How about a hobbyist sponsor spot?

[robalv]

Just like Government everyone is trying to make a buck off someone else's skills it happens in my field of work also, This drives the cost's of doing business so the cost of the product goes up so what was a great deal in the beginning is no longer a great deal, You now can get that same deal anywhere.. JMO

[CoryDude]

Karin, I like the idea in principal, but I have to agree with Steve. This would send the wrong message to some of the great sponsors we have here. A lot of these guys are scrapping by right now, and any attempt to syphon off more sales would be seen as an insult.

This site has kind of turned into a flea market with the explosion of for sale forum posts, and I'd hate to see it get any further diluted.

[Europhyllia]

Just like Government everyone is trying to make a buck off someone else's skills it happens in my field of work also, This drives the cost's of doing business so the cost of the product goes up so what was a great deal in the beginning is no longer a great deal, You now can get that same deal anywhere.. JMO

I don't understand this comment

It's called advertising. Businesses or hobbyists can choose to advertise. If anybody does choose to advertise then they pay a fee. What's so weird about that?

For my own business (totally not reef related and no longer a hobby thing) I pay to be in a similar directory/forum listing and it gets me tons of new business. That's what advertising is for. I happily pay the small annual $50 fee for all the traffic I get from it.

My suggestion was meant as a perk to users, advertisers, etc.

Obviously if neither the users nor the potential advertisers see any benefit in this type of offering we don't even have to discuss it anymore.

[Europhyllia]

A lot of these guys are scrapping by right now, and any attempt to syphon off more sales would be seen as an insult.

Got ya and agree. I didn't realize we had sponsor stores that offered those type of custom made services so I didn't see the conflict.

So how do you suggest we handle the unstructured advertising that's already going on? (since it would have the same effect on the sponsors, right?)

[BIGBIRD123]

We really don't do anything because it has been going on for years with no ill effects and basically no complaints from sponsors. To me it would start a snowball and no way to secure a realistic set of guidelines to encompass the whole ball of wax.

Just for a start, let's talk about me. I was contacted to make a couple of stands. We posted pictures of the build just as any other persons build, nothing anywhere saying that I was in business to build custom work. Everything was handled by PM or email, just as our conversations about yours. This has been going on like this for years without repercussions. Now if I posted something in my signature that said...."BIGBIRD'S CUSTOM WOODWORKS AND ACRYLICS", there is a problem. Anything less than that is minor and should not be considered a business. Most of us are just trying to off-set tank maintenance expenses.

[jrsatx20]

Ace can u build me a sump and a carbon reactor.

[Europhyllia]

We really don't do anything because it has been going on for years with no ill effects and basically no complaints from sponsors.

Ah see one of the first experiences I had here shortly after joining was being reported for violating spam rules when I offered something I made at that time as one of the options in a 'wanted to buy' thread. I listed it as one of the options of things I was offering for trade.
It definitely wasn't anything that would compete with any of the sponsor stores either.

My idea was meant to give more freedom and options to people.
If people don't find this type of service beneficial though I am not married to the idea. lol

Got no skills to advertise myself so I am not missing out by not having this implemented. Totally okay by me.

Carry on. Forget I even mentioned it ;)

[CoryDude]

Karin,

I hope my last post didn't come off as sounding like we should limit peoples abilities on here, just because of the sponsors. If the members you mentioned fabricate better products than we can get from a sponsor, then more power to them. When I first starting coming to this site, you couldn't mention building a sump or fuge without Hobogato's name in the same sentence. Working for a small family business has shown me that word of mouth beats almost any form of advertising out there.

Here's a couple of things to amend your idea:

1) Maybe some of members could make arrangements with the sponsors to sell their products through them. I know Dan sells sumps through just about every lfs here in town. The sponsors get a little cut for the referal and he gets the sale.

2) Maybe a few of our members could form a co-op and set up a regular sponsorship account together.

I apoligize if I came across as poo-pooing your idea.

[Europhyllia]

LOL
Hey guys. No need to apologize.
One thing I wanted to clarify is that all of this has nothing to do with my position as a mod. The BOD had no input on my idea or anything.

My degree is in marketing so my brain is always looking for ways to market stuff. ;)

This idea was strictly based on my own very good experience with small forum based specialty directories similar to the one I was suggesting.
Three years ago I was just piddling around in my dining room with a hobby. No ad budget but I took the plunge and got a directory listing similar to the one I was suggesting.
Only a couple of years later I now have retailers as far away as Indonesia carry my product. I think that's pretty darn cool.
We're small town so even my mail lady still gets excited with me when we add new countries. Just last week we had our first shipment to Iceland.

This low cost advertising has worked fantastically well for me. It pays for my hobbies. It pays for the contributions to my kids' 529 accounts, etc.

So I figured I share my wealth by making this suggestion.

It really was more of a spur of the moment: 'hey this has worked great for me, maybe others can use it too!' sort of thing

No higher ups were involved in this (or even asked for their thoughts on it ;) )

So y'all don't lose sleep over this. I used to get paid for my marketing expertise/ideas and you guys got it totally for free!

But if it's not something that would be of interest or work well here I can totally live without it.

Good Night

[jroescher]

I would really like to see members able to post their talents. That's what this is all about, sharing everybody's knowledge, talents, ideas, etc... But when it comes to who can advertise what, it gets really complicated and some people get really offended.

I think the definition of a Sponsor needs some serious thought and consideration. I agree with targeted advertising, but not exclusive advertising.

But in the end, we have to pay the bills.