I'd like to bring a discussion from an individual for-sale thread into the general realm so more people can give their opinions. I'll move the relevant posts here.
It started with Randy's thoughts:
...and my first reply:
Randy has been reading my mind! I'm struggling with this whole question. One of the only ways I make money to help pay for maintaining and hosting the forum is via affiliate programs. eBay is one such program. No matter who lists an item on eBay, if it sells from that link I'll receive a small commission. Sites like reverb.com are not part of the program. And obviously sales from one member to another are not covered by the affiliate mechanism.
Frankly, I'm not sure what my policy is going to be. Certainly I would appreciate any member adopting Randy's policy: if the site helps you sell something, please consider some kind of payment (whatever you think is fair). I've worked hard to build this site up over nearly 20 years, and it has become a great resource for euphonium players. However, in the past year particularly, more and more sales listed are not via eBay; during the same time my eBay commissions have dropped to about 1/5 of what they were in the preceding year. And I've noticed that "drive-by" listings have increased somewhat.
I may start softly, perhaps with a new notice over the For Sale category reminding folks that they can easily contribute in a couple ways if the site helps them sell something (PayPal or Amazon wish list).
Right now my day job is extremely intense and I don't have much time to pursue this, but I'll work on it when I can. And note that I DO still have a day job, which lets me afford this site's costs. I'll be retiring from that job sometime next year and will have to re-evaluate my expenses, so I need to figure out this whole issue for the long term.
It started with Randy's thoughts:
Originally posted by RandyL
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Randy has been reading my mind! I'm struggling with this whole question. One of the only ways I make money to help pay for maintaining and hosting the forum is via affiliate programs. eBay is one such program. No matter who lists an item on eBay, if it sells from that link I'll receive a small commission. Sites like reverb.com are not part of the program. And obviously sales from one member to another are not covered by the affiliate mechanism.
Frankly, I'm not sure what my policy is going to be. Certainly I would appreciate any member adopting Randy's policy: if the site helps you sell something, please consider some kind of payment (whatever you think is fair). I've worked hard to build this site up over nearly 20 years, and it has become a great resource for euphonium players. However, in the past year particularly, more and more sales listed are not via eBay; during the same time my eBay commissions have dropped to about 1/5 of what they were in the preceding year. And I've noticed that "drive-by" listings have increased somewhat.
I may start softly, perhaps with a new notice over the For Sale category reminding folks that they can easily contribute in a couple ways if the site helps them sell something (PayPal or Amazon wish list).
Right now my day job is extremely intense and I don't have much time to pursue this, but I'll work on it when I can. And note that I DO still have a day job, which lets me afford this site's costs. I'll be retiring from that job sometime next year and will have to re-evaluate my expenses, so I need to figure out this whole issue for the long term.
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