Sold

[cheesegrits]

With reference to this thread in 3.1:

marking items as "Sold"

Will we get that "Sold" button on the users' Modify Ad page back in 4.x?

We currently run Chas & Juve's "Price Descriptor" mod in 3.x, but I'd like to see some built in support for marking ads "sold" in 4.x.

Even if it's just the ability to optionally show a "Sold" button, either as well as, or instead of, the "Delete" button.

And even if all the "Sold" button just sets a products.sold field to true, and calls a hook ... that'd be good enough for me. Oh, and assign the new 'sold' field to all templates which display images. I can then do what I need to do with just a few little template edits and a plugin.

Basically, I want to encourage users to mark as Sold rather than delete. Obviously the more "SOLD!!!" ads people see, the more likely they are to place ads. And I'd like to make it easier for users to mark as sold, so they see that option on the main Modify Ad form, and not have to drill down into the add itself and set the prePrice, which is not exactly obvious.

And of course I'd like that products.sold field, as a built in way of flagging an item as sold, rather than assuming the presence of the pre/post mod. Right now I have to test for the pre/postPrice in my templates, which I don't like doing.

-- hugh

[Lhotch]

Originally Posted by cheesegrits

Basically, I want to encourage users to mark as Sold rather than delete. Obviously the more "SOLD!!!" ads people see, the more likely they are to place ads. And I'd like to make it easier for users to mark as sold, so they see that option on the main Modify Ad form, and not have to drill down into the add itself and set the prePrice, which is not exactly obvious.

And of course I'd like that products.sold field, as a built in way of flagging an item as sold, rather than assuming the presence of the pre/post mod. Right now I have to test for the pre/postPrice in my templates, which I don't like doing.

-- hugh

Ive always had a love hate relationship with this idea. The main reason being is whats in it for your user? WHY would a user WANT to check sold instead of delete? It makes sense for you as a site owner because it makes your site look good, but if you cater to private parties it offers no benefit to them.

[Mike-N-Tosh]

I've never been real keen on this either, however I can see, depending on the type of site, how it could be beneficial to a seller as well.

Like on eBay. If a frequent seller shows many "Sold" items, it would increase their credibility as well as the obvious benefit to the site owner.

Mike-

[free2take]

Having the sold option works really well on my site and has had positive feedback \ results.

It lets the users know they are looking at a site where things are moving through it and its not just static ads.

It also encourages buyers when they see a particular seller has several items sold and gives them a little more confidence and imperative to make a purchase.

It also helps keep the site busy at slower periods.

A nice sold banner across ads looks really good and gives potential buyers a glimpse of what they just missed making them more likely to revisit - if you delete the ad straight off this doesn't happen.

Anything marked as sold autodeletes after 3 days (or whenever you choose as admin) anyhows so the site doesn't get clogged with older stuff.

And ultimately classifieds by their nature run for the duration i.e. a newspaper ad doesn't remove itself from the paper once the item is sold.

[Lhotch]

Originally Posted by free2take

Having the sold option works really well on my site and has had positive feedback \ results.

It lets the users know they are looking at a site where things are moving through it and its not just static ads.

It also encourages buyers when they see a particular seller has several items sold and gives them a little more confidence and imperative to make a purchase.

It also helps keep the site busy at slower periods.

A nice sold banner across ads looks really good and gives potential buyers a glimpse of what they just missed making them more likely to revisit - if you delete the ad straight off this doesn't happen.

Anything marked as sold autodeletes after 3 days (or whenever you choose as admin) anyhows so the site doesn't get clogged with older stuff.

And ultimately classifieds by their nature run for the duration i.e. a newspaper ad doesn't remove itself from the paper once the item is sold.

But none of this benefits the seller and thats what I am trying to get at. People dont generally do something that takes time just to be nice. Newspaper ads dont apply to what I am saying beause for a web based classified site in orderfor something to be marked sold you are expecting the user, usually someone who has PAID you to advertise to not only take the time to fillout the ad but now expect them to come back and mark an ad is sold, why should they? Whats in it for them?

If I were a business entity and wanted to keep my visibility up it may be worth my time, but at the same time if I had other products to offer similar to what was sold I may not want to mark it sold, I would want people to contact me so I could try and sell them something else.

Once again, for the casual user there is often no direct benefit for them to waste their time marking something sold. The only benefit to them would be so that they didnt get bothered with people inquiring about something.

Dont get me wrong, from a site owner perspective I can see why you would want it, from a user perspective im not going to waste my time marking my ad as sold.

[cheesegrits]

Well, one of the main points we make to our users is that anything that helps the site, helps them sell their items. I think most people get this concept.

Then we have people who run seller stores, real estate agents, used car dealers, etc ... all of whom directly benefit from having a goodly percentage of "Sold" items in their ads, and actively want this feature.

And I guess the point I'm making is, I'd at least like marking "Sold" to be as easy as hitting "Delete". If the buttons are right next to each other, its up to them. Sur, individual sellers who just wanted to get rid of their unwanted kitten and have no intention of coming back to sell more stuff have no interest in "Sold" ... but people who make regular use of the site probably will understand the vested interest concept.

At the very least, I feel that products.sold should be a standard column in the database, assigned to all templates that deal with actual ads. So those of us that want some kind of Sold feature don't have to do quite such wholesale modifications to the product.

-- hugh

[Lhotch]

Originally Posted by cheesegrits

At the very least, I feel that products.sold should be a standard column in the database, assigned to all templates that deal with actual ads. So those of us that want some kind of Sold feature don't have to do quite such wholesale modifications to the product.

-- hugh

Thats one of the ongoing challenges when developing a software product that is designed to fit a wide range of needs.

Since 68c appeals to and works in so many different markets you have a huge range of ideas and features that people feel would benefit their particular site.

From a development standpoint however focus needs to be targetted on features that are in highest demand or that will benefit the largest portion of the current customer base need to take presedence.

With the above in mind, where does the cross over point occure? Where does adding something for a minority of users make sense? Its certainly not something I can answer but when requesting an addition to a product its certainly something you have to keep in mind.

[cheesegrits]

Originally Posted by Lhotch

With the above in mind, where does the cross over point occure? Where does adding something for a minority of users make sense? Its certainly not something I can answer but when requesting an addition to a product its certainly something you have to keep in mind.

I do agree, and trust me there are a dozens of features I'd like to request that I don't for exactly that reason. Intead, I requested a generic pre- and post- hook in the template fetch routine. And opined about structuring "significant" db queries so they ALL have pre-hooks, and the queries include $hook_query_fields, $hook_query_joins and $hook_query_where variables.

With those features, we'd be able to do just about anything without any code editing. If we want to modify a query, we use the pre-query hook to add our fields / joins / wheres, then in the pre-template hook we can do any template data assigns, etc.

Anyway, back to the sold thing. I decided to ask for this one because I still think its a pretty fundamental requirement for an app designed for selling things. "Is it sold?"

-- hugh

[free2take]

I agree about it being a fundamental feature (not a reason in itself, but most classifieds sites have this feature) and I don't even have a delete option any longer just a Sold button.

The advantage to the seller is that if someone searches for an item but sees it Sold they snap their fingers and say 'darn it missed it !!', a good proportion of the time though they also decide they'll see what else the seller has to offer in his store and peruse some of his other stuff. Additionally if the ad is still visible for a time the vendor may get asked if he has anymore coming in.

If he simply deleted the ad straight away he might not have gotten that post sale hit and extra potential interest. To me thats really the crux of it you ad value to your own sales by letting folk see what they missed thereby attracting them to your other items.

Additionally it can generate hype around a seller if lots of his items are marked as sold not only speeding up the sales process but also increasing is profile as it can become a measurable tool i.e. 'Congrats to rainman for having most sales this month' - again interest is added good for site good for sellers / buyers.

To be honest its a technique as old as the hills there is nothing new about it (just look how long it takes estate agents to remove sold signs). As a consequence value is added to the site as a whole which is good for everyone.

I don't really see the argument on this I'm afraid and my own experience has bourne it out as a good technique and there are many benefits to the seller such as buyer confidence / buyer hype / quicker sales / post sale interest which is ultimately good for your site and everyone using it as the content increases.

[cheesegrits]

Couldn't agree more. And for the first time in recorded history, I can't think of anything to add, except maybe ...

What he said!

-- hugh