Grrr... New items on Gumtree

AlanRatcliffe

Am I just being an old curmudgeon, or do the ads for new items repeatedly posted on Gumtree annoy anyone else too?

Specifically it's guys like Music Madness and Andreas Barth's Guitar experience that tick me off. I can honestly say I will make a point of never buying from either of these places because of their spam.

So do they get your goat too? And if so, do you ever click on the spam reporting link on Gumtree?

Wizard

I will now.
Never occurred to me before.

Wizard

What really annoys me are the repeated ads.
Are these spam reportable?

AlanRatcliffe

There isn't a way to report a repeated ad specifically. Unfortunately Gumtree don't let you renew an ad (probably to boost their adcount for selling adspace), so people trying to sell something urgently will repost it every day or so.

I've started clicking on the spam link (on the left of an ad's page) every time I see one of these damn ads, but it sometimes takes a few days before they get removed. Maybe if there are enough ads they have to remove, they'll do something about it, finding a way to ban posters for repeated offences.

Riaan-Combrink

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Am I just being an old curmudgeon, or do the ads for new items repeatedly posted on Gumtree annoy anyone else too?

Irritates me no end. If I'm looking to buy new I'll look elsewhere.

Alan Ratcliffe wrote So do they get your goat too? And if so, do you ever click on the spam reporting link on Gumtree?

No :-[ But I'll take up the cudgel now! >☹

Renesongs

Under community classes there was one advertiser that used to spam the page every day with 10 ads in a row for the same graphic design course. I reported this to gumtree regularly citing all ten of the ads as spam. Alas gumtree never replied or seem to take any notice. I don't see any of those ads there today hopefully the advertiser has found different ways to waste everybody else's time. My point is that I haven't found gumtree to be responsive to complaints and they don't seem to monitoring abuse of the site very well. As far as internet advertising goes they are still the best darn thing since sliced bread though. 8)

Wizard

I was amused to see someone refer to them as 'gumpole'.

Riaan-Combrink

Renesongs wrote As far as internet advertising goes they are still the best darn thing since sliced bread though. 8)

Quite true. Thus doubly sad they don't take complaints seriously.

MoJo-JoJoe

Werner-Carstens

Valid point Mojo Jojoe and thanks for pointing it out that you don't abuse the free community-based advertising. I also feel that Gumtree stands alone in SA in terms of the service it provides, but it should only be for private individuals in the community selling stuff and not businesses spamming you.
Agree with you Alan.

MoJo-JoJoe

Mr-M

Gotta agree with you, Alan and Mojo.
I don't know if this is the best place to mention it, but it certainly ticked me off.
A few months ago I posted my old pedal tuner for sale in JHB on Gumtree, with rather irritating results. I posted the ad and confirmed it, only to have it disappear. I then got a mail saying my ad had been removed with no reason stated. I re-posted the ad a further 3 times, changing the wording & layout slightly every time just in case some filter was removing it. It disappeared every time except the last time, when it worked OK and I ended up selling the pedal. I mailed them more than once to no reply. I like Gumtree and still use it, but that made me rather irritated. Weird. Anything like that happen to you guys before?

AlanRatcliffe

They do seem to remove some ads, although it takes them a few days, so they are usually already buried back a few pages, so it's of limited effectiveness. I took part in their survey recently and mentioned that I had a problem with this - hopefully enough other people feel the same way that GT feel they should take some kind of action.

Anything like that happen to you guys before?

That is wierd. I've never had them remove anything of mine. What was the tuner? The only thing I can think of is it was a "lawsuit model" (although I doubt it).

Mr-M

I shouldn't really say "old" tuner. A Korg Pitchblack - actually very new (I posted about it before when I got it). I sold it 'cos I needed money super-desperately and then promptly went and bought another in December after bonus time 'cos I couldn't live without it! Actually lost on the deal and was stupid of me to sell it in the first place, but the Gumtree thing was still irritating nonetheless. I really can't see any reason they would have removed an ad for one of these.

AlanRatcliffe

Maybe the "new" thing was the problem - it was still so new to the marketplace that people thought you must be a store selling a brand new item?

CDee

It's does irritate me when businesses put up add after add... Get annoying shuffeling through the crap to get to the good stuff. What's even worse are people that advertise how bad Gumtree is on Gumtree. (And Gumtree does not even remove these adds ???)... http://johannesburg.gumtree.co.za/c-Stuff-for-Sale-musical-instruments-looking-for-a-new-site-to-buy-and-sell-on-W0QQAdIdZ103081148
That is just not good form.

And then you get a whole new level of censored, that advertise this in the MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS section.... http://johannesburg.gumtree.co.za/c-Stuff-for-Sale-musical-instruments-BUSINESS-CARDS-FLYERS-WEBPAGES-W0QQAdIdZ103690297

Mr-M

Yeah, maybe. Didn't seem to affect a new Graphics Card I sold in December (incompatible with my PC motherboard and mistakenly threw the box away so had to sell to get something else) or any of the other pedals I've sold.

I suppose this fits into the business advertising on Gumtree bracket as well:
http://johannesburg.gumtree.co.za/c-Stuff-for-Sale-musical-instruments-IBANEZ-Guitars-on-SALE-Till-stock-last-W0QQAdIdZ103298897

AlanRatcliffe

What's even worse are people that advertise how bad Gumtree is on Gumtree.

Yeah - if you have to advertise your classified site on the opposition's classified site, you are off to a very bad start, IMO.

I just followed those links and reported them as spam. Maybe if we all make a point of continually reporting them, it will create enough of a nuisance that GT will decide it's easier to do something about the problem than ignore it...

CDee

Yeah, I did the same... Let's annoy them into submission.... Ghandi would be proud. :?