Can you make an area where its ok to talk about commercial things? For example, I am trying to tell everyone about the new line of historical shoes Garb the World (my company run by SCAers) now has. We teamed up with an artisan in Pakistan who is making shoes from historical patterns at really reasonable prices. So we can offer a wide variety of styles and colors (though it does take a bit of a wait since they are coming in from Pakistan made just for you).
Click here to see the shoes

very cool.

I agree, it would be cool to have a vendor/merchant section.

There is a classifieds section...

Yes but a classifieds section is about buying and selling. Personally i wouldn't mind a section where we could swap vendor tips like "What pavillion style works/packs best for merchanting?", swapping stories about various events and the likes or general talk about things that pertain to being on merchant's row. I love chatting with other vendors but sometimes it's hard to go out and meet them when you're stuck at your shop all day.

^ Gottcha! That makes sense.

Does it need its own area, or would it be better organizationally for it to be mixed in with the topic the vendor is associated with? For example, would people be more likely to read/respond to a topic about buying bulk wool in a commercial section, or directly in the spinning area? For shoes, would it get more traffic if it was posted with other Garb threads?

Speaking of Garb, I wonder if that shouldn't have it's own area and not be tucked under the Fiber Arts label. Garb includes a lot of non-fiber things.

A comment from a merchant: I wouldn't be comfortable touting my own wares on forum threads. I also don't like to put things in classifieds because I think they should be for non-merchants to sell the occasional stuff.

But I would like to announce that we are an SCA-run merchant (all our employees and most sewers are in the SCA) and mention what we sew and what else we offer. I would be willing to pay a fee to be on the list - that would be one way of weeding out non-serious merchants. And I could prove our SCA memberships if you want to do some sort of screening. ANd we could include it in the merchant description (e.g. we live in Caid - Baronies of Angels But some of the employees are outsourced from the Barony of Altavia).

So how about making a paid advertising list/thread for SCA merchants?
Thanks
THL Rowanna del Baylly,
owner of Garb the World - the place with the great prices on period shoes.

www.garbtheworld.com

Thank you for all of the above feedback. Lord Christoph and I have taken it into consideration. We will move "garb" into it's own topic instead of being under "fiber arts" and we will also start a new topic called "The Merchant's Pub" where merchants can come together to trade tips, stories, etc. We WILL be adding a Marketplace for vendors to sell their goods, but we are in the very early stages so we do not have an estimated release date yet - please be patient though, it IS coming!

<<< is interested in a barter section for vendors or....

As I love to sew.... Selling is difficult for me because to me my items are easily put together and... & then I see prices some have on their items and I shake my head and walk away... Because I KNOW what goes into it... It makes it difficult for me to price my items... Though to barter... now that I love to do... Why because both parties get what they want.... I bartered a dress for my tatt.... I bartered a cloak for the drawing....

Ealasaid von Tartalome wrote:


I'd love to talk about bartering sometime with you. Not sure what we could trade but I'm always in need of new garb and not always able to come with time for it. PM me sometime