Preferred Vendors

You have very valid points Dakota. I dont think anyone thought the cargo hold would go anywhere, but honestly..if i was new here and i saw that preffered vendors section, id go directly there for my main parts and bi-pass the cargo hold and i think thats what Elliot was talking about.

But i do hope it can be executed in a way that will not alienate new makers that would be selling in the cargo hold.

I guess we shall see!
 
Don't we have standards in place already to prevent buyers from being duped?
Unlike ebay and etsy the 50 post wait period until you can sell in the cargo hold usually deters scammers.
And always pay using PayPal and goods and services. Giving you the charge back failsafe.
Images and description are also a requirement to post.

SIMPLIFYING THE PROCESS
I agree it will make the process easier for vendors but stand by my first point that creating a Preffered section infers to buyers/builders that the powers that be prefer you to purchase from the Preffered sellers more than someone in the cargo hold giving them an unfair advantage and not a level playing field. There is also the point that not everybody wants super screen acurate. We run the risk of loosing a variety of choice because hobbyists looking at investing maybe $1000s on creating a product range may choose not to as they would feel they couldn't compete or recoup their initial investment.

My personal opinion is that it will not drive more people to TDH, That is an issue for another thread. Without doubt for people serious about building a Fett there is only one credible place for info/advice/reference and that is here or maybe BHG lol , It may have the opposite effect however and move people away and towards groups like The force Forum who may offer more choice and price ranges.
 
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MachineCraft said:
While I agree with your sentiment, I'd also like to offer a couple counter points in defense of why I feel this solution is not only beneficial, but necessary for our community.

Standards - Setting rules and standards for what constitutes Preferred Vendors will help protect newcomers from being taken advantage of. Time and time again TDH members have bought from sellers, never received items, and then ask TDH moderators to step in and help. In many instances those members paid the seller by gift and short of threatening a ban there isn't much the moderators can actually do. Banning will just prevent that vendor from communicating on TDH which may do more harm than good. I have personally seen many newcomers give up the hobby entirely after a bad experience with a seller. Preferred Vendors can be held to standards that protect buyers by making sure they pay via goods/services, and the threat of lost business if the seller's Preferred Vendors status gets revoked.

Currently, this is an example of the kind of standards MachineCraft is being held to for this pilot:
- Listed items must be in hand and ready to ship
- Items must be shipped within 14 days of order
- Listings must have high-quality and up-to-date product pictures
- Comprehensive item descriptions

Simplifying the Process - This is pretty self explanatory. Being able to browse available items, see pictures, and read customer testimonials/installation tips for specific items is both helpful for buyers and helpful for me as a seller to make future improvements (like the set screw we put in our RF Stalks for servo kits). Lets face it, we live in the Amazon age where people want to look for something, read about it, and click "Buy now." Not having to conduct transactions solely through emails benefits the buyer who is excited to buy new parts (that he/she knows are from reputable TDH vendors), and benefits the seller who now spends less time emailing and more time producing and shipping parts.
Click to expand...

These above reasons are why I love this.

I don't like how some sellers seem to have all the time in the world to make something that you pay up front for. I've seen it too many times on the RPF where a legitimate seller got in over their head or fell on hard times and uses the money on things other than making what you paid for or they just disappear. Making it so that the seller must have the item ready to be mailed to the buyer is a brilliant idea.

Also some sellers now just post a list of what they sell with NO pictures at all. Ok, yes that's up to me if I choose to purchase but if your selling something you should be providing as much detail about your items as possible, at the very least so you don't have multiple people asking you the same questions they could have found in your listing.
 
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Although I feel this would improve the process of putting together a Fett, I think it will also hinder people doing their research. Like most people, when I asked about where to go for parts, the response I got was, "look around, learn, research the boards." This turned out to be pretty valuable for me and helped me source the pieces I wanted. Again, I don't think it's a bad thing, but going through the steps of researching was part of the journey for me. Just my two cents.
 
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