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.
* 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.