Classified Software Updates

[CameraQuest]

This weekend work will be done on updating the classified software. Please have patience as they may be growing pains.

Thanks,
Stephen

 

[Dante_Stella]

Thanks. May I suggest:

(1) A longer title shown in the home page for classifieds? Currently, on the home page view, the title of an ad is shorter than the name of its category, and that's not helpful whether you are selling or shopping. As I recall, this was much longer in the past.

(2) Some visibility for want ads? I suspect that no one looks at these at all (is it that you need pictures to have an ad land on the front page and want ads have no pictures)? Most other places I have seen classifieds put WTB ads on a more equal footing with FS. I suspect that a lot of FS/WTB ads pass like ships in the night.

Dante

 

[CameraQuest]

Thanks. May I suggest:

(1) A longer title shown in the home page for classifieds? Currently, on the home page view, the title of an ad is shorter than the name of its category, and that's not helpful whether you are selling or shopping. As I recall, this was much longer in the past.

(2) Some visibility for want ads? I suspect that no one looks at these at all (is it that you need pictures to have an ad land on the front page and want ads have no pictures)? Most other places I have seen classifieds put WTB ads on a more equal footing with FS. I suspect that a lot of FS/WTB ads pass like ships in the night.

Dante

In the past there was only 4 classified ads on the home page, now there are six.

Wanted ads are free, and so will not have the same visibility as paid FS ads - unless the membership wants to pay the same price for wanted ads which seems rather unlikely.

Stephen

 

[pschauss]

Is there a reason that the classified ads do not appear in the Forum Runner App interface to this forum?

 

[CameraQuest]

Is there a reason that the classified ads do not appear in the Forum Runner App interface to this forum?

yep, Forum Runner is not compatible with the classifieds software.

Stephen

 

[Ljós]

I
Wanted ads are free, and so will not have the same visibility as paid FS ads - unless the membership wants to pay the same price for wanted ads which seems rather unlikely.

Stephen

I think that's fair. I also see what Dante means: yeah, the wanted ads are no traffic magnets. You have to make a conscious effort to seek them out and check them. But.... they are free.

To show the six latest ads instead of four was a good move, but even more visibility would still be welcome. At RFF it is a bit like (I am exaggerating to make a point) this: an ad goes live, and there is either an immediate buzz ("PM sent! ;-)), or there ain't. In which case the ad slips off the radar pretty quickly. The items may still be great and very fairly priced. They just don't sell.

As I am writing this it dawns more and more on me, that a good part of this is down to a RFF-specific mindset, and the fact that the classifieds are essentially all "Buy it now". (Headed over to the "Auctions" segment to check... it looks like they are not actually auctions).
Which means that, once an ad is a few days old, and items have not sold, it has an air of "leftovers". If it is a week old, it can't be a great deal, can it?
Well, yes, it is probably not going to be the steal of the century. But still a solid buy.
Am I making sense to anyone?

Anyway, thanks to Stephen for tuning the system! If possible, change the dual-messaging system to just one message system, and increase the number of messages that fit the "mailbox".

Greetings, Ljós

 

[rbelyell]

running a site like this must be an administrative nightmare, and is always a very underappreciated job. i am sure the buy/sell section is really and rightfully so an ancillary concern to the people who daily get the headaches that come with site ownership.

i do agree that the classifieds have in their latest incarnation become kind of a black hole. imo, the now-gone ability to see 'All Ads'--selling, wtb, wtt etc--in reverse chronological order with simply the touch of a single button prevented this from happening. now users have to go back and forth to the several categories they want to view, and many perhaps wrongly cannot help but feel ads 'get lost' or are not seen via this process. while it may seem far 'simpler' than it actually is to those like me with no responsibilty for the site, putting back this function may go a long way to ameliorating the 'black hole' issues.

thanks

 

[Dante_Stella]

I am with Ljós on the point that when you look at the hit counts, it's all driven by the time that the ad is in the top 10 or so places in the picture screen. After that, no one comes back. That means that if the item doesn't sell - or if you don't price it right in the first couple of hours, you've just blown $7 (and usually a ton of time writing the ad). And even within this fickle world, you can price very low and still not see a sale.

Although a flat-cost ad works to your benefit when you sell something big and don't render unto Ebay, the experience for me (which has been trying to get rid of accessory clutter) has felt a lot more like Craigslist - for any production item, if it's not basically free, people don't want it. That Ebay returns a lot higher prices when things don't sell here tells me that RFF doesn't have an audience of anywhere near the size for vintage photo products. Or that Ebay's highly automated environment is easier for people to handle.

I would suggest that ad pricing go to something more tiered, like Ebay was back in the day - a price for under 100 ($2), a price for under 300-400 ($4), and one for anything larger (the current $7). That would eliminate the moral hazard of today's Ebay (free listings pretty much assure search clutter and unrealistic fixed prices) and a difficulty with the RFF of today (very expensive ads for major items often have a short shelf life and a very low likelihood of success).

And rbelyell, for as much as administrating classifieds is underappreciated, it is a way for the site to make money - so doing things that drive the use of RFF for sales are worthwhile.

Dante

 

[rbelyell]

i was just trying to show some appreciation for those who are responsible and spend time keeping this site alive as a preface to my own POV of how the classifieds function could be improved. since i have no responsibility here, dont do any work for the sites benefit, i generally feel loathe to simply express criticism for the thankless job done by others.

 

[CameraQuest]

I am with Ljós on the point that when you look at the hit counts, it's all driven by the time that the ad is in the top 10 or so places in the picture screen. After that, no one comes back. That means that if the item doesn't sell - or if you don't price it right in the first couple of hours, you've just blown $7 (and usually a ton of time writing the ad). And even within this fickle world, you can price very low and still not see a sale.

Although a flat-cost ad works to your benefit when you sell something big and don't render unto Ebay, the experience for me (which has been trying to get rid of accessory clutter) has felt a lot more like Craigslist - for any production item, if it's not basically free, people don't want it. That Ebay returns a lot higher prices when things don't sell here tells me that RFF doesn't have an audience of anywhere near the size for vintage photo products. Or that Ebay's highly automated environment is easier for people to handle.

I would suggest that ad pricing go to something more tiered, like Ebay was back in the day - a price for under 100 ($2), a price for under 300-400 ($4), and one for anything larger (the current $7). That would eliminate the moral hazard of today's Ebay (free listings pretty much assure search clutter and unrealistic fixed prices) and a difficulty with the RFF of today (very expensive ads for major items often have a short shelf life and a very low likelihood of success).

And rbelyell, for as much as administrating classifieds is underappreciated, it is a way for the site to make money - so doing things that drive the use of RFF for sales are worthwhile.

Dante

the classifieds have changed on the home page.

The row of the 6 most recent member ads stays the same,
joined by two rows of six RANDOM member ads that
CHANGE every time the home page is refreshed.

This should give a lot more exposure to the older ads.

Now to see how it works out in practice.


Stephen