I've launched a gun classified site and I'm giving away free gear.

[danp]

A few months ago I posted about launching my gun shop/shooting range review site. Then I posted a thread asking what people wanted to see in a classifieds site.

On Monday night I launched version 2.0 of Arms Dealer with a free classifieds system and I'm also running a contest where you can win free gear.

The site lets anyone post an item for sale, specifying the manufacturer/product they are selling, where the item is located, a title, a description, a picture and an asking price. Buyers can search the site by manufacturer, product, state or geographic radius from a location. Once they find something they like they can make an offer and the seller can choose to accept one (or none) of the offers. Afterwards the buyer/seller can leave feedback for each other which gets aggregated into user ratings similar to (but in my opinion better than) eBay, etc.

While I'm really not very good at shameless self-promotion, I really do think that this could be a much better alternative to the way gun classifieds are generally handled these days. Most classified sites won't allow allow gun-related items and the ones that do are usually forums like PAFOA, which while great, are not really designed to manage classifieds. The "real" ones almost all look and work like they were designed in 1994 (and most were.)

Arms Dealer already gets about 30,000 unique visits a month, so there are tons of potential buyers visiting the site, but for this system to really take off we need to get sellers posting listings (again, for FREE) to get the ecosystem going.

With that said, I really need your guys' help:

1. I need feedback on the site, I want to know what works great and what doesn't work so great so that I can continually improve the system.
2. If you have something for sale, please post it on Arms Dealer, it's completely free to anyone with an account.
3. If you know someone who sells a lot on the classifieds, encourage them to post items for sale on Arms Dealer.
4. Generally spread the word about the site to your gun nut friends and on forums/blogs if it's appropriate (eg. on topic/not spammy.)

I have a feeling that once we get this ball rolling it will roll pretty fast, but I need that spark to gets things started.

I really appreciate everyone who helped me with suggestions and comments about what they wanted to see in such a system. I basically quit my job to work on this site part-time and I've invested a lot of man-hours into building it. My hope is that all that will pay off and I'll be able to really shake up the online person-to-person gun sales "industry".

Hope to see you on the site.

P.S. Congratulations to soberbyker for being the first person to post a classified!

[ViperHummel]

Probably a stupid question, but would you recommend those of us posting here to also post over there?

[danp]

Probably a stupid question, but would you recommend those of us posting here to also post over there?

Absolutely, it will expose your items to more potential (and possibly different) buyers.

Even if people end up using Arms Dealer all the time, I still suggest that they post items elsewhere.

On Arms Dealer you can edit and close your classified listing without accepting any offer (if for example you got a buyer elsewhere)

[ImminentDanger]

I'd like to see categories (for listing and searching) ----

At a minimum.....
1) Handguns
2) Rifles
3) Accessories
4) Ammunition & Related
5) Other Miscellaneous

(For your promo pages - put a link to the actual site 'http://www.armsdealer.net' onto the top of every page)

Will the Range listings have an attached listing of Dues/Range Capabilities/Hours/Website Links ??

...

[bagman29]

I'd like to see categories (for listing and searching) ----

At a minimum.....
1) Handguns
2) Rifles
3) Accessories
4) Ammunition & Related
5) Other Miscellaneous

Sub-categories for Semi, single-shot, pump, etc or possibly caliber ranges e.g. .17-.22, 223-270, would also be nice for the rifle and pistol categories.

[danp]

I'd like to see categories (for listing and searching) ----

At a minimum.....
1) Handguns
2) Rifles
3) Accessories
4) Ammunition & Related
5) Other Miscellaneous

In the works, as I build up more product data I plan on categorizing products and even allowing the community to attach such meta data.

(For your promo pages - put a link to the actual site 'http://www.armsdealer.net' onto the top of every page)

Good call. I intend to skin the blog to use the same design as the site, just gotta get on it.

Will the Range listings have an attached listing of Dues/Range Capabilities/Hours/Website Links ??

Businesses have website links, but either customers or business owners have to submit them. Dues/Capabilities/Hours are on the todo list but probably a few months away at best.

Ultimately my ability to innovate the site and add features is directly related to how much traffic I can get and how much revenue I can generate. Hopefully once the word spreads it will free up more time to work on it. Ideally I'd like to work on Arms Dealer full time, but I'm still a bit away from that being a reality.

[jshwak]

I'll spread the word around.. My friends are always looking for new resources for firearms !!

I see there is a weapons shield drawing.. Woo Hoo !!!

[Elmar]

I'm making what bids I can afford but I doubt I'll win them with these bids.

I browse the classifieds here all the time are there any plans to integrate the two?

[danp]

I'm making what bids I can afford but I doubt I'll win them with these bids.

To clarify, and perhaps I need to make this more clear. The offer amounts are ignored for the purpose of the contest. I'll be picking people randomly from all the offers without regards to the actual offer made. Feel free to bid $0.00 on every one that's posted by me as part of the contest, you won't be charged anything, the prizes are free.

I browse the classifieds here all the time are there any plans to integrate the two?

Probably not, PAFOA and my site are completely different legal entities, I just happen to have started them both.

I might do stuff in the future where on Arms Dealer you can grab signature banners that you can use on forums, etc, but that would be a while away.

[Elmar]

Oh I understood that - I wanted to win some of them