Renewal Price limit option?

[Razgo]

Hi, when using Renewal Price, does it expire if a user does not respond before the renew date to renew their ad?

If not can this be introduced easily?

Basically the ability for an email to be sent out to the user when their ad is about to expire(say one week prior) but can renew for free. After the expiry date they must pay again.

can this script currently do that?

thanks

[seymourjames +]

NO in a word.

When an advert expires it is gone forever. So if they do not renew their advert then it is gone.

The renewal price can be set though in the specific packages you are offering.

[Razgo]

thanks for clearing that up. be nice if the user had a warning ad about to expire email though.

So if i have a set a price at $0.00 and renewal price at $5.00 all they have to do is create a new ad at $0.00 again rather than pay the renewal fee?

just trying to figure out a few things.
thanks

[Mike-N-Tosh +]

Yes, the system DOES send out a renewal email as set in the administration settings. What seymourjames was saying was that once the ad itself expires then you can't renew an expired ad, because it is gone.

If you have an ad listing set up that is free, but with a renewal price of course the end user could make a new free ad.

[seymourjames +]

Correct but if it was free once you are unlikely to have them pay next time around.

[Mike-N-Tosh +]

Originally Posted by seymourjames

Correct but if it was free once you are unlikely to have them pay next time around.

Exactly! Especially going from free to $5.00!

[seymourjames +]

A better marketing technique is to actually push them towards bold, highlighting or featured which you can charge them for and appear to be offering something they don't already have.

[Razgo]

Thanks for making that a bit clearer.

Yes i was trying to figure out best way to bring members over from my other script to using this one.

I should have it the other way around then?

charge a small listing fee with no renewal fees but push for the "bold, highlight, feature"

Unless i do a free listing package that i advertise as limited time only to get them to come on the new script. as i am going from auction script to classifieds as a permanent one way move.

[Mike-N-Tosh +]

Originally Posted by Razgo

Thanks for making that a bit clearer.

Yes i was trying to figure out best way to bring members over from my other script to using this one.

I should have it the other way around then?

charge a small listing fee with no renewal fees but push for the "bold, highlight, feature"

Unless i do a free listing package that i advertise as limited time only to get them to come on the new script. as i am going from auction script to classifieds as a permanent one way move.

I think you're going from one extreme to another in my opinion. If you charge upfront and then renew for free, you don't get any residuals. Say, I'm a hobby shop owner and I always have the RC helicopter for sale, so I place an ad for $5.00. I just continue to renew the same ad over and over and over for free. Because I always have these, the ad is always still good.

I would recommend what seymourjames said in trying to upsell, but I would still charge for the renewal. I would give a discount for the renewal. In the example of the original ad being $5.00, I might then charge $4.00 to renew it. I also have modified the renewal email message for marketing purposes.

Example:
Your ad is about to expire in X days. You might consider upgrading your ad to a "Featured" ad. Featured ads get prime placement when potential buyers search. We also rotate featured ads on the home page.

Some other suggestions might be consider lowering your price for your item or different photos of the item.

[Razgo]

I often wondered how places like our local but very large tradingpost classified site made their money because they have no renewal fees so you can renew forever for free yet they are a multimillion dollar company. My thoughts there is the fact that most people simply forget or don't renew in time.

And they would have to rely on upsell of "featured ads" and bold. highlight etc.."

I think when people renew for free they are more inclined to pay for featured ads etc...

Thats one line of thought that seems to work for a lot of companies.

I think the theory is people are more likely to renew to keep their ad up as its free rather than loose the ad altogether or having to pay again.

I guess it can work either way depending on how your setup for it.

For me i need to entice existing customers over to the new script. currently they pay $2.00 to register then pay to stay paypal verified monthly fee(optional) and 3% FVF.

So i figure i need to make it more attractive by having no renewal fee to keep them coming back and checking on their items and site and upsell the rest just to get customers in.

I will revise my emails that get sent out too as that's a great idea.