The new classifieds have been operating for 10 days now. It's a little soon to be making any evaluation of how things will run long-term, but I'd like to hear what you think so far.
Classifieds Feedback?
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Can't say I have looked at it much since the change so I will abstain from the vote.
DocStram
Member
I've done quite a bit of poking around in the new classifieds. Yes, it's only been ten days but from what I've seen so far . . . . I give them a big thumbs up. Yes, there may be some fine tuning but I think they're a major improvement.
Craftdiggity
Member
Not so different to me, but I have only looked as a buyer. No selling yet. Actually, there are far fewer ads now. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
witz1976
Member
I too have looked as a buyer only and didn't see much difference. Then again it is only 10 days old
I notice that as well, and I've investigated. I believe that some members who were advertising, for example, one lot of blanks every day on two posts have started grouping their sales together. So perhaps fewer posts, but I am seeing on average the same amount of "stuff".
Well, contrary to my initial "Chicken Little" response, so far so good.
As a buyer, the only thing that I'd change is to merge the "classifieds and "premium classifieds" into one forum. It's a bit cumbersome to have to check two separate forums for what - as a buyer - is the same selection of products. I'm not sure if whatever vB addons you're using would actually allow that sort of combination, though, given the different restrictions on threads.
As a buyer, the only thing that I'd change is to merge the "classifieds and "premium classifieds" into one forum. It's a bit cumbersome to have to check two separate forums for what - as a buyer - is the same selection of products. I'm not sure if whatever vB addons you're using would actually allow that sort of combination, though, given the different restrictions on threads.
alphageek
Former Moderator
Remember - you had (at least) two in the old world as well! The difference was in the old world, it was split "individual" and "business". Just split a bit differently.
Also check out this thread from Jeff: http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=87370
Even though I tend to look at "new posts", this is a cool way to see the latest active ads.
Dean
Asst Mod
bnoles
Member
Still early in the game, but there appears to be fewer ads and like Chris said, not sure if that is good or bad.
The best improvement is that "advertising" and "self promotion" has been contained so that we can now enjoy the process of learning and sharing on the forum without the distractions and this is a "good thing" :good::good::good::good::good:
Thanks for all the hard work you guys have put into this and for taking all the crap dished out from the resistance to change.
The best improvement is that "advertising" and "self promotion" has been contained so that we can now enjoy the process of learning and sharing on the forum without the distractions and this is a "good thing" :good::good::good::good::good:
Thanks for all the hard work you guys have put into this and for taking all the crap dished out from the resistance to change.
Thats true. TBH, I never looked in the business classifieds, though. Now, though, I find myself only checking the premiums and the steals/deals/trades.
alphageek
Former Moderator
WOW... you JUST made every business vendor stand up and like the new classifieds just a tiny bit more! (highlight above mine)
Hmmmm
I think I'll keep my opinion to myself for now.
I think I'll keep my opinion to myself for now.
Holz Mechaniker
Member
I spent $2.10 to auction off some blanks, granted I will have to pay fees over the final price. yet I don't think I will spend $5.00 over all.
Personally I want more bang for my buck. Being infrequent seller I don't think I will ever post stuff for sale.
Personally I want more bang for my buck. Being infrequent seller I don't think I will ever post stuff for sale.
Buzzzz4
Member
I will agree with you on this one. Being a small seller, my offerings will be far between times of listing. But that just means more stuff for me and those who live nearby.
MesquiteMan
Retired Head Moderator
I just took a look at your posting history and are you aware that everything you have sold here in the past could have been done for free in the Steals and Deals forum?
OKLAHOMAN
Member
I've only placed one ad so far in the classified as a vendor with great results and have used the premium classified as a buyer a few times. So far I'm impressed and they seem to be doing what they were untented to do, eliminate advertising in places where it shouldn't be but still giving members a place to go to to find products to enhance their hobby or business
Ruby pen turning
Member
I do not really have a problem paying to do classified ad but it does not make sense to post something that people cannot really see in the puny picture size that is aloud. If you cannot really see what you are looking to buy you are not going to buy it.
What do you mean, puny picture size...
I think you can post very large pictures and still be in the file size constraints...
I think you can post very large pictures and still be in the file size constraints...
It's a thumbnail. Clicking on it makes it full sized.
We have a lot of visitors still on dialup. So, by posting thumbnails, we're helping out our pals who don't yet have high speed access.
thewishman
Member
The ads that are current seem to be larger and to keep the pictures in control, there are many more pieces in each picture. That makes it more difficult to see, in detail, what is offered. I know I could PM for more detailed shots, but the time lag would reduce the chances of scoring some prime materials. For example, the large snakeskin blank posting. I wanted to see better shots of the copperhead blanks, but they were snatched up too quickly for an exchange of PMs to take place. (I understand that may not be a perfect example, but it illustrates my point.) The Amalgam mutts post is another example - each picture is smaller and each has more blanks in it. That makes it harder to see what is offered. Even after expanding the thumbnails.
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Ruby pen turning
Member
Even clicking on the thumbnail pictures, under the allotted kb the pictures are the size of an ETSY banner. With limited amount of pictures forces us to put them all into one picture which for me means making a collage that cannot be seen.
jimm1
Member
I'm not a fan. I absolutely respect the decision, but not a fan. I probably won't be posting since there is a time limit on the ad. My ad has always been an ongoing sale.
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Hmmmmm
I'm not sure I understand. You can get pretty big pictures as attachments - I upload as .jpg files and the result is I have photo's larger than the pen itself. I've got some issues with classifieds but picture size isn't one of them.
Perhaps I don't understand what you mean. There are multiple ads in the classifieds right now with very nice 800x600 photos in about 100K. Our photo limit is 256K. With very reasonable compression, you can get a colorful, detailed 800x600 jpeg in 256K. If people don't choose to do that, well that's another thing, but we're not preventing it.
KnB Polymers
Member
Wow, my bad! When I attached pics using the paperclip on top, the first thing I saw was "max file size 19 kb" ... I didn't look further down to the jpg which is a bit larger.
Does this mean I can go back on my premium ad and enlarge the pics now to visible sizes? LOL!
BigShed
Member
Even though I think it is too early to give a considered reply, I voted better.
I was of the opinion that the selling and self promotion on this forum had got out of hand, and have said so in the past.
The new rules, and imposing a cost, has certainly toned down the endless number of "bump" and "look at me, look at me" posts by vendors (and I suspect some helpers).
The only thing I would recommend is to extend the amount of time that the classifieds are displayed, I think the time limit is a bit short. Not that it affects me as I am not really a seller here, I think I have sold something only once.
I was of the opinion that the selling and self promotion on this forum had got out of hand, and have said so in the past.
The new rules, and imposing a cost, has certainly toned down the endless number of "bump" and "look at me, look at me" posts by vendors (and I suspect some helpers).
The only thing I would recommend is to extend the amount of time that the classifieds are displayed, I think the time limit is a bit short. Not that it affects me as I am not really a seller here, I think I have sold something only once
.
Thanks, Jim,
One of the things we wanted to eliminate were the ongoing ads. Some of the old ads had been open for months. In a couple cases, a year and a half. They had hundreds or replies and it just didn't seem reasonable to ask people to dig through all that information to understand what they were buying. Often, changes were made to the offering somewhere deep in that pile of posts.
Based on the "I'll take one" posts in some of those long-running threads, people were making thousands of dollars over that time span. Using the regular classifieds, one could run an ad continuously for a year for $130. That seems reasonable. In one thread I just looked at, that $130 would have been recovered in the first two posts after the initial ad, and there were hundreds more after that.
Even though I think it is too early to give a considered reply, I voted better.
I was of the opinion that the selling and self promotion on this forum had got out of hand, and have said so in the past.
The new rules, and imposing a cost, has certainly toned down the endless number of "bump" and "look at me, look at me" posts by vendors (and I suspect some helpers).
The only thing I would recommend is to extend the amount of time that the classifieds are displayed, I think the time limit is a bit short. Not that it affects me as I am not really a seller here, I think I have sold something only once
Fred, you mean extend the time they are open? What would be your recommendation?
steeler fan1
Member
My vote would be 'not sure', but that wasn't an option. Not being a seller I'm not fimilar with how the rules change doing business. From my perspective as a buyer the ad section seems quieter than before. Is this good or bad? Time will tell.
Carl
Carl
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Wow, my bad! When I attached pics using the paperclip on top, the first thing I saw was "max file size 19 kb" ... I didn't look further down to the jpg which is a bit larger.
Does this mean I can go back on my premium ad and enlarge the pics now to visible sizes? LOL!
I see that confusion!
Yes, you can go back and upload bigger pictures.
I just fixed the outdated filesize limits in the attachment manager. We don't use many of those file types, so I could delete them, but I just bumped up the minimum on everything to 256K. Some like PDFs, are much larger.
Observations
Frequent users of classifieds are probably running into the same problems I am.
I find it too restrictive on the number of ads that can be open at the same time. Especially in the 'classified' catigory. Since the updates and responses in that forum are so limited, which in itself is ok, what good reason is there to limit it to one ad at a time....right now after 10 days there are 9 ads - and two that I know of were closed. That isn't very many.
Updating in the premium classifieds to change or add to the ad seems to work somewhat [and I have used that feature so I'm not in the blind about it] although I have serious doubts about potential customers following the ads looking for changes once they've read them once. I don't and I think I'm pretty normal as a buyer.
Having said that - those are issues I see with the policy, not a condemnation of it. I'm still have not decided if it is better or worse - I will tell you that I sure don't think it's the same.
Frequent users of classifieds are probably running into the same problems I am.
I find it too restrictive on the number of ads that can be open at the same time. Especially in the 'classified' catigory. Since the updates and responses in that forum are so limited, which in itself is ok, what good reason is there to limit it to one ad at a time....right now after 10 days there are 9 ads - and two that I know of were closed. That isn't very many.
Updating in the premium classifieds to change or add to the ad seems to work somewhat [and I have used that feature so I'm not in the blind about it] although I have serious doubts about potential customers following the ads looking for changes once they've read them once. I don't and I think I'm pretty normal as a buyer.
Having said that - those are issues I see with the policy, not a condemnation of it. I'm still have not decided if it is better or worse - I will tell you that I sure don't think it's the same.
BigShed
Member
Jeff, I think 2 weeks is rather short. If the item(s) doesn't straight away (a lot do) then 2 weeks misses out on potential buyers. Not everyone logs on frequently, nor does everyone go looking for things to buy frequently.
A month would be a more reasonable time frame IMHO, but that then also will potentially clash with the (rather limited) simultaneous ads allowed.
patmurris
Member
Jeff, although i believe it's a bit early to tell, my raw feeling right now is 'worse'.
I've only been on the forum for a few month now but i have been a frequent buyer of blanks and a few other things, mainly from the 'individuals' section, and i see a lot less opportunities.
Although a few vendors did run ads for wood totaling hundreds of dollars, many blanks sales were below a hundred and the $10 fee is somewhat too much for those - and to my understanding the regular $5 classifieds are not practical for 'pick by number' blanks? Not everyone is 'making money' from those ads, many are just sharing stuff with other fellow pen turners and collecting a few bucks in the process - that do not even pay for the time and effort it takes to prepare and run a sale.
One aspect of the new DOC i think is a downer is that there are too many rules to read and understand which makes it overall complicated to determine where and how vendors should advertise.
There are still several sections to look at and a "check new posts" option for the DOC only would be very useful in that regard.
My 2 euro cents... :wink:
PS: great forum Jeff - one of the best. Thanks for your patience and good work!
I've only been on the forum for a few month now but i have been a frequent buyer of blanks and a few other things, mainly from the 'individuals' section, and i see a lot less opportunities.
Although a few vendors did run ads for wood totaling hundreds of dollars, many blanks sales were below a hundred and the $10 fee is somewhat too much for those - and to my understanding the regular $5 classifieds are not practical for 'pick by number' blanks? Not everyone is 'making money' from those ads, many are just sharing stuff with other fellow pen turners and collecting a few bucks in the process - that do not even pay for the time and effort it takes to prepare and run a sale.
One aspect of the new DOC i think is a downer is that there are too many rules to read and understand which makes it overall complicated to determine where and how vendors should advertise.
There are still several sections to look at and a "check new posts" option for the DOC only would be very useful in that regard.
My 2 euro cents... :wink:
PS: great forum Jeff - one of the best. Thanks for your patience and good work!
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1 - How many updates per day would be better in the both classifieds forum? You know if we remove any limit, there are posters who will keep their ad in the top few with constant followups.
2 - Two simultaneous ads in both classifieds forums would be satisfactory? We could theoretically remove the limit on the number of ads hoping that the cost would be somewhat of a limiting factor.
I'm not suggesting more updates be allowed - just that because of the low number of classifieds in the "classified" forum that you could probably allow more than one to run at the same time.
I would like to keep a general "Store" ad like the one that is there now running most of the time. It is just saying "Here's who I am and here's what I sell". I don't want to have to stop running that when I offer a special or something that doesn't warrant a premium ad.
I personally don't have an issue with the Premium Classified Section - I have used 2 updates to add to the original offer and so far I have gotten some responses. So the one or two a day limit on op updates seems OK to me.
I don't think add/change posting will be abused because folks will stop reading the changes if we make too many of them. They will want to see something worth reading.
I also think the time constraint will limit excess posting. It seems to me that most folks won't want to offer new things the last day or two before the ad expires.
Haynie
Member
A lot less adds. Which, on one hand, is good because I don't buy as much. I am sure the wife appreciates that. On the other hand there are a lot less adds for me to shop in. This means the buyers choice in blanks is limited. It is early. Maybe folks will loosen up.
OKLAHOMAN
Member
I on the other hand as a Vendor think 2 weeks is long enough, keeping the classified uncluttered with ads. I would like to see an overlap so we could run one ad for a week keeping it for one more week than having a new ad running simultaneously for one week with the first ad, in other words having a one week overlap of two ads.
Even though I think it is too early to give a considered reply, I voted better.
I was of the opinion that the selling and self promotion on this forum had got out of hand, and have said so in the past.
The new rules, and imposing a cost, has certainly toned down the endless number of "bump" and "look at me, look at me" posts by vendors (and I suspect some helpers).
The only thing I would recommend is to extend the amount of time that the classifieds are displayed, I think the time limit is a bit short. Not that it affects me as I am not really a seller here, I think I have sold something only once
Fred, you mean extend the time they are open? What would be your recommendation?
Will the software let you automatically close an ad when its time expires or do you have to do them all manually?
I am for doubling the amount of ads allowed in the premium forum I would also double the time frame for the premium ads. And double the fees per ad. The annual cost of advertising to the businesses would not increase, unless they increased the number of ads they run. But the amount work to regenerate those ads would decrease.
I would not change the update rules.
I am for doubling the amount of ads allowed in the premium forum I would also double the time frame for the premium ads. And double the fees per ad. The annual cost of advertising to the businesses would not increase, unless they increased the number of ads they run. But the amount work to regenerate those ads would decrease.
I would not change the update rules.
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moke
Member
I would like to have voted "Jury is still out". As a buyer never to be a vendor, my only concern is this will not step on the occasional seller with the very innovative products to move our skills forward. ie: the center finders, sanding attachments, etc...these are one of the great things of the site.
I'll just watch for a while.
I'll just watch for a while.
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