Keith951

I was warned months ago when my account got suspended because I was "running a business and using rennlist as my main advertising agent" But that got sorted out and was fine for the past few months.. and many for sale threads later.. After this cross posting incident of for sale threads **** has seemed to hit the fan agian.. with a ban since I have been "Slipping under the radar" since the last time.. Even though I thought we had come to an understanding on the Sponsorship issue about 6 months ago.

I still don't know for sure the reason I am being banned.. If it is because of the sponsorship or the crossposting.. But either or I feel it is being handeled fairly harsh.

-Keith

yellowline

I will say this, Keith...you're trying to sell to the wrong people. Selling general 944 parts here (in other words, not including fantastic seats, wheels, LSD transaxles) is like pulling teeth. Ask nickg about all his cabrio stuff, and the $7000 944 cabrio that needed nothing and had no takers here.

People here are generally shopping for upgrades, not stuff to keep cars running. It's no insult, it's just the makeup of the buyers here...and I generally agree with buying new mechanical parts. When I bought swaybars, I wasn't looking for the stock 951 bar...I bought the 26.8/18mm 951S set. In contrast, I managed to sell a stock 14mm bar on Pelican to a guy who had no rear bar.

The Pelican community was a lot more interested in suspension and mechanical items from my 944S. I had some great stuff like just-rebuilt Koni yellow 87+ struts, late offset A-arms with the Rennbay track balljoints, a DOHC engine with a new clutch and 60k miles, etc. Meanwhile, I bought a set of barely used wheels and snow tires from a Connecticut guy off of Pelican- he was trying to sell them for over a year. At the price I paid, those would've sold quickly here.

Another idea is to wait until eBay has a reduced/waived seller fee day and just auction a whole bunch of stuff.

SD Porsche Fan

"Ay caramba!" Or something like that.

docmirror

Well, I don't know Keith, or do business with him so I did the next logical thing. I looked up his posts in the archive and had a look-see. What stuck out is the number of business dealing threads, sometimes every day, or several per day. Some are WTB, many are FS, some say 'great deal' etc. If it looks like a duck, and it reads like a duck - I say it's a duck.

Keith is using the forum as a market to advance his own business, whether it's in a garage, or in a 20,000' wherehouse, doesn't matter. Now, is that wrong? That's not my call, it's the job of the moderator, and the owners of this board. I know that it's not fair to legitimate purveyors of Porsche product like Roger at 928sRUS, or 944Paradise. It's an uneven playing field if one person is given a break on fees for accessing the membership.

I think he's providing a good service parting out the cars. If he bought a lot of NOS stuff, and used rennlist to move it, that seems to cross the line to me, but I certainly will defer to those who moderate, and anyone who's had good business dealing with him.

Tough call, all I can go by is the post history, and it doesn't look good from that perspective.

Keith951

Yes I have had multiple for sale threads.. But mostly the same stuff.. just a fresh thread. The NOS stuff I bought is a combination of new and used stuff...

Even though I have maybe an above average amount of for sale threads.. I also contribute to technical info posts.. Buy parts from other members.. and so on.

I organized a group by a month or to ago for the community.. and have hooked several members in New Jersey up with a friend of mine who is a master Porsche mechanic to work on other members car at an extremely fair price. Maybe Aben can chime in on this.

I believe what I do here is a fair balance of selling, buying, and helping.. Not just using rennlist as an advertising agent.

-Keith

lovemyp-car

Did a search for part selling threads you've made.

11-19-2007, 04:25 PM------------Called "Lots Of Parts For Sale"
05-15-2007, 01:51 PM------------Called "Parts- 86 944 Turbo"
09-24-2007, 10:35 PM------------Called "Parts For Sale"
10-04-2007, 09:21 PM------------Called "WTS 88 Turbo S Club Sport Rims /w Michelin Pilot Sport Cups" Note single item
10-04-2007, 09:22 PM------------Called "WTS Turbo S Club Sport Rims /w Michelin Pilot Sport Cups" Note single item and a cross-post
Old 05-16-2007, 11:39 AM------Called "X Post : Wheel Spacers"

A few are pretty close together, but most of them are spaced out pretty well...
all of these are from the first page of many, however most of the others are threads started by other members looking for help, or selling something that keith here expressed interest in buying. Doesn't look all that bad by my eye, so i'm guessing that the cross-post was your problem, but there should have been a warning on that before you were banned, and they deleted them anyways!!! I don't see the point in this, the man may have overstepped his bounds slightly, but he obviously committed a great deal of himself to this community, i mean he has 5 pages of threads that he has contributed to! Honestly i believe that you at least deserve a second chance, because you weren't endorsing major companies or trying to turn a huge profit. And i admire him for stating that he was trying to break even or turn a little profit on the parts that he was going to sell, because every 944 owner knows he needs whatever money he can get out of parts he doesn't need for parts he does need.

Just my opinion so take it with a grain of salt, but give the man a break!!!
Ethan Cooper

eman930

Lift IT!!!! Small business LOL Sounds like just another way for RENNLIST to GET MONEY FOR NOTHING just like the membership fee. Still havent recieved my stuff from that LOL. If you wwhere making thousands I could see a problem but if your just selling a supply you have then it should be lifted

PorscheDoc

Lart pays a small business sponsorship fee does he not? How are you different from him? Just curious.

Burma Shave

Me too. As for the nos parts, you say you bought them at a good price with the intention of reselling them. That pretty much defines a retail business. Whether the business is legit is really of no concern.

Keith951

Lart purchases and flips stuff at a huge rate compared to what I do.. I have had the parts from the same 2 cars over a year or 2. I purchased about 15-20 "New" items that I will be selling.. The rest of the stuff I am using for myself. It is not some huge lot of stuff that is going to yield a large profit.

Sponsorship is 125 for 12 months.. $1500 a Year.

I would be loosing money.. serious money.. expecially being that I go months without selling anything until I decide to put a new post up.. then maybe ill sell a few things.. But as you can see from the same items being listed over and over agian.. The stuff moves slow.. and is not that deseriable.. However.. when something breaks and someone needs it.. It can be extremely helpful and make their day.

BBailey

Purchasing items for resale is the definition of a business. Size and frequency of the transactions is really irrelavent. Also helping others in the forum is also irrelevant (I'm sure many of the other sponsors who actively participate in the forums would love to have their sponsorship fee waived because they actively help others on the forums but I seriously doubt thats ever going to happen).

I'd suggest eBay as a better alternative if you're interested in reselling items you've bought and trying to turn a profit. It's allowed on Rennlist but only if you're a sponsor.

931guru

$1500 per year sponsorship is not worth it for anyone making less than $12K per year in sales just from Rennlist members.

And, face it, Rennlist members are the cheapest of the cheap. Look at the WTB ads, "WTB, expensive Porsche part for cheap!"

Place your ad in Porsche Panorama, at least there you get some takers.

CDT944

I haven't read the policies and don't care to. It seems to me that this forum is for the exchange of ideas, Q&A and so on. It also seems to me that there is no harm no foul if from time to time a member has something to sell that helps out another member. But if a member's only posts are "for sale adds", I don't care if he does one a day or one a week, he is using this forum to sale is products for his personal gain and he should have the appropriate membership or be in the correct forum. If the member is not contributing to the knowledge base of the this forum and is only selling parts, however many or however needed he is, it belongs somewhere else.

Chris
'87 944 NA
Austin, TX

Calmchaos

I think the ban is a bit bogus, but don't the mods just enforce the owners rules? This place isn't really a democracy. I love Rennlist to death and have never had a problem with any of the rules, but it's up to them to do as they please.
I think maybe if you just promise never to do it again?? Sounds optimistic and childish kinda but... you know ... might work
And then only sell parts when someone makes a post asking for a specific part. Just sell the rest of the stuff on eBay or craigslist. We all check there anyway when we need something.
But I'll go on record as saying: the ban is harsh and I personally wouldn't have banned a user doing what you were doing. BUT rules are rules and if they feel you broke them...

And just a thought, how about like a semi sponsorship dealie? Maybe you send like a certain percentage to the list? Maybe? I don't know... that might entail some problems.

apierce918

with that definition anyone parting a car that wasnt theirs is running a business.

i think it was a fine line, and i think they were watching you since they warned you, hence the "on to you" type comment, mass cross post is probably the final straw, and it should have just been in the for sale, all people looking for parts usually hit that, and a x-post on 2 boards is a little different.

whether or not it was right or wrong i cant say, we may or may not be getting the details as to what led to and/or caused the decision, but im not sure a plea of this nature is going ot help or hurt you either