There's been this trend for quite some time, here at Pakwheels, that no one cares to mention the asking price of their listed items. Instead they invite you to PM for it. I might've been a guilty of committing it... but the thing that I learnt being an average buyer/seller here is:
a. It's discouraging for the prospective buyer. Many people, including myself, are too lazy to request for a price in every other thread. Instead they'd rather leave it and go on with their insignificant lives (refer to f.).
b. It spams up the thread with 'PM me' requests. Especially with the bulk items thread with multiple pages, a 10 page thread might end up with 8 pages of PM requests, is that healthy? If you're selling something in bulk, and half of the global population would end up knowing its price after all, what's the harm in writing it in main the post at first place?
c. It floods the inbox. With a modest inbox space, and a growing community of tens of thousands... need I say more?
d. Other website is taking an advantage of it. Sometimes you see something up for sale here without a tag, and then you find the very same ad. on the other site with a nice and handy price. I know it is to avoid unwanted comments here, but still that's not exactly fair. Well, if you're afraid to quote a price here, then maybe you ARE asking too much, right?
e. Then again, too much is only subjective. Someone in dire need would only be too happy to pay the price. Others: you can tell 'em to bugger off, or use 'Report Abuse' thingy.
f. For 'not the dire need' kind of items: Invention is the mother of necessity... believe it or not, Tyler Durden would agree. If you're bidding someone's interest in something they don't actually need- that is to say an accessory or something like that- you need to make your advert as easy, direct, favorable, and convenient for the visitor as possible. You need to create demand, make every passing by think twice, lure them in- and unfortunately hiding price won't help the least bit of it.
I'd request every one to vote in favor below, otherwise you're terribly wrong I'm afraid
Now for the most unconvinced lot of you, here's a story, those who have voted in favor can leave peacefully.
Consider yourself waiting at a train station, in a cold December evening, for a while now. There's not much to do, you're too lazy and cold to reach to your pocket for phone, no crowd there coz they're all enjoying their new year holidays. And you start to think what why do you have to work while others are enjoying their turkey and sugary treats? Is your job, being away from home, being cold and blue, is it all worth at all?
Whilst you stand there- trying to figure out the meaning of life, to rationalize the chaos theory- you couldn't help but noticing a beautifully crafted hand watch in the display window of an 'antique shop' there. Its charm pulls your forward, where you learn from a little tag that it bears, that it's over a century old. Hand crafted by some old honest bloke, finished in pure silver and leather.
Your pupils dilate, there's a little warm glow in your heart, a distant sitar pl... oh, there comes the tough part of love story: the price is improbable. You try to tell yourself off by thinking that the shop is closed; otherwise I must have had it. 'Let's forget it, my train is here'- but the harm's been done, you cannot get it out of your mind.
Rest of that day you spend trying to convince yourself that it doesn't worth it. You've succeeded by the night and it all went well, right?
Wrong, the next day you're standing there again wondering what'd it be like to own it. Now you're in deep trouble. Over the next few days your worthless efforts to ignore and forget it only work out to establish a stronger desire for it. Every time you pass by it, there's a second thought in your subconscious. You even start to develop a new thought mechanism where you start to frame it in every situation:
Is it too expensive? But a nice wrist watch is even more expensive, yet not rare or unique.
Do I need it? Of course, looking at your phone, for time update, is rude in a social situation, this however is simply classy!
Being cold and blue, is it all worth at all? Yes, if it should buy me that watch, it'd totally worth it.
That's it, now you'll end up getting it, no matter what the price and your position.
I wonder how'd the story go if there's no tag on it. I might not even dare to ask for price, and die a bit wealthier, but would that be a love story to tell my grandchildren?