Approved Vendor subscription service?!

[paulcalloway]

Gentlemen,
I'm leaning heavily toward making the Approved Vendor usergroup a paid subscription service. I'm not talking huge dollars, but $20 a year appeals to me.

This has been suggested before, but now I can implement it more easily with this new forum software. There are tools in place to do this very thing.

I'm theorizing that all "Commercial Sale" of goods on the rest of the forum would be totally disallowed. My thinking is, of course your average Joe could sell his used underwear (or whatever) here on the Wanting to Sell Forum but if you're going to do a run of sack coats, get approval here and pay your fair share... or sell them from your truck-gate at the next event.

$20 of course wouldnt guarantee anyone a spot here... they still have to meet our communities' standards.

What would $20 buy you in addition to be able to post here?

Access to a private vendors-only discussion forum.
Vendors in the vendors-only discussion forum may have some say in what subsequent vendors are approved.
Ability to open/close/delete your own sales/advertisements.
Increased visilibility throughout all the forums.
Opportunities to do Bully Buy advertising.
Listing on the Resources page.
And probably a lot more that I'm not thinking of yet.
My expenses here at the AC have increased. Having vendors help to subsidize the cost of the forums appeals to me. That, coupled with T-shirt sales, should help us to continue to provide the best services possible... with cutting-edge technology. I'm not looking to make another paycheck here however - we shouldn't have to sacrifice in our standards in order to keep this site running. More is not better.

I'm anxious for everyone's thoughts on this issue, but most especially those of you who are vendors.

[CJDaley]

Personally, $20 a year is more than a bargian. With sutler fees at events ranging from $100 to $500 per event, I would say that if you raised annual dues to $100 or more that wouldn't be an issue with too many of considering what we'd get in return.

I've always advocated for a paid vendor system. The vendors are getting access to thousands of customers for free at the click of a button and you should charge them for that status. Let's face it, the vendors aren't doing this for a hobby, we are doing this as a livleyhood and a business.

The big advantage would be to encourage most vendors to post on threads other than "Vendor Announcements". While I post here as a member and a vendor I think paying for vendor status would encourage more vendors to post here as a members with informative posts more often.

I'm sure some of my fellow associates may disagree with this post, but you get what you pay for and the last three years we've gotten A LOT for free and that isn't fair to the forum members, Paul or the hobby as a whole.

The vendor only forum is a huge step forward. You have no idea how much that venue is needed.

Christopher Daley
tailor@cjdaley.com

[JerseySkilletLicker]

Any legitimate business should have a budget for advertising, if not, then the whole operation is possibly just a "fly by night" operation and not worthy of listing in these forums.
I have discussed the subscription or advertising fee with Paul as long as two plus years ago and I have no problem with the fee or the services I receive for that fee.
I would ask that the "Customer Feedback" area be a little more closely monitored and folks posting there be encouraged to give some sort of reason as to why so in so's goods are "the best".

Joseph Hofmann
www.skilletlicker.com
1-800-431-1862
joe@skilletlicker.com

[dahoude]

You've got my vote Paul. You've done much over the years to help us, sounds only fair to give something back. The idea sounds great to me.

Daniel Houde - Proprietor
Orchard Hill Sutlery

[JimKindred]

Paul,

It sounds like a good idea to me as well in particular the vendors only discussion area. I will drop $20 in the pot when the time comes.

Jim Kindred

[theqmstores]

Very good idea, Paul. I agree with what everyone has said. I would be glad to pay a fee for this awesome service. The price is nothing compared to the benefit we and the customers receive. No problem here. Do it! -- Adam Cecil

[Company Tailor]

Who do I make the check out to?

PB

[Matt Woodburn]

Paul,

I will continue to financially support the AC website. You offer a vauable service the the community - discussion forums, event listing, research articles, used gear commerce, new gear commerce, chat room, etc. I use all of this and will voluntarily pay you more than $20 per year.

Best Regards,

[John Peterson]

A $20 contribution is fair and appropriate. Please post an address where to send payment and to whom payment should be made or feel free to email me with that information.

Thank you,

[Jarnagin]

Paul,

I do not see any problem with a fee.

[tphtrading]

Paul: You have my vote, and support 100%. Anything from your $20 to Chris' $100 is fine with me. Drop me an e-mail where to send check and how much.

Tim Bender
tph_trading@msn.com

[tmattimore]

Double ditto especialy if it can help to keep the site up.
Tom Mattimore