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HobbyTalk Swap/Sell Changes to HobbyTalk Marketplace

31K views 262 replies 63 participants last post by  makya 
#1 · (Edited)
This is something I've been wanting to do in the past but have never been able to find a good solution to do. My main goal was to give better formatting/display of items for sale, have more features geared to sellers/buyers and expand the exposure for the items. Yet keep the basic "discussion" format for the for sale postings. A recent solution has been made available and we are going to implement it shortly. Some of the features are listed below:

* Unlimited image uploads per post
* Sellers can edit/cancel live listings
* Preview listing before posting
* Can mark items sold or are marked sold when purchased
* A "Buy" button that allows someone to buy it and it takes them directly to PayPal for PayPal or CC purchase (item then marked as sold)
* Items automatically marked as sold if purchased through the Marketplace
* A built-in feedback system that allows feedback to be left for only the items purchased
* Buy It Now or Best Offer if wanted
* Separate shipping costs if wanted
* Can have buyers pay the PayPal fees instead of building it into the cost of the item
* Puts an "items For Sale" link by a member's name on all their forum posts if they have items for sale
* Email reminders for items that have not sold yet
* List price separate from shipping if wanted
* List of past purchases and items you have for sale
* Items will be posted in the Panjo Marketplace that will contain 1000's of items for sale from multiple sites. While not large at this time it should grow quickly as the Panjo Marketplace add-on is currently available for all vBulletin sites and will be built-in to the vBulletin software in the future. This should increase the exposure for the items for sale.

To see how a full Marketplace looks on a forum already in use you can go to:
http://nikonites.com/classifieds.php

See how it looks as a regular forum list (like we have now):
http://nikonites.com/marketplace/

Link to the larger Panjo Marketplace where items from many forums will be listed:
http://panjo.com/for-sale/


Note that basically the layout/setup we currently have will not change. We will still have separate "forums" for the different Swap/Sell sections of HT. Just the format of the items for sale will change. Plus there will the larger Marketplace as shown in the first and last link.

Now the only real downside to all this..... the old iTrader ratings will not be able to be transferred over to the new feedback system. We will keep the old iTrader Ratings visible so sellers can refer to it but no new iTrader ratings will be allowed. At some point in the future the iTrader Ratings will go away as it is no longer being upgraded for newer versions of vBulletin.

If you have any questions or comments, please ask here!!!

UPDATE: This is not the final version and enhancements and updates are in the works. Can always use your suggestions.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
The only PayPal info that is required is your name and email address. This allows someone to click the "buy" button, make a payment (via PayPal) and it goes automatically to your PayPal account. This also assures that the transaction falls within the PayPal Protection Plan guidelines. Your item is then automatically marked as sold once the payment is made.

You can see an item for sale that a member has already placed at http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=407737
 
#8 ·
I know I'm relatively new here and I don't want to sound like I'm gritching. I just posted something using this new feature and I really, really, really don't like it. All I wanted to do was post a simple trade offer, and I had to give out my email address to a service I don't trust, then go through all the hoopla of filling in their forms, pricing, and then being forced to link to my PayPal....BLECH. I don't know the big picture behind wanting to use something like this (meaning, there may be events/incidents that necessitate this that I'm not privy to). But I don't see me posting much with this system. Sorry if I sound all negative...I really don't mean to. I was just majorly disappointed.
 
#11 · (Edited)
buzz, thanks for the feedback. While it may take a bit longer to post an item for sale we felt that the advantages of wider exposure, easy tracking of items sold/bought, automatic tagging of items as sold when sold, email alerts, feedback only for items sold by the person you sold it to, unlimited photos and PMs that don't count against your HT limits, easy payment from buyers, (plus more features to come) outweigh the extra time it takes to enter an item.

All you have to enter is your name and PayPal email address, the same PayPal email address you give to anyone if you are selling something. All this does is allows someone to pay you much easier and when they clck the "Buy" button it goes to PayPal with your PayPal address already filled in. No worry about mis-spelling or wrong entry when someone is doing it manually.

Is it a perfect fit for everyone? No, but neither was the old "forum discussion" format. This retains the discussion format while adding a lot of features.
 
#16 ·
The problem I had with Panjo was when it brought up Paypal the payment method was wrong. My default is my bank account and it would not bring up that option. On top of that it brought up my old out of date debit card as default and didn't even list my current one. I do several Paypal transactions per month on here and EBay and never have that problem. Not only that but why do I have to enter all that info before I can pay when most of it is included with the Paypal transaction. I do a lot of my buying during the day so I can only use my phone. All that extra info makes it difficult.
 
#22 ·
Hi, this is Chad at Panjo. Thanks for reporting this. We will investigate why you experienced this PayPal behavior. I know one thing we have seen is that PayPal exerts a lot of pressure to get you to use your PayPal balance before it lets you use your preferred debit or credit card. The HobbyTalk marketplace (Panjo) is using PayPal as a payment processor. In order to maximize protections for buyers and sellers, and in order to provide marketplace customer support, buyers have to enter information in a certain order. You mentioned that you purchase a lot through your phone. If you have an iOS device, the next version of the Panjo mobile app (due out next week) saves your info and allows you to check out more quickly. We are working on bring that speed and convenience to the forum as quickly as possible. Thanks again for reporting this.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Since I noticed this on the hubs you bought Joe, when multiple items are for sale does Panjo allow you to only purchase one of the items? Lots of people tend to make one post with several different items for sale. Since you bought your hubs, the first post in the thread now shows they are both sold. Not sure if someone else bought a set or if Panjo is treating the transaction as everything being sold.
I'm not looking for hubs, just an observation.

If you bought both sets then well.... my question still stands. What happens with multiple items for sale?
 
#21 ·
micro, not sure what the problem was. PayPal suplies the payment info. I'll have it investigated.

greg, when someone has multiple same items for sale, there is an option to list a quantity. That way someone could buy just one and the item would stay active as there is still some left.

There is a WTB/Trade forum in the RC section. We could add something like that to the other areas if needed.

The eBay thing should be resolved starting tomorrow. Was a bug in the way the system was setup.
 
#23 ·
Heres an issue I have with this. Some of us post items for sale here on hobbytalk, rctech, and dirtoval.com as well as several other sites. Whats to say that someone may have an item just sold, or a sale pending, with someone on one of the other sites, and then all of a sudden someone decides to "buy it now" on here. This is something that is bound to happen, and there will be someone royally pissed off when it does, most likely at the seller. I would hate to see a seller on here get their name dragged through the mud because of an incident like this.
 
#25 ·
For those of us who live and breath marketplaces, you are describing the "multi-channel" situation. To help reduce this issue, every ~2 weeks, Panjo sends an email to all sellers who have a live listing requesting that they update the status of their listing(s) if necessary. The email contains a link so the seller can conveniently mark any sold listings as sold. If you are a seller and you get an email stating that you successfully sold an item (congratulations!) BUT you already sold the item elsewhere, you simply need to log into PayPal and click the refund button and you are done.
 
#24 · (Edited)
This can happen anywhere. Many people not only sell here on HobbyTalk but post the items on eBay. The same thing can happen but in close to 20 years I have seen that very few times. A buyer should know that whoever pays first gets the item, you take the time to haggle or delay payment, you risk losing it.

You can always mark the item here as "no longer available" if you are in talks with someone and then bring it back "live" if the deal falls through.
 
#26 ·
You can always mark the item here as "no longer available" if you are in talks with someone and then bring it back "live" if the deal falls through.
Not quite. :-/ Once you cancel or mark an item as sold, you must repost it from scratch in order to revive it. Panjo doesn't yet have a concept of 'hold' or 'realist.' Those features are high on the priority list and coming soon.
 
#31 ·
On a note about multiple site listing and selling. Just today got an email that a seler had agreed on a price and sent his PayPal info to the buyer. Took the buyer days to even reply. The seller got tired of waiting and sold it to someone else. The losing buyer left negative feedback. We see this way too often.

It is your responsibility as a seller to let potental buyers know you have the item listed in multiple places. The first person to pay gets the item. This can also give you the upper hand in haggeling if the buyer knows that someone else could get the item if they pay the full price and pay now.... buy it now or you may lose it. If someone on another forum agrees to buy it you could direct them here to buy/pay for it. That way you don't have to send multiple emails with PayPal, address and other info.... the system does that for you.

I've had way too many hassles in the past with slow/never payers. My motto is Money Talks, BS Walks or First Payer's the Player.

You don't have to worry about unrelated feedback as only actual buyers can leave you feedback in the system.
 
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