Support for The Forest Forum

fstedy · December 23, 2005, 12:43:18 PM

As many of you know this forum is operated mainly by support from our Great Sponsors but we must devise some ways of adding additional funds to keep Her healthy. Jeff has come up with a 5% premium for sellers of large items sold in the Commerce section which is more than fair compared to other internet based sites. I know many of you make beautiful hand crafted items. I bought some name signs from WVhillbilly that are a great item many of you may not be aware of this. I'm sure many of you make things which I would buy and many shoppers on the Web would purchase if they were aware. We have an opportunity to market these items here not only to help you ( nice Web presence here ) but to help contribute a portion of the profits to the Forum. We have available many specialty wood products also ( unique woods from Central America thru native items( Burls Spalted and Quarter Sawn ) to offer. Who knows Ebay and Amazon started from simple needs and look where they have gone. Their are a lot of people searching for just what we have to offer. Kick it around and see what we can develop. I just rolled the snowball down the hill lets see how big we can make it grow. I wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY, HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.
Ed

crtreedude · December 23, 2005, 12:50:11 PM

I like the idea fstedy, I have often thought that a listing of available inventory would be a great thing - That way, a person who was looking for a particular piece of wood (or a supply) could have a source.

farmerdoug · December 23, 2005, 03:15:11 PM

That is a great idea. 8) I would prefer to buy something from a member here than go to HD or Lowe's. We just need a spot to list the small items that we have available to sell. I am sure that everyone has somthing to move that someone else on here would be interested in. A section for lists of small items and still be a way to support the forum. :P Kinda like the locate a sawyer list I guess.

Farmerdoug

Captain · December 23, 2005, 04:39:12 PM

Stay tuned, members. The TimberPro Online store is coming in a couple of weeks....with 10% of sales to Forestry Forum members going to support the Forestry Forum. In fact, the first sale to Troy (Troy Lancaster) was last week. (How's the slabber chain, Troy??)

What is in the online store?? Here's a sampling...

Everything LogRite
Chainsaw Chain, Bars, lubricants, sharpening supplies...more...
Small engine parts, engines, especially discounted Kohler items

The store will also ultimately include Peterson Sawmills parts, but only a selection of them will qualify for the 10% Forestry Forum contribution (sorry)

Watch for a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT when the store opens....for now if you need anything, send me a PM and we'll see what we can do....

Thanks...

Captain

Look for this link to the left!

WV_hillbilly · December 23, 2005, 06:30:42 PM

I think it's a great idea too. I'm willing to do this also . With all the different people we have on here we should be able to cover most anything someone would need .

Paschale · December 23, 2005, 07:26:22 PM

Hear, hear! I think it's a great idea too...and for the exposure we get in the Commerce Section to a huge audience, the 5% is really a great deal. We all love this place, and to find a way for us to help support it is something I think we all can, and should, really get behind!

Thanks for the post, Fstedy! 8)

fstedy · December 24, 2005, 10:09:18 AM

I know their may be some resistance to paying a sellers premium (5%) but if we are making a profit thru FF we must support it. I know Jeff's efforts although a labor of love do require time and financial expendatures. Many learned of the Sawmill Exchange here and purchased mills thru them, FF did the referring and the Exchange made the profit, somethings wrong about that. If we were able to develop links with woodworkers sites it could open another marketing opportunity for us. I'm sure their are many other things we could do also. Lets get some ideas going folks.

crtreedude · December 26, 2005, 07:41:07 AM

One of the catch 22s down here that this might work really well for is this - shipping a container from here is pretty easy - but a 20' container is a lot of wood. If we accumulate a container of wood and ship it up, it is going to be very reasonable for people to buy tropical hardwood - you are going to pay through the nose if we ship say a 100 BF - like an extra dollar a lb.

So, having something like this would allow an accumulation of orders to ship all at once. If people allow us to do it that way, we can definitely give a much better price.

This might be a good pitch fstedy - buy direct from the sawyers and save BIG! Cut out layers and layers of middlemen.

The other thing is that I have people here who can make a tropical hardwood door for 200 to 300 dollars - including carving if you want - (really prime - $500). Guanacaste, Caobilla, you name it. Some wood will be more expensive.

Shipping them with a container of wood makes it very inexpensive.

I pay sales commissions now - this would be no different. "You will not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain..." (No Jeff, I am not calling you an Ox... )