Throughout the years, I've been involved in many online forum discussions that differ in a wide array of interests. A forum is an online community where people start threads and others can comment or engage in discussions by creating posts within that thread. People on forums can ask questions to others, showcase their interests to the community, notify others of major events happening within the topic of the forum, or even better yet - buy, sell, and trade!
The essence of buying, selling, and trading on forums leads me to the meat and potatoes of this blog topic. After experiencing a disappointing Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, I've come to realize that I can find even better deals through online forums! Better yet, year round! I've been testing the waters using online forums this year for Christmas shopping and so far have found tremendous deals that I couldn't find on Black Friday. For an example, my father is huge into aquariums and fish keeping. I went onto Simply Discus and other fish forums and found that people are selling their private stock at very discounted rates! A tropical fish that would normally cost $20 can be found for $10 or even $5 (50%-75% off!). Sometimes if lucky, some people give stuff away for free because they are moving or just want to get rid of it!
In essence, if you thought the e-commerce sites like Amazon or Ebay were going to take over Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year you are mistaken. Try a few forums like FlyerTalk, Dogster, and PBNation, and some Facebook pages! and you will see the difference in prices people around the community are finding. Most sales are conducted privately between you and the seller. Payments are made through trusted sites like PayPal or Google Wallet where they cover the buyer and seller. If you don't trust a certain buyer, most forums provide feedback ratings under the seller's username. Also, buyers can reach out to the community to ask if they've dealt with that seller before so they can written feedback on the seller. Although there are a ton of scammers out there, knowing the ins and outs while trusting your gut can make you very successful on online forums both buying and selling.
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