Quote:
Originally Posted by
LA Guy 
You may read Spoopoker's posts if you wish to understand that rationale for various decisions.
For easy access :
CHANGES TO THE NEW BUYING AND SELLING FORUM (effective 8/14/11)
OK guys, much work has gone into actively incorporating your feedback to making the B&S a better place. Below are a list of the proposed changes that will most likely take effect within the next week or so, to let anyone who has invested in upgrades under the current system fairly get their moneys worth for what they paid for. Thanks again to all of you who replied here, or PM'd us with your suggestions. They were all read and taken into account for what we propose below.
1. THERE WILL BE MULTIPLE ITEMS ALLOWED PER LISTING
There are currently 14 categories to choose from to list your sales thread under. (Footwear, Suits & SC's, etc.) Within each one of these categories, you will be able to list any amount of the same category item that you want. This means that if you have 50 shoes to sell, you can still create a shoe "megathread" and list all your shoes under the same single classified. If you have 50 shoes, 15 ties, and 10 shirts, this will mean you have to create only 3 sales threads. This promotes multiple purchases, package deals, and ultimately less time creating new listings. Its not confirmed, but 99% there will be ability to upload multiple size tags within the same category of thread
2. THERE WILL BE SELLER MANDATED BUMPS - NOT ONLY FOR PRICE DROPS, FOR ANY REASON YOU LIKE.
You will be allowed to bump your thread for any reason you like - on a pay-per-bump basis. There will be a linear system in place to pay for your bumps - under a couple of user groups. $1 for a bump every 2 days, will be a 2 day membership, $2 for a bump every 24 hours, will be a 1 day membership, etc. etc. Pricing on the bumps is still TBD, but 99% these are the prices you are looking at. You can bump for a price drop, bump for an item added, bump because it is a sunny day outside and you feel like sharing. You just have to pay this (extremely small) fee. IMO, if you remember the last system, you would cut your prices by 5% anyhow - this is a whole lot cheaper, and 9/10 times, you didnt drop your prices more than every 4 days or so anyhow, so you are essentially saving money over the long run.
3. PRICE DROPS ARE NOT MANDATORY
Self explanatory. Bumps are at a sellers discretion, for any reason, on a paid basis.
4. SELLERS CAN TAKE AN ACTIVE DISCUSSION IN THE THREAD WITHOUT PENALTY
You can respond to questions, you can reply to threadshitting (but nobody is going to do that, right?), you can talk about your neighbors changing with the windows open. Replies will not bump threads to the top, only the seller paid bumps will. This further fosters a sense of community and a back to square one feeling of the old "old" B&S where sellers did take place in the conversation, before the 5% rule was initiated.
5. THE TEXT PREVIEW ON THE MAIN PAGE STAYS
Smart sellers will utilize the first 150 characters of your listing (Not sure of the actual # of characters, just saying) to be creative and entice buyers to click on the thread to read more. Put poetry, something witty, ramble off SF memes, talk about Attolini pink cashmere ties - but just use it to your advantage to get more clicks on your thread, rather than just glancing at the main page.
6. THE "GALLERY" PHOTO ON THE MAIN PAGE STAYS
But it does not necessarily need to be of your item. Use this preview photo box to insert a custom seller avatar, a group of items, your favorite item, whatever. Again, be smart about your marketing and create something unique. Its not eBay, so make the most of not being constrained by "rules" of what picture you must use. Im sure this is understood, but anything remotely NSFW in that photo will be squirreled ASAP.
7. PAGEVIEW COUNTS WILL BE LARGER AND BOLDER, AND THERE WILL BE A NEW REPLY COUNT TICKER ON THE MAIN PAGE
Just as the old system, you can see when a new thread is listed, and reinvigorates that sense of urgency that was missing from this version. You will get that same butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling when you see an aportnoy thread or a whusurdadi thread go up and there are 0 replies and 1 pageview.
8. THERE WILL STILL BE AVAILABLE LISTING UPGRADES FOR HIGHLIGHT AND BOLD TITLES
The specifics of this and the names of what they are called are still TBD, but these are available options still to upgrade your listing.
9. B&S WILL GET AN AD BOX ON THE STYLEFORUM HOME PAGE
To further drive traffic to your sales, a new ad box will be implemented on the landing page for the website. This gives any new visitors a chance to click right through to your sales without having to navigate a tricky forum map to find the selling page. I have suggested that a different classified be rotated through the ad box on a completely tumbling, random basis (of course at no extra charge) with perhaps the sellers name and thread name. Still TBD if that is possible, but the ad box is a reality. Its like being a forum affiliate.
10. THE OLD FS THREADS WILL CLOSE ON 8/1 AND WILL BE LOCKED AWAY, BUT VISIBLE
The 4 old selling subfora (FS:Mens Clothing, FS: Streetwear & Denim, FS:Other, and WTB) will be locked on 8/1 with no new posts allowed. They will remain visible under the forum map, as they contain loads of useful information. They will not be able to be modified or replied to. This gives a chance to let sellers finish out their current threads, and to move any remaining items over to the new format prior to 7/31.
I had the Cool Shoes, Paraphernalia, Desiderata, etc. thread as well as the What Im selling on eBay thread moved from the old B&S to be stickied in MC. RJMan personally approved this move, and it can continue to thrive on there. Seems like the eBay finds for clothes did not make the transition, so you can post any hot eBay finds in the Desiderata thread.
