I'm not familiar with setting up sites but wouldn't that only be if the site was selling things themselves? If we users put a picture of an item and contact info for those wanting to buy it would you be involved in the transaction really? I would think a thread would be comparible to a FB page doing the same thing.
True they're more well known marketplaces but as many who have posted there can attest it can be hard to get attention to your product over the immense volume. Here being a more targeted audience I was thinking could have a chance of finding more success at moving items.
Side note is this site known as a roleplay site? See I was thinking it might bring some of the original kind of traffic, anime fans. Could encourage people to show off collections of their favorites series' and reignite some discussions maybe.
Idk I thought it'd be interesting and I'm basically asking if anyone would have an issue if from time to time I posted something for sale. I've never seen any rules against it so I wanted to test the water before just going ahead and doing it.
On the point of the site's infrastructure concerning whether or not they'd technically be involved in the transaction, I suppose that would depend on whether or not it officially promotes itself as being a platform for sales activity. To answer your question on whether or not the site itself would have to be selling things then technically no. eBay does not technically sell anything itself and neither does Craigslist or Etsy. They may have products of their own but usually they are either sold as sub-assigned merchants on those platforms, or if they are sold directly by the platform, that still wouldn't change the fact that even if they didn't sell their own product, they'd still be accountable for sales performed on their platform since they are meant to oversee activity conducted on there, based on the fact that they are effectively promoting, processing and directing (whether they have their hands in it or not) every transaction made. Facebook is technically held to the same standards. They may not be considered an e-commerce platform based on the fact that they are known and utilized for so much more, but if someone sold something illegal on Facebook, and Facebook did nothing to prevent the sale and simply said "it's between the users, not my problem", then Facebook would still be accountable for the transaction since it was their site that was utilized to perform the illegal activity, making them involved regardless if they promoted it or not. It's effectively guilt by association and considered complacency in breach of reasonable conduct. That's why Facebook -despite not technically being categorized as a market site- still takes its own measures to make sure things are done fairly and respond to complaints made on the market side among it's user base. But I would still venture to bet that Facebook still had to get certain certifications for it's site to be able to officially promote sale activity, regardless who the primary sellers are. They may have had them much earlier before the facebook market came along since other activity that they've done in the past may have utilized the same certifications, but it doesn't change that they were needed regardless.
Attention to product isn't generally overwhelmed by an excess in volume, but by the fact that they aren't promoted. It's amazing how much difference a seller sees the moment that they do some very basic social media self-advertising and other such things. That isn't to say that being your own provider isn't difficult and hard to pull off, but there's a saying of "nothing that is worth having is easy to get" and I'd say trying to make your own service or product in this day and age is definitely a worthwhile goal, doesn't mean it won't have it's challenges. That isn't to discount that some ways are easier than others, so on the subject of utilizing a site (like this one for example) to find a more specific target market, it'd make more sense for them to talk to the owners/managers of this site, work out a deal where they can promote themselves here and push their already pre-existing merchant profiles on Etsy, eBay, Amazon, ecetera instead of trying to conduct the sales here, where it isn't a supported traffic. It'd have the same exact effect and show of numbers to the seller, and not require the site to bend to the need of accommodating sales activity and handling potential misconduct.
This site is primarily in my short experience so far known mostly for it's roleplay. I'd say that's supported by the fact that when you look at the rank-listings for staff members or unique positions here, you have:
- Admin
- Global Mod
- Roleplay Admin
- Roleplay Mod
- Designer
- Forum Sensei
These roles are by majority made up of roleplay related positions, which to me suggests that there's more need for them based on quantity than there is for other more generalized positions. Now that isn't to say other things don't go on here (or that the non-specifically roleplay related positions don't do anything, they very much do); all sorts of discussion and sub-forums exist directly on the front page that encourages both the artistically inclined (design, writing, video editing, etc) and overall general discussion about either specific or generally anime, manga or other medias and forms of interest. But by and large the majority of the forums activity seems to take place predominately in the roleplay section, where you can tell based on how much work and intricacy has been dedicated to creating a very "RPG" style forum roleplay here. While in regards to people being able to show off their collections and other such things, that isn't something they can't already do regardless if sale activity goes on here. If someone had a collection of anything really, I'm sure they could reasonably make a thread of it in possible Chatterbox or if it's apart of a specific anime, they could probably take it to the Main Hall or Artist Alley of the Anime & Manga sub-forums (and arguably this is where you could say people wanting to promote themselves or their products could go as well already).
I think it's great you're coming up with these ideas and posting them. That is the point of sites having these sorts of sections and I'm sure the staff appreciate it all, but sometimes certain ideas just aren't entirely feasible if they require foundations that aren't exactly supported by the ones that are already in place. There is always alternatives and possibly other ways to look at it that helps maybe develop a fresh and new idea that other sites may not have considered, so having these discussions is always a good idea.
