It seems that I just had this argument on POTN when the dessicated the Marketplace about a month ago. It was already hard to sell an item there with the over-moderation - but then they went for the chronological approach much like some kind of newspaper classified. And, they tried to shut down replying altogether. The results were predictable - they went from 40-50 items for sale per day to about 10. They've since backed off partially, but that marketplace is still very slow compared to here.
I argued against the draconian measures there and I'd do it here as well. Bumping is necessary when ones' sale gets buried on page 5 or 6. People don't browse much past page 2 so if you want to sell your item, you need to be able to raise it back out of oblivion and make it visible again.
The one bump per day rule has worked well here, and I really don't see a problem with it myself.
Again, my opinion. But an opinion based on using the buy & sell forum on numerous occasions.
gfiksel wrote:
But how to teach sellers NOT to delete the price of sold items?
That's a good question!
I find it very useful to search past sales before setting my selling price. Deleting a price when the item sells skews my search a bit by excluding items that actually sell, and including those that may be priced way too high.
I should probably just quit buying and selling so much stuff.
Russ Isabella wrote:
And not to bump their ad back to the top just to tell us they've made the sale.
I agree- once an item is sold, I generally edit the title and the top of the thread to show sold. Then, I delete all links to images from my post. Plus, I remove the images from my PBase account to save space. I don't see the need to bump at that point, usually. I guess an exception would be if the item were extremely popular and I was still getting PM's and e-mails about it. Only then would I want to announce to the world that it is sold!
Fortunately, most of what I sell isn't that excessively popular.
So in fact it would be good if in B+S threads were ordered in order of first post, unless the poster has specifically requested a bump, which she is only allowed to do once every 24 hours. Messages not by the original poster would not bump the thread, nor would changing the original posting content or subject. We can do that.
brainiac wrote:
So in fact it would be good if in B+S threads were ordered in order of first post, unless the poster has specifically requested a bump, which she is only allowed to do once every 24 hours. Messages not by the original poster would not bump the thread, nor would changing the original posting content or subject. We can do that.
That change would certainly negate the impact of the gratuitous bumping.
brainiac wrote:
So in fact it would be good if in B+S threads were ordered in order of first post, unless the poster has specifically requested a bump, which she is only allowed to do once every 24 hours. Messages not by the original poster would not bump the thread, nor would changing the original posting content or subject. We can do that.
I think it would be great if you do it. You have my blessing (not that it counts though)
I drop by the board at least once a day to check items for sale but restrain myself from making a comment out of deference to those who criticized the way the Buy and Sell board operated in the past. I argued both here and at POTN for a system that would permit commenting without bumping and am pleased to hear that is feasible. It seems like a perfect solution for everyone but the seller who hungers for as many bumps as possible.
I'm also very impressed with how well the site is loading pages. Perhaps it is a slow Saturday morning but perhaps the changes being made are finally bearing fruit. I appreciate the effort!
So in fact it would be good if in B+S threads were ordered in order of first post, unless the poster has specifically requested a bump, which she is only allowed to do once every 24 hours. Messages not by the original poster would not bump the thread, nor would changing the original posting content or subject. We can do that.
Sounds good to me. We had this discussion a few months back and most member agree with this change.
brainiac wrote:
So in fact it would be good if in B+S threads were ordered in order of first post, unless the poster has specifically requested a bump, which she is only allowed to do once every 24 hours. Messages not by the original poster would not bump the thread, nor would changing the original posting content or subject. We can do that.
That would be a great idea. One bump per day by the original poster, posts from outside would not move the thread. That would make me not feel as guilty about saying "hi" to a seller once in a while.
Outstanding idea!! Interesting to note...the premature "death" of the B&S by all
those to cheap to subscribe. It's alive and well and better than ever, methinks.
There's always room for a little tweaking, I'm down...keep up the great work!
I check the B&S forum daily, it's how I unwind at the end of the day. Sometimes I go to pages 2 and 3 to see what I missed out on just for kicks.
I actually like to see folks get deals as much as I like getting them myself.
brainiac wrote:
So in fact it would be good if in B+S threads were ordered in order of first post, unless the poster has specifically requested a bump, which she is only allowed to do once every 24 hours. Messages not by the original poster would not bump the thread, nor would changing the original posting content or subject. We can do that.
It's been a couple of weeks, and there has been no update to this thread. Are you still contemplating changes to the buy/sell forum?
