JeepinJarhead03 wrote:
A healthy vendor section pays for itself through member retention
So in essence, a free vendor is still providing you with income as well
Less vendors, less chance for retention
Thats kind of what I was thinking. Getting more little guys in there would give his audience more options, and hopefully a complete list of possibilities offered for the KJ
To the JKJC owner: I think you're reading a little more into my posts than I intended. I'm not saying your price is too high, just that it is too high for me, and I never said you're going to destroy the site. Simply that I thought that ending the free vendor section would not be beneficial for the site or its members. I never called you greedy or anything negative. I simply was stating that I thought some of the changes being made were not in the best interest of the community. That's it. Let me reiterate in red:
Boiler wrote:
I'd bring this up in that forum, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that. I'm just wishing Bennett would have offered the site to someone already involved with it.
1) Honestly I think the site would continue along the path that most people were there for if an admin / mod bought it and basically kept it the same. I think this would be true with most forums that were in a position to be ran by either an enthusiast or a 2nd party. It was nothing against you or any of your policies, personally. The new guy obviously bought it as a business and personally I think his ideas to make money are going to diminish the site.
2) I never considered that someone might just "like forums" as a reason to buy one that they weren't a part of. I just assumed it was a business venture, my bad. Please see #5 as to my reasoning that the changes might diminish the site, in my opinionHe came to me asking for $270 a year to be a "preferred vendor". Sounds reasonable, but its more than I can afford for such things. Effectively more than what I'd pay for hosting and domains for my own site. He also told me he won't continue letting non-preferred people post in the vendors alley because it wouldn't be fair to the preferred vendors.
3) I simply stated what you told me and that it was too expensive for me. I think your price to become a preferred vendor is reasonable, as stated, but it is not for me. I am not lazy for not making more business to pay your fee like you insinuate. I have a full time job, 2 young kids, for my business I am the accountant, sales department, management, purchasing department, engineering, fabrication department, service department, and delivery man. It takes a lot of time. I also have another venture that takes about 8 hours a week. I'm working on something 12 hours a day, six or seven seven days a week. Fabrication comes first, shipping second, and expanding the business when I have time 
I think it could still be worth being a preferred vendor for some, basically getting your own space to post, where you can mediate your own threads, etc, as opposed to little guys all just posting threads in a big mishmash of other peoples threads. Plus I'm guessing those people would get banner adds, but who knows, that might cost more.
4) In no way was any of that intended as an attack...He has every right to do what he wants, its his site now. I just think that there will essentially be harder for the community to find available products now, as little guys and oddball type things won't pay to become preferred.
5) Like I quoted at the beginning of the post, less little guys offering their stuff = less options for your members. Was an observation, thats it.I hope this site gets offered up to a member if they ever sell it off....
6) I was referring to LOST, that if the ownership gets tired of it, I hope they offer it to a member or member group.I don't think there is anything wrong at all with your new vendor section. I think its great. If it made sense to me financially I would be a part of it and I was planning on being on it down the road. The whole point was the destruction of the vendors alley. Selling through threads in a particular forum section is not exactly putting a banner add at the top of the page. I don't think "free = you can post in this area" vs "paid = you get your own showroom, intro, advertising, and mailing" would work that badly together. If you disagree, no problem. That's just my opinion.
But I'm not attacking you personally. Please accept my apologies for any misunderstanding.
_________________
2005 KJ Renegade
Fabrications for sale:
Aluminum Roof Rack (See Page 9)Aluminum Gas Tank Skid --
Radiator Skid --
Front Strut ShimsComing Soon: Rear Bumpers with lots of options
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
" I just can't afford to spend $$$ just to post stuff up on each website. My goal is to get time to finish my website, advertise on LOST, and see where things go. 
