BST Pricing SHOULD be mandatory.

[JLvatron]

Originally Posted by JLvatron

Shouldn't the attacker get banned for flying off the handle?

I thought there's a rule that there's no arguing & discussions allowed in the BST forum; only asking questions like details about the toy conditions, shipping, and generally giving your interest to buy.

Originally Posted by Leozak

It did not happen on cybertron.ca

That's absolutely TeeHee-ous!

Site rules also state no off-site drama on the forums, so this shouldn't be used as a basis for change.

[JLvatron]

Originally Posted by Sun Swipe Prime

Turning this around a bit. If sellers have to list prices, should buyers be forbidden to negotiate? What's listed is listed. The price is the price.

I mean, the price is listed, so why should a seller waste their time responding people who may or may not be serious about buying, or who can't be bothered to read the seller's whole post?

Some people who have local sales only threads get out of town people asking about an item. Or trade only threads getting dollar offers when the person only want's to trade.

Should there be a penalty for this type of thing too?

Mandatorying would require enforcing penalties; and too many rules.

I like the idea of not enforcing; non-priced items will tend to not sell as well. Which will educate the seller to include prices next time.
But along with that, it would be nice for buyers to have some sort of filter in the thread names.

I recommend each subject include "[Priced]" in the thread titles.

[Sun Swipe Prime]

Originally Posted by FreedomGundam

It's not so much about "penalties", and more of just saving everyone time.

... It just saves time on unnecessary back-and-forth and waiting.

I don't think is the case. Even with prices listed people will have to deal with back an forth, inquiring about lower prices, or package deals.

Also see below about low balling.

Originally Posted by Pascal

All the people who think your prices are too high won't PM you. Time saved.

Do you really believe that? They won't do exactly what you described below, and just lowball an offer in the hopes you'll accept?

Originally Posted by Pascal

If you don't list your prices, you'll get PMs from both lowballers and people truly potentially interested.

This will happen regardless of if a price is listed or not.


IMHO if prices should be manditory, then negotiation shouldn't be allowed either. The price is the price. That will cut down on wasted back and forth O-plenty.

[FreedomGundam]

@Sun Swipe Prime

I see where you're coming from.

While I do agree with the points that there'd be no way to really enforce having prices (nor do I think at this point that it should be enforced); but I think it's pretty safe to say that having prices would only help the transaction and potentially speed things up, whereas not having prices will not change anything at best, and will slow things down at the worst.

I guess I'm part of the group that pretty much skips over all sales threads without any prices, unless the seller is offering something very uncommon/rare.

There's no magical solution here; you're right that people will want to deal, negotiate or haggle regardless. However, I do think that listing prices helps people filter listings a lot faster by skipping the initial first few communication steps.

[fordjuse]

The seller has right to run his business as a MOD stated.

Prices should only be discussed if deal in works.

NOT before.

Any seller will want to get most money for the RARER figures.

2 good examples : Purple Quakewave, Toyworld Orion.

The sellers that do not need quick cash will not lose out.

Sellers that need quick cash get far less due to low balling and haggling.

So the moral is Pricing should be an option.

[FreedomGundam]

I'm genuinely curious here: why do people associate "price is listed" with "prices not negotiable"? I've always felt that it just gives the buyer/seller a starting point from which to work with.

I believe a transaction with no prices listed would go along the lines of this:
1) Buyer sees listing
2) Buyer PMs seller with inquiries on price
3) Seller returns PM with prices
4) Negotiation of prices/whatever via PM
5) Items sold; both buyer and seller are happy

The way I see it, a listing with prices jumps straight to step 3 or 4, which speeds things up.

I can get that some items would have a "Make an offer" tag; I totally understand that you'd want to get top dollar for your much rarer stuff (ie: exclusives, prototypes, out-of-production 3P stuff, etc). But when it's a listing of all just regular mass-retail-release figures? I think it just saves time in that case to have prices listed.

[Pascal]

Originally Posted by FreedomGundam

I'm genuinely curious here: why do people associate "price is listed" with "prices not negotiable"? I've always felt that it just gives the buyer/seller a starting point from which to work with.

I believe a transaction with no prices listed would go along the lines of this:
1) Buyer sees listing
2) Buyer PMs seller with inquiries on price
3) Seller returns PM with prices
4) Negotiation of prices/whatever via PM
5) Items sold; both buyer and seller are happy

The way I see it, a listing with prices jumps straight to step 3 or 4, which speeds things up.

I can get that some items would have a "Make an offer" tag; I totally understand that you'd want to get top dollar for your much rarer stuff (ie: exclusives, prototypes, out-of-production 3P stuff, etc). But when it's a listing of all just regular mass-retail-release figures? I think it just saves time in that case to have prices listed.

All this.

[JLvatron]

Originally Posted by FreedomGundam

I'm genuinely curious here: why do people associate "price is listed" with "prices not negotiable"? I've always felt that it just gives the buyer/seller a starting point from which to work with.

Interesting.
Again, this info would need be specified.

Like default presumption = negotians allowed, unless the subject includes [Fixed].

[RocketGTR]

As many people have stated listing a price will just make things faster or give you an idea of what their price range is. That being said if the seller hasn't listed a price then they are pretty much stating that they are willing to take the time to do the extra bit of communication to make the sale because to them it is worth it.

As a buyer you have many people to choose from to deal with. The search function can help make it easier to find what you're looking for. If someone who doesn't have a price has something you must have then you know you will be asking them anyways. If it's widely available then move along to someone you'd rather deal with. As a buyer you also don't have to wait for them to tell you their price. You can message them with what you're willing to pay and go from there.

And someone stated that they didn't like waiting for a response from someone to tell them what a price is because it was holding them up. I have to note that I've been kept waiting to hear from people who HAVE had prices listed. So having a price listed doesn't ensure quicker responses. And again as stated above you can always move on to someone if it's a more widely available figure.

In summation yes it'd be nice if prices are listed. No I don't think it's necessary to enforce it as both parties should have the right to choose how they do their own business.

[teruo313]

Just throwing it out there but I belong to a message board where people discuss specifically made in Japan golf equipment. Prior to a couple of years ago, some people would list prices others wouldn't in the BST section. However that changed and it was made mandatory to list a price.

What ended up happening however was that most of the bigger sellers on there who didn't have prices previously ended up putting up higher prices to deter low ballers and to provide room to negotiate, which is understandable. This then caused a lot of smaller sellers just looking to part out their own collection pieces to list them in kind.

This led to how it operates now, most prices are stupid high (like ebay including shipping high) and the buyers still end up having to message the person to negotiate a better deal. No time saved.

Sure there's a price there, but big deal, you have to still go through the whole negotiating aspect anyways. While I'm not saying that would happen here, but I'm just posting on what happened when another collecting community changed their rules.