Re-structuring Customs sales

[shocktrooper_au]

How about a amateur & proffesional customs, the amateurs would be restricted to the number of any one custom they can sell and guide lines ( let's say no money exchanges until ready to ship) or can only take orders one project at a time?
Pros must be registered, company name and contact as there are huge amounts of money involved. Once a project gets complete the thread gets merged to the showcase. That way people can track how an artist deals with questions & shipping on the showcase thread

 

[karamazov80]

. . .everyone should have a single thread for their work. But the individual project/sales threads would all be in commerce.

Essentially that way everyone is treated the same. My comment about where to draw the line was more in reference to the distinction about why people are posting work.

I agree with you on this, there definitely are different motivations for posting. It seems like the one thread per custom artist issue in the "showcase" section is moot, because Dave simply doesn't agree, but I think that would be fine so long as folks could have multiple sales threads. In a practical sense though, I don't think this will be an issue once the sales sub-section goes up. How many guys not actually selling things have multiple threads for different projects that keep others from being noticed? Once Iminime and Rainman threads get moved over there, guys like you, 8-bit, Elvis, Skiman, and Silent Surfer should see your threads pretty consistently on the first or second pages of the "Showcase" sub-section. I don't see Rainman trying to post multiple threads for the same figure in different sections (though he usually doesn't start his own threads anyway), as no doubt, he is primarily here for the purpose of selling his stuff.

I don't visit the customs section anywhere near as when it was Customikey and the other groundbreakers because it's so full of sales and ... is spam the right word?

I actually totally get where you, Nam, and King Darkness are coming from in this sense. And I think part of the problem is that there are two completely different groups going to the customs section (with some minor overlap)--1) guys who do their own custom work largely for the joy of the hobby, and their admirers; and 2) guys who do customs to sell, and their customers--guys who do lots of commissions straddle the line, but tend to be hobbyists first. These two groups often don't talk to each other, and so it's like forcing a fraternity into dorm space with the Honors College (not that I'm saying one group or the other is cool vs. dorky ). Dave's new sub-section really seems like the solution to these problems though as I see it. Guys like Evilface and King Darkness can just avoid Rainman threads altogether, and the Rainman regulars can more easily stick to the threads they seem to have most interest in.

 

[Spenser]

Boy that was a lot to read and I hope I understood it all.

I had an issue with this and talked to Dave about it some months ago, about keeping sales out of the customs section. This is what it says at the top of the custom forum page.

“Show off your original sculpts, 1/6 customs, repaints, kitbashes, etc. Share info and ask questions on customizing 1/6 figures, sculpting, painting and building original collectibles. NOT FOR SALES”

I believe there should be no sales or interest in the customs area. This should be for show off only, if anyone asks about “said item” being for sale start a sale thread and post a link to it in the first post. And turn the interest area into an interest/sales which is pretty much what it is now it’s just not labeled that.

 

[galactiboy]

Yeah, I know I've talked with you about it as well... I thought the split was to move sales to one section, but instead we ended up with two sales sections

 

[karamazov80]

The nature of the customs forums have changed so much over the last few years that both the section descriptions, and forum policy/guidelines are woefully out of date IMO.

 

[dchung]

Personally, given how I surf/peruse, I like Dave's idea that each project/figure (more than just a head) gets it's own thread, for the simple reason that my interest is piqued when I see a thread that features a character/movie that I'm interested in (whether it's in "Customs" or "Interests"... or if it's made by a newbie or Iminime, I'll go check it out). My next question would be, is it available? And then, can I afford it? LOL...

That said, once it becomes obvious that some people always produce amazing work, it would be nice to see all of their previous work, in one easily accessible, organized, indexed place. Those monstrous threads with thousands and thousands of replies to sift through fifty at a time, is too onerous for me.

The difficulty with cleaning up this section is that not everyone comes at it the same way, or the way I do. Still, perhaps the sub-forums should be: "Artists" and "Projects"...? My two cents.

 

[dchung]

Also, as someone who buys, makes and sells... I would prefer not to have "interest", separated from "progress", from "sales", etc., into different threads. These are all just stages in the life-cycle of a single project. All the comments and questions about that project should be in one place, in one thread, so that a critical mass of information can be accumulated.

Perhaps, instead of "Interest", "For Sale", "For Auction" labels... we have these labels in the PROJECTS sub-forum: "Display only", "Interest", "For Sale", and "Complete"... The artist can then decide if he's just showing off stuff, gathering interest, making it, selling it, or whatever. He can let people know at what point in the life-cycle the project is.

The "ARTISTS & COMPANIES" subforum would not need these thread labels, but the first post should have an index or table of contents with post #s given for easy browsing.

 

[ProgMatinee]

I like the idea of the registry. Its not going to end scams, but it does add a step of deterrence. I'm curious if there could be a second or third step to verify the legitimacy of the addresses or something. Maybe even someone can call the artist and just have a chat? Maybe have the artist read and sign a pledge? I know its just words but sometimes making something personal deters scammers and just reminds the seller of the obligation on the if he's taking money.

In a perfect world, sellers would be producing items BEFORE taking money. Is there any way to get to that point or at least come closer? It sucks that one of the few guys that actually did that, Trevor, left. I knew when I bought from him I would get my item in a week or 2.

I'm still one to say that amateur customs (or even "pros" that are you can tell do it for pleasure as well as cash) should be allowed to flourish in the home sections of the individual topics. The SW custom thread for example. The way KD, EF and Ski have threads in the Joe section. Those are the threads I really enjoy. Important to me is their CONTEXT. I know that I'm going to see Joe customs in the Joe section, etc.

I really dislike the format of the custom forum. Navigating between sale threads and showcase threads is tedious enough. Having to navigate through 50 different topics from Breaking Bad to Zombies to superheros to who knows what. I don't like artist specific threads for the same reason. As much as I admire certain artists, I'm usually only interested in seeing the customs of the licenses I like. Then on top of that you have to scan through all the responses, many of them just fluff anyway.

Here's an idea outside the box. What if in the customs section you had the ability to check a box on a thread and it would only show you posts by the OP? That way you get all the pictures from the OP without all the often worthless replies? Just a thought there.

 

[galactiboy]

Well... the life cycle of most commissions start off as "interest" then more into "for sale". And you can actually change that in the first post whenever or if ever that switch occurs in the commerce section.

But it might be cool if you also had your own master thread, I was just wondering what order projects were in as I'm on the list for the Pennywise and Beetlejuice outfits but there's no place to easily see where one is in terms of planning.

 

[karamazov80]

I'm still one to say that amateur customs (or even "pros" that are you can tell do it for pleasure as well as cash) should be allowed to flourish in the home sections of the individual topics. The SW custom thread for example. The way KD, EF and Ski have threads in the Joe section. Those are the threads I really enjoy. Important to me is their CONTEXT. I know that I'm going to see Joe customs in the Joe section, etc.

In general, if someone does customs exclusively of horror, or GI Joe, or Marvel, or Lord of the Rings, then I think it makes sense for them to stick to the substantive area they have most interest in, and in fact, that seems to be the way it works (with some exceptions like the DC and Star Wars custom sub-sections, which exist because they are popular enough that they would otherwise detract from the experience of those interested in stock releases). But some like Galactiboy, Elvis, and Skiman, also have larger threads that cover all kinds of licenses, and those make more sense in the regular custom section.

 

[galactiboy]

Yep, the only reason you have individual custom threads in GI-Joe and LOTR is the generally low amount of posts and threads compared to SW and DC.

 

[ProgMatinee]

IMO Joe has reached the point that a subsection would be nice.

 

[thenammagazine]

And I don't think Denny, Rainman or others should be out of the general custom, but that everyone should have a single thread for their work. But the individual project/sales threads would all be in commerce.

Essentially that way everyone is treated the same. My comment about where to draw the line was more in reference to the distinction about why people are posting work.

This is the point I keep trying to make, that keeps getting trolled into meaning other things by a certain thick-skulled moderator.