So, you are considering selling or buying some equipment and do not know where best to sell or shop for your product. You have heard about AudioKarma Barter Town but cannot yet see it; you have looked at other options but do not know if they are a better venue than Barter Town. How do you decide? This post is intended to help you with that decision.
Barter Town is a private forum on AK where you can sell, buy or trade all types of audio or non-audio gear. It is available only to AK Subscribers. It is essentially a mini online selling/buying/trading location where members post want-it ads, for-sale, for trade and occasionally for free. You can see some typical types of thread postings in Barter Town Preview forum at this location:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=177
Barter Town is set up differently than some other sites and it does not normally run auctions where the price can keep going up and up, except where used to benefit charities or AudioKarma. In contrast, the selling & bartering in BT are far more interactive and real-time friendly, much like you might find when buying or selling at a market.
It costs $25 a year to become a subscriber and you have many benefits with that subscription vs. a regular member. The extra benefits can be seen here:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4633315&postcount=3. There are no additional costs, fees, or handling charges.
In addition to the benefits, you get to support this fine site and more easily meet some of the more regular members in these subscriber-only forums.
The Marketplace Classifieds section is a public place where you pay a small fee per item for an ad to buy, sell or trade your products or services. This is seen by the whole online viewers, so it is to a much bigger audience. All AK members can post in the AK Marketplace. For a limited introductory time, the listings are free to AK members. To start a new listing in The Marketplace use the Marketplace link in the main navigation bar at the top of every page.
The best option will much depend on what you plan to sell or buy over the coming year or so. If you only ever want to sell one item and would like as many members or non-members as possible to see your ad, then you might want to consider the Marketplace. If you plan to buy and sell a few times or want to have the opportunity to trade up/down or different in your audio or other equipment, then you might want to consider a subscription and using Barter Town.
Another consideration is that AK subscribers in Barter Town are generally more well known members and so there can be a little extra feeling of comfort dealing with that smaller number of persons. The AK Marketplace is frequented only by AK members, so again it is for persons interested in the same hobby and with whom you could well be familiar rather than the general public at large, like you would on, say, eBay, Craigslist or a local newspaper ad. However, there is no guarantee that that will be the case either way. It is always good to do a search on members in the Feedback forum: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=43
Hopefully this gives you a little more insight into your options.
Thanks again for considering AK.
Tink
Update: Please see this later post for status update on Marketplace (current as of 12/2022).
Barter Town is a private forum on AK where you can sell, buy or trade all types of audio or non-audio gear. It is available only to AK Subscribers. It is essentially a mini online selling/buying/trading location where members post want-it ads, for-sale, for trade and occasionally for free. You can see some typical types of thread postings in Barter Town Preview forum at this location:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=177
Barter Town is set up differently than some other sites and it does not normally run auctions where the price can keep going up and up, except where used to benefit charities or AudioKarma. In contrast, the selling & bartering in BT are far more interactive and real-time friendly, much like you might find when buying or selling at a market.
It costs $25 a year to become a subscriber and you have many benefits with that subscription vs. a regular member. The extra benefits can be seen here:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4633315&postcount=3. There are no additional costs, fees, or handling charges.
In addition to the benefits, you get to support this fine site and more easily meet some of the more regular members in these subscriber-only forums.
The Marketplace Classifieds section is a public place where you pay a small fee per item for an ad to buy, sell or trade your products or services. This is seen by the whole online viewers, so it is to a much bigger audience. All AK members can post in the AK Marketplace. For a limited introductory time, the listings are free to AK members. To start a new listing in The Marketplace use the Marketplace link in the main navigation bar at the top of every page.
The best option will much depend on what you plan to sell or buy over the coming year or so. If you only ever want to sell one item and would like as many members or non-members as possible to see your ad, then you might want to consider the Marketplace. If you plan to buy and sell a few times or want to have the opportunity to trade up/down or different in your audio or other equipment, then you might want to consider a subscription and using Barter Town.
Another consideration is that AK subscribers in Barter Town are generally more well known members and so there can be a little extra feeling of comfort dealing with that smaller number of persons. The AK Marketplace is frequented only by AK members, so again it is for persons interested in the same hobby and with whom you could well be familiar rather than the general public at large, like you would on, say, eBay, Craigslist or a local newspaper ad. However, there is no guarantee that that will be the case either way. It is always good to do a search on members in the Feedback forum: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=43
Hopefully this gives you a little more insight into your options.
Thanks again for considering AK.
Tink
Update: Please see this later post for status update on Marketplace (current as of 12/2022).
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