SLO-S2000 - Not to be a jerk but seriously, $20/year equals $1.67 per month. I find it hard to believe that if you get a reasonable benefit from this site that you can't afford that. If so, maybe you shouldn't drive an S2000......

 

No its ok...I've thought about it before...but frankly...I don't make much money right now...luckily my parents are nice enough to help me out when I need it.

The truth is that my summer starts in one month and that I will be getting my old job back then and also probably another job so affording a membership wont be a problem then, and I was thinking about it before and still am. Affording the S is not a problem, I do fine maintaining it.

I guess the main thing I feel is that I do contribute a lot to this site at times...enough that revoking my privilage to sell a few things is pretty messed up. I understand that you are trying to reduce spam, and other unwanted people from the for sale forums, and that is perfectly fine, I just think their can be a better way to do things while still leaving some way for the guests to have a chance

 

REV IT you are absolutely correct in saying people should only buy from members. I too have been saying that for a long time. I've also said that you need to be careful about who you send money to on the Internet. This can't be stated enough and has been my standard response from the beginning. There are steps you can take to avoid the possibility of being ripped off. I'm going to list from top to bottom the things I can think of to prevent being taken, whether you are a member or not.

- Buy from someone you know personally. You knwo where they live, you have shared friends, you can kidnap their family dog and hold it for ransom.

- When it's really important use escrow.com. They are a licenced escrow service that offers small and large ticket escrow services for surprisingly little online with little fuss. This is the most secure way to handle a transaction with someone you dont know (and maybe even many you do). If it's worth more than $2000 then you should consider this seriously.

- Pay by credit card. When a vendor charges your card the proof that they delivered the product or service is entirely on them. If you call your credit card company and tell them you didn't get what you were promised then they will require the merchant to prove to them that they did and if they can't they will literally take the money out of the merchants bank account (this is called a chargeback). Some cards offer a form of buyer protection beyond this. You'll need to check your agreement with them for details. If the seller doesn't take credit cards then...

- Pay by PayPal and only pay to verified accounts. Those are accounts that PayPal has verified the bank account and address for. You can file a dispute with PayPal id you get ripped off and they will make the vendors life miserable (this is what all of the PayPal complaining is about). If the seller doesn't take PayPal or is not a verified member then...

- Take your chances.

Those are the ONLY 3 way I know of to take stepes to protect yourselves from being ripped off (as a buyer and as a seller). Membership doesn't offer much. I know what information I have and it doesn't amount to poop so asking me to help when you do get taken isn't going to get you far. I have a PayPal account ID, maybe a credit card number and maybe (if they didn't lie or skip it) a name and address. I have no way to know that any of this information is valid.

DO NOT:

Send a cashiers check, money order, cash or any other instrument of cash that cannot be recalled, voided or reversed. If you are a seller, don't take any form of payment that can be recalled, voided or reversed by the seller. I exclude credit cards and PayPal here because you at least get to prove your case (shipping documents, etc.).

These things I have said before in many topics and they hold true today, tommorow and the next day. The responsibility for a smooth and fair transaction rests with those involved. Be sceptical and buy defensively. If you don't have confidence that the transaction is legit then walk away and evern let me know so I can remove the topic(s). Once the money or product has been sent there is little (read nothing) I can do to help.

s2ki is not a buy/sell service like eBay. It's not what we do or why we exist. The FS forum is for the convenience of members but any transactions you choose to undertake are entirely at your risk.

Not withstanding that, there are other issues involved which I think do benefit from restricting FS to members. Stolen merchandise sales is one. All those S2000 parts that get stolen (hardtops, seats, stereos, wheels, etc. -- not much in an S2000) all get sold to someone somewhere. Having your $3000 wheels stolen and then having them sold on S2KI is a real slap in the face, whether you know it happened or not. I think this is a good argument for restricting topics to members on its own.

Overall I still think it's a good idea maybe not for the most obvious reasons but for a larger number of smaller ones.

As for Members missing out I'm not sure that makes a case. I don't know about 99.999999% of what's bought or sold in S2000 parts and accessories and I don't feel the loss. If I was concerned that much about missing a killer deal on something then I'd have to do far more than just pop into the FS forum now and again. This argument IMHO doesn't hold water. There are just too many different places where S2000 related items are sold to consider the FS forum the be-all in that regard. Far more is sold on eBay than on s2ki. It's one option but not the only one.

 

What's going on here? I belonged to i-club for awhile when I owned my WRX, and you could go anywhere and do whatever for FREE, now having a special members section and stuff I believe is ok, but FORCING people to buy a membership to conduct business with other S2000 owners is pretty shady, yes I know you have to run a website, but the attitude that is starting to show towards guests from members on policies is not to friendly. There are many other forums out there that do not require a membership fee and such. I know this is probably going to happen anyways but be careful how far you go because you might drive off from this forum. Cause all I can see now since the TSB thing for members, now the FS and WTB forum, what next the under the hood forum, gallery forum, whats going to be locked next, before you know this site could be come a member only site. Just my opinions take them how you like them.

 

Oh and by the way the quality of parts on S2ki for rims and such is much better than ebay and many many more S2000 parts, real stuff not knock off crap, and telling us that we can't request things for people to sell us in this great marketplace is crap.

 

and another thing even if I became a member I would still have the same thoughts and views. But as another college student on this board, I have too many expenses coming up to spare $20, I have to get new tires, and several other things, to where $20 here and $20 there starts to add up, and as of right now I need to renew my SCCA membership which to me is more important, $20 is a week of gas, so $20 is very important to me.

 

Personally IMO it is a good move. I like the little bit of extra security knowing that the person I'm dealing with at least has the resources to cough up $20.00 for a membership.

I sold some headlights yesterday - got paid via paypal. The price was $700 and the paypal fee alone was $20 but hey - I got the money instantly - the guy was verified and even though paypal is far from perfect I have a little bit of protection and more options if something doesn't work out.

When this car starts to drop in the $12-15K used price range I think things will go downhill fast.

 

I'm in college too, but like has already been mentioned. If you can afford the payments and insurance on a S2000 then you can afford $1.67 per month for a membership. Don't go out one night with your friends to go drinking, clubbing, etc and you have the $20 for your membership.

 

If you can afford to buy and run an S2000 (IN COLLEGE ) then you can afford $20. Now get back to your class.

 

I don't really think $20 is the issue. $20 a year is not a lot of money for anyone who drives an S2000, I'm sorry but if you were taking the bus to school I might think otherwise but you are driving a 2 seat sports car and being in school probably paying at least $2000 for insurance alone (how much do you pay to park your S2000 on campus?). You can't even get an ATM to spit out less than $20 anymore. I'm never going to buy the argument that $20 a year is a significant amount of money for anyone here. I'm not trying to be harsh or rude or anything but come on man. $20 is not insignificant. It means a lot to the community. But it is not a lot of money for any individual.

The issue as I see it is not that $20 is a lot but rather that it's more than you want to spend, especially on membership. Membership is clearly not a priority for you so you'd rather spend the $20 on a door fee to get into a club or on a lap dance or any of the other things you mention. That's fair. It's your $20 afterall and you can spend it on what you want.

Maybe only allowing Members to post items for sale is just the thing that could change those priorities. It's not my intent but if it works... Different people are motivated by different things. I also agree with lig.

If you can't scrape together $20 I'm not sure you should be selling anything on s2ki. I certainly wouldn't be comfortable sending 2 or 3 thousand dollars to someone who can't raise busfare. If nothing else I at least know that a Member has $20 worth of disposable income a year which means they might have a job, some commitments, obligations and responsabilities. What's shady IMHO is someone selling a $2000 set of rims that can't reach in their pocket and pull out a twenty dollar bill. I know it's horrible to say but if I put myself in the position of the buyer I'd at least want to know that the person I'm dealing with has some roots and isn't going to up and disappear without a trace. Membership itself doesn't offer that but it is one link in a chain of confidence.

That said. If you can't come up with $20 that doesn't already have someone's name on it then you can't sell stuff here. That's basically what the rule says and I'm ok with it.