Special offerings for contributor members?

I'm trying to figure out something that would help to get more people interested in becoming paid (contributing) members to this site. I saw on another site (unrelated to animals and such) that they had a special section where dealers would offer contributing members special deals that were only visible in that forum. Since I am not a paid member there, I couldn't really see any of the details of how it worked, nor could I see how effective it was as far as offerings. I didn't really want to spend the $35 just out of curiosity sake, since it was unlikely I would find something I was wanting to buy there. The thought had crossed my mind that they should offer a "sneak preview" membership just for someone to take a look to see if it is worthwhile for them.

Anyway, I wonder if something like that would work here? Not sure of the mechanics of how it would work, but I'm thinking that I could offer the people or businesses (merchants) something along the line of an Endowment level membership for offering their animals or wares in this forum. Of course it would only be open to paid members to view, but would that be enough incentive for merchants to take part in it? I think I need to offer something else, but not sure what else would be appropriate. Maybe a whole different level of membership to recognize their participation in this? Should there be some sort of minimum level of participation for those merchants? I mean should I offer that expended membership level to someone who only posts a single special offering?

Do I make it a forum based specials area, or put it in the classifieds section?

Anyone got any ideas that might help? Or is the idea just all wet and I am getting myself into more work that I really don't need?

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I am getting myself into more work that I really don't need?

DING DING DING and we have a winner!!!!

Rich,

You could simply make listing in the classifieds open to paid members only. For $10/year you get to list as many items as you like. Simply put, this site has a high volume of traffic and it's worth $10 to have your ad(s) seen. There's a value that people might see rather than the complaint of "Why would I pay $10 to post about a negative experience on the BOI?". And that wouldn't cause you any extra work or headaches.

I love the idea of an 'unlisted' bargain forum that only members can access, it will have a certain cachet. I would think the vendors might appreciate a special membership, but you are giving them a chance at a solid customer base so it does benefit them. I would certainly visit such a forum.

Another incentive for paid memberships might be an advance notice from those same vendors of hatching litters that are to be put up for sale. For some of the more unusual morphs of corn snakes, leopard geckoes and the like, there may be a short supply of certain sought after morphs and this private forum might give members an opportunity to pre purchase prior to a general offering to the public.

Originally Posted by Jim O

Rich,

You could simply make listing in the classifieds open to paid members only. For $10/year you get to list as many items as you like. Simply put, this site has a high volume of traffic and it's worth $10 to have your ad(s) seen. There's a value that people might see rather than the complaint of "Why would I pay $10 to post about a negative experience on the BOI?". And that wouldn't cause you any extra work or headaches.

Wanna bet?

I would be innundated with emails from people asking why they can't post ads any longer. I got those kinds of posts every single day when I switched from the forum based classifieds to the current system. And I'm still not convinced that charging specifically for the classifieds won't be the death knell for that system here. Then we would still face the problem of allowing unrestricted posting on the BOI of returning to the garbage we have all seen when it was available to all non-paid members. Personally, I don't want to return to that at all. I do believe that the paid verification process is being extremely helpful in keeping the chaff out of the wheat there. If an occasional piece of wheat doesn't get into the pot, then so be it.

I have no doubt there would be transitional headaches, but there would for anything you might do. If you set up a "members only" area for selling items do you think that you would not get multiple e-mails and PM's asking "why can't I access this area?"?

So perhaps the easiest thing to do is listen to Wes and let the site stay stagnant.

My point was that doing as I suggested would require minimal programming, and minimal additional maintenance once it was effected. Yes, for a month or two there would be loads of PM's and e-mails. A simple, canned, one line response with a link to the announcement would serve to answer those.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Then we would still face the problem of allowing unrestricted posting on the BOI of returning to the garbage we have all seen when it was available to all non-paid members.

You lost me here Rich. How does this relate to my proposal?

Originally Posted by Jim O

You lost me here Rich. How does this relate to my proposal?

Sorry, my mistake. I thought I was getting another one of those arguments that I should charge for the classifieds rather then posting access to the BOI. Shot first, aimed later...........

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Sorry, my mistake. I thought I was getting another one of those arguments that I should charge for the classifieds rather then posting access to the BOI. Shot first, aimed later...........

You know Rich, it isn't paranoia if people really are out to get you.

I can only say that I have given fauna members a different price (lower) than non members, a couple were not paid members at the time but I did pay their $10 membership after the sale was done.

So basically, yes I can see an area where you get a members discount, where one can offer a certain item or reptile for a "members only price"

I started doing something along this same vein over on the CornSnakes.com forums whereby I was offering special deals to Contributor members over there. Seems to work out pretty well. So I implemented something similar to that over on this site. The difference is that the way the classified section's code is written, non paying member cannot even SEE that there is a section there for contributing (Participants and above) members only. I may need to have some custom coding done there so the category will be visible yet the ads themselves are not to non paying members. I think it would be best for non paying members to see that there is something they are missing by not being a paid member. I'll wait and see how if works out "as is" first.

The way it is set up now, only paying members (Participants and above) can see ads as well as post ads in that section. I made it so that highlighting, bold, and italics are FREE for all paid members who post there.

I would still like to figure out some way to provide incentive for sellers to use this section to attract paid memberships here, but I haven't put all of my brain cells into the problem yet to come up with a satisfactory solution. And I'm not sure at all that this will even pan out anyway.

Oh well. I'll just have to see what happens.