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Little_Ghost_again
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science madness swap sell and buy site
hi
In a thread I cant find now it was mentioned that people would like something like the title says with maybe a 1% fee for the site owner.
I U2U the top man and got permission to go ahead if enough people want it.
The condition being only one thread on it.
Now 1% isnt going to cover server costs or make it possible to offer escrow etc. But if enough people are interested I have a plan, I would get the
site up and running and charge 1%, however it would need people who use amazon etc to order through the site so I could get an affiliate fee. the
affiliate fee dosnt cost you a penny its just a link from my site to what you buy and I would get a small commission.
If enough people did this then it might just be feasible to get something up and running.
I know I am a kid but hey I am willing to give this my best shot.
So tell me what you think (aga only allowed when sober  )...
Added gaps for aga
[Edited on 9-10-2015 by Little_Ghost_again]
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aga
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Try to make sense whilst sober.
Add a blank line now and then, between paragraphs at least ?
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Little_Ghost_again
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anything else to add? your advice would be hugely appreciated on this seeing as its your area of real expertise (being serious).
LG
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Dr.Bob
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I don't like using Amazon to sell lab supplies, as they charge a minimum of 15% in fees and don't allow most people to sell science supplies unless
you get Jeff's personal blessing. I used to sell lab supplies there, but they made it so difficult that I moved to Ebay and also here. Paypal
works well for small purchases, and they only charge 3% and give buyers protection, which seems reasonable to me. For books, they are more practical
(and don't have many real competitors), but even that is 15% plus more fees. But I would be happy to do any links or affiliates if it generates
something useful.
I would be happy to list things here or on a sciencemadness site of some sort, I have been meaning to find a better system than I have now, but have
been just too busy. I know that Zombie tried to organize some group buys, and found it challenging, and I have had some hiccups myself, but if you
can do it, great. Maybe you could also try to get a few companies to offer some sort of sponsorship to sci mad, like Elemental or a few others. I
have offered to try to help sciencemadness, in some ways, but not done much. I hope to offer some books up for cheap/free/postage only, but not sure
of a good ways to do that. Also, shipping overseas is tough, so not many people or businesses are likely to want to do that. I do some shipments,
but packages over 4 pounds have been a pain/nightmare in general.
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Little_Ghost_again
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Quote: Originally posted by Dr.Bob  | I don't like using Amazon to sell lab supplies, as they charge a minimum of 15% in fees and don't allow most people to sell science supplies unless
you get Jeff's personal blessing. I used to sell lab supplies there, but they made it so difficult that I moved to Ebay and also here. Paypal
works well for small purchases, and they only charge 3% and give buyers protection, which seems reasonable to me. For books, they are more practical
(and don't have many real competitors), but even that is 15% plus more fees. But I would be happy to do any links or affiliates if it generates
something useful.
I would be happy to list things here or on a sciencemadness site of some sort, I have been meaning to find a better system than I have now, but have
been just too busy. I know that Zombie tried to organize some group buys, and found it challenging, and I have had some hiccups myself, but if you
can do it, great. Maybe you could also try to get a few companies to offer some sort of sponsorship to sci mad, like Elemental or a few others. I
have offered to try to help sciencemadness, in some ways, but not done much. I hope to offer some books up for cheap/free/postage only, but not sure
of a good ways to do that. Also, shipping overseas is tough, so not many people or businesses are likely to want to do that. I do some shipments,
but packages over 4 pounds have been a pain/nightmare in general. |
Thank you Dr Bob,
Really helpful information. I am not 100% sure yet how to go about this which is why I started a thread and asked Polverone if it would be ok.
This is more in response to a recent thread where it was mentioned and some people seemed keen. The Amazon thing was just an example, I know in the UK
ebay no longer lets you list nitric acid and some people use it.
The Amazon thing was more for people who buy things off there to go through the site and buy whatever they were getting via a affiliate link, I am not
sure how it works but something like you want to buy something there and and send a message to the SM selling site this notifies me via phone I go
read the message and set up the link, then they click the link on the site and I get the commission.
Not great but workable, for sellers I appreciate Amazon is not maybe the best but it would help keep the site costs down if people who were using
Amazon for whatever (dosnt have to be science) used a link via the site.
My main concern is starting something that I cant afford to keep going, I am not after huge profit but equally at 15 I cant afford to run a site like
that at a loss.
I was thinking of contacting Tom and the UK company that do the cheap clamps, I am wondering if it might make things easier if people order via one
site and then the site sends the orders already sorted to the different companies.
In your or other main sellers cases I could give you kind of 'moderator' rites, this would allow you to list items in a shopping type software
package. Depending on what others think it could then be possible to set up a monthly buy.
This is thinking out loud so just idea's........
If you listed books I could then send a bulk order to you once a month for the UK buyers and separate bulk orders for the other countries, so for the
UK if shipping worked out cheaper to send Bulk to me then I split and send via the cheapo couriers like click and collect, this should cut the cost???
I dont know what software is out there but I can try and set up some basic packages and get members to feedback what they like or dont like and build
from there. I also think its a good idea to contact Tom and the companies I use in the UK and see what they think, It would certainly help SM members
if they had everything in one place and let the software or me then send the companies the presorted information.
I also would like to use the same software for people to do swaps etc, this could be a set fee or % commission depending if its a private sale or a
swap, it might even be possible to get a simplified ebay clone type software but thats a bit ambitious at the moment.
I know over 4lb you get hammered in costs, but there must be a sweet spot where bulk sending gets much cheaper? I have brought a large hunk of
equipment from over there before, it was a old logic analyzer, the shipping was around £120 but it weighed 40Kg.
I can send 10Kg within the UK for around £4 if I shop around.
Anyway I open to thoughts and suggestions.
Dont ask me, I only know enough to be dangerous
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Little_Ghost_again
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not much interest then! Funny it gets mentioned in a couple of threads and people say yeah would be good and its been talked about, but when you offer
to try and set something up little interest.
Dont ask me, I only know enough to be dangerous
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Oscilllator
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| Quote: Originally posted by Little_Ghost_again | not much interest then! Funny it gets mentioned in a couple of threads and people say yeah would be good and its been talked about, but when you offer
to try and set something up little interest.
|
Little_Ghost I think the problem is that there aren't actually that many members looking to buy and sell things, and so an informal system of posting
threads in the Reagents and Apparatus Aquisition forum actually works quite well.
If it got to the point that there were so many buying and selling threads there that it inhibited discussion about other topics then perhaps a system
like this could be set up.
I don't know if you were there at the time but a while back there was a surge in interest about radiochemisty, with quite a few active threads. It was
eventually suggested that a new subforum be made and IIRC Polverone said it wouldn't be a good idea because although there might be an initial surge
of posts, they would die off after a while. As you can see however the subforum was eventually made and things panned out exactly as Polverone
predicted. Seems to me that this situation is almost exactly analogous, and that a new system probably wouldn't help at all.
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Little_Ghost_again
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| Quote: Originally posted by Oscilllator | | Quote: Originally posted by Little_Ghost_again | not much interest then! Funny it gets mentioned in a couple of threads and people say yeah would be good and its been talked about, but when you offer
to try and set something up little interest.
|
Little_Ghost I think the problem is that there aren't actually that many members looking to buy and sell things, and so an informal system of posting
threads in the Reagents and Apparatus Aquisition forum actually works quite well.
If it got to the point that there were so many buying and selling threads there that it inhibited discussion about other topics then perhaps a system
like this could be set up.
I don't know if you were there at the time but a while back there was a surge in interest about radiochemisty, with quite a few active threads. It was
eventually suggested that a new subforum be made and IIRC Polverone said it wouldn't be a good idea because although there might be an initial surge
of posts, they would die off after a while. As you can see however the subforum was eventually made and things panned out exactly as Polverone
predicted. Seems to me that this situation is almost exactly analogous, and that a new system probably wouldn't help at all. |
I can see what your saying, but I am just going by the suggestion of a swap or exchange site. Sure there is this section but the downside is people
like Tom for example and Dr Bob have to be contacted directly etc, then things split and shipped to different places.
What I was proposing for example is in the case of Dr bobs books a site could collate the orders. He could then ship everything to one place in each
country.
Also it would have been a single place to buy the things you buy all the time, for example not everyone has a sigma account. While I dont I do have
access to someone who does at good prices.
I cant afford even there great price but, say for example 6 people ordered the same chemical from the site I could of then put forward a bulk order
and got the price reduced.
So my idea in some ways was a mix of buy,sell,swap,exchange and bulk ordering in one place. What I would like to hear is where do people buy there
chems from? I know many go OTC but equally alot of us dont have that option beyond vinegar .
I have contacted the place where the cheap clamps were from, they are on special offer but they would continue this for bulk orders and drop ship, I
have also contacted Daschem who have said they could adjust the price because they wouldnt have ebay and Alibaba fees.
So it is possible to get some good deals.
[Edited on 11-10-2015 by Little_Ghost_again]
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woelen
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There are other issues besides panning out of a swap/sell/buy section. Transactions, involving (potentially hazardous) chemicals are frowned upon
strongly by officials. If there ever would be serious problems with the (ab)use of chemicals, transferred after a deal on sciencemadness, then that
could be the end of sciencemadness. Sciencemadness is a discussion forum and allows quite a lot of subjects to be discussed and also allows people to
offer chemicals and equipment (as long as they are not direct drugsprecursors or can be used immediately for making bombs), but sciencemadness does
not endorse such transactions. Transactions need to be arranged in private.
I think that the current policy of sciencemadness provides sufficient room for offering chemicals and equipment.
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aga
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Trying to Organise people at any level is very difficult.
In the context of the SM member's chem & apparatus purchases, there simply is not the sustained demand to make it worthwhile.
People will buy from people/companies they feel comfortable with no matter what other SM-based alternatives are/would be available.
The only real incentive that could coax people into buying from an SM based supplier would be a substantial discount over Every web-based discount
chem seller (e.g. China, Poland or Czech based sellers)
Given the Global spread of the SM population, Postal Costs would screw any attempt at 'centralisation' right up.
Bottom line is that it won't work, and won't generate any $ for anyone.
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Little_Ghost_again
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no fair enough, I will drop it
Dont ask me, I only know enough to be dangerous
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aga
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A simple alternative would be a Single thread called "Wanted/For Sale".
People post what they want or have for sale.
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Texium
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| Quote: Originally posted by aga | A simple alternative would be a Single thread called "Wanted/For Sale".
People post what they want or have for sale. |
Or we could continue doing what we are already, as it seems to
be working quite well. A single thread will have listings become outdated quickly with no way to remove them, barring moderator intervention. It would
be very hard to tell which listings are dead and which ones are still active as the thread grows. Sellers who are having trouble getting noticed there
would then likely revert to the system of starting new threads to sell their items.
That's my prediction of what would happen, though I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try it out anyway.
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TheIdeanator
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Why not set up a new section under non-chemistry instead? I'm vaguely interested in buying and sorting through non-sales threads for sale stuff is a
bit time consuming.
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Little_Ghost_again
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I am trying out some auction software
Dont ask me, I only know enough to be dangerous
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The Volatile Chemist
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Naa, no new section is necessary. The system now is good, and we don't have many sellers anyways.
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Little_Ghost_again
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I will set it up as its a bit of a ebay clone and see how it goes, I will open it up wider than just here and the fees are alot less than ebay. If it
dosnt work out then all I loose is some time, a few sellers and companies have come forward that are interested, most have said they can offer
discounts as the fees are lower than ebay and Amazon.
Ultimately it will be down to whether people want to buy from it or not, for what its going to cost to set up its worth a punt.
Maybe the lack of sellers has something to do with the way its set up for selling? rather than people not having something to sell.
I dont know yet, but once its up and running feel free to use it... or not
[Edited on 11-11-2015 by Little_Ghost_again]
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The Volatile Chemist
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Sounds mice, will be looking forward to your 'beta' 
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Praxichys
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Well, I came back to this thread to find that Little_Ghost_Again has beaten me to the punch.
I set something up. Let me know what you think:
EDIT: I bought a domain. We have http://www.synthsource.org/
[Edited on 13-11-2015 by Praxichys]
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Dr.Bob
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Pretty spiffy Praxichys. I'll try to find the time to set up something on there. Also happy to look at anything Little Ghost has to offer, but
happy to try anything anyone is willing to set up.
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Praxichys
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Hey, that would be great. You should also create a thread about yourself in the "seller profile" section. It doesn't have to contain much information,
mostly just reasons people should buy from you, references, etc. Mine just has links to threads from SM with mercury sales feedback and my eBay
profile. The thread is designed to be a place for customers to leave feedback about sales, which will establish a database that helps future customers
know who to trust. As soon as you create it, I would be happy to leave the first positive feedback, and I'm sure there are others waiting in line to
do so as well.
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j_sum1
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I just had a look and bookmarked. I think it has a lot of potential.
I also invited a seller in China that I have contact with to put his details on the site.
Zts, I got a nice vigreux from him really cheap.
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rebenergy
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I also Bookmarked. Will be checking in with interest.
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The Volatile Chemist
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Very nice, well worth the domain purchase!
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Little_Ghost_again
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I have a fair bit of work to do it on yet, and still sorting out paypal and world pay gateways etc.
Any suggestions on category etc would be appreciated. Its very much like a cut down version of ebay, you can pick a fixed price or opt for an auction.
I wont be 'skinning' it until until I have the functions working right, I also have it under an existing domain name but will change that once I am
happy with it.
I have the option of charging fixed fees for listings or charging a percentage of sale price. What kind of fee structure would people prefer?
Dont ask me, I only know enough to be dangerous
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