AUCTION SOFTWARE IS LIVE

[ANZAC]

In waiting for Art to make the flowery announcement and me being a man of few words...... The items in the Marketplace without 'TEST' on, namely mine, are live auctions

Bid your hearts out

Brendan

[medals73]

Would love to, but the "Paypal only" clause precludes this.

[Esteban_cool]

Same problem here

[medals73]

All else aside, I hate to sound like an old fart and observe that the sales sub-forum seems very loud and insistent and noisily capitalist and needlessly diverting. Are we risking our focus and special identity?

Just my two kopeks worth.

[Art]

The software is live sorry, that's my big announcement. I figured we all saw the testing going on and it wouldn't be a big surprise anyways. The test items will always be posted in the test section. I've deleted all test posts in the non-testing categories. There are no longer any test items in the regular marketplace area. Feel free to bid on them.

I'm unclear about the PayPal problem. You guys aren't forced to use PayPal for anything. I can show you if you want. I've posted two new auctions in the test section. Click on the button "click here to commit to buy". The only thing clicking that button does it that it "commits to buy". That means you are telling the person that sold the item that you want it. Payment via paypal is offered only if the seller wants to be paid via paypal, and there will be a another big button that says "pay for this item via PayPal" that you would have to press to do that. So please try it out, and let me know if there is anything that is confusing about it.

[Kapusta Norm]

Paypal sucks.thumbsdown

[medals73]

Well . . . since we can only view, post or bid if we are paying forum 'members' and since we can only be forum 'members' if we use Paypal so we can pay (which I'd be happy to do, otherwise), I guess those of us who don't/won't use Paypal are screwed. Hope the forum gets a GIGANTIC kickback from e$cam.

Very unhappy here.

[DougD]

I am not a fan of PP, so to keep up my membership i send Art a postal money order.

DougD

[Art]

Buying items listed, or viewing them should be free. I'm unclear on this comment, so please explain if I'm misunderstanding or if you are experiencing a technical glitch of some sort. Of course selling isn't/won't be free, although for now it is.

I honestly don't know why there is so much animosity towards PayPal (you guys aren't the only ones..ALOT of people hate them), I've used them for over 10 years and haven't had a problem. Yes, they cost money to use, but I have yet to find a safe, reliable (and free) alternative that is just as widely accepted. If you guys want me to look into accepting electronic payment in some other way please tell me which you want me to look into. This won't affect the methods of payment the sellers of items in the marketplace will be offering in the near future though. The software can only handle PayPal at the moment. The software doesn't force the seller to choose PayPal (I guess I'm overanalyzing this) it's purely a personal choice. He can accept payment in any way he prefers. No, I don't receive any kickbacks/commissions/bribes/prizes/stuffed monkeys and/or fruit baskets for using PayPal. But, if you guys hear of one that will pay my electric bill. You let me know...

Regarding funds transfer to me, If you want to send payment via personal check or money order let me know, I'll give you my address. All I ask is that the funds are allowed to clear.

[andrew6767]

Guys , I think the negativity so far is a bit disappointing. This is something that is badly needed to attract more sellers as the amount of decent dealers is shrinking rapidly and everyone knows the chances you take with Ebay in regards to fakes. Constructive criticism is whats needed and you need to try the system first to provide that feedback.

Not all of us live in the US or Europe , and Paypal is by far the best option for payment when making transactions across the globe. It also provides by far the most secure manner for payment in regards to being ripped off by people deliberately passing off fakes as originals. But as Art mentioned , you are not obliged to use it so I cant see what the issue is.

PM notifications will be a problem. The amount of PM's allowed is already inadequate and by making 2 bids yesterday means I already have another 2 PM's saying I am out bid. This isnt something I subscribed to , so I presume it isnt something I can turn off and select email notification.

I am not sure why PM space and character limits are such an issue here......they are only text based messages and dont take up anymore space than plain text posts on the forum. There are also character limits on PM's that restrict your ability to converse with others. I regularly have to email people here because it is impossible to send them a PM unless I break it up in to several PM's and having their PM quoted as part of the reply is an impossibility. Most forums I am a member of provide at least several hundred PM's by default and none have character limits.

Image size has always been an issue here and looking at some of the photos posted so far they dont seem to show a lot of detail and are generally around 20kb. Perhaps if the current hosting for the forum doesnt provide adequate space , a move to a dedicated server should be looked at ? They are very affordable these days especially in the US and I have rented one from various companies for the last 10 years.

But apart from PM issues and perhaps image size constraints , I look forward to seeing more people selling awards and medals here and less on ebay. The fact that they will be scrutinized more heavily by experienced collectors means there will be less fakes offered than anywhere else.