Changes to the "For Sale/Trade" system

SimGuy said:
Everything but the "auction" style sales sound like a massive improvement! Can't wait to see it!

IMHO, it would be best to leave the auctions for E-Bay and the like.
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Exactly what I was thinking.
 
evevrything loooks Great! except for Auctions... Please don't get Auctions in here.. if anybody is interested..goto EBAY!
 
You know what...you should just concentrate on organizing the FS/FT forum FIRST...THEN after ppl have gotten used to the change test out the Auction thing...the organization of the FS/FT forum AND the addition of the Auction might be too much for ppl to handle...those two things are pretty big changes...you should just do one at a time or ppl will be flamming about everything
 
John said:
1. Classified ads, with a set price.
2. Flexible classified ads, where buyers can make offers (seen only by the seller) on items. So if I decide to sell an 8Mb stick of EDO RAM for $1,200, people can offer what they think it's worth rather than having to stick to the price I provide. If I like any of the offers, I can accept. (For each listing you'll see an overview of the offers you've had so far.)
3. Auctions - especially useful when the seller doesn't know how much an item is worth. There are a few options for auctions:
- Proxy bidding (like on eBay)
- Max. offer bidding, where everyone submits the highest price they're willing to pay. (And the highest bidder wins.) The difference here is that the highest price a person is willing to pay is used, instead of a few cents more than the second highest bidder.
.
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I think all three suggestions are good. Im not sure on how you're planning to do it, but #1 and 2 could just be rolled into one. There could just be a checkbox in the post if you would like a flexible amount or firm. Personally, I think #2 would be the best addition so far. Very frequently when buying and selling, people haggle over the price via PMs anyway. I dont think ive ever bought or sold something on this forum for the listed price. So if you do anything, I think #2 would be the first thing to go for.

As far as auctions go, i think you're taking the right approach to it. Where people would enter the highest price they are willing to pay, and that would be the final amount. However, that can kinda tie in with flexible classifieds. If people send you offers, you can just select the highest one.

The notification system, and image upload would be amazing if the server would be able to handle it. All around, i think there are some good ideas here.

Frankly, from what I've read about the system so far, the intergration features and the flexible ad system would be the 2 largest benefits. The feedback system would also be nice.

edit: sorry for the horrid grammer, i have a terrible headache and its late
 
lopoetve said:
I too am curious as to why we are not listed on Heatware...
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long story short, it is the result of a pissing contest between the operators of heatware and [H] admin. they came onto [H] and interjected themselves into troll threads as if they were admins here. they were told to stop, the pissing began, they were banned here, and ans so for retaliation [H] lost officail support from heatware....(the heat staff say the "official" reason is that [H] is indifferent to to trolling on their boards, and so don't do enough to limit trolls on the forum).....that's IIRC :eek:
 
Boo...no auctions...Boo, Hiss


Everything else looks wonderful:) I love you guys man...(sniff, snifff) :D
 
topcat989 said:
long story short, it is the result of a pissing contest between the operators of heatware and [H] admin. they came onto [H] and interjected themselves into troll threads as if they were admins here. they were told to stop, the pissing began, they were banned here, and ans so for retaliation [H] lost officail support from heatware....(the heat staff say the "official" reason is that [H] is indifferent to to trolling on their boards, and so don't do enough to limit trolls on the forum).....that's IIRC :eek:
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Gotcha. Thanks...
 
ufokillerz said:
i actually suggested the verification system to kyle last night, well actually 3:46am EST time. Having a Confirmed User System would help to weed out bad buyers/sellers to a certain extent, it is much like eBay's ID verify, except they actually ask for your SSN number i think. I do think that a verification system is in order if we do migrate over to this new fs/ft software, it will work better then now because the current search depth isn't as deep as i would want it, and
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I would almost go so far as to say that a Confirmed User System should be implemented regardless of a migration to a new fs/ft forum setup...
 
1. I like the flexible classified style listing. Often offers may consist of monetary and hardware offers, and there are a lot of offers that go up via email and pm, so it would be nice to be able to keep track of that sort of thing more easily.
2. I also would like to keep the garage sale type listing that the [H] offers. It's nice to saunter through the aisles, pull up a big thread and browse for something I can buy but don't really need. That way I get to waste time at work, and spend the money i earn doing it. Its a nice cycle.
3. I like the idea of categorizing lists, although then you introduce problems about people just automatically listing their stuff under every category imaginable.
4. IMHO I would like to see more features added to the same thread style listing. Add user verification and add an offer function so post/thread ranking doesn't go all over the place and I can feel safer about doing business here. Maybe add category associations so sellers can do the search functions that you speak of. I kind of like the thrill of hunting for something good in a garage sale, but that is just my opinion, and that is what makes the FS/FT forums here so attractive to me.
5. Maybe leaving threads as listings of items would be a good idea. You have an item and make an category for it, so it has a unique searchable description etc. Then the seller can have a thread of all the items he has for sale, and I can still do my sauntering through the aisles. Seems like a doable mix of the ideas to me, but just my 2 cents.

no auctions though please, I think it ruins the community here, and I like to just browse and look and see whats available, I guess I'm just one of those simple folk. If i want to bid, I go to ebay.
 
No actions is my main beef.

The next is no heatware use anymore. THat would PISS me off and may be the nail making me leave the hard trading because heatware is how people know who I am, I have no wish to go around with my [h]ardware rating AND heatware and only have a low number to show for each, considering [h]ardware rates wont mean for much outside of here.
 
MechWarrior said:
No actions is my main beef.

The next is no heatware use anymore. THat would PISS me off and may be the nail making me leave the hard trading because heatware is how people know who I am, I have no wish to go around with my [h]ardware rating AND heatware and only have a low number to show for each, considering [h]ardware rates wont mean for much outside of here.
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I would disagree. People like me who have a low trade rate on these boards would have an easy way to verify themselves with a trusted thrid party, so I can gain credibility to do the transactions I want without having to build a large collection of heatware references. Thats not to say you absolutely coudln't continue using your heatware account, you can still use it as a source of references.

I think integrating the two services would also cut down on the amount of people "stealing" other people's references. The name I post with is the one I'm verified with. I can't go running around and saying check out my heat under so-and-so name, Its got 169-0-0. Plus, just use the [H] registration fee or whatever, I would be happy to pay some money for the gen may and user verification.

-Mike
 
mojojojoman said:
I would disagree. People like me who have a low trade rate on these boards would have an easy way to verify themselves with a trusted thrid party, so I can gain credibility to do the transactions I want without having to build a large collection of heatware references. Thats not to say you absolutely coudln't continue using your heatware account, you can still use it as a source of references.

I think integrating the two services would also cut down on the amount of people "stealing" other people's references. The name I post with is the one I'm verified with. I can't go running around and saying check out my heat under so-and-so name, Its got 169-0-0. Plus, just use the [H] registration fee or whatever, I would be happy to pay some money for the gen may and user verification.

-Mike
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that's the whole point of checking their email!

people need to check/email the same email listed in someoens heat to verify it's them then they can do the same for ebay.

I dont' know why the hell people don't do this more often when people use ref's from outsiders, it's a very simple yet very effective thing to do.
 
S0mE0nEsMiNd1 said:
auctions dont sound like a good idea if you ask me, this isnt ebay, but everything else looks like MAJOR improvments
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Agreed, auctions doesnt sound too good. But the rest sounds great. As for user ratings, will already existing heat/beer/etc be counted towards it?
 
It seems the biggest beef everyone has about these new ideas is the auctions. I'm a long time fanatic of eBay and also like the non-auction style of the FS/FT board here. I liked the idea of only allowing people to post auctions if they meet certain requirements, ID verified, post count, registration time, etc, and another lesser restriction to bid on auctions so we don't get people pushing up the price.

I also like the flexible classified option, I think that would be the most popular. Maybe instead of an auction, it would just be a modified flexible classified with an end date, so like a max system where nobody sees the price its at. This would also fix the problem of people having friends/extra accounts to bid up their items.

On the topic of heatware, I also would like to keep my heatware but use my [h]ardware also. I think heatware should not be banned from the boards (which I didn't really see happening anyway) so if you complete a sale here you get a positive feedback on the native [h] feedback system and on heatware so the sale would also be good other places. It also may be a good idea to require that a user's name be the same as his heatware name to avoid confusion. Email addresses could be compared to make sure this happens, and they could be "heatware verrified".

Other than that I'm excited to try out the new system, hopefully it works out well.
 
the feedback can be done through the forum no problem ideninsider.com has a rating system that goes with their vb fs forum. However sounds like your plans are gonna cause more unwanted down time for features that most people just are not interested in. I rather post my stuff up in 1 shot instead of having to post each thing individually and relist it if it doesnt sell. Lets face it [H] is not ebay we dont have hundreds of thousands of people looking to buy items and it seems like your trying to do an ebay type place. Without the clientel its just a waste of time, and could actually end up making people move over to anandtech or dare i say arstechnica (damn that name put a bad taste in my mouth).
 
I don't like it.

But I don't matter.

And by the way, why the anti-ars sentiment?
 
I say that the flexible auctions are a good idea. As for the verification thing....go for it because many people dont have heatware....i usually just buy stuff off newegg :p :p
 
Personaly, I dont want auctions. I think at theVERY LEAST though, you need to set a limit on how long a post lasts. Say, after two weeks, posts are deleted, and any un-sold items must be re-listed.
I can see the problems we were having.......ie: a fs/ft post with 20 things for sale.....gets 40 replies from people offering, etc. back and forth...........and sits in there for six months with no further activity. Or gets replies when its all sold, because nobody updates the thread.
I'm not too sure on the categories either. :rolleyes:
 
because Ive had nothing but bad expieiences with ars and their patrons. I've done 7 transactions through Ars and all ended up with either minimods trying to tell me Im not allowed to sell 10 of an item because that makes me a dealer (still cant figure that one out) or people flaming my threads and the mods not doing anything because they have a high post count.
Elepsis said:
I don't like it.

But I don't matter.

And by the way, why the anti-ars sentiment?
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Verification, good idea. Auctions bad Idea.

Just my two cents.

A good idea would be to break the FS/FT forum up into either For Sale Only, For Trade Only and Want to Buy Only. Or have it broken down to Components, Software, Networking, Books, Misc.
 
If you break the fs/t down into sections, i'd hope it wouldn't be broken down into too many. Because there's a point when it's good, not slow, yet not so fast everything falls off the first page. Then there's a point when there's too many sections and it's a headache to find the right one for your stuff and then the section doesn't move along.

I think it'd be nice like:

Computer Equipment
Entertainment (dvds/games/cds)

etc, so the sections are broken down, yet not broken down into the littlest things ya know?
 
Stiler said:
If you break the fs/t down into sections, i'd hope it wouldn't be broken down into too many. Because there's a point when it's good, not slow, yet not so fast everything falls off the first page. Then there's a point when there's too many sections and it's a headache to find the right one for your stuff and then the section doesn't move along.

I think it'd be nice like:

Computer Equipment
Entertainment (dvds/games/cds)

etc, so the sections are broken down, yet not broken down into the littlest things ya know?
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yeah, i think that would be better than categories like

hard drives
motherboards
ram
cpu
power supplies
dvds
vhs
spekers
amps

etc, that would make way to many categories for my liking
 
I would think these "categories" would be encapsulated in the search features, that way if you wanted to list "hard drives" you could just do a search on the category. That's my understanding at least.
-Mike
 
How about a little checkbox in the user prefs that says 'Display Auctions', so that those who want them will see them and those who don't will never even know they're there? Or search options that filter on Auction status? Or both?
 
As far selling 1 item per thread and and multiple items per thread and then being able to search on them. Maybe you could do something like the a poll's "Add Option". You could have a button the lets you add an multiple items to a single post yet they could be put into different categories. That might make searching for item hidden in massive sale posts easier.

DS
 
Works pretty good now, just wonder why you fix it when it an't broke? Just my idea though.

73's
Dan
 
S0mE0nEsMiNd1 said:
i dont know...auctions just dont seem right, i want certain prices, and this isnt the place to be starting things at 99 cents and seeing how good they can go, and there arent enough people if you ask me. Its hard to explain, but it just doesnt feel right, I prefer just straight out selling for prices.
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Same here. Thats why I use the [h] to buy stuff
 
After over a year we have a search function. PLEASE DON"T BREAK IT!
 
If this change was to come will you guys be charging anything or expect a fee?

Also I must add my opposition to auctions unless it has it's own section where you cant list items as FS/T . Make a FS/T section and a auction section for those that would want it but please dont mix them...please dont.
 
The biggest complaint I have is that there are so many people and threads that once a FS thread is posted its down to like page 4 in an hour.
 
if you want to buy or sell on the forum, you should have to fill out a profile that has much more detailed information. Your full name, email, instant message name of choice, address, phone number, heatware ebay etc profiles and maybe even other information.

If that makes people uncomfortable, it shouldnt. This is a system of trust, and as you can see from the MIGHTY list of trolls and constant troll threads and most people dealing with at least one trollish situation at one time or another, the system doesnt work so well as it is.
 
but if that info would to be made public or fall into the wrong hands it could be a very bad thing.
 
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