Originally Posted by Bazza` What we need to aim to do is help freelancers in general raise their level of work, their level of professionalism and most importantly raise their level of knowledge in the industry. I mean that is why we are here after all, to help freelancers.

You are right. Though it seems that it won't happen on its own. I am going to make a few general suggestions.

1. The Marketplace should charge thread starters something in order to create threads. If you look at other similar communities and their MPs, SitePoint probably has the most successful. I believe this is mainly inpart because they charge users to create new threads. Anywhere from $5 - $20 and honestly when you are paying that much you can't afford to mess around. But if you look at other places that don't charge, such as WebHostingTalk, you see the same trend as here, not a lot of success, and still pretty minimal wages and profits being made.

I think it would be fair to charge a minimum of $1 per thread being created in the marketplace, and maybe $2 or $3 for certain areas. Of course it would be unpopular and activity would die for a bit while members adjust, but the quality of listings would greatly improve.

2. I think the Marketplace should also only be accessible to users who have earned it or otherwise veteran members. Let everyone be able to read and post replies, but only veterans allowed to post new threads and sales. This would call for a separation of offers and requests.

3. Assign a moderation team to the area to enforce strict guidelines and behavior. It's unforetunate, but I think it is vital that lurkers and potential buyers browsing the forums don't see childish discussions going on in the auction threads. If people are arguing or fighting, it doesn't represent the sale very well. I think it would be fair to allow members to even regulate their own threads in the Marketplace, allowing them to delete replies and comments that end up hurting the sale.

4. Another very important aspect: threads in the Marketplace should not be "bumpable" and by that I mean they should simply go down the line in the order in which they are created. Even with replies, auctions should simply go down the line in the order they were created. Thus everything on the front page will be FRESH and we won't have to see auctions that are already completed. It's very annoying for a buyer.

There are probably a million other things we could do too, but the main things I want to see disappear are the following:

- Full web sites being sold for under $75 (unless they are turnkey)
- Lifetime links being sold
- Coding xhtml/css designs for less than $40
- Coding WordPress designs for less than $75
- Coding vBulletin designs for less than $100
- The sale of more than one item in a thread
- The sale of text links for less than half of what TLA recommends
- The sale of banners for less than $0.75 per 1000 pageviews
- Bid increments lower than $5 or even better, $10. I hate seeing $1 increments.