Classifieds Feedback

**Marty** · #1 09-26-2007, 05:05 PM

I'd like to hear some feedback from you guys on the classifieds. Likes, dislikes, opinions and ideas.

one potential issue that I see here... The classified listings allow you guys to get buyers to commit and then pay you directly via the paypal link...now the classifieds script will be notified by paypal that transaction is completed and your ad will be then closed as the sale is complete. This will work great if you have one ad that leads to one sale, but won't work very well for a lot of you that are listing multiple animals.

also, the feedback system will allow only your buyers to give you a rating (if you want I can open that to everyone)

I enabled commenting on classified ads, if you guys want I can close it, but it might be good if people can ask you questions and you can answer them right in your ad... It's up to you.

anyhow, I'd like to hear any comments (good or bad) from you guys on the new Classifieds.

btw, I also added the new classifieds under the old ones in main forum listing, so they're easier to get to.

**Marty** · #2 09-27-2007, 11:14 AM

you guys are a quiet bunch ...

WildEyeReptiles · #3 09-27-2007, 12:48 PM

Personally, I dont like either idea. Sure, the paypal deal sounds neat, but most people on here arent selling only 1 animal at a time, and so far when they sell it, its not been an issue to go back and mark it "sold" or delete the ad.

Also the feedback is just another one of those tools that creates headaches for the admin team, and fights on the forums. One guy buys a gecko from another guy, transaction is fine, but the buyer leaves the box on the porch and the gecko dies, seller wont replace and now he gets negative feedback.. Most of us know each other here anyway, I just dont see how that will do anything but start pissing matches on the forums and fill your inbox with "he left me negative feedback!" emails.... its far too reminiscent of fauna for me.

**Marty** · #4 09-27-2007, 02:03 PM

Great, maybe we can debate the classifieds a bit in this thread.

I agree, feedback is a real issue, but depending how you play, it can really benefit you (or not, if you start getting negatives). I'm sure there will be some negatives and fights could break out anywhere. These will be heavily curbed though. It's just a click of the mouse for me to disable rating, but from the buyer's perspective if you see a guy with 100% positive feedback I'm sure that will influence their purchasing decisions. On the other hand, I've sent items where it was claimed that the item was stolen from porch and in order to avoid negative publicity on forums, I took a hit for $600 and shipped again the same items for another $600. It all depends on the seller and what they agree to with the buyer. However, as I'm learning quickly, you can't please everyone and I know that there may be instances where negative feedbacks may be given unjustly, but as is, the system is not perfect. We can always start with the feedback enabled and if it gets abused or if it gets out of hand, we will disable it.

As for selling multiple animals, it's a tough one. I see two options:

A. Sell multiples through a for sale thread like it is now
B. List each animal (each sale) individually.

Granted, option B will be a pain in the butt and requires more effort on the part of the sellers, but will allow possible buyers to find their wanted animals quickly. I doubt that anyone has hundreds of animals to move at any given time. I'm really curious if option AorB would result in greater sales for you guys. I suspect Option B, because it would allow buyers to scan through the classifieds quicker (esp if they had good photos) and more thoroughly too. We need to brainstorm this a little to come up with the best solution.

May not be an ideal example, but think of Ebay, you can't start 1 auction for 20 different things. Items just wouldn't sell as well as they sell on there because they would be nearly impossible to find. Classifieds here are used heavily so having everything in threads after a certain point just won't work. If the idea is to sell the animals, then I would think that you would want to cater to the buyer as much as possible and instead of having the buyer dig through threads to see what's for sale, I'd think it would profit you more to lay everything out as ideally as possible, so the sale could go quickly. Unfortunatelly that would mean a bit more time spent crafting your ads, but if you would profit from it more and quicker that may not be such a bad thing.

what do you guys think? I'd like to hear more from buyers and sellers. I know a lot of you wear both hats

WildEyeReptiles · #5 09-27-2007, 02:59 PM

"and instead of having the buyer dig through threads to see what's for sale,"

If I have 20 species for sale, and list all of them individually, isnt this the same? Buyer then has to look through 15 pages instead of 15 vague posts (in theory). I buy and sell here, and personally, I am not going to look more than 2-3 pages or so back... I think it would be better for the seller to just put various species or something to that effect in the title. Then you get the person with the 20 listings bumping them, and everyone who gets pushed to page 5 will then all bump theirs and makes a spectacular mess of things.

Feedback, I think will be much more problematic than its worth. As soon as someone feels wronged, the forums will be aflame, and the lack of this here, is why this is pretty much the only forum I will visit anymore. I can appreciate wanting to bring this site into the times, but alternatively, the simplicity helped stave off a lot of the problems seen in other forums.

Just my thoughts.

**Marty** · #6 09-27-2007, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildEyeReptiles

If I have 20 species for sale, and list all of them individually, isnt this the same? Buyer then has to look through 15 pages instead of 15 vague posts (in theory). I buy and sell here, and personally, I am not going to look more than 2-3 pages or so back... I think it would be better for the seller to just put various species or something to that effect in the title. Then you get the person with the 20 listings bumping them, and everyone who gets pushed to page 5 will then all bump theirs and makes a spectacular mess of things.

In the new classified ads there is no bumping like in threads. In threads listing individual species one per thread would never work. That's not what I was getting at.

The new classified ads are listed accoarding to the earliest ending time. I'm working on implementing where it will be possible to sort ads by price and by distance from whatever zip code you enter. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to muddle the classifieds into an unusable mess. I want this to benefit the buyers by finding what they need easier and faster, which should really translate into you selling more animals - so I would think

Quote:

Feedback, I think will be much more problematic than its worth

No problems, that can be disabled - I think :S

That really mutes the buyers and leaves them no outlet, which could allow for bad vendors to flourish.

SelectGex · #7 09-28-2007, 12:28 AM

Maybe offer an option to disable the paypal feature for multi species postings.

Also, when I click the classifieds on the top it tells me I need to be a paid member?

**Marty** · #8 09-28-2007, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SelectGex

Maybe offer an option to disable the paypal feature for multi species postings.

Also, when I click the classifieds on the top it tells me I need to be a paid member?

disabling PP won't work, because if somone commits to buy that will close the ad...btw, the new version of the software may offer selling multiple items, so that would be a good way out.

really, can't even view? Permissions must be messed up somewhere. Are you logged in at that time?

SelectGex · #9 09-28-2007, 08:24 AM

Wasn't logged in, sorry.

**Marty** · #10 09-28-2007, 08:59 AM

I'll have to figure it out so guests that are not logged in can still view the classifieds...