The fall of AmiBay

cloverskull · 04 February 2021, 10:46

Anyone else notice AmiBay:

Isn't https enabled
Is extremely slow
Is overmoderated to the point of being hostile?

Number 3 above has recently raised my ire pretty bad. A simple mistake and now I have a documented infraction associated with my user account and my spot in line to make a purchase was taken away. I had to go reread a laundry list of rules, wait for a stupid timer to finish, and click a button to be able to post again.

I think there's a happy place with moderation where you have a strong community. There's a level of moderation in forums that is effective...but this is a bell curve. Too little or too much results in an overall negative experience.

Gordon · 04 February 2021, 10:54

Sorry to hear that. Its a shame as we are supposed to be a community of Amiga enthusiasts. I remember reading someone got told off for spelling "declaring interest" wrong and like you lost their spot in line for a nice item. Best off sticking to ebay as the prices arn't much different and operates effectively

fxgogo · 04 February 2021, 10:56

I must be honest, that first point is just not excusable. Certificates are part of hosting packages these days. Managing these massive forums can be a huge amount of work, and us Amiga folk are a rather 'passionate' bunch. How would you like to see it done?

DJBase · 04 February 2021, 18:34

Amibay... I remember, they had problems accepting *my eMail address* because of copyrights (eh what?) and forced me to change it.

What a kindergarten...

Predseda · 04 February 2021, 19:04

Yes, they also denied to register me with ihateamibay@atari.st email... just kidding

profo · 04 February 2021, 19:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Predseda

Yes, they also denied to register me with ihateamibay@atari.st email... just kidding

jasonsbeer · 04 February 2021, 21:58

I have tried making an account there several times over the last year. Never works. I gave up. I guess it is an insiders only club.

lesta_smsc · 04 February 2021, 22:09

Gotta love EAB... Great people and the mods aren't too bad either

lol

BarryB · 04 February 2021, 22:20

I haven't been on there since sometime in 2016! Got fed up of being ripped off by sellers not sending stuff and claiming they had but never supplied any tracking, funny that!

r.cade · 05 February 2021, 01:01

They do seem to have a lot of rules- maybe too many. IMO it's full of people who seem to think they shouldn't have to pay "eBay prices" which makes little sense to me. I don't like to shell out the 13%+ to eBay+Paypal either, but still I think the site is full of flippers.

UberFreak · 05 February 2021, 01:27

Amibay prices are on par with Ebay these days, you can actually get better deals on Ebay.
Still, I had no issues buying there over the years, always a good experience.

cloverskull · 05 February 2021, 01:49

TBH if they’re that indexed on protecting buyers and sellers, the simplest thing they could do is revise the “paypal as gift” payment option. Once that’s done, everyone’s covered.

Anyway looks like my voluntary kickban is done so time to move on. I don’t want to bash AmiBay; it was a great forum for a time that served its purpose for me for many years. I just think its value proposition these days is diminished, somewhat due to external factors, but many that feel internal. I digress.

Adrian Browne · 05 February 2021, 04:06

I gave up on it years ago... just logging in was a nightmare...

skan · 05 February 2021, 08:07

Oh, so it's not just me then! I gave up months ago after the fifth registering attempt gone wrong... And lost my interest completely.

Well, gonna keep all those rev.6 68060's myself then! ;P

fxgogo · 05 February 2021, 09:25

We are very lucky in that there a quite a few Amiga communities that are thriving. So that gives us choice.

davideo · 05 February 2021, 12:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonsbeer

I have tried making an account there several times over the last year. Never works. I gave up. I guess it is an insiders only club.

Drop me a PM or post in this thread http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=79668 and I'll look into it for you

spudje · 05 February 2021, 13:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by cloverskull

TBH if they’re that indexed on protecting buyers and sellers, the simplest thing they could do is revise the “paypal as gift” payment option. Once that’s done, everyone’s covered.

Only true if the seller then also ships insured. Otherwise only the buyer is covered.

Photon · 05 February 2021, 15:16

I confess I haven't been on often in the last few years - mostly due to trading with Facebook friends in groups.

In theory, it should be impossible to get ripped off on AmiBay as you only feedback positively if you receive the item and it's working as described. And unlike eBay, you can't buy an account that has sold e.g. 10000 stickers or other WYSIWYG items and start from that to not let feedback make a dent in your score. In practice, it's probably fully possible.

I think there has been a problem with registering for a while, but you can send them an email to get on the forum.

If I were looking for something specific, I'd probably have a look there, and I think it's especially good for posting Wanted ads (depending on seller activity).

As for prices, they tend to go up, never down as available products finds homes and the products that remain grow scarcer. Best example would be that you could get a whole box of joysticks, 3 TAC-2s for 8 EUR 10 years ago, and last few years a tatty one starts at 20 EUR each.

And as always, you only go by prices for actually sold items, not ads for the same item at a ridiculous price for months. As sellers learn to search for this, prices should be the same everywhere after a while.

All in all, I agree that Amibay could look at how they can make it a friendly marketplace with less hassles.

apex · 05 February 2021, 15:52

A TAC-2 for 20€ would be fantastic, but on eBay you pay now 50€ for a used one, up to 200€ for a new one...

sparhawk · 05 February 2021, 15:59

I have only purchased two items so far, and this worked quite well. However I'm a bit disapointed by the site, because I thought it is for Amiga/Retro enthusiast, but I have the impression that most sellers are the same as on ebay.

And yes, the site is really sloooooowwwwww.

What I also find a bit annoying is, that I always see this endless banner of rules. I mean, I already read it once, so why do I have to be hit in the face with it, everytime I load a page?

04 February 2021, 10:46	#1
cloverskull Registered User Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: California Posts: 322	The fall of AmiBay Anyone else notice AmiBay: Isn't https enabled Is extremely slow Is overmoderated to the point of being hostile? Number 3 above has recently raised my ire pretty bad. A simple mistake and now I have a documented infraction associated with my user account and my spot in line to make a purchase was taken away. I had to go reread a laundry list of rules, wait for a stupid timer to finish, and click a button to be able to post again. I think there's a happy place with moderation where you have a strong community. There's a level of moderation in forums that is effective...but this is a bell curve. Too little or too much results in an overall negative experience.

04 February 2021, 18:34	#4
DJBase Amiga is my Religion Join Date: May 2005 Location: Germany Posts: 578	Amibay... I remember, they had problems accepting my eMail address because of copyrights (eh what?) and forced me to change it. What a kindergarten... Last edited by DJBase; 06 February 2021 at 16:00.

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04 February 2021, 10:54	#2
Gordon Settler Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Serf City Posts: 1,760	Sorry to hear that. Its a shame as we are supposed to be a community of Amiga enthusiasts. I remember reading someone got told off for spelling "declaring interest" wrong and like you lost their spot in line for a nice item. Best off sticking to ebay as the prices arn't much different and operates effectively

04 February 2021, 10:56	#3
fxgogo Also known as GarethQ Join Date: May 2019 Location: Twickenham / U.K. Posts: 715	I must be honest, that first point is just not excusable. Certificates are part of hosting packages these days. Managing these massive forums can be a huge amount of work, and us Amiga folk are a rather 'passionate' bunch. How would you like to see it done?

04 February 2021, 19:04	#5
Predseda Puttymoon inhabitant Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tromaville Age: 46 Posts: 7,538	Yes, they also denied to register me with ihateamibay@atari.st email... just kidding

04 February 2021, 21:58	#7
jasonsbeer Registered User Join Date: May 2020 Location: Iowa, USA Posts: 150	I have tried making an account there several times over the last year. Never works. I gave up. I guess it is an insiders only club.

04 February 2021, 22:09	#8
lesta_smsc Registered User Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 3,173	Gotta love EAB... Great people and the mods aren't too bad either lol

04 February 2021, 22:20	#9
BarryB Amigaholic Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: UK Posts: 4,676	I haven't been on there since sometime in 2016! Got fed up of being ripped off by sellers not sending stuff and claiming they had but never supplied any tracking, funny that!

05 February 2021, 01:01	#10
r.cade Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Augusta, Georgia, USA Posts: 548	They do seem to have a lot of rules- maybe too many. IMO it's full of people who seem to think they shouldn't have to pay "eBay prices" which makes little sense to me. I don't like to shell out the 13%+ to eBay+Paypal either, but still I think the site is full of flippers.

05 February 2021, 01:27	#11
UberFreak Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: the world Posts: 439	Amibay prices are on par with Ebay these days, you can actually get better deals on Ebay. Still, I had no issues buying there over the years, always a good experience.

05 February 2021, 01:49	#12
cloverskull Registered User Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: California Posts: 322	TBH if they’re that indexed on protecting buyers and sellers, the simplest thing they could do is revise the “paypal as gift” payment option. Once that’s done, everyone’s covered. Anyway looks like my voluntary kickban is done so time to move on. I don’t want to bash AmiBay; it was a great forum for a time that served its purpose for me for many years. I just think its value proposition these days is diminished, somewhat due to external factors, but many that feel internal. I digress.

05 February 2021, 04:06	#13
Adrian Browne Jackie Chan Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Ireland Age: 46 Posts: 985	I gave up on it years ago... just logging in was a nightmare...

05 February 2021, 08:07	#14
skan Dream Merchant Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Dreamlands Posts: 530	Oh, so it's not just me then! I gave up months ago after the fifth registering attempt gone wrong... And lost my interest completely. Well, gonna keep all those rev.6 68060's myself then! ;P

05 February 2021, 09:25	#15
fxgogo Also known as GarethQ Join Date: May 2019 Location: Twickenham / U.K. Posts: 715	We are very lucky in that there a quite a few Amiga communities that are thriving. So that gives us choice.

05 February 2021, 15:16	#18
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	I confess I haven't been on often in the last few years - mostly due to trading with Facebook friends in groups. In theory, it should be impossible to get ripped off on AmiBay as you only feedback positively if you receive the item and it's working as described. And unlike eBay, you can't buy an account that has sold e.g. 10000 stickers or other WYSIWYG items and start from that to not let feedback make a dent in your score. In practice, it's probably fully possible. I think there has been a problem with registering for a while, but you can send them an email to get on the forum. If I were looking for something specific, I'd probably have a look there, and I think it's especially good for posting Wanted ads (depending on seller activity). As for prices, they tend to go up, never down as available products finds homes and the products that remain grow scarcer. Best example would be that you could get a whole box of joysticks, 3 TAC-2s for 8 EUR 10 years ago, and last few years a tatty one starts at 20 EUR each. And as always, you only go by prices for actually sold items, not ads for the same item at a ridiculous price for months. As sellers learn to search for this, prices should be the same everywhere after a while. All in all, I agree that Amibay could look at how they can make it a friendly marketplace with less hassles.

05 February 2021, 15:52	#19
apex Registered User Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Amigaplanet Posts: 645	A TAC-2 for 20€ would be fantastic, but on eBay you pay now 50€ for a used one, up to 200€ for a new one...

05 February 2021, 15:59	#20
sparhawk Registered User Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Essen/Germany Age: 55 Posts: 463	I have only purchased two items so far, and this worked quite well. However I'm a bit disapointed by the site, because I thought it is for Amiga/Retro enthusiast, but I have the impression that most sellers are the same as on ebay. And yes, the site is really sloooooowwwwww. What I also find a bit annoying is, that I always see this endless banner of rules. I mean, I already read it once, so why do I have to be hit in the face with it, everytime I load a page?

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