In late 2008 I started Virginia Gun Trader because Virginia needed it. There was nowhere online for private firearms transactions, not here in Virginia anyway. Could not sell guns on craigslist, and there was no Facebook marketplace back then, not that you could sell guns on there anyway. It started small with me purchasing the software and purchasing hosting with a limited amount of bandwidth. I paid to advertise the website across Virginia. Soon we had enough members and activity to exceed our bandwidth, I had to keep increasing bandwidth. I had a few members chip in to cover the bandwidth cost. Clicking on a gun listing and uploading the pictures to your phone or computer consumes a lot of bandwidth. And when a member clicks on listing after listing after listing it consumes a lot of bandwidth.

We decided to migrate to a different platform and a different host where the bandwidth was unlimited. Hired a guy named Dave to handle the migration to the new software and platform. Dave was involved in developing the current software platform that we use today so he was very familiar with what needed to be done. We also hired Dave to make much needed modifications to the software that would make the website more user friendly for what we were using it for. Then disaster struck. The server was hacked by a foreign militia!!! Had to hire Dave to clean up the mess and get us back online. That’s when Dave approached me with an offer. He provided hosting for other websites and offered to host VAGT. He was very impressed with how busy the website was in the amount of page clicks. We came to an agreement where he would host the website and in return, he would place Google ads throughout the website. And whenever someone clicked on a page, he would make money. And since there was a lot of activity on the site, he would make enough money to cover hosting AND be in the background maintaining the website. If there was something that I wasn’t sure how to fix in the software, he would take care of it. And trust me I don’t know much about computers so I kept him busy. It’s been a great relationship with Dave since we joined up with him and the website has run very smoothly. Dave is also the second administrator on the website. You may have seen him on here. His screen name is SD.

But all good things must come to an end.😢 Google notified Dave that he can no longer financially benefit from his ads because this is a gun website. So Dave has no money coming in to cover his costs for his hosting and his work behind the scenes maintaining the website. A while back I started offering advertisement spots on the website to help recoup money that I have invested in the website. I had a few Virginia gun stores and other related businesses advertise. But as you see, those ads are gone as no one wants to advertise anymore, but that is fine. As long as Dave was getting paid by Google for the website hosting that that’s all I was really concerned about. I do make about $35 a month from the Amazon portal. Money that I would use to buy business cards, printed table covers, and other stuff for our tables at the gun shows.

So we have to figure a way to pay Dave for his hosting and his skills to keep this website up and running. I really do not want to charge a membership fee because that is gonna kill the website faster than anything. AND I’m sure a few of you members know someone who knows someone that has a server at home that can host the website cheaper. But the way it’s set up now, it’s a well oiled machine that works flawlessly. I don’t want to go through issues like I had in the past and have my phone and email blowing up. So, we currently have 68,000 members, although not all of them are active or very active. So what I have decided to do is put this in the members hands and put together enough donations amongst the members to keep the website up and running. Dave needs at least $300 a month for this to happen. And it needs to be a recurring donation every month. PayPal can be set up so that you can donate a certain amount every month and it’s done automatically. If you don’t have a PayPal account it doesn’t matter because you can just use your debit or credit card through PayPal.

Sorry that it has come to this, but it is what it is. We’ll give this membership donation a chance and if it works out then VAGT continues to exist. If it doesn’t work out then so be it. Hopefully there’s enough members on here that appreciate what the website is and can keep it up and running. Thank all of you for being a member and helping me and the moderators maintain this great website.

Brian (VaGunTrader)

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For ZELLE you can send it to vaguntrader@gmail.com