I'd like to see it too.

Could you elaborate on how users are being used as a revenue source by allowing the sale of certain items? How are you making money off of them? (I am grateful for this resource, but quite frankly I don't mind if I was charged for its use. Charging might deter undesirables from joining! This is akin to allowing only real pilots or people who have some flight time to join.)

I think having a section posting aviation stuff for sale is long overdue and has considerable pent up demand. It does not really detract from the goal of helping each other. It can be done and indeed is being done in many other forums.

Here are some thoughts that come to mind regarding parameters.

Is it possible to have a “form” that sellers fill out online? This will prevent wildly different kinds of descriptions. And it will help screen out the non-aviation stuff in case someone tries to sell his knife collection or 300 issues of old Reader’s Digest or his kidney.

Is there some way to authenticate that the poster is the real and legitimate owner of the item? I wouldn’t want to buy stolen headsets or manuals that are stamped “Property of Mesa Airlines.”

Rig it so each post is good only for 7 days from the time of posting, after which it automatically self-destructs. I believe craigslist does this. Or have that thread automatically lock itself after 7 days. The problem with this is that if the item does not sell, the seller is going to post again and again ad nauseum.

Like craigslist, the seller cannot post the same and/or similar thing until after the original has expired. This, of course, means that the aforementioned “form” must have a little intelligence.

Allow only the sale of one of anything. For example, it’s fine for someone to list a roller bag, but not ok if the same person in the same ad lists 5 identical roller bags or something that is tantamount to commercial quantities.

What about having the seller post a picture of this item? Do we really want to burden the database like that?

Like the Hiring section, this for sale section can only be viewed by legitimate users. No guests or people with fewer than 100 posts.

To avoid clogging up the PM boxes, a potential buyer can click on a link that leads directly to the seller’s personal email outside of APC. Both parties can then transact business on their own time and space, without using up bandwidth.

Final thought – what about having the seller post a link on this section that takes the looker off into another site (but I don’t really know where or what) that has a more complete description of the item? Problem here is this might be interpreted as the posting of the forbidden self-promotion websites.

Well, these are just some thoughts. What do I know? I’m just an annoying lawyer who still has only 15 hours in my log book.

PS: Rig each thread so that nobody is allowed to comment on the item. The last thing I want is some yahoo's commentary about the virtue of a David Clark vs a Bose. So if you wanna buy it, contact the seller.

And thus continues the downfall of American society...too many lawyers(j/k, kinda ), too many rules. Let's keep it simple.

HSLD and I spoke today, and we decided that we will launch a "Garage Sale" forum here (got a better name? let's hear it), based on everyone's input. We will work out the details and open it up soon.

It will be open only to pilots selling their used headsets, crash pad junkers, etc. No company advertising will be allowed.

FD

That's cool, but I hope it doesn't detract from the quality of APC. I know the pilots would like to sell a few humble things not trying to make a profit on them, but APC is about ideas, expression, sharing, and so forth, I do not see garage style advertising as very consistent wth this purpose. Commerce is fully served already by eBay, Craigslist, Trade-A-Plane, newspaper, and local airport billboards. I think it will interfere with the current atmosphere that is uniquely free from business motives. Vagabond hints at the difficulty of achieving an acceptable level of quality in managing such a bulletin board, and with the moderators taxed as they are I doubt they will be able to work through dozens of less than acceptable ads to ferret out a small number of David Clarks and Purdy Neats. But maybe so.

When you get it 'up and running,' can I get my "strike" removed for posting a link to my headsets that are for sale?

In any case, it's a fine idea...keep up the good work!!

And, I guess it would be more of a "Community Hangar Sale," vs. "Garage Sale."

Call it the "bone yard"

"Trash heap" depending on how well it's managed (kidding).

Once boundaries are established on where to draw the line, I don't think this will be hard to moderate.

Sounds like a great idea to me.
Hangar Sale, Ramp Sale, Parts and Pieces would all work...
Someone mentioned "Bone Yard", my favorite so far.