are we worried about paying for the site or something other then the original question?

why not just make a premium member deal? i know for a fact vbulletin will allow you to do it

My post was more of a "if you want to fake being a business here's the rules to sell on the site" kind of post. Simple "barrier to entry" economics.

If someone wants to fake a business license, then that's just more evidence against that entity if there was ever fraud committed.

Ideally, everyone would pay a small fee to be a "sponsor" of the site. Then there would be none of this vendor BS.

-alex

You can't screen businesses to tell if they are going to be provide good service or not just based off their credentials. Implementing a background check will not guarantee how each vendor will operate after the fact.

If you are concerned that the sponsors here are fake, all it takes is a good google search and you can find out or not. You can even contact manufacturers to see if they are authorized dealers.

This is 2014, use a credit card or paypal. They offer buyer protection online. There isn't going to be an online shopping condom to prevent bad shopping experiences.

I understand the concerns of the subject matter. Unfortunately, there's nothing to stop a legit business from doing a few good transactions and then scamming the rest. I've seen on another forum where they implemented a background check, but the vendor just got a new license under a new name and scammed the forum multiple times.

For the guys who make a few things from home and resale part time, give them an appropriate title as a non-commercial seller.

As far as any non-licensed business posers, if you do a little internet searching, it'll be obvious who are and who aren't.

how many seconds would it take you to hack the government database and insert a record of your existence?

I'm just requoting myself...

In the end, it's quite simple:

- Set barrier for entry, weed out those that have no business selling/reselling for commercial purposes without proper documentation. (That's what ebay/Craigslist is for, right?)
- There is no judgment made on customer service, that is up to customer to verify. The site is weeding out potential bad apples by weeding out those "vendors" that have no business selling without proper documentation.
- Ideally, the site would offer regular members a subscription service that can help offset the cost of the site. The site can still be free for the vast majority of members, but those that want to contribute get perks. An example would be:

~70 current sponsors (using Advertiser list as reference), sponsor fee of ~$200/year (I'm just throwing some BS number out) = $14000 annual revenue

~50K+ members, 2000 paying members(assuming 20K active and 10% would be willing to pay), member sponsor fee of $20 per year. That works out to $40000 annual revenue.

The numbers make sense in my mind, the site can be much more profitable if the dues part was shifted to members. And as an incentive, make it as such:

Regular member: 30 message inbox limit (total)
Sponsor member: 500 message inbox limit (total), same as current

Provide other perks such as site traffic priority, "Sponsor-only" tech area, etc.

For $20 (or even $50) a year, the information is worth it.

But this is just my suggestion. Feel free to ignore or pick apart as you see fit. Obviously the only pushback on this is from vendors as it takes away the power they currently enjoy.

-alex

The yearly dues from current sponsors on this forum is much closer to six figures than your figure is.

So let's say it is $100 per month, $1200 per year.

$84000 for 70 vendors.

Or...

$42 per member, assuming 2000 members pay up.

$21 per member, assuming 4000 members pay up.

It is viable.

-alex

Edit: The point of my post is not to redo the site. It is to 1) ask/clarify what it takes to become a vendor, to prevent unqualified entities from selling in the first place, and 2) show/prove that the current system of having vendors pay (and hold considerable power over the site admin versus regular members) can be tweaked without upsetting revenue.