second hand / exchange market

[mortommy]

Hi guys,
what do you think if we create on this forum a section about sell/exchange electronic spare parts? Probably we bought some 5 or 10 pieces packs from Chinese sellers and we don't use all of them, keeping stocked in our shells, but they can be useful for someone else. We could save time avoiding to wait shipping from China, like now I wold like to have in my hands an additional radio module but I have to wait at least 2 weeks.
Regards.

[Oitzu]

Call it a good idea.

[bjacobse]

Good idea, only disadvantage is that postage from China is free, when have to send anything form Denmark or Sweden, I have to pay more in postage that the electronics costs + postage from China...
How to do this in a good way?

[hek]

I've had a discussion with the moderators and we've decided against a new forum category for selling excess parts.

The main reasons is:

• Shipping from china is so cheap that it is hard to beat even if you ship the things within a country.
• If you need things fast, all local markets have online stores selling these parts.
• A market place could attract more spam/commercial elements that we'd like to keep away from the forum. I started sketching on a new set of rules for it, but it became rather long and would take moderator resources to uphold.

Instead, I suggest you try to:

• Find (or setup) a local maker space where you can exchange parts with fellow makers.
• Enter your physical location (town/country) in the forum profile. Use the forum PM system to make new friend and setup group purchases and/or trade parts.

The recent BBQ initiative in Holland/Sweden is an excellent example how to meet other DIY people nearby.

[bjacobse]

Yes this is a good explanation why not to pursue exchange in the forum.