who scam.

 

A ban won't stop a scam artist from walking off with potentially thousands of dollars before we send them to the moon.

 

Added negative if there are scams.

>Humans.

>There will be.

 

And then the staff was responsible for losses incurred since this was the medium sales were done on.

 

Seems solid. Needs to have a really good filtering though.

Liek required to make certain things before selling anything becomes a option.

Tie it to post count, 100 or so to make sure peeps are dedicated to keeping their word and promises and having some sort of basis to base human opinions on.

 

Just handing licences to sells stuff based on a minimal payment and nothing more is asking for trouble since ponies are involved.

Previous DDoS shows some will go to quite a long way out of their way to cause harm to people just based on the fact that MLP is involved.

 

Will work but needs a lot of involvement and actual staff that knows their shizzles.

And Tax agency will want their share too.

Leading to a whole another level of involvement. IDK, needs much more thought to be viable as business model.

 

Posting address.

Everyone wishing to sell items gets mailed a verification code needed to access the store function that they will pay postal fees for.

 

If they get the code, they are legit because they provided the real address that can be forwarded to authorities when/if there is irregularities.

 

Use that as the final fail-safe.

Simple and provides the bare minimum of IRL information required with minimal costs making it easy to start up, but should provide a easy way to pin point where the haxxor is in real life without the participant giving away every single tid-bit of their personal life.

 

I like your ideas for safeguards, Libertina. Mailing a verification code in particular would ensure that we have a physical address on file for all sellers, which would be very helpful to have in the case of a dispute. The ability to sell will definitely be restricted in some form or another to deter people from joining just to put up a listing, and it is something that will be plotted out more carefully if we do end up implementing a classifieds section.

 

One concern I must express is the actual legality of an MLP-themed classifieds section. It would quite obviously be a "storefront" through which both official Hasbro toys and custom products based on Hasbro's intellectual properties will flow, with sellers and MLP Forums both collecting revenues. For all I know, I might need to seek a license from Hasbro to legally allow such a section to exist.

 

Furthermore, there's that sticky issue called taxes. I imagine the CRA might want a piece of the revenue pie, and it's possible that I might need to get a business license. These are things that will need to be researched before a classifieds section can happen. If anyone has any relevant experience or advice they could lend, it would be very much appreciated.

 

 

 

I suppose it's about time to throw my opinion in on the matter at hand.

 

First off, I shall list the pros I see of the whole situation:

• Greater involvement of members in the community:

With the addition of classifieds there will be more to do on the forums, and activity will definitely increase. Not to mention it may even attract new members to the forums.

• More money to keep the forums up and running:

Come on, who here doesn't want to see the forums live on and grow larger? With a bit of extra cash in the forums pocket, we'll be able to stay fast and flourishing!

• More money in members pockets:

Sell stuff, get profit. We could all use more cash sometimes, and this will be a good way to get some more.

• International Product Sharing:

An item may only be sold in Germany, but a member in England may want it. Same goes for all countries internationally. Well, we just happen to have members all over the world, who would be able to sell worldwide to each other using this feature.

• Members can sell stuff!!!

Alright, you may be wondering why I am so excited about this here. I often log on and have to boot a thread to the moon because a member is trying to sell something, which is currently against our forums rules. I abhor doing this, and quite honestly feel like an asshole every time. Members will be happy to sell stuff, but not as happy as I will be to no longer have to delete more threads attempting to do so.

• And much much more!

Yes, this is just me being lazy, but I'm sure a bunch of you can think of one or two reasons to think of as well, that I may have missed, So just pretend those ideas of yours are this paragraph

---

Now lets move on to a few cons involved:

• Fraudulent sales:

Something every single one of us wants to avoid, but there are some possible solutions to prevent such fraud.

 

Some possible solutions?

Post count limit - This is one way to ensure that only genuinely interested members have access to SELL at least. Selling items certainly needs to be withheld from members for a bit. I'd say a minimum of 80 or 100 posts before allowed to access. The 40 we have used before might be too low for something that can effect a members life outside of the forums, and the higher count would only be for everyone's safety.

Proof of Existence - The user must have multiple pictures of the item and photos used for advertisements would certainly be a no-go. This will certainly help for sakes of physical items, but what about commissions for artwork? If the item does not exist, then it cannot be shown before it is payed for. However a few examples of previous work should be sufficient, and verifying that it is indeed their work wouldn't be too hard. (sometimes)

Banishment if caught attempting to fraud another member - In a case such as this, I wouldn't even hesitate to throw you to the moon. You try it once, you're not going to be given a second chance. Banishment from the classifieds forever, and at least a one week suspension from the forums.

 

 

^While that will require extra work it is still a valid solution. Could very well be a worthwhile investment in order to keep members safe from fraud. Lots of letters to be mailed, that's for sure. If we were to go with this getting it set up to work efficiently would take some time though.

• No sales = sad face

Members may post something and, for whatever reason, no one is interested in buying it. Could be for any number of reasons, but any member might get upset, sad or even angry because an item they posted does not sell. There is pretty much nothing that the moderating staff could do to prevent this, but it's a problem we will likely have to face.

---

 

That's how I see things for now, I'm sure I'll slap myself for forgetting something obvious tomorrow and if that happens I'll be sure and add it later In any case, the big one here is definitely going to be fraud. If we can manage a way around that there will be only miniscule problems that should only pose as a minor nuisance.

 

That being said; I'm all for the idea of classifieds.

 

 

 

Klopp, lots of great stuff in your post.

 

I would just like to suggest that a confirmed scam case should result in an instant permaban. I don't see why we should allow anyone to stick around in the community if they con someone's money out of them.

 

The issue of items not selling is one that members will unfortunately just have to deal with. I can't think of too much that we can possibly do about that, other than not charging the listing fee upfront and making it very clear that there is no guarantee your item will sell.

[Scotch 15]

So... wait... I might be able to sell my pony-related objects? Looks like I'll be digging around the closet this weekend.

[Rakdar 0]

I approve

[SpectrumUK_D 45]

This appears to be a very good (and potentially profitable) idea. However as others have said there are problems which must be addressed before this could go ahead.

But having taken all into consideration I think this definitely is worthy of following up.

[Strife 455]

This has likely been mentioned before ...

 

Just use PayPal for shop transactions.

 

That protects the buyer and seller.

[Gypmina 64]

Sounds like an awesome idea to me! I would love to have a place that I could potentially sell my Plushies besides ebay.