Advertising

[calikev]

Due to the enormous amount of scams circulating on eBay,gumtree,and Internet forums
We have decided to allow only vip members to post in the for sale and wanted section
This is to safeguard our members from being ripped off
Please make your adds are clear and include a price.

 

[Tom Rae]

I cannot reply to an advertisement though I have registered, what am I doing wrong?

 

[david white]

Can you please explain what you mean?

 

[Tom Rae]

Thanks for responding David. I have registered as a member and wanted to follow up an ad by Greenfintry who is selling some items however I was informed I was unable to respond, I quote
(You have insufficient privileges to reply here.)
It seems odd having ads that cant be responded to! Any help appreciated.
Tom

 

[Hobbit's Mum]

I am still having this problem too! Calikev, you sorted me out last week by passing on the email of the seller & we happily completed the purchase, but I still can't respond to any "for sale" ads & for the same reason.

I don't want to have to bother the mods every time I wish to respond to an ad, so is there a better solution? Or at least an understandable reason?

 

[Max-Felix]

I don't want to have to bother the mods every time I wish to respond to an ad, so is there a better solution? Or at least an understandable reason?

Become a VIP. The sub at £13 would buy you 8 minutes of time with a 'professional' VW 'technician' at your local main dealer.....or a whole year of unlimited privileges on here!

 

[stephen watson]

I am a member (not VIP) and wish to reply to an advert, but have insufficient privileges:

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/zonesleep-upstairs-topper-with-storage-bag.23830/

I was able to reply to an advert last year, without VIP status. Do you have to be a VIP member to reply to adverts? If so I'm a bit disappointed this facility has been removed. I can understand the point made in the above post, but don't need any other benefits and £13 seems a bit steep to reply to an advert. Surely it is also severely limiting the market for potential VIP sellers?

 

[frenchie]

Its called money making. We are all grown up and I dont feel that members need nannys to protect then from ebay scammers on a vw forum.F

 

[Ocean Spirit]

I am a member (not VIP) and wish to reply to an advert, but have insufficient privileges:

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/zonesleep-upstairs-topper-with-storage-bag.23830/

I was able to reply to an advert last year, without VIP status. Do you have to be a VIP member to reply to adverts? If so I'm a bit disappointed this facility has been removed. I can understand the point made in the above post, but don't need any other benefits and £13 seems a bit steep to reply to an advert. Surely it is also severely limiting the market for potential VIP sellers?

You say you've understood?
If you've understood you'd know the £13 isn't for you to reply to an advert.
Don't get me wrong I love a free lunch as much as anyone but you have no right to be disappointed in the lack of any free offerings.
So VIP membership has lots of benefits you can either pay to have them like other members or you can forget it.
Sorry if it sounds like a rant and indeed it's none of my business but the forum costs money to run and provide a lot of free services. I don't even know if you are simply experiencing a glitch and that the service is still available or otherwise but please......

 

[Digger]

What is £13 for a year of information and free assistance from our experienced members. It is not money making but ensuring the continuation of the forum. When you spend that much for a couple of coffees what is the problem?

 

[Velma's Dad]

Everyone has their own perspectives but one way to look at it is where does VWCOC sit between being simply a forum (which these days most people would expect to be free) and a fully-fledged specialist car club (for which expect to pay up to £50 a year membership, based on the classic car clubs to which I belong).

We get something in between those two poles, including the club shop, various discounts (okay, I've never used any of them) and meet-ups/trips (okay, arranged by members, not by a central admin staff as with a major car club).

On balance I think it's reasonable to pay a little something and £13 a year seems a trifling amount to me, considering what it adds to my enjoyment of a £50,000 vehicle.

Just my personal view.

 

[Velma's Dad]

By the way, and sorry if a little off-topic, it does pull my chain when commercial companies jump in on threads with blatant promotion messaging - as I saw recently by 'a well known insurance broker'. They should be given short shrift when they do that, given that most of us are paying to be on the forum.

 

[SimonB]

I am a member (not VIP) and wish to reply to an advert, but have insufficient privileges:

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/zonesleep-upstairs-topper-with-storage-bag.23830/

I was able to reply to an advert last year, without VIP status. Do you have to be a VIP member to reply to adverts? If so I'm a bit disappointed this facility has been removed. I can understand the point made in the above post, but don't need any other benefits and £13 seems a bit steep to reply to an advert. Surely it is also severely limiting the market for potential VIP sellers?

It works out at 25p per week to be a VIP member. This goes to pay for the server hire, the IT Guru to repair things when they go wrong, and other paid costs. A lot of members volunteer to arrange meets, moderate comments to ensure that it is a friendly Forum as well as being an invaluable source of knowledge. I think this represents excellent value for 25p a week.

 

[Moakesy]

Each to their own of course, but if I had the opportunity to save £139 against buying new by getting the item in the link, I think I'd just pay the £13 and get in there quick before someone else nabs it!!

Especially as I'd also help the forum keep going, get discount from the club shop and be able to download some great manuals as well.

 

[Hotel California]

Say you keep your £50.000+ Cali about 10y and sign in as a forum VIP member to support the forum/club , get discounts , be able to place adds and get lots of downloads . This at 13£/year = 130£ in 10y , it takes just a couple purchases in the clubshop to get that money returned .
Rember if non of us would sign up as VIP and pay the annual membership the forum probally not be arround for long.
Sponsors would have less intrest in advertising imo.
It's the VW California owners Club that runs the forum .
Not saying non-vip members should be categorised or are not welcome but just think for a minute what this membership stands for .

 

[Velma's Dad]

Sponsors would have less intrest in advertising imo.

That sounds likely to me. Don't know about the digital era, but back in the day, in general advertising (print etc) an advertiser would be massively more interested in, and pay much more to reach, an audience of people who had paid to subscribe to a mag etc, than what used to be called a 'controlled circulation' list, ie free.

Maybe someone up to speed with digital media can bring me into the 21st century on that though...

 

[stephen watson]

I seem to have the minority view here. If I wished to advertise, or benefit from any of the many discounts available I'd be more than happy to join as a VIP. I'm a member of a few other forums and none require payment to respond (or often even place) an advert and they seem to survive. I've also received lots of expert advice from non VIP members and would like to think I've also contributed as well. If the consensus is that non VIPs are perhaps second class citizens then perhaps it should be a club with a membership fee?

 

[Hotel California]

@Velma's Dad , why do you think the items in the clubshop are in general cheaper than elswhere? If one can have proof there's an army of commited people waiting to buy stuff you can agree on better prices .
Thesame with advertisers , the bigger the club the better it is for sponsors/advertisers.

 

[Moose]

Its the best £13.00 I have spent, a great forum.
If it was not for this forum and all the information provided by its members we may not have a camper (Moose) today.

 

[Victor]

I have been a VIP member for a fair few years now and have saved well in excess of my £13 membership each and every year and have gained so much advice. The only other alternative is a Facebook forum which I refuse to use, that is free and has around one post per week. Many other forums are closed and require payment to actually post a message, a good example is the caravan club.

 

[Moakesy]

If the consensus is that non VIPs are perhaps second class citizens then perhaps it should be a club with a membership fee?

I don't think non VIP's are considered second class citizens, it's just that the site owner decides the rules and privileges, as is their right.

Non-VIP's can still buy off the forum, albeit with a more awkward process. They'd either have to post their details for all to see, or setup a second 'junk' email address, then reply to the post asking the seller to contact them.

Wanting to benefit from good quality second hand kit at a great price without contributing anything to the finances of site that provides the service means compromise. As I said though, spending £13 to save potentially hundreds seems a much better option.

 

[Ady77]

I personally agree with non VIP's not being able to buy from the classified section as many items that come up for sale sell literally within hours and its nice that VIP members will have first dibs on here, its just another perk to being a VIP member ?

 

[motacyclist]

You can't really say VWCC should be free because other forums are free; it's like going into a newsagents and asking for a copy of The Times (or whatever) for free because your local paper is free! If you're happy with the free paper that's great, but if you want to do The Times crossword you have to buy a copy!

 

[GrannyJen]

By the way, and sorry if a little off-topic, it does pull my chain when commercial companies jump in on threads with blatant promotion messaging - as I saw recently by 'a well known insurance broker'. They should be given short shrift when they do that, given that most of us are paying to be on the forum.

Your chain would be yanked off your head if you saw all that was posted, not just the few that get through.

Most are given short shrift, with some the posting may get missed and there is a report button to flag up those that do

 

[SimonB]

Your chain would be yanked off your head if you saw all that was posted, not just the few that get through.

Most are given short shrift, with some the posting may get missed and there is a report button to flag up those that do

The back scenes moderation you all do is much appreciated.

Simon