Hey all!
What do you think about creating a new marketplace category?
I propose it has two subcategories: on with Offered and one with Wanted.
People could post a new topic if they have an item for sale, or are looking for an item. This instead of adding a post to the evergrowing unofficial marketplace topics…
I find that the existing marketplace topics are hard to navigate…
Looking forward to your feedback!
I had the same idea a few days ago. I usually don’t look into the #marketplace::tag topics much, but that day I did and found it quite untidy.
I decided not to suggest my idea, as I thought the @moderators who post there more would speak up if the topic was going out of hand - and for me personally it’s quite convenient that there is a collective thread (that i muted) for many posts that don’t interest me.
But now I see the FP2 marketplace is totally undermoderated.
I think it would be way more convenient for the users who want to buy or sell FPs, but a little more annoying for moderators and regular users (even if you mute the category).
My counterproposal: How about a “semi official” marketplace outside the forum?
Yes! that could be a plan and is actually on my wishlist. But I thought… if we first give this marketplace a better, more prominent place and try to see how it develops… then we also have a better idea if it is worth the time and investment to create an entire new place.
Oh you mean a self-hosted marketplace? (#wearefairphone server?)
I actually just thought of “endorsing” an existing, global, fair marketplace so most second hand FP stuff can be found on the same place in the internet.
Many marketplace users only ever post in that one topic so they never get past the “new user” status. So they sometimes can’t post pics or multiple links and they never learn the right FP-forum behavior (like replying to many people in a single post - although now that I think about it that is restricted for new users too).
Something that is meant as a marketplace and not a discussion forum is surely better than discourse for that.
I actually just thought of “endorsing” an existing, global, fair marketplace so most second hand FP stuff can be found on the same place in the internet.
That could also work. But is there one that serves all of Europe and beyond (If people use the 2nd hand market to get a phone to a country Fairphone does not support).
Creating just a new category feels as an easy way to bootstrap this, instead of starting a new platform 
Frankly, I think the existing unofficial marketplace threads would be helped a lot if it was simply forbidden to respond to an offer in that thread. Instead people should either use the private messaging system (I know this is not available to new board members instantly) or contact the offering party via e-mail. If these rules were clearly spelled out in the first post, it would provide sufficient legitimacy to deleting replies from the thread.
However, your initial proposal is probably easier to implement, Douwe. 
Would that also allow you to set a shorter auto-close time span for all offers and wants (perhaps 10 weeks)? That would be a blessing given few people who offer something ever seem to clarify that their item is no longer available.
Very good point. I think with the switch to a marketplace category this would be even more important. Imagine forum.fairphone.com/latest being filled to the brim with new and old marketplace topics everytime a new forum member is seeking a second hand phone and posts in every open marketplace topic “is that offer still valid?”.
PS: I think also tags should be restricted for the marketplace category.
If we introduced the marketplace category, would it be possible to keep posts from that category out of the “latest topics” view?
I don’t think that’s possible, I believe I asked @Douwe a similar question once.
The only way to hide it from the latest view would be to make it a hidden category you have to apply for, but even then: once you’re in you’ll see the posts everywhere.
Wouldn’t it be easier to implement a sell and buy module on the website? There’s a Swedish brand selling clothes that have a simple yet effective marketplace:
https://www.polarnopyret.se/kop-och-salj
Their idea is that they build clothes that last and that can be used for more than one kid. They encourage you to sell and buy second hand! Fairphone also wants phones to be used as much as possible and to live event after their death, i.e. if one uses parts to fix other phones (instead of throwing away your bottom module because the mic doesn’t work anymore, maybe someone would like to buy it to use the usb port, etc.).
I think that an official marketplace would cast Fairphone in a good light. There are many ways to implement a marketplace on a website, it should be easy to find one suitable.
I think the marketplace should be implemented in that way that the user can actually hide the offer when he has bought/sold the FP item. So the visible items are from those who are still waiting for a buy/sale.
To keep it tidy, offers should be hidden automatically after three months (assuming that the user has simply forgotten to hide the offer after buy/sale), the user should be informed and receives a link where he can un-hide the offer (if he still waits for a buyer/seller).
Public answers to offers should be allowed, for questions, to show interest, for linking in “wanted” topics to “offering” topics or for finding the person who has the best price (a. k. a. auction). Only bank details and addresses should be exchanged privately.
The topic at Meta is not really conclusive, but I think it can be done…
@paulakreuzer did we discuss this before? 
Maybe this thread could help?
I believe a long long time ago we already discussed opening the beta section for everybody to read and I suggested not letting the posts appear in “latest” by default to avoid confusing basic users (Latest was the standard view back then).
Or maybe it was a discussion about the dev category? Or maybe it was a discussion from before your time, when Joe was Community Manager? Or maybe it never happened and I just dreamed it? It’s not like discourse’s search function would give us a chance to ever find out the truth! 
Those mockups in there look nice, but the feature will probably not be ready soon.
On the Discourse thread, there is also a link to an app which seems ready to use:
http://www.bidhub.org/
@Douwe: Nice try, but currently the topics are visible in /latest, but the categories are hidden/don’t exist - and the links go nowhere: https://forum.fairphone.com/c/market
EDIT: Fixed 
links should work now.
I am still trying to fix so new topics don’t show up in the ‘Latest’ part
Could you move the topic below to the Market? I seem to lack permission to move posts there - only into the sub categories:
I updated the permissions. Can you check if you can move it now?
Now we only have to change the colors to something else than the roadmap gold. 