New changes to B&S forum - Page 11  

IMO this will matter only if we are allowed multiple listings, there is an atmosphere to enter the thread, discuss, comment (as in the old B&S). Otherwise I'm just going to click and then 'get out'.

I prefer the old price drop method or a combo of price drop and payment to SF. If all the seller needs to do to bump is pay SF for it, then they may not feel the need to drop prices, which was IMO a crucial part of the old B&S and important to buyers. Apart from the deals and the community aspect of the old SF, the 'hold your nerve until seller drops prices' was both exciting and good for buyers. So I am against any system that does not encourage sellers to drop prices.

This is good for sellers as well. In the end, 'good' deals were the key drivers of sales; AFAIK, few sellers actually sold everything until they dropped prices a few times. Under the system you propose, sellers may find they are both paying SF to bump, and dropping prices. The bump will not by itself improve chances of a sale, a price drop will

My eye goes there first, but it then is the first thread I dismiss if it is not relevant to me. So I'm neutral/ indifferent to this.

I don't yet have an opinion on other questions because I have not tried it (Search) or feel they are not relevant to me (Power Seller).

I'd say that removing the price would encourage people to delve a little deeper. That *might* make B&S a bit more active which should, in turn, make it a better experience for buyers and sellers alike.

Definitely bold the viewcount and the number of replies is a *must*. WIth regards to the preview text - that's a tough one. It's a great feature but one which will stop buyers clicking through to the thread - and that's what we're saying is the problem right? There's no life at the moment.

Mainy's idea is a good one and it's well thought out. It would be easy for sellers as It's now ridiculously easy to make a new listing and the image upload feature saves bags of time messing around with image hosts. I fear that it may not be a solution which is possible to action on this software platform though...

+1 Well said.

This is it. In a previous post I compared the old B&S to a bazaar; peddlers crying their wares, buyer and seller going back and forth, the comments, the sometimes snarky comments, people just hanging out, knowledgeable comments that were a learning process in themselves, comments that you know stayed just this side of the law ("Nice shoes, bump"), and the odd suspicion of frauds and underhand dealings just to make it interesting.

It was a living thing.

Heres one more good one that another seller PM'd me before I head off for my U2 concert today and will be back tomorrow...

How do you feel about having an integrated payment system in place that would allow you to bypass the PM-Reply step and automatically pay, just as an eBay buy it now works?

Again, not sure at all if its possible, but Im just trying to check if everyone is on the same school of thought.

For a large volume seller - it would be a dream come true. Having items automatically being marked as sold when someone pays would be fantastic.
Instead of SF charging for bumps / bolded text etc - the money could come out of the transaction as a small percentage (obviously nowhere near what eBay charges but a fee which would cover the income that SF are trying to generate from the new B&S system).

For small scale sellers - the system might not work. Some people sell things as a hobby or just like to pass on some thrifted goodies. Paying a fee from an integrated payment system will likely stop these people selling.

Also - I'm not sure on the legalities of such a system. SF would then be kind of involved in the sale and I'm sure that opens a can of worms.

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Ah, yeah. Forgot about that. Nevermind then - great idea, but because of this, its 99.99999% an impossibility.

One feature that I think is great is that you are able to upload and host images on SF now - kudos

Above was the idea of a collapsable view, I like that, to expand on it:

Has anyone considered the idea of 1 seller = 1 storefront with a collapsible view to his wares?

That way one guy's stuff is consolidated. If he adds more stuff, gets a bump (that may be open to gaming, though)

We need an effective means to bring back the price drop.

Also, there should be a 'buy' button... not a formal checkout mind you, but ffs how many times have you been 1 min slow on the PM and lost out? You hit buy, you get first dibs, if the sale falls thru, reset the button and get a bump.

 

This actually makes sense. That way, similar to saved sellers on Ebay, you can just subscribe to the sellers you like and ignore the rest.

You wouldn't have to bother with bumps,etc as it would just be a listing of sellers rather than items.

This is the worst of all worlds. No legitimate checkout system, yet an item can be marked sold even if a buyer might flake? It gives sellers more back end work and could discourage otherwise interested buyers who thought an item was sold before payment was made.

I like this, but the items should be featured in the title as well as the seller name. Otherwise, browsing could become cumbersome.

 

Glad to hear it.

 

My advice as a more occasional user is very simple:

 

Merge the best of the Classifieds format with the best of the older forum format.

 

That is to say:

 

1) keep the look of the Classifieds, but allow them to migrate dynamically up and down the page, based on user (but not seller) replies.

2) Break the ability to pay for bold text, and use bolding just as in the other subforums, to see whether a classified is new since your last login or not.

 

The above two are the most crucial changes needed.

The next two would be nice, but not as necessary.

 

3) If need be, for revenue purposes, allow sellers to pay for a highlighted box or red text, instead of bold text.

4) Allow bumps for price drops

 

These changes would be enough to restore engaging dynamism to B&S, while keeping the aesthetic and categorisation improvements of the Classifieds. And what's more, from what I can see of the system, it's all easy to implement.

This perfectly encapsulates what has been lost in the new format (it's almost an intangible quality).

But props to the mods and spoo for being responsive to feedback/suggestions.

This may not be considered an especially constructive response, but I will consciously attempt to critique and not to belittle.

Some thoughts:

- I liked the "regular forum thread" format despite whatever problems there may have been with bumping: I liked that people replied to threads, conversations started, people corrected errors in the listing ("that's actually CNC not Costume National") or pointed out when the MSRP was a lie or added their own information about the items based on personal experience -- this communal, conversational element is completely gone now as far as I can see
- I liked viewing multiple items from one seller in a single thread because it made me constantly keep an eye out for "package deals" as at least one person has already mentioned
- I liked seeing just the one-line description of the thread title, i.e. I agree with Spoo about "too much transparency"; now I never find myself even wanting to click on an item because I see the picture, size, and price, and unless they're all spot-on I just don't view the item, so I end up looking at a lot less than I used to (for people buying things they know they need before they ever start looking, this may be an improvement -- but like many resident SFers, I found it enjoyable to browse even things that were not my size and taste, or that were ambiguous based on the thread title)
- I dislike that the new format restricts sellers to one item per thread: there are too many threads and it seems 10x more cluttered and "busy" (in the bad way) than the old format
- I do not understand a lot of things about the new format (paying SF for bumping privileges? how bumping/replies work? etc), and based on 5 minutes of browsing I'm not sure that I really care to find out (just being brutally honest).

The bottom line for me is that I have scarcely looked through B&S since the changeover and I used to spend an hour a day just browsing for stuff to buy. I've pretty much lost interest in both buying and selling -- I have no plans to relist the items I had in now-archived B&S threads.

I also have to say I still really f***ing hate the new sidebar. Why do I care that someone I have never heard of has given a 3-star rating to "Bass Men's Logan Flat Panel Loafer"?? What does that have to do with anything? Unless you can somehow promise me that brands and items I am interested in will be featured/prioritized in this little highlights area, I find it not only useless but highly intrusive.

The sidebar is useless. Honestly.

Reviews? By who? I don't wear jeans and it's full of jean reviews by some unknowns.

Please please please fix the B&S.

Revert it back to what it was and I'm sure people will volunteer (and you guys pick) to moderate it properly. I know I'd be up for that.

If it is a revenue issue, open up donations. Paying to bump is not something that is conducive towards the sense of community we've lost.

Again, I and many others would be more than happy to donate.