[IC] Mulri-Vendor Marketplace

[Ali]

> My experience is that eBay charges actually amount to about 38% of the
> final sell price. They actually charge a percentage of the shipping
> fees too, not to mention fees for pictures, and anything else they can
> think of. It has been years since I sold much on eBay, but the
> experience really soured me.

Not sure when you last used eBay but for the casual seller (let us say 10-20
items a month) there is a straight 10% fee (yes including S&H - but that is
because of those sellers who used to sell TVs for $0.01 w/ a $3000 S&H to
avoid fees) and 12 free pictures. If you get fancy (bigger pictures,
multiple categories, etc.) there is other fees. However, for your run of the
mill guy trying to clear some extra stuff it is a flat 10%.

> So far I am only asking people on a couple of trusted lists if they
> want to join. Sure eBay has tons of buyers, but if we get participants
> from all over the world to sell, then we will have lots of buyers too.

I am not sure how this follows? If you have lots of participants with great
goods yes you will attract buyers but getting buyers to pay without
guarantees will be much harder.

> Nothing is huge immediately; it takes time to grow. Rules can always be
> set for returns, and if a sellers is worth his salt, he knows how to
> pack. That being said, I have been packing things for over 20 years,
> and UPS still manages to smash or lose some things. That is just the
> way it goes.

I agree with everything you said but the problem becomes how you handle
returns and the well packed broken item. Right now eBay makes sure the buyer
is protected which encourages people to buy on eBay. This is a hassle for
sellers (and I am not going to debate the merits one way or the other but
will acknowledge that the system is abused by some buyers) so if you
eliminate the hassle you eliminate buyers willingness to spend.

>
> My thought was that it would be a great thing to have a vintage
> computer marketplace, one dedicated spot for items dedicated to old
> computers and related items, without having to sort through tons of
> unrelated stuff.

I agree with this completely. I am not sure if we need another site though.
We could just encourage people to go to the VCF Marketplace. If it grows so
that the Marketplace is inadequate then one can look at other options.

 How many times have you looked up 720K diskettes, and
> found recipes or something instead? What is to guarantee that an eBay
> seller knows what he is doing?

Absolutely nothing but again eBay takes the risk out of the clueless seller
for the buyer so not a huge problem.

> Also, this is a fixed price system, not an auction. I looked at multi-
> seller auctions, and most of them fell short in several areas, or else
> they were about $10K or more to buy.

If it is simply fixed price then I am again going to ask why reinvent the
wheel? 

 That is beyond my means. The 5% is
> just to defray costs. I am not looking at making money off other
> sellers. Any effort like this is a lot of work. People mentioned that
> they would like to see a centralized selling system, and I am willing
> to make the leap, if people want to join me.

I agree that this is a major undertaking and will probably not be a major
revenue source. My point wasn't that your 5% is unreasonable merely that it
isn't a big difference from eBay costs. No matter where this is setup once
it gets big enough it must generate some revenue to defray costs.

I applaud you for taking the initiative. This list really does not have much
in the way of selling but VCF, Amigabay, and a few others definitely do. It
would be nice to hit one site or search engine to see all listings. 

-Ali