A good deals subforum?

[bobthe]

sure there are subforums for discussing food, weapons or whatnot and in theory posts regarding good deals could go in there, but info on a goof deal seems like a 'resource' to me, and maybe one that merits it's own section...

example:
First Solar FS-272 PV Panel 3.6 KW Pallet of 50 New | eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/First-Solar-FS-272-PV-Panel-3-6-KW-Pallet-50-New-/200658922500?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb8342c04#ht_4784wt_1265)

3600 watts of brand new solar panels, asking price $4250 (FWIW: I know the seller, ive bought from them before with no probems. they will take $3600 per case for one case, maybe an even better deal if you bought more)

solar power for a buck a watt before the inverter or batteries is a darn good deal, and maybe something folks here might want to jump on. I'm sure others out there might have similar good deals they know of....

[dragon5126]

That sounds great but... thats 400 sq ft. to generate the peak output. Or to be precise one half (one side) of a peaked roof if it's facing the right direction.
Dont get me wrong. I'm not saying it's a bad deal. It is a fantastic deal. Hell if my home were situated correctly I'd be heading to the bank to see if I could swing four or more pallets of them. probem is I'd need a minimum eight, and the roof is peaked too steeply with the ridge running north and south. Also The roof would need a superstructure installed over it, since these panels get hotter than begebus in the summer time. And would be iced over in the winter. The Ideal situation would be in new home construction, where they could be built into the roof directly.... Dammit bob whyd you have to post that... now I'm thinkin about building again, and I just got it outta my head. Those WOULD be awesome for a cabin.... HMMMM.....

[dragon5126]

Oh yeah, I think a deals thread would be an excellent idea but we would have to be careful that it doesnt turn into a commercial advertising slot... be a pain to moderate.

[bobthe]

a buddy of mine just bought a crate of um. and hes kicking himself squarely in the rear for buying roughly 4 kw at nearly 4$/w just last year. hes trying to talk the seller down from $3600 a drate by getting his brother and another friend to pop for another crate each.

when BP solar closed up their thin film production line in the states years back they liquidated about a quarter megawatt of brand new, warrantied panels at auction. The auction was poorly advertised and the panels didnt sell. As a result the auctioneer was letting them go for $.25 a watt by the pallet load (dont recall how many panels, but roughly a few kw worth). oh how I wish I didnt buy all I could at the time. sadly I was heavily invested with my business at the time and was about to take a loan out to buy panels but decided at the last minute not to defficit finance going into the solar panel business

[RedJohn]

Oh yeah, I think a deals thread would be an excellent idea but we would have to be careful that it doesnt turn into a commercial advertising slot... be a pain to moderate.

The staff offers its time, I offer my time and my cash. There are no reasons for anybody to use our resources to make money without us making some too. I am thinking about a commercial venture, but I am not ready to proceed with it at this point.

[bobthe]

The staff offers its time, I offer my time and my cash. There are no reasons for anybody to use our resources to make money without us making some too. I am thinking about a commercial venture, but I am not ready to proceed with it at this point.

you are the one spending the cash so obviously your opinion is paramount on the subject - but dont forget the angle that a good deal saves people money. that makes it a resource to the users, even if such a forum gets commercialized. and you never know, you might be one of the users to take advantage.

my idea of a good deals forum isnt just 'hai guys check out my new survival web store' sorts of posts, but more along the lines of heads up on good ebay listings, or business bankruptcy / downsizing sales or government surplus sources. in other words not commercially driven posts, but rather opportunities for the community to maybe save some serious dosh on an odd bit or bob.

[Stormfeather]

Personally I think its a great idea. Every now and then, we run across deals that we as preppers may have already taken advantage of, and want to share with our fellow preppers. I agree as long as it doesnt become a clearinghouse for odds-n-ends from our basement!

[RedJohn]

We already have a few posts like that. At this time, I don't think that it requires a forum. I'll discuss this with The Stig.

[dragon5126]

I agree that it shouldnt be a situation that it would become a source of free advertising. That is the point that it becomes a commercial venture that I mentioned, and why it would become such a pain to moderate. There is a point where there is an abuse of the site vs a service to the members. It's one of those gray area things. The counterpoint to this is if it could help pay for the site, BUT then we bring the IRS into the mix for the site owner. These are things that most users don't consider.

[ladyhk13]

Why can't it just stay the way it is and if someone comes across a great deal they can post it with the link for anyone who is interested to check out? Why make things difficult for anyone?

[The Stig]

Why can't it just stay the way it is and if someone comes across a great deal they can post it with the link for anyone who is interested to check out? Why make things difficult for anyone?

RedJohn and I haven't had a chance to discuss this, but I am in agreement with him and LHK. Why create a separate subforum when you can simply start a new thread in the existing forum that is most relevant. If your deal involves food, put it there. If it involves a good tent put it in equipment, etc.

We are trying to keep the number of subforums to a minimum to keep a clean, simple layout. Adding a separate forum, that overlaps what is already available (with no discernible gain) doesn't make much sense.

[dragon5126]

To many of us, it would be a matter of expedience. For example, many people dont read the entire site every time they log in, perhaps once a week they have the time to go through the whole site, but on their regular check in it's a matter of time, as it's not always from the convenience of home. It also would keep things in a quick and easy to search format for most people. No matter how you look at it, there is always more work for someone, one way or another, when you are dealing with a venture such as the dissemination of information. Sp to you it doesnt make sense, but over welmingly it does to the users who would take advantage of it. The REAL question that should be asked is how many would use it, since if it wouldnt be used both by those adding posts and those using it to save money, it would be a wasted effort.