3D Printing Marketplace?

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Hi all

Just wondering if we can look forward to the use of a 3D Print Marketplace here in the forum at some stage? I'm sure there'd be plenty of people who need a few bits & bobs printed up, & who are willing to pay other members here to print them etc....very similar to how it's being managed here - https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1423

Obviously some time is needed for the forum to establish itself a little, but is a marketplace something that we can look forward to? The charter here suggests that's a no, but perhaps it's just generic wording in the charter instead of something more bespoke?

Charter wrote:

Whilst the forum can be used to discuss prices and recommendations, it is NOT to be used as a means of buying or selling items to, or from, other users.

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RopeDrink wrote: »

I'm no authority on the subject and can't say for certain -- seeing as the Charter simply covers long-standing basics, with sales between users (of any description) almost always being a grey area that is best handled by our dedicated sister-site which is designed to handle such things -- but that isn't saying something similar can't or won't happen.

Boards.ie has no relationship to Adverts.ie anymore, which is why this other forum was given the green light many years ago back when Dav was CM - https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1423

The belief that selling on Boards.ie is not permitted, stems back to when Adverts & Boards.ie had the same owners, which would obviously be fair enough. They're separate entities now, & there are no roadblocks in the way of allowing forums to have their own marketplaces. All that's needed is the audience (as you touch on below), and the will of the moderators to manage it.

Alas, such processes are best considered after a forum has found its feet and has an obvious (mass) desire for it. It'd be crazy to throw if's and but's so soon or get any hopes right now I'm afraid.

I agree to a point, as a 3D Printing Marketplace would ideally be a sub-forum of this one, and for it to work, we need people using the forum.

However, in the community of 3D Printing, a HUGE element of it involves users printing small jobs for willing customers/users. I can't overstate that enough, and without a marketplace here, this forum will be largely confined to a "share your settings" type affair.....which will not sustain it. Further, the forum is already on the clock, given its probationary status.

My advice to the mod team here, would be to start planning how a 3D Printing Marketplace might work here, because it's going to be a vital cog in the wheels here. Some considerations:

Maybe an extra mod to manage it
Restrictions on who/who cannot use it
Templates for ads
Tags for threads
What can/cannot be printed (restricted items etc)

There's no harm in having the conversation now, with an eye to implementing it down the road at some stage.

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RopeDrink wrote: »

There's no mention of prohibition in the thread, just that buying/selling between people on the forums has always been a grey area, hence environments are typically created for it for various reasons - not all of which are solely to do with the buying/selling aspect (which can differ per forum). As for the charter, it's certainly of the old-school - one of many things that would be refined as the forum finds its feet. As it stands, the toes are still undipped and the forum is so new that it doesn't even have a carpet yet!

Either way, nothing wrong with suggestions and pre-planning - just pointing out the obvious while things get started. Rest assured that if/when such things are added, the charter would be updated to facilitate and promote it.

There's a strong smell of fresh paint in here, someone open the windows

Thanks RopeDrink, reassuring words :cool:

banie01

There is a long running buy/sell/trade thread over on the watches subforum that could perhaps be a model for something similar on this sub.

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057227803/1

As a regular over there I can vouch that the system in place over there is largely self policing and works well.

I did post a sales thread earlier
But!
I have deleted the text and reported the thread.

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banie01 wrote: »

There is a long running buy/sell/trade thread over on the watches subforum that could perhaps be a model for something similar on this sub.

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057227803/1

As a regular over there I can vouch that the system in place over there is largely self policing and works well.

The success of the Arcade & Retro Marketplace, in terms of self-policing, can be vouched for too. I think a thread for selling/advertising services could be a good place to start - years ago there was a console modding thread whereby only providers of modding services could post in it, and it was up to users to browse through the different posts, find who was near to them, what they offered etc....it kept everything off thread, neat and tidy.

If something like that could be tested, and succeeded, it'd be nice to see it work up towards a full on sub-forum, where users could post wanted ads, & so forth. But yeah, a dedicated thread just for service providers who post according to an easy/informative template is a good idea