Could someone tell me a bout hos Briar Bid works. I was so inactive the past year due to illness I missed out the intro of this feature. I have always bought, sold, and traded on forums and I thought it strange that the forum no longer allows pipes to be bought sold or traded. Is this just another avenue to do this? I have a lot of pipes for sale, if this is something I should know about, please let me know how it works, the fees, etc.. Thanks!
Info on Briar Bid?
- Thread starter strongirish
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
- Status
OK, I went and looked at BriarBid.com. It looks like a great allternative to eBay, of course it has nowhere near the exposure and following of eBay. But I did sign up and will most likely use it. However, what it does not do is replace the fun of wheeling and dealing and trading of pipes that makes forums fun. it is clinical. I think it takes away from a really nice forum. For selling of pipes that makes the fees worth ding but i sell a lot of pipes in the $5.00 to $10.00 range that are just old estate pipes and I would have to raise the price just to cover the fees. So in essense, a lot of people will lose out because of the site cutting off any selling of not junk but real steals. Or they will have to go to another forum to sell them or buy them and that seems to defeat the purpose of a pipe forum to me. I would think that there could be a compromise where both can work together and not excluding the other.
.gif)
We've had this discussion many times before, the best you can do is post on the forum about your Briarbid bids, the fees are cheaper than Ebay, but designed to make any item $1 or less unsellable (cheap Chinese junk). With a $1 total fee for cheap items, I fail to see how $5-10 items will have to be sold for so much more that it is not worth it to buy one (this is not Ebay). Kevin made it very clear that he will not allow more than one form of trading to exist at one time because the free alternative will not make his business money (he makes a living wage from this forum). I would do the same exact thing myself, it is a neat idea and it is set up better than Ebay for pipe enthusiasts. The compromise we currently have is by letting us still trade the pipe tobacco here, which I think is totally awesome (and the main reason I originally made this account).
Complete respect goes to both you and Kevin
Complete respect goes to both you and Kevin
You really should give it a try Earl. There was some initial "bugs" but those have been ironed out. Although they ain't exactly flying off the shelf I've had better luck selling my tampers on BriarBid than I've had on Ebag. The site needs more lower priced pipes. They might attract more buyers to the site as a lot of folks cannot afford the higher priced pipes that have been the bulk of the listings.
I am not knocking the BriarBid sight. It seems well done. But it cannot have the exposure that eBay gives as they get more hits an hour than we have members on this site. I sell a lot of pipes under $10.00, Dr Grabows and kaywoodies and better I sell as low as $5.00. These are hardly junk like the Chinese pipes. But on a $5.00 pipe just the bottm fee would be over a fifth of my gross, most likely it would be more than I even make on them as I have to buy them, clean them and ship them. So, what I am saying is that these now become unaccessable to a whole tier of long time members that cannot afford the pipes currently listed on BriarNid now. I am sure this is why there is the shortage of lower priced pipes on the sight. Sure, Kevin makes money on the site and has via advertizing to suppliers that can afford it, but the way it is now, the little guys takes it on the chin and we all lose. This is not what brung the site to what it is and I am having a hard time understanding why a need to change what was already working. It is easy enough to just delete the Chinese listings without everybosy else paying the tab. That is all I am saying. I said I am going to try the site and I will, but it will have to be my higher priced pipes as I just don't have the profit in it. Worse is the fact that any other forum allows one to buy sell and trade so that has to be ending members elsewhere. If membership goes down then the advertizers will want a price break and Kevin get's less money in the long run.
By the way, yes we get to trade tobacco right now as a concession, but what if he decides to sell tobacco, won't we lose then the ability to even do that? If so it becomes less a forum and more just a business.
Those $5 pipes would sell fine at $6, not sure what you mean by all of them being unsellable and making a whole tier of pipes off limits. Not even corn cob pipes are that price sensitive. Sounds a little like your panicing w/o trying. You can still talk about them on the forums, link it to the pipe and talk to others about your offerings. The community is still there, but the final purchase has to be on BriarBid. Post your pipes here as usual, link the post to BriarBid, increase the price by $1, see what happends. Most interested people are willing to log into BriarBid to purchase them. As for Ebay the fees for selling are less because there is a smaller buyerbase.
Hey strongirish. I think you have some valid points, but I also think at the moment its no big deal. I have sold many pipes in the price range you are looking at on Briarbid. I actually have had more luck selling and trading there. You can actually also, "swap" items on there. Much like the trading we used to do. Ask, ejames about my stuff. He bought/traded half of what I have put up.
I have also sold to people who have nothing to do with this site. Both me and another forum member sold pipes to a guy in Norway. And, as ejames said we need more moderately priced pipes to attract more attention.
I have also sold to people who have nothing to do with this site. Both me and another forum member sold pipes to a guy in Norway. And, as ejames said we need more moderately priced pipes to attract more attention.
strongirish, so you feel that you have some right to set up shop here and make your profits off of Kevin's labor? He pays for the bandwidth, he pays for everything that goes into this site and you feel slighted that you cannot sell your 5-10 pipes here for free? Why don't you start your own website and you can sell to your hearts content. You are complaining about a 1 dollar fee which will cut into your profits, do you even realize how you sound?
I agree with Ed about the need for lower priced pipes that would attract other buyers. I like to look at the pipes in the higher range but just can't put that much out right now. And besides, I'm gonna go broke buying Ed's tampers that he keeps putting up. I especially like that flame tamper you have on there and may have to pull the trigger on this one too.
As to the tobacco trade, Earl, I think that's a integral part of ANY hobby forum particularly one that makes a pastime of swapping blends. I don't know this; it's speculation on my part, but I think tobacco trades aren't going anywhere.
As I side note, this is one of those threads where members have very polarized opinions. It has the propensity to sink into a disagreement which would be unfortunate. Let us please remember that we can't hear other's inflections, and as such, can take things the wrong way. I hate being the referee, so don't make me.
-Jason
As I side note, this is one of those threads where members have very polarized opinions. It has the propensity to sink into a disagreement which would be unfortunate. Let us please remember that we can't hear other's inflections, and as such, can take things the wrong way. I hate being the referee, so don't make me.
-Jason
let me address some of the responces. First off I do have my own pipe forum called Pipechat.info. It is a full forum and I have had it up and I have run it for several years now. I not only allow pipes, cigars, or anything to be sold on my site, and to be honest, there is very little labors involved. I admit, I do not try to make one cent by having and running my own forum, it is a community of pipe lovers, cigar lovers, etc and I volunteer my time and efforts to keep it up and running. I do an auction once a year to pay for the web fees. The band width cost for a year is less than the cost of a decent pipe. I do understand Kevin makes his living with his site whereas I do not. If you look at most of the other pipe forums, they freely let members sell their pipes on the sites. This PipeBid is not the norm on pipe forums. If that is how he wants it done, make money on us then certainly that is his right to do so. I just find it unusual and a dramatic change from whet it was before I became sick. I just wanted info and I have no malice. Most likely I will try his site. And yes I guess I can pad my price to cover his fees. Most likely I will. I like a lot of the members here and I want to remain a member and I do not mean to make trouble. I have no malice, I just thought it would make an interesting topic and wanted to find out what others thought. To me it feels like a tax I have to pay to remain a member and sell pipes cheap to fellow members. That feels strange to me as I know of no other forum that does this. I do understand that is how it apparently is and I play the game or I leave the forum. You do not have to moderate me as I mean no harm. I just found it interesting.
I think maybe you are selling those pipes a bit cheap Earl. Any Grabow or Kaywoodie worth buying is worth $10.00 in my book. I routinely buy pipes on Ebag for $10-20 or more--that need cleaning and refurbing, and $25.00 or more for nice clean examples of some lines. I ain't gonna give much for an old Lark or Duke,but put a nice Eldorado,Viscount or old LInkmans--and others-- out there and I--and possibly others may just bite!
I do have one question before I start posting pipes on the site. Does BriarBid have the same reporting policy of reporting sales to the government? Currently eBay has to report anyone as a business if they have 200 sales or $5,000 in sales in a year. Just curious.
@mthanded , sorry brother , I just bought it and the pipe nail on steroids . Im sure he could make another though lol . @ strongirish , I have tried briarbid , bought and sold . It actually has much more than just forum traffic , I have sold a pipe to a couple of international bidders so far . The sellers fees are in fact lower than the bay . If good sellers like yourself put up some quality pipes at a lower price , the sight would get quite a bit more traffic . I have seen only a few pipes from the 5 to 10 dollar mark , but they sold well . @ cigrmaster lighten up brother . You seem to be a great guy with a fabulous collection of pipes . Many members would love to be able to afford a collection as yours . I think that strongirish only wanted to inquire about the change and voice his concerns . Im pretty sure none of us are trying to short a fine fellow like Kevin , but some folks that enjoyed the free trading ground have made many post such as strongirish . No disrespect ment to any of you fine fellas .
Thanks, I really did not man anything but to know how the other members feel about only being able to sell through BriarBid. It is just unique to this site.
Well, if the other members here want to pay $10 or more dollars for what I used to sell for half that, I for sure will be glad to get the extra money and give Kevin the $1.00. I don't understand the enthusiasm to pay more but look for me to post some soon. Have you ever wondered why the site has so much trouble getting lower priced pipes? This is the kind of thing that confuses me. Could it be a correlation? Does the fee chase the sellers of cheap pipes away or what do you account for it? Well, anyway, I would be happy to fill that void just as soon as I can take pictures and post them.
Well, if the other members here want to pay $10 or more dollars for what I used to sell for half that, I for sure will be glad to get the extra money and give Kevin the $1.00. I don't understand the enthusiasm to pay more but look for me to post some soon. Have you ever wondered why the site has so much trouble getting lower priced pipes? This is the kind of thing that confuses me. Could it be a correlation? Does the fee chase the sellers of cheap pipes away or what do you account for it? Well, anyway, I would be happy to fill that void just as soon as I can take pictures and post them.
I just think that its new and many of those who sell and trade cheaper priced pipes havent got around to trying it out . I often like to buy cheap pipes to give to Old cajun Puffers from my community , because they all like kaywoodies and Grabows . most cajuns never heard of S.BANG , Preben Holm , Nording , and so on and so forth . If you have some pipes for 7-15.00 , I would love to bid on some . that way you and briarbid win. I also second ejames , that in this economy and this inflation , those 5 dollar pipes are prob. worth more like 8-15 bucks these days . Same as on the fleabay . I used to get 5 dollar pipes there to gift out , but now the sellers fee is a little higher , and the economy is down , so the new majic number for a lower end decent pipe is about 9.99 to start and often bid up to 15 or 20 bucks . Good luck Sir .
OK, I will try to post some soon. Don't get me wrong, I welcome any source for selling pipes. I have another queston for those that use it, can I sell more than one pipe at a time, such as a lot? Does the $1.00 fee appy per pipe in a lot or just $1.00 for that listing?
- Status