Classified Ads are OPEN! (IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!)

[Pam]

Updated April 5, 2012:

We are still putting the finishing touches on our new Classified Ads area, but it is safe to start posting real ads there. The Classified Ads are located here: http://windstoneeditions.com/classifieds
These ads are for Windstones ONLY, not non-windstone stuff.

We will eventually be closing the Flea Market subforum and the Trade & Swap subforum (I will make an announcement when I know for sure what date they will be closing). You are encouraged to start moving over your selling, wanted, and trading threads as soon as possible.

The classified area has a For Sale, Trading, and Wanted section. All For Sale and Trading ads will expire after 10 days if not renewed. Wanted ads expire after 30 days if not renewed. You will be emailed a warning message before your ad expires. After it expires, your ad will no longer be viewable to other people. You will have another 10 days to renew your expired ad before it is permanently deleted. To access a list of all your ads, click “my account” (top of the page) and then click the “ads” tab. Expired ads will have their expiration date shown in red.

Here are the known issues that we are still working on:
-On some pages, preview images do not work correctly.
–All ads are counted twice
-When you make an ad, there is a box at the bottom that says Classified Ad Expiration, and it’s empty (it’s supposed to be though).
-The warning emails are supposed to contain a link to your classified ads, but the link doesn’t work. To access a list of all your ads, click “my account” (top of the page) and then click the “ads” tab.

If you encounter any other problems, please post them here!

[Christine]

“Craigbay” comes to mind. When this was last discussed on the forum, it seemed that a lot of members didn’t want a system like this. Or am I remembering it badly? :/ Or did I miss it being discussed again?

I’m sure whatever changes are made, everyone will get used to, but I really do prefer the forum format for ease of browsing. This new system is certainly all right, but I didn’t realize the old one was broken…

[Hannah]

We’re happy with it and it doesn’t require any changes.
Why fix something that isn’t broken over to something that nobody wants

Now here I have to disagree. Not everyone thinks the flea market is just fine and dandy, and I am happy to see it will be changing. I think it causes far too much drama (whether that drama be public or private!) and something definitely needs to change. I think this is going to be awesome and I’m really looking forward to it!!

Some of the excellent benefits we will get include:

No more bumping drama!! (thank god!)
Everything is automated – as in – you don’t need to remember when you SHOULD be bumping your thread and you won’t have to look every 10 days to make sure you’re doing it on the “right” day and not before – it sounds like this will send you a reminder and you just have to renew it – piece of cake!
What people want/have will be much more clear and concise and will avoid lots of confusion. This will also make it easier for people who may be new or newer to Windstone to put an ad up that looks just like everyone else’s – no one’s will be “better” or “worse” or harder to understand. Always a good thing!

Not sure WHY people don’t like this idea to be honest. I know change isn’t always fun but this is getting built for us for our benefit!! It’s going to make things so much easier and clearer in the long run.

Thanks Pam!!

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[Pam]

I’ve tried to design it so that it takes into account the various concerns that people had before. You don’t need to worry about making a separate ad for every item, its filter-able, it has a separate place for want ads, there won’t be any limits on pictures, and there won’t be any “dead” ads. If a person does have multiple ads, its easy to see the others.

Writing the ad description is the same as writing a forum post. Anything you want can go in the description. Links, pictures, etc. When it comes time to move, you can simply copy and past your exiting flea market posts into a new ad. The only additional things you would need to do is separate out any WTB items from the for sale items, and also choose from a list which items you are selling/trading/looking for (so people can search for your ad using a filter).

I’ve also confirmed that the classifieds are searchable. You can search all of the ads at once, or only search in the sale area (or wanted, or trade area). You even have the option of giving your ad a thumbnail that will show up next to your listing (like the thumbnails in ebay search results). The ads will also require almost no moderation, and as Hannah pointed out, it evens the playing field for everyone.

Comments on all ads are currently disabled, but if there is enough clamor for it I might consider enabling them. Replies would not bump the ads (ads are arranged based on the expiration date – the ads expiring soonest are placed higher on the list by default, but users can change the order at will). Commenting would wreak havoc with the search though, since it will also search the comments.

For reference, here is the old topic where these issues were discussed:
http://windstoneeditions.com/forum/forum-rules

If you have a concern with the new system though, please let me know! I welcome any tips for improvement. One thing I would like to add to the classifieds that isn’t there yet, is the ability to select a custom expiration date, for those who might be holding “best offer auctions” that end at a certain time.

[Wampus Dragon]

I made a test ad, but the image upload function doesnt appear to be working yet. I uploaded an image but it does not show up in my actual ad.

[littleironhorse]

I like the idea, mainly for 2 reasons: Dead add will automatically disappear, which will make searching much easier, and I agree with Hannah, it will get rid of the whole bumping issue.

There’s a whole forum for us to chat on, surely being unable to chat in this one particular section isn’t that big a deal, and will help make the whole thing more fair and efficient.

[Adaneth]

This is great! 🙂 I’m delighted that for sale/wanted will finally get split up, and the old stuff will get purged and not be ‘resurrected’ by people chatting, etc.

Will there be a way to manually ‘expire’ an ad sooner once the desired items are bought, sold or traded?

[Azurielle]

I like the idea, mainly for 2 reasons: Dead add will automatically disappear, which will make searching much easier, and I agree with Hannah, it will get rid of the whole bumping issue.

There’s a whole forum for us to chat on, surely being unable to chat in this one particular section isn’t that big a deal, and will help make the whole thing more fair and efficient.

Hear Hear! I love the idea, mainly because once something is sold, and expired, it’s gone! So when you go to search for an item for sale, most likely it will actually still be available! Thanks Pam!

Keeper of the Fledgings

[dragonmedley]

Not that is matters at this point, but how would you renew an ad? With the email?

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[etruscan]

I like the idea, mainly for 2 reasons: Dead add will automatically disappear, which will make searching much easier, and I agree with Hannah, it will get rid of the whole bumping issue.

There’s a whole forum for us to chat on, surely being unable to chat in this one particular section isn’t that big a deal, and will help make the whole thing more fair and efficient.

These are all good points, but I do like having the ability to alert the seller by posting “Sent a PM” or “Emailed you”, just in case. I suppose this will go away?

Would this be an opportunity to create a voluntary “prices realized” section? I’m not sure how it could be organized – by color and sculpt maybe – but there are have been a lot of inquiries recently about potential sale value of pieces. A list where sellers could record their date of sale and sale price for an EmPea hatching empress, for example, would supplement the ebay past sales records (and wouldn’t disappear after a few weeks or months).

[etruscan]

Sorry – computer connection misbehaving …

[etruscan]

Still misbehaving …

[Amy]

Specific Feedback:

~I’d really like it if we could keep the windstone classified ads separate from the non-windstone classifieds. Searches seem like they could get confusing if these two are mixed, and it would also make browsing (window shopping for windstones) easier.

~The thumbnail image that you select doesn’t show up

~Being able to post pre-written messages that don’t interfere with searches would be nice

~Is it possible to make it so we can select both email and PM for the preferred method of contact, just so those who wish to contact us can have their pick if it doesn’t matter to us and they have some reason that only one of those would work for them?

~This is really minor, but could we retain the “Flea Market” title, rather than switching to “Classified Ads”? Classified Ads sounds way less inviting to me than Flea Market.

[Victoria]

Only took a quick look with the iPad so far, but I’d say yes to adding comments *as long as they didn’t bump the ad*. Reason? I find a lot of times that people leave out critical information–or at least, critical to some, like tags/boxes, or shipping charges, etc. It’s helpful to be able to ask those questions and have them answered publicly so that everyone can see them.

[Laurie]

I must admit, I like it. I like that you can upload a pic from your computer. I did an ad but the available options weren’t showing for me so I couldn’t complete it to see if everything was ok.

[Author]

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