Much to do about little...

Bob Treend · Site Admin Joined: 01 Jul 2007 Posts: 80

It seems some people have taken high exception to the $20 membership fee for our site and have posted their feeling on Wehrmacht-Awards forum. Some were pretty nasty about it. I decided to respond and have posted that response here for those interested. I know, it's long winded, but this really rattled my cage.

Wednesday, July 2nd.

This is a response to all those negative comments about our site.... If you don't like what I have to say, then you can post more poison right there.

First, let me say that frankly, I've never seen such a bunch of paranoid and bickering, cheap, old ladies. Your're darn right, I'm asking a measly $20 for a years membership. For that the members gets full use of the site, he can run a thousand ads if he wants to. Can buy as much as he wants, communicate with other members and basically has the run of the place. Now, I'm sure you cry babies don't give a hoot, but I've spent almost every day for the past 2 years working on this site... without getting a penny in return. I've also paid out over $22,000, mostly in programming fees, to make it what it is. And, if I do say so myself, it's an extremely well done web site. I can't think of a site that could be better for the buying and selling of militaria. I don't want this post to sound like an ad, but that's the way it is.

As to the members and what they post, the emails they send, etc. I have limited control over that. We have a policy against fakes and enforce it as best we can, however, we can only do so much. I've asked the members to advise me of fakes they see on the site so I can take action. Very few bother, they just cover their own backs and let the others take care of themselves. Human nature I guess. I do have a group of 3 guys, all very experienced and qualified collecors who have helped me police the site, and we have removed more items that were fake than you would believe. If an item is ''questionable'', we try to give it the benifit of the doubt. As to not answering emails about fakes, I always try to, however I don't always agree with what they say.

One of the negative things about policeing the site in this way, is that it makes some collectors mad when we ask them to remove a piece. I recently had a member who had 13 items posted, one fake. When I asked him to remove it he sent me a scathing email telling me to ''just remove them all and go stick your site up....''. You get the idea. I can't help but wonder if some of this negative press is posted by ticked-off fake peddlers?? When it comes to the fakes, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

Because we feel that some member just haven't gotten around to renewing their subscription, we have left their ads up on the site. They would not like it much if we removed them, they renewed, and no ads.... They would have to post them all over again. As a courtesy, if a member responses to an ad posted by another member who is not current, an email is sent to the member telling him he has a email waiting and he needs to renew. I see here that some people think this is a kind of scam. If you don't want to renew and don't think our site or the email is worth $20 then just don't renew. Simple as that.

I'm tired of this, so I'll sum up. I've busted my ... trying to create the perfect site for buying and selling Geman Militaria. It is not ''perfect'' I know. No site ever can be. As long as there are Nazi collectors involved there will be problems, because you know what a bunch of stinkers some of them can be. If you feel that $20 a year is too much for what you get, that's fine, you can use it toward that $10,000 tunic you're going to buy....

A couple of hours later.....

I thought I would check back and see if anyone saw my post. I was surprised at how quick and how many collectors, not only saw it, but answered. Just shows how good this forum is! If you agree with me or not, I appreciate the feedback. (and sorry if I got a little carried away... but when you mess with someone's baby....)

Now to the question of why I'm charging a flat $20 membership fee and not just charging to sell like other sites. I really hoped I would not have to explain this, but here goes.

Today the hobby of collecting Third Reich militaria is booming. It is definately a SELLER'S MARKET. There are far more collecors than there are collectibles available and so prices have soared as a result. If a collector has a good piece and wants to sell it, he has no problem finding buyers. Since I launched the site about 18 months ago, I've found that getting the buyers to join was no problem. The problem was getting the sellers to list their stuff. Because anyone can set up a web site these day, many collectors/dealers think that they can just post their stuff on their site, sit back, and wait for the orders to come flocking in. In the case of some of the ''big time'' dealers, that may be true, but for the avearge collector definately not. Traffic is the key to a good militaria web site and you would not believe all we do to generate it. If you doubt me just go to Google and type in.... german militaria... or.... german collectibles.... and watch us pop up front and center!

Here's the point... I don't want to do anything that will discourage someone from listing their militaria for sale on the site. In other words, make them have to pay for running an ad or auction.

Let's say Rupert is a member and Rupert has a medal for sale. Do you think Rupert is more likely to list the medal if the ad is free, or if he has to pay? Gee; here's a tough one! By keeping the ads/auctions free for members it GETS MORE STUFF POSTED!

Now as to those people who think it's unfair to have to pay when they just to buy and not sell.... Ok, let me ask you this. Which site would you rather be a member of.... one that's free to buyers and has 2 or 3 hundred items for sale? Or one you pay a whopping $20 a year for and has almost 2,000 items for sale?... like ours! If you opt for the first one you should see a doctor....

I don't know how I can explain it any better. I decided on this type of payment system after months of pondering the best way. I think it is the simplest, easiest, way. The intention to do this was posted on our site numerous times for six months before we lauched it... some people never get the message. I figured any real collector would not think twice about $20 a year. That's the second mistake I've made this year... I wish I could continue to offer it free, but let's get real, there are expenses that have to be paid.

Finally, if you are thinking about just selling on your own new web site, you might want to read a little article I wrote on the subject. I tried to inject a little humor in it... but the info is dead serious. And whether you think so or not, I do know what I'm talking about. Just go to the link below and scroll down a little and you'll find it. And no, you don't have to pay anything to read it.... Bob

http://germanmilitariacollectibles.c...1_archive.html

Then the next morning....

Over night I had some thoughts about the big $20 contorversy. I do have a web site to manage, so this will be my last posting on the subject. I know I might be rambling here, but time is precious and this is not a holy text... Here goes!

First: Quite a few people keep talking about our's being the only site that charges a fee... The ''FREE'' websites that we are compared to are owned by people who are selling their own merchandise and making a nice profit. Ours is a site where the members are doing the selling. Today there are 2,000 ads with items for sale by 212 different members. And keep in mind we are not getting any commission off these items. Our only source of revenue is that outrageous $20 membership fee.

For years buyers have paid for catalogs from Manion's auctions, then they paid a high percentage sales comission fee to buy there, PLUS! Inflated shipping.

Collectors paid to subscribe to 'Der Gauleiter' which could arrive anywhere from 2 to 7 days after mailing, and often the best items went to collectors close to the point of mailing. So did they cry? No. (at least most didn't)

They paid for AAGI, Mohawk, Steffen's, and other mail order catalogs, year in and year out. They waited for them to arrive by snail mail, and make the best of the situation.

They pay right now, to get Militaria Trader through the mail, and see what may still be left.

They paid for 'Militaria', Military Advisor:, Military Collector's News and endless other resources.

They pay to go to a show, drive for hours, pay for hotels, pay admissions, parking, and for tables, then they pay $3.50 for a coke and $5.50 for a hot dog, or a beer and do they whine? NO!

So, what are they paying out all this money for? Access to available relics; a chance to find items to buy. Sometimes they are just getting an all text 10 page typed list, (with or without any semblance of pictures) or a magazine with just a few ads in it. Whatever the form, or content, it is costing them money.

So, what about germanmilitaricollectibles.com? What to we offer for $20? We provide constant access to fresh listings of relics for sale, descriptions, photos, a means of direct contact, wanted ads, for sale ads, auctions, a blog and forums, plus unlimited use of our site.... for $1.77 per month.

One day eBay came along and considered a buyer to be HOLY and SACRED! All of a sudden the buyer is to be worshipped. He does not have to compete, he is entitled and deserves to be served and pampered. Some collectors got spoiled, like little children who get anything they want free from Grandma. Now it is so bad, they feel entitled to dictate the way of the world. It had better be free for them, or they will cry to grandma and throw a baby fit. Of course it never was really free... ever look at the commissions? Now Ebay doesn't even want our relics on their site.

If you don't want access to the relics for $1.77 per month, that is your decision. Walk away from the pile of goodies, buy an extra large order of fries, and celebrate your victory! If you don't want to buy any of that great stuff, someone else, with more foresight than you, will.

Finally, I want to thank the hundreds of members who renewed their membership in the past couple of weeks, as well as the new members that joined recently. In one year we went from 300 items listed to about 2,000 items currently. In that year hundreds of items were sold. Today there are more and better items offered than ever before. I'm sure the site will continue to grow in the future... and hope you will all be part of it.

Good collecting, Bob

	Militaria Forum Forum Index -> What's New	All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1