the "for sales" philosophy

I don't think the small percentage thing will work.

Especially since most sales seem to occur through Anime-Beta. And, as long as it's free to post sales there, that's where people will post them.

Additionally, I think if you charge a fee, you're going to also have to take responsibility for trades/sales gone bad. I can see where people will want RS to personally vet every person who sells because they'll feel that their fees should go somewhere.

That's what you get when you deal with E-bay. Yes, the fees blow, but, at least you know that the seller is a credible person and you do have recourse in the event that you don't receive the item/payment.

If fundraising is what you need, maybe there are alternatives around. How about advanced user features depending on donation level?

Or mochi for friends at Slugfest?! We could have a bake sale!

(Bunny gets dibs on the carrot cake. Woo!!)

And sales will continue via Anime Beta. My problem is that I don't want to waste the mods' time trying to chase people down when they could be doing other, more positive things.

The main benefit will be to either a) super huge galleries or b) people who are outside our current community.

Here's how it helps...

Super Huge Galleries: One click and everything goes into the store. No fuss, no scanning, no uploading. Single place to search for everything once the market is improved works better. You could flout the fees if you'd like if you know each other, but I'm going to start making it very clear that you are taking money out of my pocket when you do. Reminding people about the benefits that we provide is a good thing.

We will also be instituting a reputation system of sorts similar to LinkedIn. At some point, you should be able to leave reviews of actual people. This can be combined with an ebay-like star rating to create a reputation profile of sorts that is deeper than just "A++ shipped on time".

People outside our current community: They don't know you or me. But they do want to start/continue collecting. They need some kind of structured place to do that. Individual galleries are not the answer here either.

All I can say about the fees is that a) they will be cheaper than ebay, and b) some portion of sales will be free. It will likely be percentage-based. I may institute a system where fees accumulate on every sale, but you don't have to pay them out until the fees reach, say, $10 in a month. Being a sponsor for the previous month might cut your fees by 20%. (Yes, sponsorships will be a monthly thing.. still working details out on that.)

Trades: doesn't tend to happen far enough for us to care. Again, liquidity and accurate pricing are necessary for the survival of any economy. Cel collecting is a prime example. If we can't trade money for cels any more, the whole cel collecting hobby is going straight into the toilet.

I don't know how it is now, but I remember even when I last bought a cel a few years ago, the market seemed full of the same overpriced cels that have been circulating around cons for years.

The model for some collectors seems to be 1) buy stuff, 2) put in book, 3) put book in back of closet, 4) forget about book. A lack of supply makes people more reluctant to sell. That's when you start getting a barter economy. We want people to be *less* reluctant to sell by simultaneously reducing the barriers to those sales and increasing the supply of art. I don't think we're in any danger of flooding the market.

Ebay may give you some confidence in the seller but their "no bad feedback for buyers" policy has made me reluctant to sell on ebay. I want a two way street and if there will be a ratings system here on the 'slug I would rather give a small fee to RS than eBay any day. Especially if I don't have to rescan, upload and describe each and every cel when it's already done here.

I'm interested in hearing about the monthly fee aspect. Although I don't mind paying monthly, I'd hope that I'd also get access to some more advanced features on the site too.

I'd be cool if you could do a basic free membership, like other sites have. This would allow to post maybe a handful of items on RS and I think it would be beneficial to encouraging other people to join and begin collecting. Or, you could establish a trial membership, where, after a set amount of time, a member will have to decide on whether or not they'll pay for RS's services. After all, most beginners aren't dropping 1K on cels/sketches. They're probably in the "Look what I got on E-bay for $5!" phase - which is cool. That's where a lot of us started, too.

Had I found the v3 RS as a new collector, I might not want to join if a monthly fee was involved.

Hopefully, a fee won't encourage people to either remove their galleries from RS and/or limit the amount of items shown in order to avoid paying higher fees.

I know you don't have all the kinks worked out yet, so, no pressure. I know I'm not the only member who will be interested in seeing how this is played out.