3 hours ago, rantan said:

 

 

3 hours ago, rantan said:

3 hours ago, rantan said:

I really do not understand how a few clicks are such an onerous task for some buyers and I also don't believe that the communication aspect of a sell/buy transaction should be avoided.

In fact it should be encouraged.

I have often made some good forum friends as a result of communication from a for sale listing.

 

Cynics may label this as trite or naive, but this is still a community and we should aspire to avoid becoming like Ebay or Gumtree where the law of the jungle applies.  Decent communication is ( or should be king )

 

 

Not aimed at you rantan but I have some general thoughts.

 

I think the suggested feature is being misconstrued and it's obvious that it has no traction. So I'll drop it.

 

But let's be clear. I did not suggest it would be a substitute for communication nor is it a buy feature.

 

It was suggested to add flexibility to a system that has had a major overhaul but not in the area of the purchase process which could be refined noting if someone can use it, great (!) but others might not and this is why it could be a good idea. The feature is for someone not already catered for and even if you don't understand it doesn't mean it wouldn't be useful for some users. 

 

What is interesting from my point of view, as a UX researcher and designer, is that the dismissal of the idea is from an expert panel super familiar with the product (Marc, mods, long time users) but not from potential users of the feature. This isn't wrong it just means the conversation gets closed down before the idea gets fleshed out to be meaningful for the intended cohort of users. 

 

The psychology of users is complex: matching patters of behaviour to patterns of interaction requires time, suspension of belief, willing participants and $$ for testing. Score is 0/4 on this one. Game over. 🤕🤕🤕🤕

 

Whilst I'd ❤️ to add this feature into my classifieds toolbox I'm also happy to move on.  And apologies for the seeming hijack of the thread - not intended.

 

Now for the next idea!...

Sorry @Dystoria - I haven't dismissed it as I have made very obvious in all my responses. I could not have been clearer that even if I wasn't sold on it, the conversation should continue (round-table), and that I am open to being convinced otherwise. As yet, I still haven't been.

 

I'm mindful of such a complex development (costs and time) for potentially a small minority of users (in my view) though too. If I'm honest now that I have had time to consider it more, I think that time and cost could be invested in other areas of development of the existing system. So maybe I am dismissing it now, in the absence of more input from other users (which may still come). 

 

Keep the ideas coming, though, please!

4 minutes ago, Marc said:

I'm mindful of such a complex development (costs and time) for potentially a small minority of users (in my view) though too. If I'm honest now that I have had time to consider it more, I think that time and cost could be invested in other areas of development of the existing system. So maybe I am dismissing it now, in the absence of more input from other users (which may still come). 

 

Now I'm in agreement! Yes, the resources to implement this would mean a trade-off. Personally I'd rather see easier trader feedback.😊 No doubt other ideas will surface too.

 

I'd also rather delete handles like @Marc or an unwanted quote in a thread (appears I can't but thought I could). I'll open a support ticket.

 

 

12 hours ago, Marc said:

I'm still not sold, but open to changing my mind with more input from others. To me, at this point, the suggestions would actually add further steps and complication rather than making it simpler. 

Thank you for saving me having to write a longer post!

Classifieds has been updated to V1.0.3

 

Changelog

• £ symbol now being shown for relevant regions instead of default $
• Number of enquiries sent shown on ads 
• Bug fix relating to deleted brands still showing in search Brand list
• Bug fix for search filters (relating to currencies and regions)
• View All ads link added to Latest Ads widget/block

I think any price negotiation is based on many factors between the two individuals, and the buyer/seller's price.  A click system would take out the personal approach, which can work both ways.  There have been times when I've purchased items for a very reasonable price, and after the deal the seller has told me that they could have sold at a higher price but didn't like the people who were offering, and were happy to sell to me for less (not on this site, but I've had quite a few negotiations here that were very civil and favourable to me).  If someone offers a lowball offer, there is no need to reply.  And in my experience when I've replied to lowball offers I don't get responses, which tells me a lot about the lowballer. 

We just hit 500 active ads. That's a new record for both the old and new classifieds. Great job all and thanks for supporting it!

We're about to release Classifieds 1.0.4

 

Changes:

• Latest Ads Block: Show number of ad views
• Post New Ad: Prevent videos being inserted in body of ad. Force use of Videos field for cleaner interface
• Trader Feedback Improvement: When Marking Sold system now asks for Buyer's username. Feedback reciprocated process then commences as outlined here. 
• Error on Repost: An error occurred on Repost when the Type, or Brand have been removed from the database. Error screen now shown along with ability to report error to Admin so that it can be rectified
• Similar Content: New block to show similar ads on existing ads
• Featured Ads: Now shown more prominently

I'll post a status update once 1.0.4 has been uploaded.

Classifieds has now been updated to V 1.0.4

Not sure if anyone is still following along or if I should continue providing updates? I'm not getting much back which I have to assume ... no news is good news 🙂

 

Just a heads up that the Wanted to Buy and Giveaways section of the new Classifieds is now under development. Once they are tested, we'll move that live and archive the existing sub-forums for those as well.

Following the release of the above, the final stage of the rollout of the new classifieds will be a new version of Great Deals/Bargains/Specials and a unique way of posting those to share with our community.

 

Once that is all done - we can go back to the start and refine things further. It's been an absolutely massive development in what has been a really short amount of time. Huge thanks to @Adriano Faria who has done a stellar job interpreting my "I want it to do this and do that" into a workable and reliable system and thousands of lines of code

Enjoying the updates. Nothing to add so must be going well. 😉

I've started work on a Classifieds How To Guide. You can check it out here: https://www.stereonet.com/forums/classifieds-how-to/

 

If you think of any further How To's or Guides that could be created that relate directly to Classifieds, please let me know below.

Hi Marc and everyone,

The new classifieds do look very nice indeed, so good work.

 

I am wondering if I am the only one spending less time browsing the new classifieds section as I can't be bothered clicking through so many options to select different categories?

The new classifieds allows for more granular and specific browsing if one is looking for something like Eg: XLR 2m cables.

But I used to enjoy so much the grouping of products for browsing as I was exposed to products or adds I did not think about.

As we had Hi-Fi speakers, amps, streamers, turntables, AVRs etc together, then there was the second category of "Accessories, cables, others" it was just so much easier to sit down, enjoy a cup of tea and just browse, and browse all with only two clicks. It was great as all of a sudden it was much easier to come across all sorts of different things 🙂

 

Maybe I am wrong or is there a way to set this up at will? Thanks.

@RCADees have you tried the view all/condensed view? It's near identical to the old system. . .

https://www.stereonet.com/forums/classifieds/?do=viewAll&view=expanded&view=condensed

 

17 minutes ago, Steff said:

@RCADees have you tried the view all/condensed view? It's near identical to the old system. . .

https://www.stereonet.com/forums/classifieds/?do=viewAll&view=expanded&view=condensed

 

Thanks Steff, that seems to do the job. I will book mark it. Thanks!

Also found on the Main Index page of the Classifieds, that says View All Ads.

 

 

@Marc: is it sensible to rename it somehow to "view ads as list"  or "classic view (list)"...might that head off these (now much less frequent) questions? Can probably change it back to "view all ads" in six months or so when all the old regulards have caught up with new steady state?

Good in theory @Steff - but I think we then face the same problem when we change it again down the track.
People will get familiar in time. I mean, it's a big Green button that stands out from the rest, that clearly many have not clicked around yet to have a proper look. They will, in time.

It should be noted too that in the old system, we hovered around 480 active ads at any one time.

Today, we're at 550, and yesterday it crept up towards 600. So it's fair to say we're back to where we were before the switch, and then some. 🙂 I'm pleased.

Classifieds has been updated to 1.0.5

 

Changes

• Introduction of Wanted to Buy and Free/Giveaway Ads as part of Classifieds
• Ability to reverse Withdraw Ad (Sold Elsewhere and No Longer Available) to reactivate ad.
• Added link to How To Guides from within ad creation inteface
• Improvements to showing Read Ads and Mark as Read
• Fixed Featured Ads title not showing correctly in Dark Mode
• Improvements to issue with Reposted Ads when Type or Brand has been changed/deleted
• Made Follow button more prominent on individual categories
• Improvements to thumbnail display for Videos on ads
• Various minor bug fixes

2 hours ago, Marc said:

Introduction of Wanted to Buy and Free/Giveaway Ads as part of Classifieds

 

This has really come together, can't say I miss or even distinctly remember the previous classifieds iteration.

Classifieds has been updated to 1.0.6

 

Changes

• New button added to Classifieds index (My Ads) with various features
• Found button fixed on Wanted Ads (previously showing Sold when "found).
• Improvements of information shown on All Ads (condensed and expanded) including category and author.
• Display subcategory when viewing ads in Category view.
• Display category on search results
• Removed Purchased button from Wanted ads
• Fixed issue with Featured ads not unpinning when sold or withdrawn
• Fixed issue on blocks with time remaining overlapping block boundaries
• Fixed issue with category filter broken from mobile view
• Additional ad info added to "Ads I follow" page
• Improvements (layout/fields) made to Search form
• Various minor bug fixes

Other ads from User now shown on each ad:

 

Beneath the advertisement, the Classifieds now shows other ads from the same member:

 

\

 

This is handy if you are offering deals or a "bundle" - "See my other ads below" could be added to the Ad description.

@Marc, you seem to be putting a lot of work into the classifieds, thanks. 

I hope you are able to fit in some sleep and family time!

Thanks for the recognition @audiofeline. It's been a labour of love, that's for sure. But also, the development has gone really well and the classifieds, as I type this, has more active ads than at any other time in our history - so it's fair to say it's been received well despite the early gripes.

 

Hell, it made me even just pull some stuff out of the cupboard and list it - it just works, easy!