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For sale section (Not many Donations)

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John Starkey

John Starkey

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8 Jul 2007
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worcester
i will start by apologising if this post offends anyone,but i feel a little miffed after having a look in the for sale section that hardly anyone feels kind enough to make a donation to the forum from the sale of their plants and other stuff ,this site does not run itself and cannot continue unaided by its members,so come guys and gals a couple of quid for a few cutting cant hurt can it :crazy: ,

john.
 
I agree, it is sad to see the lack of donations of late.
We used to see a lot more donations (and also a lot more stuff for swap too).
I prefer to make my donations privately, hopefully there are a few others doing the same.
 
Hi
Maybe the seller and buyer can make 5% or 10% donation each on reflection of the price.
Or we could make a small donation for posting a For Sale/Swap item......even set aside a portion of plants for sale on behalf of the forum.
We need some guidelines in place which are not obligatory.
Most items are sold cheaper anyway within the ukaps for sale section....I dont think it will cause much hardship.
Just my thoughts.
Regards
hoggie
 
Hi sorry to go off topic here but ive looked for the forsale section on the forum and cant find it is this because im a new member or somthing?
Thanks
 
Hi 1stgolf. Yep, it should appear after a certain amount of posts (I forget how many). The idea being it stops people signing up purely to sell/buy and not necessarily be part of the forum/society.
 
Thanks steve and i totaly understand as its like it on a few of the other forums i use.
 
My two cents.

I buy often from UKAPS, and the prices are very close to what one sees on ebay, but with the added benefit that I am buying from a smaller community.

I used to donate to the forum, but stopped, as I was not seeing really no benefit from it, my point of view, no transparency as to what the money is used.

However the forum maintenance costs money, the hosting, the work put in, etc.

So instead of charging a fee for the buying and selling, why not have a paid subscription to the forum? Say £20 per year, and only the supporting members are able to buy and sell, take part on trips organised by the forum, and access to a VIP area.

You would still maintain the forum open to all, but in order to get more from it, one would need to pay.

Also, offer gift subscriptions, so that the access can be given to others less well off.

That would be fair I think.
 
ghostsword said:
My two cents.

I buy often from UKAPS, and the prices are very close to what one sees on ebay, but with the added benefit that I am buying from a smaller community.

I used to donate to the forum, but stopped, as I was not seeing really no benefit from it, my point of view, no transparency as to what the money is used.

However the forum maintenance costs money, the hosting, the work put in, etc.

So instead of charging a fee for the buying and selling, why not have a paid subscription to the forum? Say £20 per year, and only the supporting members are able to buy and sell, take part on trips organised by the forum, and access to a VIP area.

You would still maintain the forum open to all, but in order to get more from it, one would need to pay.

Also, offer gift subscriptions, so that the access can be given to others less well off.

That would be fair I think.
Click to expand...

Hi Luis,i take your point,but the idea of donating is to support the ongoing of the forum,not for benefiting ones self or to make money from,i am not implying any one is out to gain profit from the for sale section,indeed i am happy to swop my cuttings when ever i want something,the point am trying to make is the community needs donations,there are far too many people who come on here get all the info then want how to grow a successful planted tank and then we don,t see them or hear from them again,one point you made i think is a good idea was the yearly membership fee if you want to trade or buy/sell,but by the same token we are supposed to be a friendly community of like minded hobbyist,s,which brings me back to my original point,a small donation is all we ask,

regards,
john.
 
a1Matt said:
I agree, it is sad to see the lack of donations of late.
We used to see a lot more donations (and also a lot more stuff for swap too).
I prefer to make my donations privately, hopefully there are a few others doing the same.
Click to expand...

I do donate without mentioning sometimes as well. Dont see the point to write all the time when i do couple £ donation.
But i did notice recently when selling plants for donation noone bothers to donate.
I think it is better to sell them and mention that this money will be donated to the forum and make donation by yourself.

Subscriptions would just put people off in my opinion.
An option could be to make mandatory donation from sales. 5% for example or so.
 
I contribute when I can, both plants and shrimps and donations. :thumbup:

But I think a paid subscription is seriously flawed, it would dramatically affect the membership levels 🙁

The main appeal is that UKAPS is a wonderful free resource for all take part in and a paid membership would affect people's choice to join.

The forum needs as many members as it can get to contribute regularly to keep it up to date and interesting, the minute you consider introducing a paid membership it would create a divide.

I spend a serious amount of money on the hobby (like many others) and I for one wouldn’t consider even for a second paying to be a member of UKAPS, as there are too many other good resources out there which are free. I am not saying that UKAPS isn’t worth it, as resource its one of the best out there. I juts think it should be freely available for all.

I do think that a push could be made on members to contribute if they are able if the club funds are running dry. I am sure it wouldn’t be hard to start a thread saying please contribute by clicking this link etc. Its seemed fairly easy to contribute via Paypal to me.

I for one have confidence in the Club Mods to spend the money wisely.

Sorry for ranting 😉

Andyh
 
Valid points, but I would still say that force a paid subscription to sell, alternatively use a percentage donation, or charge.

The only section that would be affected by the subscription would be the sale section, all the rest would be free as it is.

If the forum needs funds that is the best way to contribute, as relying on donations is proving to be an issue.

Also, why not have a supporting member section, people would pay £20 and get a supporting member banner on their avatar. That would work also.

I personally did not benefit from the UKAPS trip to Vivarium, paid my own way, but it wasn't cheap.

If the forum needs to put more trips such as that then it needs money, as that trip must have cost a fortune.

The area that UKAPS was using, bigger than most other stands, the tanks, the plants, the ferry, the van, etc, costs a fair whack, and to rely on donations is foolish the least. 🙂
 
Don't forget that UKAPS gets a small amount from sponsorship as well. Donations are very important though, as the cost of becoming a sponsor really isn't that high.

I'm torn between the idea of a subscription based setup. I think perhaps a small yearly subscription to be able to use the sale/swap forum could work but I can't imagine someone paying more than £10 a year for this. This would mean that all of the excellent information and resources available on the forum are still completely free. But, you have to consider whether there would be increased administration to make sure it all runs smoothly etc.

Also, I like the idea of maybe a "Friend of UKAPS" badge for someone donating to the society. Another forum I use has a system of recurring donations which gives you a star. You can pay a recurring donation of only a few pounds or more if you want, and it gives you a symbol next to your name to say that you do. It is, of course, completely voluntary and relies on peoples good will.

It's all food for thought 🙂

Disclaimer: All of the above are just my thoughts, not those of the admin/mod team 🙂
 
I don't think membership is the way forward, also to achieve this we would need a complete new forum infrastructure as the current software would not be practical to use for this kind of system, I have made donations in the past and did not mention on the donation thread, but I do think if people sell stuff here they should at least give a small donation, due to the size of the forum and traffic levels recently we had to move the server which now costs UKAPS 3 times to keep up than what it did before.

Also I don't think UKAPS can sustain a Vivarium trip every year on donations, the costs involved are just too high, I made a contribution towards it upon my return to give something back and sold some plants to help out as well.

There are other areas to explore though, in attracting more sponsors to the forum, not just retailers like at present but also manufacturers etc... no forum, just banners on the site. We could also get some sponsorship from sponsors, manufacturers etc.. for events, for a small fee have some of their leaflets on display or put a banner up on the stand, etc.... this would also make the stand look busier and attract more people.

People don't have to contribute with donations off course, in the end its their choice, but contributions in the long run by just posts won't keep the forum going, needs a little of both 😉

Enjoy the forum 🙂
 
The idea of having manufacturers sponsoring the site would be good, but how would that affect honest opinion?

Does the forum software allows for inserting a banner on the user avatar location? If so, sell the "Supporting Member" banner. If not, then maybe you should upgrade the forum software. 🙂Need to move on with the times and start the monetize the forum.
 
you could ask the sellers to make a donation of a voluntary amount everytime they advertise something

Also i understand the reasons for hiding newcomers from the for sale forum but beginners often need the plants equipment that is being offered there? perhaps you could increase the posting limit and offer a fastrack way into the for sale forums say a fiver buys you instant access if your a new member.
 
SteveUK said:
Hi 1stgolf. Yep, it should appear after a certain amount of posts (I forget how many). The idea being it stops people signing up purely to sell/buy and not necessarily be part of the forum/society.
Click to expand...

So that's why I can't see it, I've been scratching my head trying to work it out :lol:

Another forum I'm on has optional membership, It gives you the option of removing adverts, increasing the size of your inbox, allows you to adjust the description beneath your name to whatever you like etc etc. I think it's like £5 per 6 months. You don't have to do it to access all the info on the forum but if you're a regular it's nice to have a few added bonuses.
 
As the OP of this thread I can't believe the can of worms it has stirred up,all I was doing was stating my disappointment in the lack of donations being made,all the post in the for sale section was for resale,I remember in the past when there was lots of donations being made,as for subscriptions I think that's viable for some and not for others,personally I wouldn't have a problem with paying a fee as I love Ukaps and it's ideals and I wouldn't want to see it end,but let's try and keep on track about what I originally said,donations are voulantry,but it is appreciated when members do donate,

so lets keep on topic and not go way off by talking about fees and for this and that, lets just try and donate a little when you can afford it

Regards all
John
 
Hi
I think its time to re-evaluate the situation....I want this site to be free for all.......including young Aquascapers.
It looks as though there as been a noticeable increase of new members in the last few weeks.To charge a subscription of any kind would have a detrimental effect on the site.
As i said at the very start of this post a nominal donation of 5% or 10% would be a valued donation by the buyers or sellers.
hoggie
 
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