I had this idea for a forum where you could buy and sell stuff. Stuff like domains,websites,graphics and so on, basically a market place for non shippable stuff. I got the idea from digital-point market place. And one question i have is what can i put in place to prevent scamming, other than a terms of service contract thing? Ive seen some forums where transactions are carried out solely on the rep of the seller. Your thoughts?
This is a saturated niche. Well known examples are Marketforums, marketswag, & HF. I advise you not to start your own from scratch because a marketing forum is the hardest to get activity on because you need to find people who specifically have a service or product to offer and other people who have money to spend. There's a limited demographic for such users. Marketing forums only gain user transactions while first attracting users to other aspect. For example, Marketforums.org was always a forum that had a stronger community when it came to sections such as "lounging" or "graphics", that forum had to put these section first to attract activity. As a result, some members also took the opportunity to trade in the marketing sections. Marketing was always secondary focus, in my opinion. Also, such a forum can only thrive if it include high-rollers, players, people who can stimulate the economy, people who get things going. This will attract more users. You would need a very unique strategy to attract vendors but the payoff for such niches is the most rewarding out of all niches, in terms of material gain. Being a management member on such a forum is rewarding in many ways.
The question "would you do business over a forum?" comes to an easy answer, many people already do. There's massive marketing sites out there like digital point for example. HackForums gets a ton of online business transactions. But I agree pretty much with everything mebes has said there.
To answer the question, yes I'd more likely do business over a forum. But if you're starting it for the money then you're doing it wrong. Find your niche, start small, and work on it. When it hits to the point where monetizing it becomes a priority then you make a business off it.
Think you are looking at it the wrong way. People on sites like HF and DigiPoint trade with each other because they are in the same community, not because they came to sell. For example, on HF I may go off a users posts, rep or user group that are integral in the community when deciding to trade.
My point being, I trade because the community is strong/good, not because i intended to buy or sell.
(2012-01-03, 05:36 PM)Andre R. Wrote: [ -> ]Think you are looking at it the wrong way. People on sites like HF and DigiPoint trade with each other because they are in the same community, not because they came to sell. For example, on HF I may go off a users posts, rep or user group that are integral in the community when deciding to trade.
My point being, I trade because the community is strong/good, not because i intended to buy or sell.
That's you, not everyone. A bald statement like "People on sites like HF and DigiPoint trade with each other because they are in the same community" is incredibly wrong. HF probably gets a lot of members there just for the market place, they're there to make money, or buy a product they want to use.
Forum marketplaces can be huge part of the community. But from a site admin perspective you have to decide on how you want to shape any marketplace you run. Are you going to just create the forums and rules or are you going to get more involved like reviewing deals, creating payment options, or other fancy marketplace options like feedback.
Quote:And one question i have is what can i put in place to prevent scamming, other than a terms of service contract thing?
You can't prevent scamming. You can only do something about it AFTER it happens. Unless you're going to be the middle man for each deal it can't be done. And in that case you'd be scammed plenty. I guess you could attempt to require escrow service on all deals.
Anytime you get involved in the deals you're creating a situation where you might not be legally protected. You're setting yourself up to be liable.
(2012-01-03, 05:47 PM)Anxiety Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-01-03, 05:36 PM)Andre R. Wrote: [ -> ]Think you are looking at it the wrong way. People on sites like HF and DigiPoint trade with each other because they are in the same community, not because they came to sell. For example, on HF I may go off a users posts, rep or user group that are integral in the community when deciding to trade.
My point being, I trade because the community is strong/good, not because i intended to buy or sell.
That's you, not everyone. A bald statement like "People on sites like HF and DigiPoint trade with each other because they are in the same community" is incredibly wrong. HF probably gets a lot of members there just for the market place, they're there to make money, or buy a product they want to use.
And there you just reiterated what I said in the last line of my OP. I wouldn't trade on a site that had members with no rapport, and I'm sure you wouldn't either. Not too much of a bold statement.
People from the same community, sometimes those with high post counts try to scam people. I think the biggest motivating factor will be the desire to do business, to buy or sell your product successfully. I have seen cases where users with a post count of one- they join a community just to buy or sell, successfully do business. I have also seen forums with a section to report successful transactions this could be a big help. Things like IP spoofing detection could really solve some potential problems.