The BST is like the Wild West and I wonder if regulating it further would do more harm than good.
There’s a wildly divergent quality of buyer/seller etiquette and the valuing of yoyos based on condition and desirability is just all over the place. This is because of the range of people using it. You’ve got your seasoned BSTers and first-timers, adults and kids.
For those of you constantly running a BST I can see how you’d lose your cool and get frustrated and maybe some additional guidelines would help, but let’s be reasonable.
On one hand, a rule that all yoyos for sale should be priced would be the most reasonable new rule, but on the other, since prices go all over the place no one wants to undervalue their yoyo and not make as much as the next person, or overvalue and never sell. The best I think is to price and then drop it incrementally for a faster sale or keep firm and wait. Either way, yes, prices would be good. I skip so many ads that don’t have prices because that usually indicates the seller is probably valuing their yoyos higher than I’d pay. Whatevs, I posted stuff without pricing as well, so… But then I price and drop it down over time…
I’m grateful there’s a BST section at all. I wouldn’t push for much more regulation (other than mandatory listed prices and pictures) or subcategorization; YYE is in the business of selling new equipment and I’m just glad I don’t have to go elsewhere (for now) for my BST needs.
One thing that would help this whole issue would be a yoyo blue book. That would be sweet if someone would put a thread together with average resale prices for yoyos together.
I honestly think you could remove a lot of the issues by simply requiring an asking price in all sale BST posts.
I am on other forums frequently that deal with much higher levels of traffic in their sales forums where the price is required and it really removes a lot of the guessing and repeat offenders of vague posts.
It is something that has surprised me a lot here to be honest.
I open up a post and all it says is “Offer Big” with a picture of an un-marked, generic looking yo-yo.
At that point I can’t help but wonder:
What is said yo-yo? How do I even know what to search to come up with a good offer for it?
It is a doomed ad from the start.
It honestly drives me up a wall, but, it is true that it doesn’t hurt anyone. It just guarantees that their yo-yo will go unsold.
Also, as a personal annoyance, the numerous brand abbreviations and lack of labelling pictures of un-named yo-yos drives me insane. Especially if said unmarked photos are in a gallery with many others.
Anyways, just my $0.02.
So after reading this thread, I want to make sure my BST is not annoying to anyone. So what do you guys think? I tried to look at the ones people posted that were good and people posted that were bad and do the good things and not the bad things.
Putting a higher price never hurts anyone, but it might mean that you don’t sell your items quickly, if at all. When determining a price, look through other sites where they might be for sale or on the BST forum. See if you find any like yours that have sold and see what they went for. The big bidding sites allow you to look at ended auctions. That’s the way I determine my prices.
Good luck ^^
I think that all FOR SALE posts need to have a price but in pure trade posts I think you could get away with putting “offer”… not “offer big” or some variant there of but a simple “offer” does have an acceptable use.
An example would be something like:
“For Trade, mint Comeback Avalanche. I am looking to try something new make an offer.”
Then you can go on from there. Maybe specify the companies you want but that would be an acceptable use of “offer”. On the flip side I am right there with the others here. If I see “offer” I just drive on by.
Was brainstorming this issue the other night(how sad is that…) and one of the things i’d thought would be cool would be listing your B/S/T like normal, but then we have a centralized database where you can easily search for available throws. So for instance it would have different search preferences and i could select by manufacturer, then by model, and get a link to all the B/S/Ts that have that model available. It would be a pain to keep updated and require extra work for sellers, but i think it has great potential and would pay off by letting more people find threads. It could also let people add alerts so for instance if someone lists a General Yo Hatrick or yoyorecreation Sleipnir or whatever i’d get an email. Some people say just use the forum search, but there’s 2 problems; a) searching by model turns up lots of people’s wants in the B/S/T, not just throws for sale/trade, and b) even if you sort by date, someone with a 2 month old thread that they constantly update is going to appear below newer threads, even if it was just updated with new available yoyos. Anyway, just something i was thinking about.
I have a wants list and then I have what I’d trade. I’ve still gotten cash offers though. I will sell, but I’d prefer to trade.
JeiCheetah
(J̵̡̥̦̳̗͎̤̯̟͓̞͔͔̻́͛͐̒͋̔̈́͂̃͝ͅͅ E I H W Δ N̸̢̢̡͙͖̝̩̟͎̹̻͔̳͕̙̗̈̆̆͋̈́͛̀̑̒̂̀̈́̇̚͘͠ͅ)
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When someone post a BST with only “offer” instead of prices, I consider that individual to be a ignorant stuck up selfish kid without a purpose in the BST. Just how I feel.
If you are serious about selling something, you would have a price range. Many people don’t know what to price a yoyo at, and they feel put off and decide not to offer. You get more notice if you put a price range estimate. I have experienced this first hand and know what moves faster. Given, you need to know the market values, and go with those as well (nothing makes me more annoyed than these “I know some sell for less, but I don’t care, if you want it, buy it.” that honestly makes you a completely self righteous obnoxious leech.)
People need to put prices, I always do, it makes things quicker, smoother, more pleasant, and you won’t have to deal with those “lowball” offers that you bring upon yourself.
I put up prices in all of my things. Back in february, I did a pretty huge sale. I ended up selling of 9 metals in less than a week. I feel everything moves quicker when prices are added.
Prices + willingness to compromise and you will move yoyos quickly. No prices + overly strict requirements (“don’t offer brand x yoyos or I will prosecute you in a court of law, cage free organic throws only, etc”) and those yoyos will sit on the BST for half a year.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The BST board is chaotic for a reason. It drives the people who have money to buy new yoyos instead of dealing with the juvenile issues involved with buying from the BST.
It’s work on me for sure.
