Matt-White
Hi guys,
I initially thought the new smalls were nice - until I tried to buy something.
It's happened twice now: I click on "Buy Now" and it changes the status to "Completed". Then I send a PM to the seller to arrange payment and delivery, but only to receive a message later on that the item "has already been sold" or has been "reserved" for someone else.
I get it that the seller might forget to remove or cancel the item, but shouldn't the system inform him immediately once someone has clicked the button to "Buy Now"?
What's the use if deals are made by PM's?
In both cases it was a real disappointment. At least in the past, you could see everyone's postings and knew when an item has been sold or booked by a fellow GFSA fellow...
ezietsman
Matt White wrote:
Hi guys,
I initially thought the new smalls were nice - until I tried to buy something.
It's happened twice now: I click on "Buy Now" and it changes the status to "Completed". Then I send a PM to the seller to arrange payment and delivery, but only to receive a message later on that the item "has already been sold" or has been "reserved" for someone else.
I get it that the seller might forget to remove or cancel the item, but shouldn't the system inform him immediately once someone has clicked the button to "Buy Now"?
What's the use if deals are made by PM's?
In both cases it was a real disappointment. At least in the past, you could see everyone's postings and knew when an item has been sold or booked by a fellow GFSA fellow...
There may be a bug. I used it recently and it only said completed once, I guess, the seller changed it to that status. Maybe you experienced seller-finger-trouble?
nicovlogg
As the seller in one of Matt's examples, I'd like to also raise a complaint. I loved the old classifieds, but I do see the potential for these Classifieds to be an improvement. My suggestions:
1) Make it easy to lock or delete an item. I've spent a long time looking for the delete button, found it once but since it seems to have migrated somewhere.
2) Maybe remove the "Buy Now" option unless the seller specifies, for example, a PayPal account (as found on outdoorphoto.co.za)
Thanks for the great site guys!
Manfred-Klose
i didn't even know there was a buy now button :-[
....I do it the old school way with a PM
MoJo-JoJoe
FWIW, I 100% agree with the OP.
AlanRatcliffe
There are a few issues with the new classifieds and we are looking into solutions. The new and dedicated software running the classified section does add many features, but is not perfect and there are a few disadvantages compared to the old way of doing things. Fortunately it is in continuing development...
The "buy it now" option should not even show up IMO - that is part of the auction side of the software, which we do not have enabled (and do not want) enabled as it requires a payment gateway (like PayPal) and this will incur costs for the seller and add a lot of complexity for both buyer and seller. I have now changed a setting which will auto delete ads when someone clicks on "buy it now".
The onus for removing ads when items are sold via PM (or via Gumtree, et. al.) is (as it is on every classified site) on the seller. There does seem to be an issue that after seven days the seller cannot delete or modify ads. I think this is due to the general board settings (and which we need to keep for legal reasons). For now sellers are welcome to PM me to remove or modify posts.
Another issue we have identified is that classified ads are not as prominent in the main forum part of the site as they were with the old classifieds. To improve this, we are planning on having the "latest ads" show in an area on the right hand side of every forum page. When we add this area, we will also enable the "featured ads" and include those in the same area. I will then promote ads I feel are worthwhile to the featured ads section.
More coming...
flatfourfan
Another thing also, many times I list items in here as well as listing them on junktree. When an item sells someplace else I'm unable to remove the ad and it ends up running it's time.
I did have someone ask me about my DS-1 a while back and he was a tad ticked that it was sold elsewhere.
Kalcium
Just an idea, but if there was a way that a program could be written that would auto-repost the classifieds ad after a week then the seller would essentially always be within the 7 day modify/delete period and could delete the ad. Add in a counting variable to say delete the add when count is 4 or w/e so that the ad deletes after a month still...but i dont know how if thats possible with the software being used...
jt
um, can anyone tell me how to add an image to an ad? i tried many times with alot of fail, keep getting errors that its not the right format, even though i tried many different ones?? should i be uploading from my pc or from an image host?
AlanRatcliffe
It could also be that your image is way too big...
jt
ha ha, i think thats the one, what the max size?
AlanRatcliffe
600 px in either dimension. The program does resize larger pics down to 600, but it looks like it can't handle really big sizes - I think it's a memory thing
Renesongs
I think there is a real problem with adding pics to the service classifieds "This listing has reached the limit of the number of images it can have." and I have even tried no picture and one of the two pictures that loaded perfectly into the Amps section.
AlanRatcliffe
Renesongs wrote:
I think there is a real problem with adding pics to the service classifieds
OK. Sorted...
Renesongs
Sorted - that is pretty snappy service ?
AlanRatcliffe
Renesongs wrote:
Sorted - that is pretty snappy service ?
'Cos 'twere me what screwed up in the first place. :-[
