Astromart subscriptions

[RickS]

I just followed a link to Astromart and discovered that my subscription has expired. Apparently, that's because I'm one of the unlucky people whose surname starts with "B", "N", "I" or "S":

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=793147

Interesting way to run a site...

Cheers,
Rick.

[rally]

Just another Tax being implemented !

[Rob_K]

It's about time. B, N, I and S have had it far too easy for far too long.

Cheers -

[dannat]

sux a little, regular payments are a bit of gouging -but Amart beats CN cos there are so many more items & i find the posters are more likely to send to Australia

though looking at the IIS buy/sell stats i better keep quiet now

[RickS]

Makes as much sense as Stamp Duty or Payroll Tax ;)



I have to agree. About time that C and P got it in the neck too.

[Moon]

It's always been a rather unusual setup.
If my membership is deleted I won't renew - too many sellers on AM are CONUS only.
IIS is way better anyway.

[brian nordstrom]

:sadeyes: yea me to Rick , but I got a " Triple Whammy" :help: .,,, Brian Nordstrom , middle name Steve .
Bugger .:rofl: .
Brian.

[RickS]

$45/year for you, Brian :lol:

[troypiggo]

That's bizarre. I wouldn't be renewing either, although P isn't on the $hitlist at the moment. :)

[cventer]

crazy idea really. They will lose a truckload of visitors now and all those sponsors who pay will start complaining.

You charge sponsors and make it free , or charge people and have no sponsors but both = epic fail

[brian nordstrom]

:shrug: IN their dreams , I brought a green ? sub 3 yrs ago and I may have rubbed AM the wrong way , hence the triple whammy :lol: ,
I have since cut up my credit card and how are we suposed to update without one ? they wont accept pay pal , :question:.. and I wont accept credt card intrest so , a stale mate , mate ? :thanx:. Cloudy nights for me .:thumbsup:.
And I am still waiiting for my T-Shirt .. from 3 years ago :screwy: .
Brian .

[gbeal]

You're lucky Brian, I got booted off actually, and with about 400+ feedback as well. Long story, but the short of it is, the sandpit belongs to His Majesty Herb, so he dictates who plays in it. And I was a supporter too, go figure.
I am happier with CN's, and of course IceInSpace. Even to the extent of supporting IIS in a minor capacity a while back.
Gary

[brian nordstrom]

:lol: I ain't letting on to AM that my 2nd middle name is Ian ...:shrug: , Dohh! :eyepop: . I must have really pee'd them off .
come on all you C & P people a little back up here ? , your time is comming ..:lol: .
Yea Cventer , epic fail , my Q to AM is WHY ? they really can't afford to loose people like us ? :question: or can they ?
Shame greed is getting in .
Brian.

[brian nordstrom]

;) makes 2 of us Gary , its another example of us little men ( and ladies) getting squeezed . :help: .
Brian.

[Visionoz]

After reading this thread I logged onto AstroMart and found that I'm supposed to be good until 2099!:eyepop: or am I reading it wrong? :shrug:
I won't be around to find out anyway! :D

So HM Herb must be fiddling with the members' account membership currency - I'll wait and see if that date of mine changes or not in the near future as apparently two alphabets are chosen at random and the sequence is likely to be accelerated too - I don't like to get my arm twisted for whatever tho' I'd like to do the twisting!:P

Cheers
Bill

[gregbradley]

I didn't understand what was happening as there didn't appear to be any announcement about it either. I thought it was a computer glitch with them.

Greg.

[dannat]

The announcement was in a thread explaining they pick 2 letters at random till they get hru the alphabet

[multiweb]

Me too - 31/12/2099 :lol:

[astronut]

They've lost me!:mad2:

[casstony]

I guess he loses a lot of business from his shop because of the way he runs Astromart. Why buy from a cranky bugger when there's so many other choices.

[Astromelb]

Dear Ice In Spacers,

It appears that "Astromart" have changed their policy regarding memberships, and a "Lifetime Membership" that was signed up to years a few years ago is now regarded as EXPIRED !!

Not only an interesting way to run a website, but also actually ...... illegal.

Any other members on I In S getting this same treatment from the XXXXXX yanks ??

Rgds,
Astromelb.

[Octane]

I wouldn't tar all "yanks" with the sentiment of your post.

The web site is run by one guy, if I'm not mistaken. It's his baby.

Maybe if enough people cancel their subscriptions, it might get the message across. But, I doubt it.

H

[Astromelb]

When I signed up for a "Once Off Fee for a Lifetime Membership" that is exactly what I expect to receive.

This is quite simply put - Breach of Contract - it's - ILLEGAL.

Plus my name doesn't start with any of those letters you refer to.

[Octane]

If it's a breach of contract, then, you should be able to take him to court? I have no idea, I'm not a member anymore. :)

H

[MrB]

Perfect opportunity for someone to come up with something better and take his customers from him.

[GrahamL]

Maybe the owner is going to close it down ? no paid up members probably means no refunds on subscriptions..since my membership flew off into the sheen some years back and I don't go there often I notice
now in my area of interest the listings have dropped by more than 50 % from a couple of years ago.

[FlashDrive]

I was thinking of ' signing up ' not long ago ... glad I didn't.
A slow Exodus is on the cards here .. I'd say ... going by what I've read here.

You all know the ' old saying ' ...Don't bite the hand that feeds you ..!!
Maybe HM Herb has had enough ...I dunno ..:shrug:

Flash ..!!

[Stardrifter_WA]

Ditto that :)

[marki]

Have to agree, I aslo signed up on a one time fee now I am being told my account has expired. Won't be wasting any more money and honestly who would sign up as a lifetime member knowing he is likely to lock your account and demand more money whenever it suits him. What a tosser.

Mark

[Stardrifter_WA]

How is this illegal, or a breach of contract?

Sorry to say, it is not a breach of contract.

Under the Terms of Service, to which you must agree in order to sign up, Astromart clearly states "Astromart reserves the right, at its discretion, to change, modify, add or remove all or part of the Terms of Use at any time."

When one signs up to anything one should actually read the Terms of Service before doing so. And, if you don't like them, don't sign up. To cry foul later is simply not justifiable. Most people just don't read the fine print and just accept things will be OK. Often they are not.

It is another example of Caveat Emptor!

I too was removed and that is OK with me. I didn't get much out of the service anyway, so I will not sign up again.

[Paul Haese]

Have not been a member on Astromart for several years now, but do find this beaviour quite odd and comical. It would be better to place a small charge on each sale and this would be more effective and prevent people leaving or not joining. Crazy dude. :rofl::rofl:

[GrahamL]

And if your planning to move ,you had better ask first
comical it is paul and a little weird to!

[Astromelb]

When I signed up I paid for a "Lifetime Membership under the rules in place at "that" time.

I paid "consideration" for a lifetime contract with Astromart, that's what their rules stated at that time.

They cannot change their mind partway through and "expire" such a contract at their whim - that's "Breach of Contract".

He can change the rules for NEW memberships from Friday last week sure, and have a new annual fee for new accounts, but that's moving forward. He is not in a position to place this new rule retrospectively.

I have had their website and the documentation in my possession (from membership date) checked via a very close friend (senior level Victoria Police Fraud Squad yesterday), he is actioning this matter via his US links for legal & criminal action.

As I state this isn't a negotiation, don't just fall over on this one, he's in breach of contract and deserves a broadside.

In the meantime I have a rcommendation for you all - "Boycott Astromart" !!

[gbeal]

Good on ya Cris, I applaud your determination.
In my case though I found many other avenues to buy and sell through, and forgot the annoyance. I do however firmly not recommend that site to anyone looking, instead prefer to point anyone and everyone to this and a few others.
Keep us posted.
Gary

[Stardrifter_WA]

He may deserve a broadside, and I agree with this. However, he still isn't in breach of contract if you read all the rules. It can be changed at any time, however, you should have been notified first, according to the sites own terms. Besides, how much did you pay, probably not much, so it is moot.

I wasn't informed first, but then I only had an annual subscription, so I just don't give a toss, because I don't support anyone that changes the rules.

[Wavytone]

I agree what he has done is annoying, and very poorly handled.

Looking at some areas of the site I'd say Astromart is dying anyway, and secondly its full of junk, for example people trying to flog 1 kellner eyepiece for $20, or an old surplus-shed doublet lens for $55. That stuff is just junk and not even worth posting. In this respect I suspect he's trying to get rid of these junk items by charging a fee.

BUT... as it stands now you have to shell out for a annual membership (or 40 ads) either to post an ad, or to buy anything, which may, or may not be successful.

He'd have done a lot better to charge a sellers premium eg charging say 3% of the sale of each item, but making that work through PayPal is probably not possible.

[JethroB76]

That's me gone too.
He's been annoying people for years - is he the most disliked person in amateur astronomy?

[Moon]

Me too. Not even so much as an email notification. I hope this is the end of astromart.

I might ask my bank if they can do a reversal of the credit card payment (i.e. a chargeback) Worth a try.

[AstroFlyer]

I've just found out my subscription expired as well.:(
It was only $12 one off (or maybe not) fee so no huge drama, but the way it is handled is pretty poor.
No email notification, no warning at all. Sad really.
I did make few purchases, but will not be renewing my subscription.
IIS will get all my business...:D

[mental4astro]

I too have noticed a slow and steady decline in postings on astromart. I never subscribed, I found the process & conditions unsatisfactory for some reason :shrug: I just don't go there anymore, haven't for close to a year for so much as a sticky beak.

May I suggest the Cloudy Nights classifieds in place of astromart. No subscription fees or unreasonable rules and conditions. CN runs very much like our valued IIS - many thanks Mike & mods.

[greeps]

Hi,

I used the web archive, "The Wayback Machine" to have a look at the statistics that Astromart publishes on it's front page. There are two current statistics, the "maximum users on line in the past 24 hours" and the "number of new forum posts in the past month" (NNFPLM). The data is limited to the days the site was "crawled" and archived. The second number is probably more meaningful because it represents a month's data. Also the forum posts probably better represent use by the regular and frequent core user of the site. I tried to choose the same time of year to eliminate seasonal fluctuations.

MM/YYYY. NNFPLM
12/2008. 6274
12/2009. 4682
12/2010. 2192
12/2011. 1932
01/2012. 2714
01/2013. 1558

David

[beren]

Had to renew my subscription a few times but I find it no problem { feel sorry for the member who paid lifetime membership which was reneged on}. Astromart has been and hopefully will continue to be a great resource, brought a fair bit of kit through it :).
Also brought a few things through Anacortes no problems except once where the wrong binoculars where sent and I got it cleared up through emails with H York who seemed pleasant and friendly :question: