"End of the Road for FurBuy?"

[a pigeon]

Time are rough lately, seems everyone is painfully aware of that. Today we're communicating a painful truth to the community and all FurBuy users. The primary financier of FurBuy for the last ten years can no longer afford to continue paying for the site out of their own pocket. FurBuy will officially close on May 15th, 2009 unless the funds can be generated to convert FurBuy into a self-supporting company able to generate the money necessary each month for full hosting.

In the short term this will be facilitated by a number of artists and sellers on FurBuy contributing a portion of the sales from special support auctions over the next few weeks. You do not need to post an auction in order to donate to the cause, nor do you have to have been specially contacted in order to contribute by running a support auction. However, if you're interested in supporting FurBuy's move forward into the next decade, please Contact Us directly. Our short-term goal is to generate one-thousand US dollars in support funds by April 30, 2009 in order to convert FurBuy Internet Systems into an LLC and support the cost of operation for a couple months while the long-term systems are setup. In return we will be offering 12-month Contributing Memberships and a special Early Supporter title to anyone who generates $25 or more of support for the cause. Any support funds sent will also be returned in full should we not be able to generate enough support to meet this goal.

The long-term support model to pay for FurBuy currently involves two strategies: Contributing Memberships and Ad Banners. For years we've considered these options and feared having to implement them, thanks to a very gracious patron we have not had to seriously consider and implement these programs. But times change, so we are planning to sell Contributing Memberships for somewhere between $1-2 per month in 12-month (annual) blocks. These Contributing Memberships will offer users extended features or more use of existing features, while all current features will remain 100% free to all users. The current Ad Banner strategy we're considering is similar to FA's: two left-side "block" ads on the main page for $5/mo and one footer "banner" ad across the whole site and all pages for $10/mo. We're tentatively going to set the cap to a maximum of 16 "block" ads and 8 "footer" ads per month.

This is it for FurBuy. It either begins supporting and paying for itself, or it's the end. This is not an action born of spite or frustration or anger, but an eventuality that has been avoided for many years which has finally become a necessity. If the $1,000 is not raised by April 30, 2009 (or very, very close to that amount with a clear indicator that more will be coming in May) we will be shutting down the system on May 15, 2009. This site was built by the community, for the community, and will now live or die based on community support. It's all up to you now, loyal and talented FurBuy users. If you have any further questions or comments, see our LiveJournal Community or Contact Us. Thanks for your support and consideration all these years, we'd love to continue serving you for years to come.

http://www.furbuy.com/news.shtml

There was an early warning in March:

http://community.livejournal.com/furbuy/26581.html

Recently, around April 2nd, On the livejournal community WTF_FA (which is one of those "snark communities") It seems that Jurran, made some comment about dirty laundry, which resulted in Likeshine responding about how ironic this was given his own:

http://community.livejournal.com/wtf_fa/1177896.html?thread=18589992#t18589992

Jurann deleted his post after likeshine made a comment, however she had a screencap and it seems from a post on lulz.net, the restraining order he mentioned in the post was this (the post dates from 08, the drama from 06):

http://community.livejournal.com/washingtonfurs/41672.html

I have a restraining order against jurann. He was arrested in September 06 for felony level property damage and domestic violence after doing thousands of dollars worth of damage to our house one night when he lost his temper. A chair was thrown through a window. Holes were punched in walls. Our living room/entertainment center was destroyed when he hurled it across the room. He was taken out of the house in handcuffs and underwear, it was just like COPS. I think they let him get pants before he was carted off in the back of the police car, it was pretty nice of them.

Charges were filed, and both myself and the other resident of the house were given restraining orders against Jurann for the period of 1 year. He was also ordered to pay restitution, and plead down to a misdemeanor, eventually all of the charges were bartered away after my husband (the homeowner) passed away due to unrelated complications in October 07. This was not the first time Jurann was arrested for a violent offense, he already lost his 2nd amendment rights in the state of Washington two years back when he pulled a gun on some people he was involved in a car accident with. There was a stabbing incident in Chicago, from what he told me. I'm hazy on the details of all that came before me, what I do know is what happened in my presence.

Flash forward to today at Bellfurs. Lurch asked me aside and *politely* informed me that Jurann had been invited the day earlier. I hold no ill will against Lurch or any of the Bellfurs for this, it's their house, their friends, and their terms. Apparently I am welcome back after the restraining order is up, which incidentally will be the weekend of RainFurrest. Again, I don't blame Lurch or the others for any of this, they were very cool when talking to me about it and I honestly feel bad for (unintentionally) bringing that drama with me. I was told that Jurann wasn't welcome there by other people and thought it was a safe place to visit, had I known he was going I would never have shown up in the first place.

Jurann, in his deleted reply to likeshine stated that the woman making the accusations was a "spiteful backbiting whore" and that this lead to the state dropping the case and the police never handed out a restraining order in the first place.
-

Based on Anecdotal evidence, I seem to recall that Furbid had a lot of traffic around 02, 03 but that has steadily fell off, but Furbid hasn't managed to recapture all of that traffic, though it does seem to be more popular than Furbid. Furbid is run by the infamous Sage Nadia and this, perhaps combined with the ascendency of Furaffinity (where artists can reach their audience more directly) lead to it's lack of traffic.

[LordNagetiere]

I hate to say it, but auction sites are one of the easiest types of site to turn profitable online (apart from the obvious doozies like casino sites), which is why they are so prevailant. Even with minimal traffic, service fees or percentages per sale can make it pay for itself, especially considering how little 'upgrading' or support staff is needed.

I would like them to succeed, but if Furbid is still running (even if out of Nadia's pocket) and Furbuy is not, despite a better reputation and FA's endorsement... well, it's their own damn fault.

Thus leading back to the cardinal rules of furry business.

-Anyone who can manage something well is an asshole.
-Anyone who isn't an asshole intrinsically sucks at running something.
-On not so rare occasions though, you'll find people who are both assholes and can't manage worth a damn.

[ProvincialTwit]

Wait, wait, so does their 'business model' not include skimming a percentage off the top of each auction to pay for site costs, the way that, oh, I dunno, EBAY does it?

Also I love that furries somehow think putting ads on their site will bring them buckets of cash.  You sorta need something of worth there in the first place.

Also also the whole thing reads like whats-his-name...the guy who runs Furnation...his frequent tantrums crying for money. 

There seriously cannot be enough of a 'furry economy' to facilitate multiple auction sites; the place was probably only as active as it was due to the whole incestuous, multiple-degrees-of-friendship drama prevalent among furries, between the various site owners.

[a pigeon]

They are sending out private messages to artists who they "esteem highly" or who have used furbuy in the past and asking them to post a commission auction in which 20 to 80% goes to Furbid in order to support their transition to a LLC:

[Kindrift]

Jurann prays that we view him as only one small part of a worthwhile whole.  I certainly haven't forgotten his adventures in the land of Vanity Fair, or his convention announcement that, quote, "MY ASS IS HUNGRY."  The Jurann Ranjarian/Foxtail who solicited, nay, begged for casual anal in the past lives on.  He's just grown a little more aware of how much love charity can buy, and what that money is worth.

ETA: If he's asking for users to invest into his LLC, shouldn't he offer them a business plan, shouldn't he prove that his business is viable and not simply an infinitely prolonged FA-like money sink?  Show us that charity is deserved before it's given, sell us on this great new idea.