Sign of the Times?

[astronut]

I haven't visited Astromart for a while, boy did I get a surprise!! As I went to log in I noticed that new members have to PAY $12.00US to join............."The Times they are a changing":(

[ving]

times are a-changing indeed. glad we dont have to pay to come here :)

[erick]

Perhaps we have to pay to leave?

[Ric]

That's a bit rude and I suppose they get a percentage of the sales price as well.

[Kal]

Maybe they should learn the business process of advertising. Forcing people to pay a subscription to be able to trade will doom the site in the long term. They could easily support themselves with a measured advertising approach.

[wavelandscott]

They don't take a cut from sales as a matter of practice...although many have argued that they should.

I do notice that many people do send them money to "support" the site after a big sale.

The $12 only applies to new joiners and has been in place for several months now. I have not noticed a real difference in the volume of material being traded or the pricing. It is a small fee to pay compared to what you can save...

When the fee came in to effect, there was a huge discussion on the Astromart Forums and the generally feeling from a majority of posters was in favor of some kind of fee and most wanted a much higher fee than what was finally enacted. (Yes, this may have been a vocal minority but their opinion carried the day.)

I personally don't have an objection to the fee...it does seem to aide in keeping out scammers. In my opinion, people do not have a "birth right" to join/view or view...I tend to think of it as another source of information avaialble...I pay subscriptions to receive Astro magazines etc. so I don't see much difference.

There are many other free sites available to those who are not interested in paying the fee...