Some good points have been bought up from our members in this post here: http://www.mympxplayer.org/viewtopic.php?p=23687.

With that, I would like to open this poll asking for your opinion on the idea.

No doubt, you might have all noticed that UXcell has a heavy presence on this site. This is because they are a major sponsor for our site. They have provided this site with discount coupons, product lucky dip prize draws and even have a section forum on this site to sort out problems and discussions with their players.

Members have mentioned that it seems abit 'biased' and perhaps we should consider some other sponsors too so we don't seem like a "MyMPxPlayer.org is owned by Uxcell" (which it is not). We are an open community with no ties with any MP3/MP4 player sellers what so ever.

So, with that said, I would love to hear what you think about us adding more sponsors to this site? We are talking sponors that are RELEVANT to this site and sponsors that have to do with MP3/MP4 players. Don't worry, we won't be putting up ads for "animated cursors" or "online casinos"!

Please think about your answers carefully. The end result will have an impact in how many sponsors we take on board on this site.

i dont want to see more sponsors for this website.

I think UXCell and HouseOfDAP are enough. we know that what they are selling is legit and what they promise. thay have been doing good.

having more sponsors will create lots of unwanted hassles. we cant just make an advertiser our sponsor just because he/she says that they are selling genuine players. we have to verify that and wait for one of the users to buy from them and see whether they received the genuine product or not. again, the seller may sell the genuine product just to him so that we are convinced and then start selling the fake ones from then on. by the time we ban them, they would have made a good profit and also some of our members must have lost their money.

so i feel no, we dont need any more sponsors. UXCell and HouseOfDAP have been great and selling genuine stuff, so they are enough. they even replace the players for free of cost if there is a defect. i wonder how many of our other going-to-be-sponsors would be willing to do that. if some of the members dont like those two sponsors and feel that this website is being biased, then they can buy from someone else at their own risk.

the most we can do and are doing is showing our members two excellent websites who do not cheat but if the members want to buy from someone else then they can do so.

Deepak

I want to se more sponsors like UXcell...great site and cheap too

deepakrr wrote (View Post): › they even replace the players for free of cost if there is a defect. i wonder how many of our other going-to-be-sponsors would be willing to do that. Deepak

Any business worth their salt will have to stand behind what they sell. What's the big deal in replacing a DEFECTIVE product?

Most good businesses have a "100% satisfaction policy", which means, that if for any reason the customer does not like the product, or even if they just changed their mind, they can just send it back for a full REFUND. Even when there is no defect whatsoever.

As for giving away discount coupon codes & free prizes - what's the big deal? if a particular site generates evough traffic & business all these costs are justified.

take a look at www.audioasylum.com
It is one of the biggest and most popular discussion forums on almost every branch of audio (unfortunately no portable audio yet). This forum is used by some of the top names (inventors / designers / engineers) in the industry, and it is 100% spam free. take a look at how many sponsors they have.

Ahhhh here is a subject that I feel kinda strongly about. I know you most likely won't like what I have to say, but you did ask.

I think that there should be no sponsors at all.

When I first logged on here I thought this site was owned by Uxcell, due to the banners all over the place. This does not promote us as a site that is neutral in our opinions and ideas. It tells the world in general that we do what Uxcell says.

I am an Administrator on a site similar to this, Pachitalk.com but it is dedicated to Japanese pachinko and pachislo (slot) machines. We do not allow advertising of any sort on our site. We don't have sponsors, we use the google ads similar to this site to offset costs. Almost all of our good (meaning legit) vendors offer some sort of deal or discount (ie 15% off shipping, it costs almost $80 to ship one of these machines, free tokens or pachinko balls, or a just a general 10% off your order) to any member of our site, whether they buy form them on Ebay or from their websites. All they have to do is mention that they are a Pachitalk member.

As to prizes and such, when a vendor offers a prize they get their advertising during the contest period, and of course the thread does not get deleted after the contest so that ad is still available for all to see.

Take away individual areas dedicated to companies that sell these wonderful little toys.
They don't need a section of their own to sort out problems, they all have email addresses and phone numbers. This is just an extra place that a vendor has to look for issues, just because someone doesn't send them an email. Waste of the vendor's valuable time in my opinion.

In place of those areas, you have a section called vendors. In that section members will put in opinions and reviews of the individual vendors that they have dealt with, both good and bad. If a vendor wants to know how they are doing, they can check here.

You have your classified section, which is the only place a vendor should ever advertise or try and sell something. We have an internal auction system running on our site kinda like a mini ebay where members and vendors can sell anything they want. And unlike Ebay, we don't charge a listing fee, and a smaller percent of the final sale price than Ebay charges. Those fees go into website support.

Pachitalk.com has been going strong since 2004 without any kind of sponsorship.

Just some stats from our site (these are today's):
Threads: 11,956, Posts: 165,135, Members: 3,195
Total members that have visited the forum in the last 24 hours: 136
The most members online in one day was 196, 12-28-2006

It is our members that make the site work.
It is our moderation staff that keeps it spam free (as they do here).
It is our members that decide which vendors are good or bad. We don't squash anyone's opinion (Unless it's vulgar, we try to keep it PG-13).

I know our member counts are not as high as they are here, but our site has a much smaller niche to fill.
But I do have one thought tho, how many of the members here actually stick around and actively participate? Those stats above are registered members, not guests.

I have also noticed that the big special vendors on here don't participate in discussions with the general membership. We have vendors popping in and offering opinions and support on Pachitalk all the time.

SO I guess my spot on the poll will have to be no more sponsors, let's have less.

lddrizzt1 wrote (View Post): › When I first logged on here I thought this site was owned by Uxcell, due to the banners all over the place.

- i dont see any banner... i don see any pic related to uxcell...lol

- ill not say alot of thing like the other but if the other sponsor have great price , alot of (good )product and a great satisfaction policy i say yes

Why not, if relevant, and of use to members/visitors? You might want to ask money for it though, others do. Advertising here gives Uxcell a sales boost. Your Uxcell-forum section here helps people without Uxcell putting an effort in answering members other than through PM's. So advertising on this forum works for them, relieves their support department, makes and saves them money.

Quote: › - i dont see any banner... i don see any pic related to uxcell...lol

Same here, I do never see any banners or ads, I use Ad block plus with FireFox <3

yeah the most I see advertising Uxcell is an occasional banner in the lower left hand corner and a link at the top right of the page linking to their site. It's not invasive at all, and it's not even always there. I personally don't care what amount of sponsors we have as long as the financial needs of the site are met.

For me, i don't really bother who are the sponsors of the forum. What matters are the sponsors are legit and sell quality products.

Personally i feel Binh has been selective in choosing the "right" sponsors.

I seriously don't mind how many sponsors are chosen, and i'm sure Binh has his reasons for doing things. If he decides adding a few more sponsors would benefit the forum, then i'm all for it.

Everyone wants a bite from the pie, but the pie is only so big. Some get it, some don't.

I think that there are enough sponsors, unless you need them to cover costs for bandwidth hosting and operating the site. Having one or two to promote "lucky draws" and so forth is quite enough.

However, having only one or two sponsors can present the perception that the site is biased towards them.

HubbleMart wrote (View Post): › deepakrr wrote (View Post): › they even replace the players for free of cost if there is a defect. i wonder how many of our other going-to-be-sponsors would be willing to do that. Deepak Any business worth their salt will have to stand behind what they sell. What's the big deal in replacing a DEFECTIVE product? Most good businesses have a "100% satisfaction policy", which means, that if for any reason the customer does not like the product, or even if they just changed their mind, they can just send it back for a full REFUND. Even when there is no defect whatsoever. As for giving away discount coupon codes & free prizes - what's the big deal? if a particular site generates evough traffic & business all these costs are justified. take a look at www.audioasylum.com It is one of the biggest and most popular discussion forums on almost every branch of audio (unfortunately no portable audio yet). This forum is used by some of the top names (inventors / designers / engineers) in the industry, and it is 100% spam free. take a look at how many sponsors they have.

HubbleMart i agree but most or all of them will ask the seller to ship it back to them in order to get a refund. it might be an expensive thing for many members who are on one end of the world and are ordering from the other end. for shipping it back, they would have to pay almost twice or thrice the amount of the player.

UXCell and HouseOfDAP do not require the players to be sent back.

deepakrr wrote (View Post): › UXCell and HouseOfDAP do not require the players to be sent back.

So uxcell & houseofdap will let you keep the player you are not satisfied with AND give you a refund?

wow - I change my stand - no more sponsors!

And how does the "Replacement of the defective player" work? I suppose these 2 sellers will just send you a brand new one, & ask you to throw the "defective" one in the trash?

HubbleMart

UXcell has done some replacement as a courtesy to it's customers and members on this site.

We can't say that they will do a full replacement on all assumed faulty players without requiring them to be sent back. Case by case basis as some members have been lucky enough to get replacment players without the need to send it back while others had to send it back.

Ok, let me explain what I said about the banners.
When I joined back in Dec. there was a Lucky Draw going on and there it was in big banner style in the announcement box.
Plus there used to be a banner across the top of the page on the right, and then the usual one on the lower left below the menu box.
Quite often these banners both showed Uxcell at the same time. So you can understand a newbie's confusion as to who was running things. I have since learned otherwise, and I am glad I stayed.

The word Sponsorship brings thought to mind of the Sponsors are the guys paying for things, hence things will have to be run the way they want. I have no problems with talking up Uxcell or house of Dap, I have dealt with both of them and I am pleased, But there are others out there that deserve our business also and are just as trustworthy as these two.
A general vendor section would take care of all the vendors out there.