Sitepoint charging $19.95... Since when?

Apparently it's been awhile since I visited SP, because they're now charging $19.95 to list your site for sale.

Needless to say, I'm irritated. But probably not for the reason you're thinking. I suppose the first and most natural problem most people have with this is that they're taking a chunk of your money for providing a service you can find here for free. But if you look past that you'll see it's actually a good thing that they charge as much as they do. It weeds out the cruft and keeps the turnkey sites in their section (which is half the cost).

The problem here is that DP doesn't charge for this service. So what ends up happening is DP is going to end up being the place where people list the crap and SP will continue to only carry quality sites for sale. I don't mind having a place where I know I'll find quality sites. I mind because I'm not all that fond of the crowd on SP. It's nothing against them personally, but I started on DP and that's where I want to say.

So as much as I hate to say it. Shawn, I don't think it's all that bad of an idea to implement the same type of system here.

Sound off.

 

lol , seems funny , noone will pay.

 

I think it was a really shrewd move on the part of Sitepoint when they first began charging people to list their sites for sale and now they have upped the cost to $19.95, not an unexpected move, it means they are getting rid of the bottom of the profit bell-curve or, as you say, Greg, "it weeds out the cruft".

I'm not sure if DP is ready for such a move just yet however ...

 

Nah we don't need to do that now. When we start to see threads selling 1 site for $10-20, then you introduce the fee

 

They're more worried about making themselves extra change than making their members happy. What a shame.

 

Good points.

I think it has its pros and cons. There really is not perfect solution.

It is nice to have a place where you aren't forced to conduct business though.

 

Indeed, DP isn't a huge business like SP.

 

i think the forums should merge

and possbibly get rid of fees

 

I think it's a great idea on SPs side.

I prefer the SP marketplace because it normally has juicy websites with a lot of traffic, the ones to which $20 is nothing. I don't like the way they moderate (they seem to remove posts which are negative, even if they're valid), but I guess that's what you pay the $20 for.

I don't think DP will change anything as they would probably prioritise being free as the most important factor, but it certainly degrades the image of the marketplace.

 

I like the fact that the marketplace is free. Most people know for themselves what is a good site or a site with potential and what is not. It's simply a matter of fact, crappy sites don't sell. I know some people here who got a $15 site and turned it into a goldmine.

Too bad good opportunities are lost because of fees.

 

I highly doubt DP would merge with SP, but I could be wrong.

 

Well, We all have to understand that there are many small players here.
they cant afford $20 just to list their site for sale. I agree that being free attracts many spammers/junk sites but again charging for the service would cause harm to the small webmasters.
and anyway, I dont think anyone go and buy any junk site, so usualy they go unsold.

 

If you charge $20 you don't get to see 'bluemouse2' style mini sites. I don't know if you think that's a good thing or a bad thing.

 

Shit I thought $10 was asking a bit much, now $20 wow thats rude...

 

I was all over SitePoint about this when they first introduced the fees. I think it was greedy and completely unnecessary. There were many solutions brought up by long term members there that would have solved the problems they said they were trying to fix with the fees. I was even more upset when they started charging just to list an ad to hire someone. It hurt many smaller webmasters because they could simply not afford the fees in their budget.

I was boycotting SP for a while because of this, I actually just listed my first site for sale with them today since all of this started. I am going to see how it works out. It used to be a very active forum and I would have no problem getting bids, I will let you know how this sale works out.

 

I rarely go to sitepoint now adays because of their fees. It used to be one of my #1 visited forums, but since the change I found Digital Point, and happy that I'm a member here.

 

DP and Site Point both have their place in the seo ecosystem. They've both fitted nicely into different niches. A good example for the rest of us seo's to follow.

 

DP has totally different reason of its popularity than SP.
DP cannot afford these kind of things.

And dp is doing well without it

 

i think the best we should do here in DP is donate for every sales we make...
for the sake of DP.. = )

 

Good idea, genkied.