Sponsors – Worth the hassle?

OK here goes my ten cents worth - This is as a sponsor

I actually wouldn't care if the members posted contact details of other fish shops and complaints about them and sponsors. Free trade is what it is all about. If some of my prices are higher than another LFS - go buy it. If that LFS sells you a pleco for a 1foot tank - your problem - and the LFS deserves to be listed. You want to know my cost price - ask me. I haveto make a profit and if I am not ripping you off, then knowing my cost does not make the slightest difference to the sale.

There are too many businesses ( and not only LFS's that are in the get rich quick game - best of luck to them. At least I know that once I have a customer I will keep them.

 

U got me!Zaf and Vee!

 

I'm a new member and therefore do not have all the background, but IMO...

:top: One up for the sponsors - They add tremendous value to my experience on this site. Sometimes with raw info, sometimes with opinions and even sometimes with marketing. This can be said of more than one (or two).

I still feel that the commercial side should be controlled. A sponsor is fair game - they are in fact maintaining a site for our benefit and hence we have a win-win situation. Other busineses should be kept under a blanket to prevent nasties as discussed in a thread a few weeks ago. How to keep sponsors out of each other - that would depend on them. We need them unless a subscription is introduced.

Frankly I don't mind being targeted for sales via this site - it is still at a level that raises interest in the hobby rather than being flooded by spam. It gives me options and access to products I would otherwise not be aware of.

I think the sponsors add more value to the site as members than they do as businesses. (dammit that is good marketing!:blink1

 

As I said in a previous thread ( http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?p=10590#post10590 ) this is a country of free speech, and if I get k@k service from a lfs, be they a sponsor or not, then I will tell all that I can and to whom is interested enough to listen.

I feel that being a member of the fishy cult, it is in the interest of all of us to find out if a lfs is ripping us off, selling us diseased fish, or where I got a great bargain or great service. In my view, such a section on this forum would be invaluable to all of us that are fish mad, new and old (Refering to length of time in the hobby not age.......)

There should be a section for the lfs to respond to the post, be it positive or negative... As consumers we also have the right to air our views, and what better place for it to be done than right here where there are enthusiasts reading through the posts all day, not to mention the visitors..... There are "Fly-by-night" lfs's popping up all of the time, giving the genuine lfs a bad name, the owners just in for a quick buck, so why not protect our members / consumers and inform them of who is selling diseased fish to them, and steer them in the right direction. There are a few of the lfs's in PE that would get the thumbs up from me from the start, but one or two would definately get a lemon for the lack of interest that they show toward the customer.

At the moment the industry is not regulated, if you have the money, you open a lfs in an upmarket shopping centre and everyone thinks that you have the knowlege to advise them on whatever problem you may have..... I know of more than one lfs that doesnt have the finance to open a shop in the big shopping centres, but have the passion and knowlege that can make a difference to the industry, why not promote them and regulate the industry?? In otherwords, let the consumer regulate the industry and what the consumer wants he gets??? Or do we leave it up to some fatcat who sits in an office and has never seen a live fish regulate what we spend our hard earned cash on????

How about putting in a disclaimer???? The views posted on this site are the views of the individual that posted the comment, and if you cant handle it, pull on your big boy undies and jack up your service........ In that way the forum is protected from some lfs owner who takes offence from me saying that the diseased fish that he sold me wiped out my entire tank.... What happened to our constitution and something about free speech, or are we going to turn into something like our northern neighbours?????

So,
Henk, between the lines, I do agree with you.
Zaf :- here here to you last comment, and that should be the attitude of all sponsors.

ok, I've said my say .... again...... and I'll get back to my corner now...

 

Butcherman, thats when you have to ask the question on the forum and just hope and pray that someone will pm you some advise I think. I have done it a couple of times.