What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Lets talk about selling on TerraForums (classifieds system)

adnedarn

I'm growing CPs in the Desert of Tucson, Az
Admin
So it's been a while now since I decided to try allow selling here on the forums, forever it was a trade only atmosphere... I'm surprised that not much gets listed when it seemed to me to come up all the time that it was the one thing that needed to change around here. So I'm curious, are you not interested in selling here anymore, is it that you don't like the classifieds system and would prefer just post to the forum directly as a regular thread or what's the deal?

The Panjo software, I think, is pretty cool and it is constantly being worked on and tweaked... I believe they're eventually going to have auctioning capability in it which was one of my main draws to it. You can have a look at their blog and see how often changes are coming out and the kind of work they're doing: http://panjo-marketplace.blogspot.com/

Anyway, just curious :)
Andrew
 
I think most people do their selling and trading on Facebook (and apparently Instagram now?) since there's a much larger audience that posts will reach.
 
Hmm, maybe. I believe I read listings through panjo can be fed into facebook...
 
Like nimbulan mentioned everybody seems to be selling on social media now. For me Panjo is not that appealing for a couple of reasons. First is that I'd never heard of it before terraforums but it looks like a lot of scammy websites that aggregate ebay listings (like when it markets blue carnivorous plants and rainbow rose seeds next to legitimate terraforums users' ads). Second is that it's another place to sign up with that I will only use for this specific purpose. Third is there's not enough real terraforum user activity there to make it seem worthwhile unless I am really having trouble finding some plant. Those things are not deal-breakers for me but are just my first impressions about Panjo. There are other places on social media where people are already signed up that have no rules against selling, rules against discussion of vendors, or fees so I think it's just natural people tend to choose the path of least resistance. That being said most of those people also wind up on these forums for information often too and I understand Panjo probably makes it easy to enforce the transaction fee.

I don't know what kind of revenue you currently get from the transaction fees but perhaps you could let people set up their shops here for a small fee (~$10?) in the flytrapshop store next to the Thank You memberships and more people might participate? If it's easy to buy access for other members that would be even better. But I don't know what is really workable and I don't mean to come off as overly critical or opinionated on the subject - just offering my initial thoughts. I also wanted to mention that I don't mind supporting this site since it has been a great resource for me. [SUB](And that if all the neat goodies in the official store were stocked more frequently I would support it even more):lol: [/SUB]
 
I tried listing things for a while, but there simply just wasn't any interest and all my listings expired before things sold (a few exceptions, but not a lot). I have a lot that I could list, but I would need to know people actually would buy them (Sarracenia and Drosera especially)
 
I found Panjo here on TF to be fairly successful for me. It certainly had some difficulties and glitches such as when a buyer wanted to purchase a plant when more than one were available, or wanted to purchase several. In these cases the number remaining for sale usually came out wrong or the ad was closed down entirely. But, despite this, I did like the way it handled Paypal and I assume that Panjo makes it possible to search for sales items through some search engines. The largest problem for me might be that my ad didn't seem to have as wide a circulation as I might've wanted. But it has been awhile and I mostly sold all the things I had to sell given some time and patience. Mind you, I did generally sell plants that I knew there was a market for. For anyone posting on the TF classifieds I do recommend that you occasionally 'bounce' your ad to the top of the "What's New" search by posting some sort of update such as "only 2 left!" or something similar. I am not presently in a position to do any sales or I would be happy to post here again.
 
Like nimbulan mentioned everybody seems to be selling on social media now. For me Panjo is not that appealing for a couple of reasons. First is that I'd never heard of it before terraforums but it looks like a lot of scammy websites that aggregate ebay listings (like when it markets blue carnivorous plants and rainbow rose seeds next to legitimate terraforums users' ads). Second is that it's another place to sign up with that I will only use for this specific purpose. Third is there's not enough real terraforum user activity there to make it seem worthwhile unless I am really having trouble finding some plant. Those things are not deal-breakers for me but are just my first impressions about Panjo. There are other places on social media where people are already signed up that have no rules against selling, rules against discussion of vendors, or fees so I think it's just natural people tend to choose the path of least resistance. That being said most of those people also wind up on these forums for information often too and I understand Panjo probably makes it easy to enforce the transaction fee.

I don't know what kind of revenue you currently get from the transaction fees but perhaps you could let people set up their shops here for a small fee (~$10?) in the flytrapshop store next to the Thank You memberships and more people might participate? If it's easy to buy access for other members that would be even better. But I don't know what is really workable and I don't mean to come off as overly critical or opinionated on the subject - just offering my initial thoughts. I also wanted to mention that I don't mind supporting this site since it has been a great resource for me. [SUB](And that if all the neat goodies in the official store were stocked more frequently I would support it even more):lol: [/SUB]
[MENTION=12128]ScatterPants[/MENTION] thanks for your in depth reply!
I believe the ebay listings are put in there by panjo to fill in as advertising just like almost all stores (even big ones like walmart) do, not that they are actually linked to panjo.

To get more views, you could share your listing to the social media of your choice using the buttons below the post on the forum, one listing shared to all of them. Then just cancel the ad when it sells. Remember that it posting to Panjo is a side effect, the main effect is the listing here on the forums in the classifieds section.

You mention rules against selling, but if you've not noticed... those are gone for a while now. Hence the classifieds system. :p
Vendors is still a toss up... That will likely get removed too, working on other changes first though. :)
And the fees... It was never meant to be a money maker, but more of a nudge for people to use the thank you membership and get all the benefits. Registered users give 5% of their sales to the forums, thank you members give 0% to the TerraForums.

Where are you talking about letting people set up their shops?
 
I tried listing things for a while, but there simply just wasn't any interest and all my listings expired before things sold (a few exceptions, but not a lot). I have a lot that I could list, but I would need to know people actually would buy them (Sarracenia and Drosera especially)
[MENTION=9012]hcarlton[/MENTION] Like I mentioned above, have you considered sharing your sales post via the social share links? Also, I believe there is a link sent to you near expiration where you can extend it, also you can go in to expired listings and relist them with a couple clicks.
 
[MENTION=12128]ScatterPants[/MENTION] I also just noticed this (in regards to Panjo seeming sketchy) They're listed by Forbes 2015 as their #7 "America's Most Promising Companies" at $42million with only 10 employees. Forbes Welcome
 
  • #10
[MENTION=9012]hcarlton[/MENTION] Like I mentioned above, have you considered sharing your sales post via the social share links? Also, I believe there is a link sent to you near expiration where you can extend it, also you can go in to expired listings and relist them with a couple clicks.
Basically everything I have listed is already on my main social media site, so that wouldn't do much (not to mention, no fees via FB so people would probably contact me directly rather than through Panjo in that case). If people mention they have an interest in things though (a lot of the sundews etc. that I post photos of I often have extras of), I might list here again.
 
  • #11
Gotcha Purchases don't have to go through Panjo... They can be canceled if processed off of Panjo/somewhere else that you have it listed, just they can only help if something goes wrong if it's through them is all. :)
Andrew
 
  • #12
[MENTION=12128]ScatterPants[/MENTION] I also just noticed this (in regards to Panjo seeming sketchy) They're listed by Forbes 2015 as their #7 "America's Most Promising Companies" at $42million with only 10 employees. Forbes Welcome

I didn't mean to attack panjo's actual integrity, I more meant to point out that its appearance is similar to a lot of other sketchy sites and since it is an unknown platform I think it would also come off that way to a lot of other people. After reading your more recent posts in this thread I'm actually more confused as to why panjo should be a part of the classifieds system at all. If the transaction fees are not that important I don't see why we couldn't just post threads right in the subforum without panjo. It just seems like an extra barrier and reason to go offsite to trade unless I really need another place to look for something exceedingly rare. Maybe I am missing something about what makes it desirable.

You also mentioned possibly rethinking the vendor rule. When I joined I was surprised there was such a rule here since most of the forums that have that rule use it so that the vendors who pay to advertise and/or post in vendor subforums are promoted over random vendors. I'm not really sure of the purpose of the rule on this site but am not a big fan of the rule. It's not a huge deal since we all find other ways to share our sources anyway but it's just a minor inconvenience I don't understand the need for.

I probably come off as being negative but I just wanted to give an honest response so hopefully my post will be received as such :)
 
  • #13
You also mentioned possibly rethinking the vendor rule. When I joined I was surprised there was such a rule here since most of the forums that have that rule use it so that the vendors who pay to advertise and/or post in vendor subforums are promoted over random vendors. I'm not really sure of the purpose of the rule on this site but am not a big fan of the rule. It's not a huge deal since we all find other ways to share our sources anyway but it's just a minor inconvenience I don't understand the need for.

I probably come off as being negative but I just wanted to give an honest response so hopefully my post will be received as such :)
Wasn't that initially because Andy has his own store here and didn't want people undercutting him? That's why selling and mentioning of other vendors was always banned before, no? I was away from 2013-2016, but that's what I remember.
 
  • #14
This forum was one of the first, if not the first CP forum created in 2000 or 2001 by someone who owned a CP store. Back then, the no vendor rule was common all over the web for forums similar to this to keep down advertising for your competition. I purchased the forum from him and started my own store just to pay for the server and such to keep this forum going, free forum options were not available back then... I kept the rules, just like no selling. As time changes so does the web, and these rules are becoming less and less common and seen more out of place now, like I mentioned even big websites like walmart and such have advertising on their own sites for other companies. The pay for advertising you mention is one of the things I'm considering and why the gates just haven't been opened to vendor talk. Same with selling, I've not really decided fully if I want to leave it in place or not, a lot of people wanted it but nobody has really put it to use. ???

I originally looked at Panjo because they were considering making it so listings could be auction style, so I thought that would be cool for the NASC auctions, and for the forums in general. Getting a cut to support the forum was of course a selling point, but it seemed a lot of people were not interested in it because of the fees even though they're similar to ebay... as mentioned there is social media and things with no fees... so I turned down/off my cut of the deal to see if that would help increase activity in the classifieds section but never really worked too hard to point it out. I'd really like to do something neater than just posting threads like all the other forums, I don't look at it as an extra barrier but a level of polish. If you listed multiple items there is even a page where you can link to that shows all your items so it's almost like a little store front. I already showed how it's not difficult to sign up or list items so I'm confused how it's any harder than posting to the forum.
 
  • #15
In general, things have shifted from discussion forums like this to groups on Facebook.
 
  • #16
You guys are on Facebook? Are any of you (aside from H.C.) friends of mine, there?
 
  • #17
Jim I think that's already been mentioned... This discussion is for those of us that don't care for that option and would rather make this place the best it can be. :)
 
  • #18
Gotcha Purchases don't have to go through Panjo... They can be canceled if processed off of Panjo/somewhere else that you have it listed, just they can only help if something goes wrong if it's through them is all. :)
Andrew

Hi [MENTION=5846]adnedarn[/MENTION], I am guessing the sales can include seed as well and not only plants.
If so would international sales of seeds be allowed?

Thanks!
 
  • #19
Hello! Seeds are definitely allowed but all laws need to be followed, so make sure you look into that before posting where you can ship to and from.
 
  • #20
Hello! Seeds are definitely allowed but all laws need to be followed, so make sure you look into that before posting where you can ship to and from.

Great stuff, thanks!
 
Back
Top