Hello Mods,

Just wondering, when will the MarketPlace be available for everyone? Was trying to post kaso i don't have privilege daw. Sana we can start posting na po.

Thanks

Randy

In my opinion, a marketplace in this forum would be a bad idea. It would detract from the core focus of the forum. There's other sites suitable for buy and sell stuff.

I hope the owners of this site doesn't sacrifice quality for the sake of traffic and popularity.

I agree with Dave. Based on experiences from other forums, many register only just sell their stuff and didn't bother to contribute in any discussion. :Angry:

You both have points, i agree somehow, but the the reason why I want sana to have a Buy and Sell forum is because, as a beginner who has limited budget and still is not familiar with all the famous brands and etc, would like to buy equipment from Pro photogs here. I am assuming that there are some Pro Photogs here who has a thing or two to sell. Anything lang, like second hand filters, reflectors, etc., or even cameras. I don't want to buy from Bidshot or Ebay, etc. Mas ok sana diba kapag galing mismo sa mga pro photographers yung mga things for sale. Try searching in those websites and you will not find anyone selling strobes or reflectors, atbp.

What's important here is sourcing for hard to find but cheap photography equipment, and at the same time a great venue to sell our old/used eqiupment. Well, if the Mods here don't have any plans in opening the Marketplace forum because of the reasons above, then I would like to offer space on my webservers just to host a Buy and Sell section and have a seperate registration para di ma 'pollute' itong forum. This is of course will be based on whatever plans the Mods of digitalphotographer.com.ph will be in the future.

Additional Notes:

-Another suggestion will be of course, it will be best to Moderate the items posted if it's for Photography or not. Anyone selling cellphones or non-photography related equipment or gadgets will not be approved by the Mods. This will effectively discourage 'naughty' sellers.

-Also, maybe we could also add a 'Looking For' topic, instead of 'For Sale' only, that way we could again avoid the problems you both stated above.

Additional Notes:
-Another suggestion will be of course, it will be best to Moderate the items posted if it's for Photography or not. Anyone selling cellphones or non-photography related equipment or gadgets will not be approved by the Mods.
-Also, maybe we could also add a 'Looking For' topic, instead of 'For Sale' only, that way we could again avoid the problems you both stated above.

I agree with this suggestion...but the main title of Market Place may need to be split or contain sub-forums of its own 1) "What to Buy - Photo Gear" on one hand and 2) "What to Sell - Photo Gear" on the other

In short I don't see any problem with having a "market place". It doesn't and won't degrade this Forum. Just my 2 cents.

To rebut...

As I said, there's already other sites (not just bidshot & ebay) that cater to buy and sell of used photography gear. Just look harder.

The userbase of this forum is free of junk members because there's no hidden agenda. Also it would reflect badly against the magazine if their advertisers found out this site has suddenly been infiltrated by career sellers or *gasp* grey market vendors. This will put the moderators under pressure to choose the hand that feeds it or the users who breath life into it.

In the grand scheme of things, the user database of this site would have better 'value' to the owners of DPP if it was kept free of nuisance members who sign up just for access to the marketplace.

A marketplace is a good idea, but NOT in this one.

mmmmm 100(meaninful) post by members before those sections can be viewed?

Actually, there is a good deterrent already;

Here's the description from the forum of the Marketplace;

This forum is for our Members who want to sell or trade gear with other Digital Photographer Philippines Forum members. You need to be either a subscriber to Digital Photographer Philippines Magazine to have access to this forum.

Just get a subscription and be done with it.

Yup, i am looking for a copy of this Mag here at Sta. Rosa, Laguna, but can't find one pa.

The description of the Marketplace forum states:

"You need to be either a subscriber to Digital Photographer Philippines Magazine to have access to this forum."

Just to clarify, it said 'subscription' so it means I have to get a year's subscription before I can start reading and posting in that MarketPlace forum. If that's the case then that forum will be just available to a very few people in the meantime. So it defeats the purpose on having a Buy and Sell forum if only a handful of people will post in it. Well upon checking, that section has no posts yet to date.

Well since this forum is still new, I suggest 'what if' we start opening that thread first for a dry run, if things get out of hand, and if your theory is true, then the Mods could just close it anytime.

I know you are after the quality and the worth of this forum, I am with you on that, but then again I just hope that we could be all open for suggestions. Since, a succesful forum is most of the time molded by the 'users/members', and at the same time reflects on how well it is managed by the Mods.

Take this case with http://www.clubsnap.com/ from singapore, it has a buy and sell section but things never went out of hand and is still running smoothly with a base member of 25,000 members. I was just hoping we could also have the same sanity like their version of 'MarketPlace' (Also, check out the subcategories they have under Marketplace, some are moderated and some are not).

If some past experience with another forum is bad, then it might not be "always" like that with all the other forums, or specially in this forum. We are not selling cellphones or watches here, It is a specialized forum for Photography equipment only. I just hope that we can give it a try.

This forum is for our Members who want to sell or trade gear with other Digital Photographer Philippines Forum members. You need to be either a subscriber to Digital Photographer Philippines Magazine to have access to this forum.

either a subcriber OR WHAT?? the sentence construction seems to be offering another option.. but which is not present...


IMHO, there shall be no distraction from photography.. bec the potential sellers and buyers are all into photography anyway else why would they have photography equipment and accessories for sale? why limit the options of the members here? i think if this site could be a one stop shop for scquiring not just knowledge but also the equipment then why not??

digital photographer phil will not be guaranteeing the items for sale so i don't see the problem. in fact i think it will be helping people who are into photography, either as professionals or otherwise, to further interact with each other and help solidify the community

oh... i also am a believer of free enterprise... if i can get the same item at the same quality but for a lesser price then i'd be very thankful... and having a healthy marketplace helps insure free enterpise

Dave Deluria has stated more or less my sentiments about having a Marketplace section in this forum. It was debated heavily among our DPP team whether to include it or not. The mission of this forum is to create a community of educated photographers to share experiences. We wanted something real. That is why we decided to only allow real names to be used. I believe the active members here feel more comfortable communicating with each other than other forums simply because this forum is more personal.

This forum was not created as a place to sell but we still need to have a marketplace to satisfy the requests of members. Our compromise was to create a market place that would only be open to subscribers. It may sound "snobby" but this is probably the best solution. If a person commits to an annual subscription, we know that this person's best interest is not to sell their gear. We haven't yet opened the marketplace but it will maybe in a month. When it does, it will also be heavily moderated. And if down the road we feel that it detracts from the purpose of this forum, then we will close it down.

For the information of the one who started this thread, you can join phphoto on yahoo groups. It's a great buy n sell place and a lot of other photographers are on there too. Another good site is philmug.ph which has a section called iphotographers where equipment for sale is occasionally posted.

Thanks for the endorsement of philmug.ph Analynne!
Funny thing is, I moderate the iPhotographers Forum and Dave moderates the Marketplace. All the gear posted for sale on iPhotographers is eventually moved to the "Everything Else" thread in the Marketplace of philmug.

I agree with the spirit and policies behind DPP's Marketplace. It's a nice to have, but I'll still rely on this forum more to better my skills rather than buy and sell gear.

I, too, respect it! (Even if I sell...)

Mabuhay ang DPP!!!

Would a buy and Sell forum be considered for this site? Is there 1 here? I can't seem to find it :)

There's an existing thread about it here (http://www.digitalphotographer.com.ph/forum/showthread.php?t=244).

Understood... I think reasons of the DPP team is constructive.

Thank you Dave :) Read the thread already...

Thread may be closed ;)

What if the members here have that option or privelege that they could post in the Market Place even if they don't have a subscription however they have this certain "X" number of "meaningful" posts... Wouldn't that be a good idea perhaps?

Again in my opinion, no.

It still opens up the forum to elements whose motives are less noble. At least with the current format, I know people post here not because they have to get access to something.

There's always Phphoto & pinoyphotography.org if you want a marketplace for camera gear.

Again in my opinion, no.

It still opens up the forum to elements whose motives are less noble. At least with the current format, I know people post here not because they have to get access to something.

There's always Phphoto & pinoyphotography.org if you want a marketplace for camera gear.

again, i would really agree with dave regarding the marketplace. we're still keeping it closed.

Same here, perhaps you can just remove it. :)

Ditto. I understand part of the agreement joining the community is to abide with DPP's terms.

If I may be allowed to play Devil's Advocate: FredMiranda.com is one of the most professionally-run photography forums, yet they have a buy and sell thread...

I also vote for having a buy and sell forum. Considering the cost of equipment in the Philippines, it would be beneficial if photographers can trade their unused gear for something else they need.

My 2 cents.

Thanks for the opinions regarding the market place section. We are not closing our eyes to this because we do get plenty of PM asking about it.

I'd lke to be open with our general direction to everyone. First, our market place area will be converted to a products area with writeups and reviews. This area will be dedicated permanently to our advertisers. It is our simple way of thanking them for their support. It will be also an area where our members can post their comments or concerns.

As for a used gear marketplace, we decided to put this on hold because we don't want others joining our forum just to use our resources to sell their gear. Are we eventuallly going to have a used area? Maybe. Maybe not. Once we reach a large enough membership base that is very active then we will consider it. The main purpose of this forum is education and camaraderie. I'd hate to see it evolve into a used gear forum.

Nick, if I may inject an idea or two. What makes forum an eyesore to me personally is when I click the "today's posts" and what I see is either an FS or LF item in the listings. I have to agree, it may look like a used gear forum. However, what if we open that forum, but the post will not be accessible through the "today's post" portal, but instead, one has to go directly to the Marketplace forum section to view the entries there? Furthermore, no replies to the initial post will be allowed, so that transactions will be done in private, either through e-mail or PM. The intial poster should then have the ability to delete his post once he has sold or found the item in question so as not to clog the forum. I don't like to become a member of other fora just so I can sell or buy an item. I'm sorry but I have become a loyalist of this forum. :)

Nick, if I may inject an idea or two. What makes forum an eyesore to me personally is when I click the "today's posts" and what I see is either an FS or LF item in the listings. I have to agree, it may look like a used gear forum. However, what if we open that forum, but the post will not be accessible through the "today's post" portal, but instead, one has to go directly to the Marketplace forum section to view the entries there? Furthermore, no replies to the initial post will be allowed, so that transactions will be done in private, either through e-mail or PM. The intial poster should then have the ability to delete his post once he has sold or found the item in question so as not to clog the forum. I don't like to become a member of other fora just so I can sell or buy an item. I'm sorry but I have become a loyalist of this forum. :)

Nap, I think the Marketplace forum has been taken down already (indefinitely)... :)

For me, while I would prefer to have a B&S section, I totally understand the conflict of interest since this is a MAGAZINE supported board and not a club/special interest group forum like PiPho or other boards (photography related or not).

What if DPP mag's main advertisers find out that the DPP board has members selling grey market stuff or knock-off products, it won't be good for DPP magazine/management.

If ever the marketplace is brought back (which I'm also not too keen about... troll bait?) I'd suggest you require sellers to have atleast something like 500 worthwhile posts before he can sell anything. Moreover, they could go through an application process for approval by the mods prior to selling anything. :)

...credit card # would be nice :)

Credit card #'s may present another security risk for the site and users though. Especially in the off chance that DPP gets hacked again. :S

any updates regarding the buy and sell section?

any updates regarding the buy and sell section?

if you read the Forum Guidelines and the 10 commandments, you'll find the answer there.

There are pros and cons on having Market Place. Although I understand DPP for ensuring their resources are not used by certain individuals who only join the forum for the sake of selling items.

a. What if that individual sells items but at the same time provide very good advices to newbies?
b. What if the Market Place be open only to members who reached certain period (say 1 yr as member)? DPP can be sure that the individual did not join for the sake of selling. Any fly by night posters would be discouraged.
c. Forum is for members. Market Place provide basic services to the members. In controlled environment, it should be beneficial to DPP and members.
d. Market Place encourages newbies to join the hobby even more since they will have access to gears at fraction of the cost.
e. Market Place encourages the members to hone their skills seriously as they upgrade their gears.