Hi

I have a Market Place section at my forum where members can sell/trade/give away items. It's not busy but it seems to be working well.

I have been asked by an organisation if I'd consider (for a fee) to let them advertise their business by creating new threads in that section. The buyer could then post and ask questions about the items for sale.

I was wondering if anyone else does this and if so, have you encountered any problems? The ones I can foresee are if the goods are faulty or if they are unhappy with the service when buying from these companies.

Any advice would be appreciated

i have a b/s/t on my site.

i run a few forums for other people who have what you are talking about

make the "XYZ company" section a subforum of the main marketplace.

write a stickied disclaimer saying your not liable for faulty goods etc (just to have the bases covered)

and let them have at it

thats what i think i would do, make sure the company is reputable best you can and give them a shot, just make it clear if they are not delivering a product as promised they will be removed as a advertiser and may or may not get their ad money back.

__________________
PA Forums
Philly Sports
Delaware Online
boomshockalacka

I used to, but I quickly realized how much nicer it was to just have real classified ad software integrated in. I use PhotoPost.

__________________
On & off your site, recognize your most valuable asset: contributors.
A little award can go a long way. Posts Of The Day.

Thank you both for your advice

Caddyman, do you mind me asking how much they charge for this service?

ill ask him tonight

__________________
PA Forums
Philly Sports
Delaware Online
boomshockalacka

Thank you

Another thought I've had about this is instead of letting them have a sub-forum of their own to advertise, do you think there would be much interest in allowing traders to post one message advertising their goods and then make a small charge per post? Members could then reply to their post if they are interested in their products?

Would that work?

PhotoPost Classifieds - PHP Based Classified Ads Software for Community Websites

Click HERE to see them set up at my personal site.

Once you go classified software, you never go back!

__________________
On & off your site, recognize your most valuable asset: contributors.
A little award can go a long way. Posts Of The Day.

Joy, I do something very similar to this for my Business Sponsors. With their sponsorship, they receive their own forum (in our Business Section), their banner signifying their forum as well as their banner in full rotation, complete MOD privileges for their forum. It has worked out well for us. They are allowed to sell and advertise their products, trips, seminars, classes, etc...

Not trying to advertise my site here but here is the layout of what I am doing for them: Zendiving Business Connection

I have also created a Supporting Members page and their name, company name along with banner, etc are shown on this page with a link to their forum or website, which ever they prefer. That can be found here: Zendiving Sponsors

I do have a section that other members can buy/sell/trade their personal scuba gear or what ever they have laying around the house/garage/storage unit. I even have the iTrader rating system implemented and some actually use it.

__________________
Check out my Dive Videos

Thanks for your help. I'll check those links out now