Today I went into the Marketplace, just to browse. This is something I used to do at least once a day, probably. Now, I never go into it (today was the first time in well over a month), because I HATE IT!

I know it was less standardized the old way, but it was easier to find things, ask questions and see what was available. I think it's probably also harder to locate for newer members.

I'm sure there are reasons for making it how it is, but I think the current format is probably resulting in fewer users.

 

agreed. just horrid.

 

Huh?

Sorry, but I can't see any difference in usability.

What exactly is the issue? Maybe a little more detail than "just horrid?"

 

Seems really easy to me! I like it!

 

It's not bad, but I can see where they are coming from. To me, it's not that it is hard to use, it just seems to be more complicated than it needs to be. The old format was simple, while the new format seems to display a sense of professionalism on a business sense.

 

It seems Ok to me, but since I have only recently spent any real time in there maybe I don't have the proper reference ??

 

I agree I do not remember the first, but this one seems pretty easy to use for me. Once again.....to each his own!

 

The older marketplace was a bear to moderate, this one has maybe one issue per week. As one of the old Marketplace moderators I sure do like the new one but I also understand where you are coming from when it comes to ease of use.

 

you're right. they're exactly the same.

 

Most days I just go thru the new posts and it was more convenient to see what is for sale when it was posted. Not really looking for anything I have to make myself go into the marketplace. This especially comes into play when I know of a fellow Mini owner looking for a particular item. If I happen to see something listed that I knew they were looking for I would send them a heads up PM.
Steve

 

I browse by 'new posts'....so, Marketplace is a destination now and normal browsing doesn't get me there (not that I'm buying now that I sold the car), but, it's clear I'm hitting a smaller audience with trying to sell the parts I have left.

 

It's nice to be able to complain, but that comes at a price. Offer suggestions as to what you think would make it better. It's also has to be easy to moderate too, that was the biggest problem with the old method. Can't say we can offer a quick fix either. When NAM was a one man show it was easy to get new things worked in, now that we are part of a large entity I have no idea how long it may take.

 

Same here. I browse with "New Posts", and I usually skip the Marketplace now. The thing is, most of the time I'm not actively shopping for anything, so I'm not motivated to go over there to look. However, with the old Marketplace occasionally something would still grab my attention (even if I wasn't shopping) because I saw it under "New Posts". This is classic Marketing/Advertising 101 happening here. My suggestion is that posts in the Marketplace section show up on "New Posts".

 

I confess, I've never visited the Marketplace.

 

So there's less moderation now, but I suspect there are also a lot fewer users.

I'm all for standardizing it but I wonder if there is a way to keep the standard "thread title view" as it is now, but allow the listing itself to work like regular postings? Sort of like Craigslist, if you get what I mean...

Also, if things that are "SOLD!" could get bumped down below things that are still actively for sale...sometimes you can wade through pages of sold items and still find things for sale 5+ pages behind them.

I'm not a programmer by any means...but it seems like there's gotta be a way to keep it standardized (thus less moderation) but still user-friendly.

 

To make better, and I have brought this up before......

"Sold" items should be pushed to the back of the pages and not mixed in with items listed for sale.....I realize it is good to keep them somewhere so we have a reference on average asking prices, but many times photos come up randomly on side columns of items I am looking for, only further investigation reveals they were SOLD long time ago. Just somewhat fustrating..

This is my only complaint - Otherwise I really like the new Marketplace.

 

I started moderating right around when the market place switched over so....

How much of that was due to the old marketplace "rules"?

A market place with a subforum for general MINI, 1st gen and 2nd gen, and a sticky explaining a "good" format, and letting sellers handles questions and leave to the seller to make the sale and provide enough information. If someone doesn't want to follow the standard format and their sale suffers then they don't make the sale, simple as that. When sold just let the seller say sold, no need to go locking everything down once it was over. It seemed like there was lots of moderation that while justifiable, wasn't really needed/required/necessary. To make sure products end up in the right spot and nobody is going way past the regular site guidelines doesn't seem hard to moderate or implement. It seems like if the simple RESPECT guideline was enforced that majority of the complaints that brought about looking into a new format to change it wouldn't have been an issue.

My philosophy was alway more of the marketplace being if you want to sell some stuff here is a place to do it, and beyond that the details are between you and the seller. Rather than NAM needing to govern how the business of individuals was done. Think of the forum being a classified section of the newspaper, but you've got the ability to easily ask the seller for more details.

I'll also note a quick check of some other IB automotive forums and their marketplaces are much easier to locate as a forum. So it's a functionable system, it's more a matter of determining what system will fit NAM best.

 

Yeah so my three main points would be:

1) Hard to locate new Marketplace from the main forums page - it should be the archived ones we have to hoop-jump to navigate to, not the new ones!

2) Sold items need to fall to the back of the listings rather than still be mixed in based on (I assume) posting date.

3) I'm all for a standardized header (item, model/gen, price), but normal posting format beyond that would be nice.

 

I'm with these suggestions. These 3 things would make the marketplace more user friendly.

 

In the old Marketplace.

1. There was no way for the OP to mark an item sold in the Subject line, thats a function of the vBulletin software, same reason you can't edit a threads Subject line in other areas. So unless the OP reported the item as sold mods had to look at basically every post every day to see of sold and mark as such.

2. More complaints came from the old Marketplace where others would snipe at each other and the OP if they thought the item was priced to high or was perceived as junk.

3. Almost no one followed the guidelines price and location. Now price is forced and only out of US can get away with no location.

4. The Archived Marketplace is not really old and will be hidden. It serves no use anymore as it's over a year old.

5.I'll look into the ability to move sold items to the back of the que. Or would we like sold items to fall out of view?

6. There is no way for the listings to show up within the "Todays Posts" view. The Marketplace is a 3 party adin much like the Gallery or reviews.

7. Currently Sold and/or expired ad's hang around for 180 days. We tried 30 at first but people that was to short. Would 90 days be better?


A. I've just added Display new products indicator on index. At the bottom of the page it shows the last 12 items added. I'm looking to see if I can expand that # or change it's location to the top of the page. It may require having beyond my limited skills.

B. Found the setting to move the most recent additions to the top of the page. Let me know if ya'll think that is better.

 

[quote=gnatster;2611802]



6. There is no way for the listings to show up within the "Todays Posts" view. The Marketplace is a 3 party adin much like the Gallery or reviews.

Good, please leave it that way.

Mark

 

I'm with Melissa on this one.
Used to be a daily Marketplace visitor. Now I look every now and again.
- I appreciate the pics, but the 'height' of the posts makes it more difficult to scan. (yes, I'm ADHD and just can't make it to page 2 )
- Definitely move the 'sold' elsewhere/to bottom

 

===> Recent Ads: last day last 7 days last 14 days

Note: It would be nice if default Sort was Most Recent instead of Most Views

 

It's hard coded. Looked through all the templates to see if it could be changed but it's not there.

 

No worries ... it doesn't take much effort to resort the results