A dedicated traders sub-forum?

Jack_

I know we have the Making & Modding section, where some traders choose to show their wares, but it would be great if we could have a dedicated traders sub-forum that is actually organised in a way that allows all the traders and friends of the forum to advertise what it is they do.

What I'm getting at is that I, along with many others no doubt, buy all sorts of guitar and music related things quite often, and if I could I would prefer to give my custom to someone on this forum. However, this isn't easily possible when you're not fully aware of the services lots of members of this forum offer.

A sub-forum that is organised so that every trader has their own sub-forum in which they can advertise what they do, post special offers, make people aware of what's going on with their business, when they're unavailable etc.

It's something you see on lots of car forums, and if done well can benefit everyone - members can get special offers, discounts, be well informed and the traders themselves can generate extra custom.

UnclePsychosis

http://thefretboard.co.uk/categories/made-in-the-uk

Jack_

UnclePsychosis said:

http://thefretboard.co.uk/categories/made-in-the-uk

It's not really run in an organised way that I'm talking about.

Plus some on here are running businesses that aren't "Made in the UK" - they're merchants or dealers etc.

vale

maybe like hosted pedal builders
http://ilovefuzz.com/viewforum.php?f=138&sid=6c5e488f9611283eee4ea3b244e90f6d
& the shark tank
http://ilovefuzz.com/viewforum.php?f=179&sid=6c5e488f9611283eee4ea3b244e90f6d
at ilovefuzz

Jack_

Bump for a good idea.

Like right now I'd like to know who on the forum does paintwork and refinishing, but I'll only get answers via word of mouth, so it'd be great if there was a directory with all the finishers on the forum that offer this service - as an example.

TTony

Jack_ said:

Like right now I'd like to know who on the forum does paintwork and refinishing, but I'll only get answers via word of mouth, so it'd be great if there was a directory with all the finishers on the forum that offer this service - as an example.

So, if it's a good idea, let's try to work it out a bit more.

You say "traders".  Do many, that would mean gear traders, and include all the bedroom-based traders too.

Given the example about paintwork & refinishing, I'm guessing that you mean really businesses and/or providers of "relevant" services likely to be of interest to members here?

We've got the sticky on amp techs & recommended luthiers, so do you envisage an extension of that to cover the other relevant service providers?

A thread for each type of service with member comments (good and bad) on each provider that they've encountered as separate posts, OR a separate thread for each individual service provider?

Dont think we could sticky them all, so we'd need to sticky an index with links to the individual threads?

Jack_

TTony said:

Jack_ said:

Like right now I'd like to know who on the forum does paintwork and refinishing, but I'll only get answers via word of mouth, so it'd be great if there was a directory with all the finishers on the forum that offer this service - as an example.

So, if it's a good idea, let's try to work it out a bit more.

You say "traders".  Do many, that would mean gear traders, and include all the bedroom-based traders too.

Given the example about paintwork & refinishing, I'm guessing that you mean really businesses and/or providers of "relevant" services likely to be of interest to members here?

We've got the sticky on amp techs & recommended luthiers, so do you envisage an extension of that to cover the other relevant service providers?

A thread for each type of service with member comments (good and bad) on each provider that they've encountered as separate posts, OR a separate thread for each individual service provider?

Dont think we could sticky them all, so we'd need to sticky an index with links to the individual threads?

By traders I mean businesses, or anyone who provides a service, like setups/maintenance, paintwork, sells parts, sells guitars, runs events, prints a publication etc etc.

I don't know the limitations of this site, so I can only suggest what would be good, not what is viable. Ideally I envisage a separate index, call it "Traders" or "Service Providers" or whatever makes the most sense. (I don't like the term businesses because many offers services but don't consider themselves to be a business). Put at the bottom of the Classifieds sub-forums. When you enter this section, ideally every "trader" would have their own sub-forum, so they could post as many individual topics in their index as they like, however I understand that this is probably not possible, so it may be possible to consider every "trader" just having their own thread. Lock the sub-forum, so only approved "traders" can have a thread.

Having a thread each isn't ideal because topics are ordered by most recent post, and if it goes more than one page, then some traders will be at a slight disadvantage, unless they start bumping, which wouldn't be ideal. Ideally, all the "traders" in this sub-forum would be ordered alphabetically, and would be static so they didn't move.

Maybe, in the same way that the "Guitars £" sub-forum is split so you can also go to Acoustics or Parts, this "traders" sub-forum could be split into "Guitar Dealer", "Paintwork & Finishing", "Maintenance Services" etc - although some "traders" might feel they overlap many of these categories, so whether they have a thread in each relevant section would be at the discretion of yourselves (the moderators) - this could be a better way because then they can have a thread for each area of their business, rather than having one thread that becomes quite a mis-mash, like some of the threads currently in the Making & Modding sub-forum that are started by businesses that offer lots of services.

I understand that might all be a bit confusing, so I'd be happy to flesh it out if you think it's a good idea, and I'd love for others to pitch in.

My example is coming from a car forum, if you visit a top car forum, you'll see how they implement a "Traders" section.

TTony

Jack_ said:

My example is coming from a car forum, if you visit a top car forum, you'll see how they implement a "Traders" section.

Give me a link to one that you think is a good example?