I am not sure if this has been suggested before, but could we get a forum on here for selling and trading MRR products? I am not suggesting turning the place into ebay, but if I have a loco that I would like to trade (an even exchange) or sell at a fixed price, this forum seems like a great place to do it. Perhaps there is a way of keeping large volume sellers off (through a registration process and product limit).
Any thoughts?
Since Kalmbach/MRR is in the business of selling advertising I would think it is more likely that this web site would offer some sort of on-line classified section for a fee.
My brother and Myself are members of a sports memorabilia forum where members trade and sell items. They have a feedback system simalar to ebay and weed out scammers from the good guys. It works well and I think we could do the same for trains. There is no cost. A free “swap meet”
Go to a site like trainboard.com or the-gauge.com; they have exactly what you’re looking for.
Read Kalmbach’s forum policies at the top of the page and that should answer your question. Personally, I would not want anything like that added to this forum because too many people would be posting in the wrong area and it would become impossible to separate them.
I like the idea. But how would you keep from getting ripped off? I mean at least Ebay has some buyer/seller protection. I am not saying anyone here is bad, but there is always people out there like that. I would not send someone I didn’t know well a custom loco and be waiting for one in return, then not getting it.
I was a member of a cowboy board that has a forum for buying and selling firearms. There was never a problem. I think part of that is the “cowboy code” that a person is a good as their word. But the fact was, that if a person did an unfair deal, they would be ostricized, and so no one did it. These firearms sold for a lot more than trains stuff does. I bought a Sharps sight unseen for $1100 and it was exactly as described. Some firearms are a lot more expensive than that.
So how do you do it? Trust. Trust in your community.