New changes to B&S forum - Page 3  

Great summary.

The new B&S "classifieds" - it's no longer a forum per se - as it is, sucks both as a buyer and a seller. I have three ties and two pairs of shoes left in the old B&S, I haven't moved them to the "new system" yet and don't really plan to. I think most of my stuff is going to go on AAAC or Ebay now - if I'm going to have to do Ebay-style work for listing on SF, where there's only maybe 100 people viewing the new one, I may as well just list on Ebay where there's much better search and many more views. Sure there's more fees - but some of the upgraded selling "tiers" would end up costing me as much or more as Ebay fees. Even if I don't use those, the fundamental problem still exists - fewer people look at the new B&S, and it's almost impossible for anyone to actually see your stuff unless they SEARCH for what you're selling.

And yes, the new fees are playing a role - I have heard directly from several sellers that they are raising prices because of it.

Oh, and just to add: as both a buyer and a seller, I can't help but lament the ability to offer multi-item deals. I can't say how many times I've seen something I wanted, then looked at what else the seller had and ended up with a good package deal. With this system, it just became a royal pain to see what else the same seller is selling, compared to how it used to be. I haven't had ANYONE offer a package deal, and I have offered none, since the new classifieds opened.

I'm pricing my stuff the same as I have been, except my threads are getting about 10x fewer views.

I am also paying the premium to SF AND I've dropped my items today.

I agree with most of the sentiment above. I really enjoyed the grouped listing format and think this should be an option for featured sellers. Actually for all sellers. The only downside is potential less fee revenue, which should never be an end goal for StyleForum.

In retrospect, the lack of user friendliness was a plus. Sellers were encouraged to wait to put coherent listings for a large group of quality items (to minimize work and manage price cuts). With this easy upload & quick listing format an unintended consequence will be more closet cleaning and much more noise. Before, one thread of junk was easier to ignore than a bunch of individual items, cluttering the board.

There is a huge chance the B&S will become amateur hour for people looking to list junk with no fees. I'm anxious to see what the B&S will look like after many of the "waiting periods" for new members has expired.

I agree with this 100%. The # of replies was a defacto test for threads signaling quality - or at least, entertainment.
Edited by marblehouse - 7/18/11 at 8:03pm

I posted this in TransMod and in the Forum Support threads, but I suppose just as relevant here - my views on the new B&S so far...


1. I feel the urgency is gone from a new listing. Mostly in fact because the page views are not prominent. Half the fun and key to grabbing fast sales on the old thread was getting in there first, and beating everyone else out. When you saw (well, when I saw) a thread with 1 page view, I knew it was fresh and the whole thread was filled with possibility.

2. The preview of the text IMO should be totally removed from the main page. If the seller puts most of the valid information in the first 100 characters of the post, I dont even bother clicking on it, because most of the information is visible. There could be tons more info in there, but if I get the "gist" of the item by seeing the preview, I wont even click on it and I could be missing something by default assumption.

3. The number of replies is missing from the main page, and I think this is hugely important. Even if replies do not warrant bumps, I dont feel inspired to reply to a sale post. Im pretty sure nobody else does either, because since the new system has been initiated, nobody really replies to a thread. There should be a reply count posted on the main page - a hot item or an item with a bad/good provenance will get attention, and more people will click. The more clicks, the more buys.

There are other niggles that I can get into, but these are the most prominent issues for me. I used to refresh B&S like 40x daily - seriously - because I knew the urgency was there to "get in" as soon as a thread was posted... thats 99% gone lately, but I think by correcting these three things, it would help a bit. Other sellers and buyer can chime in if I am speaking for myself or the masses, but I really think that these small fixes would go a long way.

I think the soul of the MC and BS community has been lost in the transition. Individual problem will probably be rectified but it's hardly fun to browse anymore.

Tried to 'like' moo's EGs, but got an error.

ERROR [Exception] (0)
'action' is unknown: export
If you report this error, please include the following timestamp: 1311044214.4479

I am switching to ebay now that SF is a lot like ebay, except with far fewer buyers. I listed 3 like new RLBL shirts for what I thought was a very competitive price, and I haven't gotten a single bit of interest. In the old B/S someone would have atleast posted and said something like too bad it's the wrong size. One of my favorite things to do was peruse through the listings but I have only ventured over there a few times since I don't want to look at one item at a time.

Another big problem, there is no bumping. This means that good threads get buried while the newest ones are at the top.

I was just going to say this, Spoo. Aside from the awesome deals I enjoyed in the old format, there was also a sense of competition. The deals came fast, furiously and randomly. If you wanted those lime pants or that TF SC from Spoo's closet you had to be there when the deals dropped. Now I'm watching auctions from some asshole named balearic1on eBay. WTF?

FTFY

As a friendly reminder, free shipping for all SF members, including those 10 RL ties, Charvet pocket squares, John Lobb Chapels (with trees), RL madras jackets, Tom Ford shirts, ties, and pocket squares, and Chanel bags and sweaters for your ladies that I have up right now.

spoo - is ebay your job

I have not bothered with the new BS. The one item per thread limit is depressing and ebay has been going well. My margins are not big enough to support a separate post for each belt or seven fold tie. I feel like it is a big busy mess.

The only benefit I've seen so far is that you can copy listings straight out of ebay and the formatting stays the same.

Haha figured I'd inbound that layup. Looks like I know where to go for my wares from here on out.

No, silly. Posting on SF is my job. eBay is just a time killer until we straighten out B&S

I hope you like Versace...

but enough about this, lets get back to the topic. Thanks though, for looking and the nice words.

OTOH I used to be able to copy and paste to/from Superfuture et al., and now I cannot, so it's a bit of a wash

Dumb question, but I can't find any of the information regarding costs to list, "tiers" , and how often bumps/price drops are allowed and other rules.

I see the guidelines that appear in the little drop-down menu on the B&S forum home page, but nothing about this other stuff.



I hate to complain, but I don't really care for the new format at all.

I buy quite a bit from B&S, and the vast majority was stuff I stumbled upon, or found when someone my size was having a closet clearing.
When I have something specific in mind ("I want a blue end-on-end spread collar shirt") I usually go to ebay.

To be honest given how quickly stuff sold on the old B&S, I can't help but think saved searches and category searches would be useless.
I can only speak for myself, but I don't try and keep an inventory of stuff around in case someone happens to be looking for it.
When I list something it's usually after a closet audit, or a great thrift/discount store find, and I want it gone as soon as possible.