New Marketplace up and running!
#51
Mr/Ms Administrator,
I did, ultimately, find the marketplace as you have listed in your first link. I clicked your second link and got a blank page.
The fragmented design of the new marketplace forces reading all postings when most of them have little or nothing to with the needs of the reader. The catagorized design of the previous marketplace lent itself to more compartmentalized requirements of the reader so they didn't have to read about all the first gens or the originals when they wanted second gen info et cetra. I think that is the main crux of the "push back" you are getting. Change is not always good just for the sake of change. There needs to be an upgrade. Ultimately you are cognizant over the design and execution of the site. If your readers like then they'll participate and you are a hero. If the readers don't like it they go away and you are not a hero.
Best of luck to you.
I did, ultimately, find the marketplace as you have listed in your first link. I clicked your second link and got a blank page.
The fragmented design of the new marketplace forces reading all postings when most of them have little or nothing to with the needs of the reader. The catagorized design of the previous marketplace lent itself to more compartmentalized requirements of the reader so they didn't have to read about all the first gens or the originals when they wanted second gen info et cetra. I think that is the main crux of the "push back" you are getting. Change is not always good just for the sake of change. There needs to be an upgrade. Ultimately you are cognizant over the design and execution of the site. If your readers like then they'll participate and you are a hero. If the readers don't like it they go away and you are not a hero.
Best of luck to you.
#52
I've looked at it a bit, and I have to agree, the old way was better. Maybe a poll?
The search is nice, but most of the time, I'm just browsing--sometimes I'll find something I wouldn't have necessarily thought of, and buy it. I suspect I'm not the only one...
The new format pretty much kills that. What was hands down the best marketplace setup is now just like all the others.
The search function would be nice, if it actually worked. Incorporate the new search function with the old layout, once the bugs are worked out, and you have a winner. As it stands now, I'll still use it, I'll still sell stuff on it, but I will no longer just "browse." The irony is that while the changes may have been put into place to increase traffic, I suspect the end result will be exactly the opposite.
BTW--if I wanted to shop ebay, I'd just go there directly....
The search is nice, but most of the time, I'm just browsing--sometimes I'll find something I wouldn't have necessarily thought of, and buy it. I suspect I'm not the only one...
The new format pretty much kills that. What was hands down the best marketplace setup is now just like all the others.
The search function would be nice, if it actually worked. Incorporate the new search function with the old layout, once the bugs are worked out, and you have a winner. As it stands now, I'll still use it, I'll still sell stuff on it, but I will no longer just "browse." The irony is that while the changes may have been put into place to increase traffic, I suspect the end result will be exactly the opposite.
BTW--if I wanted to shop ebay, I'd just go there directly....
#53
#54
X104
I tried to find an ad I posted and for the life of me... couldn’t.
The new format is HORRIBLE! It was actually very user friendly before, not so much now.
I don’t even look in there anymore, it’s too painful. (not that I need anything anyways...lol)
Put it back... like my granpappy use to say... if it ain’t broken, give it to Mark, he’ll break it... ah, never mind, wrong saying but you got my point.
:D
Mark
I tried to find an ad I posted and for the life of me... couldn’t.
The new format is HORRIBLE! It was actually very user friendly before, not so much now.
I don’t even look in there anymore, it’s too painful. (not that I need anything anyways...lol)
Put it back... like my granpappy use to say... if it ain’t broken, give it to Mark, he’ll break it... ah, never mind, wrong saying but you got my point.
:D
Mark
#55
I don't like the marketplace. Ease of use was a huge benefit before.
If it was organized just like the old one, had images just like the old one, I would probably not care about any changes. This one for me is not user friendly in that it takes more than 30 seconds to see if you are interested in anything, and even then, you have to click on an ad and wait (slow) then read to find out if it even fits your car.
Not as useful if it takes more time. Buyers often are not looking for anything, don't need anything, but find things to buy because they stumble onto something. Sellers are going to lose most impulse buyers.
Any redirect/referral to another site is a total non-starter. frowned on since the last millennium.
If it was organized just like the old one, had images just like the old one, I would probably not care about any changes. This one for me is not user friendly in that it takes more than 30 seconds to see if you are interested in anything, and even then, you have to click on an ad and wait (slow) then read to find out if it even fits your car.
Not as useful if it takes more time. Buyers often are not looking for anything, don't need anything, but find things to buy because they stumble onto something. Sellers are going to lose most impulse buyers.
Any redirect/referral to another site is a total non-starter. frowned on since the last millennium.
#56
3rd Gear
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: North Fork of Long Island
Posts: 213
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
NAM Moderators / Administrators, if you're planning on doing a "sub-forum" based marketplace, make sure to include:
* generation breakdown of categories (1st-Gen, 2nd-Gen, etc)
* then consider complete cars and parts as two separate entities within the generations.
* then make sure its SEARCHABLE, both in title of posts and keyword throughout description.
The system will work as such if you employ some new rules on how to post like providing quick descriptive titles.
If you haven't already looked at the Vortex Media Group tiered system, I encourage you to model it after such:
* http://forums.vwvortex.com/forumdisp...en-Classifieds
Otherwise, in it's current forum, the "NEW" 2012 marketplace is right now unusable to many and will loose usage from members VERY quickly.
Also if possible, ditch the eBay ads; there's enough advertising blinking in users faces...
- Erik
* generation breakdown of categories (1st-Gen, 2nd-Gen, etc)
* then consider complete cars and parts as two separate entities within the generations.
* then make sure its SEARCHABLE, both in title of posts and keyword throughout description.
The system will work as such if you employ some new rules on how to post like providing quick descriptive titles.
If you haven't already looked at the Vortex Media Group tiered system, I encourage you to model it after such:
* http://forums.vwvortex.com/forumdisp...en-Classifieds
Otherwise, in it's current forum, the "NEW" 2012 marketplace is right now unusable to many and will loose usage from members VERY quickly.
Also if possible, ditch the eBay ads; there's enough advertising blinking in users faces...
- Erik
#57
#58
5th Gear
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Locked away
Posts: 867
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This smells of yet another commercialization of this forum that doesn't benefit the end user. It's laughable that you are trying to sell it as an improvement despite overwhelmingly bad feedback from so many posters at this point. I suppose it is just another in a long line of changes to this site over the last few years that have taken it from an enthusiast driven community, to a strictly revenue generating venture.
Enjoy watching that site traffic slow to a trickle by choking off the one reason many of us long time members still stop by here.
Enjoy watching that site traffic slow to a trickle by choking off the one reason many of us long time members still stop by here.
Last edited by Mini Fireman; 04-24-2012 at 09:14 AM.
#59
This smells of yet another commercialization of this forum that doesn't benefit the end user. It's laughable that you are trying to sell it as an improvement despite overwhelmingly bad feedback from so many posters at this point. I suppose it is just another in a long line of changes to this site over the last few years that have taken it from an enthusiast driven community, to a strictly revenue generating venture.
Enjoy watching that site traffic slow to a trickle by choking off the one reason many of us long time members still stop by here.
Enjoy watching that site traffic slow to a trickle by choking off the one reason many of us long time members still stop by here.
Complaints about the ability to post, edit and control mark sold have dropped to none for the new marketplace, since the search button has been fixed usability complaints have stopped. I no longer spend hours per day explaining how to list and ad or why an ad listed didn't display or why ads are being automatically marked sold despite the item still in fact being for sale, or where the marketplace is, or removing threads from discussion forums and explaining the user must re-enter all that information, or why an ad was automatically deleted the information not saved and all that information must be re-entered and there is nothing I can do to help that. Just last week a request to address some of the formatting and organization complaints was filed and within the next 1-2weeks I expect to see some of those changes made. There are still fewer posts in this thread than emails I was receiving per month about the photopost system. Over the past 90 days there are 460 ads in the photopost system, in under 30days there are 210 items in the new marketplace
Since changing from photopost
- We've gone from "it doesn't work" to "I don't like how it looks/is organized/is formatted"
- The volume of user complaints has decreased
- Site traffic has increased, marketplace traffic has not decreased
- Efforts are in motion to adjust the formatting to be more friendly
#60
Drew,
At the expense of sounding like a kiss azz....
Though I don't like the new marketplace setup, I personally think you are a kickazz mod and if it weren't for people like you, we wouldn't have such a great place to be at.
Thanks for effort and time you put into this place. I have spent many, MANY hours of my life here and if it weren't for mini, I'd be driving an abarth! LOL.
Thanks,
Mark
At the expense of sounding like a kiss azz....
Though I don't like the new marketplace setup, I personally think you are a kickazz mod and if it weren't for people like you, we wouldn't have such a great place to be at.
Thanks for effort and time you put into this place. I have spent many, MANY hours of my life here and if it weren't for mini, I'd be driving an abarth! LOL.
Thanks,
Mark
#61
Might want to at least have the ebay results show things for a mini. Results for audi, ford, honda probably are not going to be anything but spam to most users looking for something. Since the results seem totally unrelated to the query, having it at least be the same vehicle will probably help make it appear related.
#62
Ditto. Why are the ebay ads even there? A cynic would say there is a tie in financially, but then you just said this wasn't about money, so that can't be the case. Right?
All I read is negative comments here. Where are all the positive ones, it people like this so much? Sorry to be so critical, but making the marketplace like a regular posted thread is a mistake. The comments in this thread bear that out. Maybe start a poll?
One thing I'm confused by--you state that site traffic is up, the markeplace traffic is the same. Shouldn't marketplace traffic be up then too? If marketplace traffic hasn't gone up, but site traffic has, this is actually a negative. Both should go up.
One of my pet peeves for NAM justifying everything is the same old "site traffic is up, so it's good, the site is better than ever."
OF COURSE SITE TRAFFIC IS UP!! AND IT WILL BE HIGHER AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!
And it has nothing to do with the site getting "better."
How many MINIs were sold last year, compared to 3 years ago? How many more MINI owners are there now than there were 3 years ago?
Of course site traffic is up--there are MORE MINI OWNERS than ever before!!
Now, the REAL question is has there been a corresponding increase in traffic that mirrors MINI's record year in sales last year? ie has forum traffic kept up with MINI sales? If not, then while you are gaining traffic, you aren't necessarily keeping pace.
Food for thought.
All I read is negative comments here. Where are all the positive ones, it people like this so much? Sorry to be so critical, but making the marketplace like a regular posted thread is a mistake. The comments in this thread bear that out. Maybe start a poll?
One thing I'm confused by--you state that site traffic is up, the markeplace traffic is the same. Shouldn't marketplace traffic be up then too? If marketplace traffic hasn't gone up, but site traffic has, this is actually a negative. Both should go up.
One of my pet peeves for NAM justifying everything is the same old "site traffic is up, so it's good, the site is better than ever."
OF COURSE SITE TRAFFIC IS UP!! AND IT WILL BE HIGHER AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!
And it has nothing to do with the site getting "better."
How many MINIs were sold last year, compared to 3 years ago? How many more MINI owners are there now than there were 3 years ago?
Of course site traffic is up--there are MORE MINI OWNERS than ever before!!
Now, the REAL question is has there been a corresponding increase in traffic that mirrors MINI's record year in sales last year? ie has forum traffic kept up with MINI sales? If not, then while you are gaining traffic, you aren't necessarily keeping pace.
Food for thought.
Last edited by cct1; 04-25-2012 at 05:04 PM.
#63
I certainly never thought there were bad intentions or some kind of conspiracy behind the reasoning for changing the marketplace. I'm still here every day enjoying the MINI community, exchanging knowledge, and lots of other cool mods to spend my money on! I still like the layout of the old one but completely understand the problems it obviously presented after seeing your replies.
A suggestion regarding the new one: I do like how a new item for sale is listed amongst the general postings, but it would be helpful to know at a glance what generation the part is for. I find myself clicking on parts for the R53 which I normally wouldn't look at since I have a R56.
Here's an example:
FS:: Girodisc/AP Racing Big Brake Kit
Mike@Girodisc
Without clicking on the link and looking at the ad there's no way to tell it happens to be for the R53.
A suggestion regarding the new one: I do like how a new item for sale is listed amongst the general postings, but it would be helpful to know at a glance what generation the part is for. I find myself clicking on parts for the R53 which I normally wouldn't look at since I have a R56.
Here's an example:
FS:: Girodisc/AP Racing Big Brake Kit
Mike@Girodisc
Without clicking on the link and looking at the ad there's no way to tell it happens to be for the R53.
#65
#68
Can't find anything on marketplace!!!!!
I'm sure you've heard the old addage"IF it ain't broke ,don't fix it".this could not be more true of the "marketplace" forum.It is difficult at best to find a topic such as wheels and be able to look at adds from people that are just selling wheels.Why couldn't you have just left the %$#@& thing alone???-Goose
#69
I also like the "old" marketplace better. However, I really think that we should do away with one or the other, just so there aren't two places to look for things (and two places to post the same ad to make sure it's got the widest possible audience). Of course, my preference is to keep the "old" one, both because I find that it's better organized and I like the thumbnails (when they're working).
The following users liked this post:
RChandler (10-21-2020)
#75